The Good
There's a battle over the throne and it's more than just First Born vs Wonder Woman. Everything changes in this thrilling conclusion to Brian Azzarello's and Cliff Chiang's run.
It's not the "battle to the death" that may people were hoping for or Diana going full-blown God of War are First Born, but the conclusion is incredibly satisfying and wraps up this run exceptionally well. Instead of taking an action heavy focus on one character "besting" another, WONDER WOMAN #35 remains heavily story driven and lets things play out naturally. The issue is really reminiscent of classic fantasy adventure films that strings the reader along as good takes on evil.
Azzarello and Chiang string reader along in an emotional journey through this issue. Certain characters have to make big decisions and those who have opposed Diana in the past show mercy; however, the decisions these characters make will have long-lasting affects on them. Readers have become invested in characters in this run, so the impact of the events within the issue will really move readers either by having them cheer for the win or morn the losses.
The dialogue is exceptionally well-written and moves the story along The last few pages of resolution really showcase how well good dialogue can raise the bar for a story and emotionally rope the reader into the book's characters. That's one of the many positives about this issue is that while it is a bit more dialogue heavy than people expect, it truly works in the context of the story.
Cliff Chiang and colorist Matthew Wilson present a beautiful issue here. The final page alone looks amazing, with some brilliant color work as well. The panel-to-panel story telling shows an incredible amount of movement. Everything really pops of the page and catches the reader's eye and the overall book is paced exceptionally well. Composition-wise, more comics should aspire to tell stories like this one. It's a great mixture of classic comic story telling with a contemporary twist.
The Bad
The book isn't pure perfection, but it's incredibly close.
The Verdict
It's sad that Azzarello's and Chiang's time on WONDER WOMAN has come to an end. However, the conclusion is incredibly satisfying and a worthy wrap-up to this book. Without a doubt, this will go down as one of the best Wonder Woman stories of all time as well as one of the best stories to come out of the New 52. Everything just works well here, and it feels like it will work even better in a collected edition of this book. Hopefully, DC will put this story into an over-sized hardcover omnibus, most likely in two volumes. Anyway, this is an iconic run and it's a must read in the New 52. Make sure to check this out.
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