Wonder Woman (1987 Series) #200

January 27, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Down to Earth Conclusion (also — “The Golden Age: The Exile of Wonder Woman”; “The Silver Age: Amazon Women on the Moon” & “The Future: Stoned”)

As the furor over Wonder Woman’s book continues, Ares sews conflict everywhere.

Writers: Greg Rucka, Robert Rodi, Nunzio DeFillipis & Christina Weir
Pencils: Drew Johnson, Rick Burchett, Ty Templeton & Linda Medley
Inks: Ray Snyder, Rich Burchett, Ty Templeton & Linda Medley
Colors: Richard & Tanya Horie & Tom McCraw
Letters: Todd Klein
Editor: Ivan Cohen
Cover Art: J.G. Jones
Publisher: DC Comics

Greg Rucka’s first storyline on Wonder Woman ends in a very satisfying way — not just one massive battle scene, but several, hopefully satisfying those who have complained that Diana hasn’t thrown a punch since this story arc began. Her battle with the Silver Swan is brutal both on the reader and on Wonder Woman herself — for a woman who believes in peace above all else to be forced into battle with a woman she loves, a woman she still considers a sister, it’s heart-rending.

Meanwhile, the scenes on Mt. Olympus make for a very interesting counterpoint, as Ares’s machinations stir conflict between Hera and Zeus. Wonder Woman’s home of Paradise Island gets caught in the middle, however, and the changes wrought to that idyllic setting in this issue will not be quickly resolved.

If there’s any problem with the main story, it’s that the ending is very abrupt. I didn’t even realize the story was over until I turned the page and found myself looking at a golden age-style backup. Clearly, Rucka and the very talented Drew Johnson used this arc to set up what they hope will be a lengthy run, but how quickly it wrapped up took me aback.

This issue also has several back-up features spotlighting the many years of Wonder Woman’s history. Robert Rodi (of the defunct Codename: Knockout and The Crossovers and the current Elektra scribe) supplies an amusing tale in the style of a 1940s-era comic book in which Wonder Woman is forced into exile when a robotic duplicate of her begins committing crimes. Rodi’s script is pretty simple, but it is meant to parody a simple time for comics, and as such, it works. Rick Burchett’s artwork is spot-on — if you didn’t know any better, you’d swear this story was penciled 60 years ago.

The same goes, to a lesser extent, to the silver age backup story drawn by Ty Templeton — he captures the art style of the 60s and 70s very well. The story, by Nunzio DeFillips and Christina Weir involves Wonder Woman going to the moon to rescue then-boyfriend Steve Trevor, who got the distinction of being “the first man on the moon.”

The last back-up story, “Stoned,” doesn’t really spotlight any Wonder Woman era, but is a contemporary tale of Wonder Girl, babysitting, and telling her young charges the mythic story of Perseus (taking care to leave out some elements not suited for younger ears). Linda Medley’s artwork really stands out here, showing she’s got a lot more versatility than the art style she uses on her own Castle Waiting series usually expresses.

This is a pretty solid issue, and while the main story may be daunting for people who haven’t read the first five chapters, the back-up features make it a worthy addition to the collection of any Wonder Woman fan.

Rating: 7/10

Sigil (2011 Series) #1

March 19, 2011

Writer: Mike Carey
Pencils: Leonard Kirk
Inks: Ed Tadeo
Colorist: Guru EFX
Letterer: Rob Steen
Cover: Jelena Djurdjevic
Editor: Nick Lowe
Publisher: Marvel Comics/Crossgen

Some months after the death of her mother, teenager Samantha Rey is having trouble getting herself back together. Her schoolwork is suffering and she’s having strange dreams and visions where she finds herself in another place and time. What do they mean? What secret did her mother carry? And what does any of it have to do with the strange birthmark on her neck?

Being a major fan of the old, long-defunct CrossGen Comics, I was very curious to see what Marvel would do with the property – how much they would keep, what they would change, would the books still take place in any sort of shared universe? It’s too early to answer all of those questions – or either most of them – but Sigil #1 is a promising start. Samanta Rey is a far cry from original series’ grizzled space warrior Sam Rey, but she seems like the sort of character a series could be built around. The book also seems like this “new” CrossGen will be built more around time-travel than universe travel. (The book is even set on Earth, while the original CrossGen titles were set in the same universe, but each on a different planet.) None of those changes really bother me substantially, and I very much appreciate the appearance of another old CrossGen  title here.

The artwork is very good – Leonard Kirk is an old hand at drawing teen girl comics (anybody remember his Supergirl days?), and he handles the very different sets and scenes well. There’s a certain majesty that he brings to the table, something I like quite a bit.

There’s not really anything wrong with this comic, but it isn’t wowing me just yet. There’s definite potential, and I think Mike Carey – who’s proven many a time he’s got the chops for great fantasy comics – is the right man to see it realized. It’ll be interesting to see how well he does over the course of this miniseries.

Rating: 7/10

The 99 #3

December 21, 2007

The 99 #3 (Teshkeel Comics)
By Naif Al-Mutawa, Fabian Nicieza, John McCrea, Jason Dennis & Ron Wagner

Here’s why I’m loving The 99 in a nutshell: although the book is rooted in Arab mythology and represents an attempt to push comic books forward, the way writers Naif Al-Mutawa and Fabian Nicieza have chosen to do this is by looking back at the way old-school comics were written. At its heart, The 99 is an old-fashioned superhero adventure, and it makes no secret of that fact. This issue, another Noor Stone holder is tracked down to an Underground Fight Ring, where she’s fighting her way up to the championship. Only one of the heroes we’ve uncovered so far can face “Shadow Cloak,” a.k.a. Mumita the Destroyer… but will he be able to do so withuot being destroyed himself? This is such a pure, simple superhero tale, and the morality lesson we get in the fighting ring reminds me of the sort of thing we would have enjoyed from Stan Lee in his prime. This really is a fun comic, and just the thing for people who feel like superheroes ain’t what they used to be.
Rating: 8/10