OH. MY. GOOGLY. GOD. It’s time for Wonder Woman to shine again! And it’s about time too. After a not-so-good-selling-series with the beginning of her new volume, Gail Simone has been brought into the scene and is giving Wonder Woman much love. The love that Wonder Woman deserved from the very beginning, seeing as Wonder Woman is one of the big three. Now I have to begin. There’s so much good stuff happening in this issue.
Gail Simone as the writer – reading this, I could see so many things happening in the story line. Simone isn’t just tying up story lines from the past; she’s creating new ones, from her writing and lines from each character. Simone is also creating new dangers for Wonder Woman. From this writing, we see the warrior within Wonder Woman that we haven’t seen in a long time. Rather than being a cry-baby, she’s really fighting those gorillas in the fight scenes. It seems as if many writers have forgotten what Wonder Woman really is: a delegate, a diplomat, a representative. But Simone does a good job of ALL those things, and more! Wonder Woman in this one is with poise and elegance, while having all the nitty-gritty attributes of a warrior. Still not convinced? There are super-duper albino gorillas with superhuman abilities! Everyone loves those albino gorillas.
I also must comment on the humour. Simone puts it in the writing very subtlety, though making me chuckle everytime I read the humour. One gorilla said, “They will mate soon” when Nemesis a.k.a. Tom Tressor visits Diana’s apartment. Second, when the gorillas and Wonder Woman are fighting in the jungle, Wonder Woman comments on having a sudden urge for tropical fruit (because fruit is healthy, kids). The return of a long forgotten character – Etta Candy – also surprised me and made me happy at the same time. People who have watched the 70s TV series of Wonder Woman can see that the way she is drawn in the comic looks like the one in the TV series a lot.
One theme I noticed in the comic was the humanisation of Wonder Woman. I thought that her birthday party was a nice symbol for her humanisation, and her commentary of not being allowed to hug in the business world. Again, this is a reference to the humour Simone puts in, and the fact that this is quite true! The addition of Nazis was new, considering that Nazis hadn’t been added since the late 30s and early 40s, and Simone continues this tradition.
Now onto the art: the Dodson team have always been a great team up, and the presence of Simone seems to have fuelled their passion for art again, as they do great art here. The face expressions aren’t cheesecake, and they are the people who KNOW how to draw Wonder Woman. They strike the perfect balance between Wonder Woman being a respectable character, while being sexy at the same time.
Thank you DC! Thank so much. It's about time, too.