Wonder Woman #778 – Becky Cloonan/Michael W. Conrad, Jordie Bellaire, Writers; Travis Moore, Paulina Ganucheau, Artists; Tamra Bonvillain, Kendall Goode, Colorists
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: It’s been a wild ride through the multiverse so far, but it’s only about to get crazier as Diana, Ratatosk, and Siegfried head to some unpredictable new worlds. Last issue saw them on the gender-swapped world of Earth-11, where Diana went up against her evil male doppelganger. This issue’s first world is less dangerous, but even stranger—it’s the world of Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk, as the three heroes go on a bizarre cartoon adventure in search of the evil Janus. It’s a funny segment with a surprisingly light tone that serves as a nice break from the usual intensity of the series. And we even get a surprise guest-star at the end—but the next segment will be much more intense.
I was not expecting Diana to wind up in the Phantom Zone, and the appearance of the evil Xa-Du, aka the Phantom King was definitely unexpected. It turns into a tense battle between two power-brokers of the Zone that eventually allows Diana and her allies to escape. From there, it’s journeys into other unexpected worlds, including the distant past and the far future, before Diana finally confronts Janus and we get a very unexpected death. This series has been a little disjointed at points, but its imagination and visuals are top notch and it’s great to see unlikely corners of the DCU creep into this story. I’m hoping it keeps this energy up as Diana makes her way back to earth.
It seems like the Young Diana storyarc is coming to a close in the narrative, but it’s done a good job of covering an important issue—what happens when kids find out a hard truth about their parents? Diana’s been avoiding Hippolyta and seeking advice from her other mentors, but this issue we finally get the confrontation between mother and daughter we’ve been waiting for. The art by Paulina Ganucheau is some of the best in any DC book right now, but I do wish she had a little more spectacular mythological stuff to draw.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
