Wonder Woman #792: Freya’s Fury, She Looks Dangerous

We pick up where we left off last issue, with Wonder Woman discovering a very feral Cheetah in captivity in a secret Cale Industries laboratory. Although Cheetah receives a tranquilizer in her neck, Diana lets her loose to help stop the hired goons from impeding her mission. I found this decision quite strange – Diana has faced off against Cheetah dozens of times by now, and she knows full well that the villain has no regard for human lives. She even seems surprised when Cheetah starts killing the henchmen, but… what did she expect? I love that Barbara Ann is a weak spot for Diana, and will probably always be, but her decision to free Cheetah on these men felt off to me. I’ve seen a lot of fans complain about Diana’s power levels in recent years, and while I mostly disagree with them, I do think Diana would have easily dispatched the thugs with a simple tiara throw or her lasso.

However, when Diana tears off her civilian disguise, she’s wearing a new variation of her classic costume – with pants! I was very surprised to see the contentious Wonder Pants return as they were a hot button issue in 2010’s much-maligned Odyssey storyline by J. Michael Straczynsk. While I’ve never been completely opposed to the pants, I wasn’t a huge fan of how they were portrayed in 2010. Leave it to Marguerite Sauvage to completely blow this look out of the water. Seriously, Diana looks amazing in this outfit, though the combat boots are certainly a choice.

Beyond the exciting pants reveal, we get a stunning new Cheetah design that left me breathless. I’ve liked the feral look for most of Cheetah’s Rebirth stint, but I find some artists draw her a bit too cutesy for my tastes. Going back to basics with a redheaded sexy mastermind Cheetah is a refreshing change to the character to keep her from going stale. My only complaint in regards to Cheetah is that I’m hoping Conrad and Cloonan are able to elevate her status as a supervillain as she’s had far too many dud stories that leave fans with a sour taste in their mouths.

There are a few other great moments in the issue, such as Hera ordering her minions to end their milk scheme and Etta having a gorgeous new girlfriend, but I do wish there was more focus on Barbara Ann with Diana. In fact, we don’t even see Diana interacting with Barb once she regains her senses. Which is a shame, but it seems like we’ll be getting plenty of Cheetah in the next few stories.