By J. Michael Straczynski and Phil Hester (writers), Don Kramer, Eduardo Panasica and Daniel HDR (pencils), Jay Leisten, Marlo Alquiza, Wayne Faucher and Eber Ferreira (inks), Alex Sinclair (colors) and Travis Lanham (letters)
The Story: An interlude, as Diana returns home to relax, recover, and engage in some exposition and–amazingly–character development as well. The short slice of home life is cut short when Diana sneaks out away from her guardians, and comes face to face with a threat she may not be able to handle.
What’s Good: I’ll be honest, on reading this issue for the first time, I wasn’t a fan. It felt like such a huge and sudden shift in both setting and in character–from a dangerous desert wasteland to a penthouse apartment, and from a dark, gritty and confused Diana to a far more upbeat and happy Diana–with next to no actual transition. On the second reading, however, while these complaints still mostly stand, I started to realize that I don’t care. I don’t care if it takes a slightly awkward and mostly unexplained transition to get Diana back to where she needs to be; the fact that some sense of normalcy is being reestablished, and most of all, that Diana is acting like someone other than Conan the Barbarian, is enough for me, and I’m happy to put up with whatever small hiccups in storytelling are necessary to get it. This issue feels almost like a reboot (of a reboot?), and I can’t say that’s a bad thing.
Once things get rolling, the story is really quite good. We learn a bit about Diana’s childhood, the way she was sheltered by her guardians, and the way she discovered her need to fight cruelty and injustice. I don’t particularly love flashbacks, but this particular set was sorely needed to give the reader–FINALLY, after six bloody issues!– some idea of who this ‘new’ Diana is, and what makes her tick as a character. After six issues of the grim n’ gritty “damn the gods!” version, it’s comforting to hear her discuss battling injustice and using her powers to, y’know, help people in need. Those are absolutely fundamental aspects of the character that should never, ever change, no matter how much you may want to tweak her history and origin.
What’s Not So Good: I wasn’t kidding when I said this issue feels almost like a reboot; while we pick up with the Morrigan (pretty much) where we left off last issue, the last we saw of Diana, she was off chasing the bad guy’s plane (unless I misunderstood her intentions, but it sure LOOKED like she was trying to catch them.) And now we find that they’ve escaped, and she’s returned back to her apartment. I’ve read both issues multiple times, and I still can’t figure out what caused her to give up the chase there. Either I’m being unintentionally thick, or the writers just let that one go.
Conclusion: A solid issue that finally gives us some good background on what the new Diana’s motivations and history are. I can’t say it’s the smoothest of exposition-oriented issues, but it works and was so necessary that it’s easy to overlook the inelegance of its execution.
Grade: B-
-SoldierHawk
Grade
Conclusion