Wonder Woman #1 Review

New to this comic but certainly not without knowledge of this age-old female character, I try to take the reigns on Azzarello’s Wonder Woman reboot.

Wonder Woman #1

Heading into the reboot, I thought it might be nice to pick up Wonder Woman because a.) I already review Batgirl and why not get behind another strong female character? and B.) I have always like Diana and how she interacted with and away from the Justice League. However, I have never read her individual title. (I did love Trinity though!)

The issues opens up on the balcony of a very tall building and three girls peering out into the vastness as a darkened figure with glowing eyes urges them to get closer to the edge, all the while prattling on about his father.  I didn’t figure he’d kill them but we find out later how he used them to his advantage.

Meanwhile, on a Virginia farm, a woman cloaked in peacock feathers and equipped with a scythe  summons two centaur creatures to attack the farm’s owner, a woman named Zola. A bluish man wearing a WW1 doughboy helmet warns her of the imminent danger and throws her a key, which magically whisks her away to none other than Wonder Woman’s bedroom in London. Since this was the first we saw of her in this issue, I wanted her “I’m Wonder Woman!” scene to pack a punch. Sadly, I was actually sort of taken aback by her way-too-manish appearance. I know she’s supposed to represent boldness and courage, but that page could have been flashier.

Riding the key back to the farm, Wonder Woman fights off the creepy centaur beings in true fashion: her gauntlets deflecting arrows and the like. There’s a voice-over on the next three pages and it seems as if one voice is transcribing to another what is happening. Putting two and to together, the voice asking for a play by play must be the creepy glowing eyed guy from the beginning and, after finding out the WW1 hat guy is Heremes and gives us a big reveal about Zola, her not yet born child AND the father, we go back to the penthouse balcony and the man controlling the three women who witnessed the entire exchange. And it ends in fire and decimation. I admit to having to go back and clarify a few things for it all to click into place but then, the story made some sense.

SO, knowing only a little about the mythology behind Wonder Woman and her canon, I was pleased to see that aspect done well within this issue. The reboot serves to allow writers a fresh look at the DC characters and I think it’s a good direction for Azzarello to take it. Somehow, though, I think the story and some of the stilted dialogue fell flat for me. If I were a brand new reader, I don’t know if I’d be compelled to hang on for #2.

Chiang’s art is very stylized and for the most part, his characters were sharp and interesting, as well as his backgrounds, but that one first shot of Diana was jarring to me. I’ll give issue 2 a go and see if this story proves more interesting as more details are revealed.

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Tags: Brian Azzarello Cliff Chiang DC Comics New 52 Reviews Wonder Woman Comics