Wonder Woman #768 – Mariko Tamaki, Writer; Rafa Sandoval, Penciller; Jordi Tarragona, Inker; Arif Prianto, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: It’s confirmed now that Mariko Tamaki’s run on Wonder Woman will be wrapping up with next issue, with a new creative team to launch in March. This has been a short but compelling run, and one almost entirely dominated by Max Lord and his twisted family tree. Diana defeated his daughter Liar Liar earlier in the run, and last issue was betrayed by him and nearly killed. But now it’s Lord who’s at the brink of death, stabbed in his cell under mysterious circumstances and clinging to life. As various players try to finish the job—including Deathstroke, who is back to his normal business of taking murder contracts, but seems a bit more nuanced than he normally does outside his own series—Diana tries to find the mastermind and whether Emma is back to her old tricks despite seemingly safely locked up in a sanitarium. And the answer to that question turns out to be a lot more complicated than it appears.
This is the first issue we’ve gotten from Emma’s perspective, and it turns out to be fascinating. She’s as much a victim as she is a villain, and the more we find out about her childhood and what Max Lord’s role in her mental condition is, the easier it is to root for her to succeed in finishing the job. She seems to live inside her own world, viewing herself as a player in a big fantasy drama with her bunny being a familiar of sorts. That also means anyone in her way is cast as a fantasy monster, which makes this an opportunity for Rafa Sandoval to draw some great monsters and other creatures. Diana and Etta Candy, who spend most of the issue on her trail, almost feel like bit characters in this story. I’m not sure that this run really told much of a Wonder Woman story—it’s been so caught up in Lord family drama—but it did send her on a twisty and compelling adventure featuring one of the DCU’s best villains.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
