Absolute Wonder Woman #7 – Kelly Thompson, Writer; Mattea De Iulis, Dustin Nguyen, Artists; Becca Carey, Colorist
Ray – 10/10
Ray: The second chapter of this flashback story continues to be as brilliant as the main narrative, with the creative team behind “The Cull” reuniting for a tale that gives us an insight into how Diana escaped Hell in the first place. This series has always had a heavy influence in Greek mythology, but never as so much as in this arc, where Diana goes up against the forces of Hades. She’s in the arena of the underworld, pitted against a twisted chimera in a battle to the death. If she wins, she’ll be given a choice of two doors – one certain death, the other the escape she’s seeking. If this sounds familiar, it is – this issue is heavily inspired by the classic tale “The Lady or the Tiger”, which features a level of ambiguity that disturbs young Diana when her mother reads it to her for the first time. And Hades has ultimately set up a test as sadistic as the one in the original story.
Is Hades a straight-forward villain here? Less so than in the Disney adaptation, but just about all the Greek Gods are cruel and capricious – and that’s nothing new here. But of course, where there’s Hades, there’s also supposed to be Persephone. The daughter of one of the other Gods of the pantheon, she now splits her time between the surface and the underworld. (The title also seems to come down on the…less favorable interpretations of her and Hades’ marriage) But she has her sympathies for women trapped in the underworld by the whims of the Gods, and comes up with a unique twist on the initial curse that allows Diana the best of both worlds. Diana’s past is being filled in slowly here, but this arc also manages to bridge the gap between the past and the present before Hayden Sherman returns and takes her back to one of the most iconic scenes in all of Greek mythology – the labyrinth.
And as an added bonus, Dustin Nguyen joins Thompson for two one-page stories of Little Diana – friend to all demons, no matter how grotesque. These are a delight.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
