Wonder Woman #42 – Review

By: Gail Simone (writer), Nicola Scott and Fernando Dagnino (pencillers), Doug Hazelwood (inker)

The Story: The story opens with a flashback to a scene where three Green Lanterns were pursuing a planetary infestation so lethal that one of them didn’t make it back alive. Fast forward to Wonder Woman today, dealing with Steve Trevor and the fallout of the whole Genocide arc. This poignant moment, however, is interrupted by the arrival of that self-same infestation. Diana is Superman-class powerful, but can even she survive something that made short work of three Green Lanterns?

What’s Good: Simone has always had a good feel for Diana’s voice. She has consistently written the idealized nurturing, loving, empathic warrior. This issue was no exception and I think that the only time the issue really sounded true to me as a Wonder Woman story was when she was talking to Steve. This was the pure, visionary hero who fought Genocide, who beat Ares, and has a voice, ethic and perspective different from every other DC hero. And speaking of voice, I loved the three Green Lanterns and the way each spoke and interacted with the world in a different way. Good writing. Scott, Dagnino and Hazelwood on art chores did a competent job. The action is clear and pretty dynamic, although I didn’t feel that they were blowing the doors off this barn.

What’s Not So Good: I am accustomed to reading remarkably tight, cohesive and emotional work by Simone in books such as Wonder Woman and Secret Six. That high standard led to a bit of disappointment in this issue. The story never seemed to come into focus. We jumped from the long past, a long way from here, to a citywide calamity on Earth. Not only that, given all the destruction and emotional debris left by Blackest Night, I was a bit confused as to why Steve and Diana were still reacting to the Genocide arc that finished about six months ago. And lastly, most of Wonder Woman’s adventures and challenges up to now have been about her in a very personal way. At first, the threat in this issue seemed to have nothing to do with her (i.e.: you could have subbed in Booster Gold and told the same fight scene), but when Simone delivered the surprise reveal, it didn’t feel so much like a logical moment of clarity so much as a moment of overly bizarre coincidence. So, I felt that the story didn’t come into focus. On art, I really felt the lack of texture in the panels. The characters are proportional, active, and occasionally emotive, but they appeared waxy and overly smooth. I care a lot about draftsmanship, and artists who draw great, living, textured figures and environments can slow my reading because I focus so much on the art. That didn’t happen to me here.

Conclusion: Both the art and writing staff have delivered stronger work in the past. I’m going to chalk up this month’s lower grade to the rough start of a new arc and will check out the next issue to see where Simone and company take us with this surprising and new (and apparently coincidental) villain.

Grade: C

-DS Arsenault