Review – Wonder Woman: Come Back to Me #5: Showdown in the Arena

Wonder Woman: Come Back to Me #5 – Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Writers; Tom Derenick, Penciller; Alex Sinclair, Inker; Hi-Fi, Colorist

Ray – 8/10

Ray: Wonder Woman: Come Back To Me #5 is the penultimate issue of Palmiotti and Conner’s dimension-hopping Wonder Woman run, and so far it’s been a wildly entertaining story. We’ve seen Wonder Woman on a lost world, without her powers, and in deep space. She’s been forced to work with old allies, old enemies, and an intriguing mix of characters from other corners of the universe.

But Wonder Woman: Come Back to Me #5 feels a lot more conventional than most of those stories. It’s still entertaining but doesn’t hit the same highs. When we last left off, the survivors from the island had found themselves captured by an alien horde, and as the issue starts Diana and her ally Princess Sibella are told they must fight for their freedom in the arena.

We’ve seen plenty of superhero gladiator matches before, but the creative team does some good things with the fight as Diana and Sibella try to maintain their moral code while in a fight to the death.

Artist Tom Derenick isn’t as flashy as Chad Hardin from the early issues, but he draws some good alien monsters. The back third of the issue is the best, as a series of major twists involving the Princess reveal the truth behind this entire affair and make Diana question everything she’s been told up to now.

It’s one of the more clever villain reveals I’ve seen in a while, but I do think we could have seen some more buildup to this moment. Now that we know the source of Diana’s trials over this series, the final issue promises a strong showdown. I hope Hex, Steve, and Etta get a bit more to do than in this issue, where most of them spent the issue in suspended animation.

This creative team has been doing good work on Diana in this book and the new Giants. I’m wondering if they could have a run on the main book coming up eventually – they have a strong take.

To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.

Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.