WONDER WOMAN #5, #6, AND #7

“THE ARES ASSAULT” | “POWER PLAY”
Pencils/Plotter: George Pérez | Scripter: Len Wein | Inker: Bruce D. Patterson
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Tatjana Wood | Editor: Karen Berger

The Plot: (Issue 5) As military tensions rise around the world, rogue American and Soviet troops seize control of missile bases in their respective countries. Meanwhile, Diana and her friends deduce that there is another half to Harmonia’s amulet, and Diana is able to use her half to transport them to the missing fragment in Ares’ realm. There, they battle Deimos and Phobos. While Deimos escapes, Diana decapitates Phobos and claims the other half of the amulet. When the pieces are joined together, the group is teleported once more, to the missile base, where they come face to face with Ares.

(Issue 6) Ares’ thrall, General Tolliver, prepares to launch the missiles as Diana and her allies engage his men. Diana is abruptly transported away from the missile base to Ares’ realm, while Steve catches up with Tolliver, gunning him down too late to prevent him entering his launch code. Tolliver and his men rise again as reanimated minions of Ares and renew their fight. Diana uses her lasso on Ares, showing him the truth of his plan: if he starts a nuclear war, humanity will be wiped out and no one will remain to worship him. Realizing this would mean his end as well, Ares calls off the attack, letting Tolliver die, and vanishes with a vow to never again interfere in human affairs.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Issue 4’s cliffhanger is resolved in a cop-out, as we learn that Colonel Michaelis (whose first name is revealed here as Matt) simply startled Etta when he appeared outside Julia’s house, causing her to slip and hit her own head. Michaelis is one of the good guys after all, having stalked Steve and Etta in order to help them.

On Themiscira, the Amazons find themselves cut off from the gods, their agelessness stripped of them as a result — while on Mount Olympus, the gods themselves are seen boarding a ship which will carry them away to “oblivion”. This is still not explained in any further detail.

Colonel Michaelis is killed in the battle against Tolliver’s men.

My Thoughts: Overall, a satisfactory conclusion to Wonder Woman’s first story arc, as our heroine and her friends save the entire human race, and Diana defeats Ares not with violence but with the magical power of her lasso (though, as noted above, she sure does use some violence on Phobos, reminding us that she is, after all, an Amazon warrior).

I was a little disappointed to see Michaelis killed off, though — I liked him as a supporting character.

Also of note is the fact that our heroes gun down American troops left and right during their fight in the missile base. I mean, yeah, they’re being shot at themselves, and I suppose a soldier is trained to shoot to kill, but still—these guys are, I assume, pawns of Tolliver and Ares, and probably not responsible for their actions. It seems a little extreme to storm the base and kill ’em all!

Otherwise, I honestly don’t have all that much to say about these issues. They’re fun, quick reads, mostly wall-to-wall action, and they wrap up the Ares plot quite nicely.

“REBIRTH!”
Pencils/Plotter: George Pérez | Scripter: Len Wein | Inker: Bruce D. Patterson
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Tatjana Wood | Editor: Karen Barger

The Plot: The gods return to Mount Olympus and Zeus orders Poseidon to help the Amazons heal Diana. Later, Diana leaves Paradise Island, returning to the world of man, where she uses Amazonian salves to restore Julia’s daughter, Vanessa, to her original age. Diana hires a publicist to help her spread the word about Ares, much to the chagrin of the United States military.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: As noted above, the gods are back at Olympus, their trip to oblivion having been canceled with Ares' defeat — though the fact that their departure was at all related to the Ares situation went totally over my head. I figured Pérez was setting up a new plot to follow the Ares story, since I don't recall any of the gods drawing a line between his actions and their impending departure. Maybe I'm just obtuse, but this seems like it could've been spelled out a bit more clearly.

While hanging out on Paradise Island, Diana wears a “casual” Wonder Woman outfit which appears to resemble the original Wonder Girl costume.

Hermes provides Diana with winged sandals, which allow her to travel between the world of man and Themiscira at will. Before allowing her to leave, Hippolyte makes Diana agree to some conditions, but the terms are unmentioned in these pages.

Diana’s publicist is a woman named Myndi Mayer, who initially approaches Julia about representing the Amazon princess and is rebuffed, until it becomes apparent that the military will block Diana from telling her story without such an outlet.

In England, an archeologist named Barbara Minverva reads an article about Wonder Woman’s lasso and makes plans to travel to the United States and steal it in her other identity as the Cheetah.

My Thoughts: First off, I must address something I’ve failed to mention up to now: George Pérez draws the most breathtaking images of Mount Olympus and Paradise Island, replete with Greek-influenced architecture, I think I’ve ever seen. He drew both of these locales during his time on NEW TEEN TITANS too, and I think I noted them when I covered those issues as well, but the work is just so good that it really bears repeating.

With that said, we find that Pérez and Wein have moved into a good old-fashioned “quiet” sub-plot issue following Wonder Woman’s inaugural six-issue epic. As with issues 5 and 6, there’s not really a whole lot to say about this one that’s not already covered by the continuity notes above. Our heroine is moving into the public eye, we have a new supporting character in the mix, and the next villain, the Cheetah, has been set up.

I will say that the pacing of this one is a bit sluggish, though. I’m not sure Pérez has the best grasp of the “all sub-plot extravaganza” yet, because while the opening pages go by pretty breezily, the second half, introducing Myndi and launching Diana’s publicity campaign, feel kind of cramped.

Though partly that feeling is due to Pérez’s tendency, as has been the case pretty much since this series began, to use lots of small panels on nearly every page. He’s working with some creative layouts here, but the end result looks like he’s trying to cram too much onto the page. Hopefully he’ll drop that approach soon and switch to some more traditional grids of six or fewer panels.

Next Week: The LEGENDS miniseries begins with issues 1 and 2.