Future State is an interesting new part of the DC Universe, giving readers a glimpse into the future of the comics, to what could be following the events of Death Metal and new versions of characters we all know and love, as well as some new heroes. One of these new heroes that immediately jumped out at me was Yara Flor, the new Wonder Woman.
Future State: Wonder Woman focuses on this new character, and frankly, out of all of the Future State books out this week is easily my favourite. Having the new Wonder Woman be Brazillian is one of those things that when you first hear it grabs your attention, why not have a new Amazon warrior come from the actual Amazon right? It gives an exciting new spin on the mythology, and this is book really leans into.
The story follows Yara as she battles a Hydra deep in the forests of the Amazon, killing the beast so that she can use its horn to travel to the underworld so that she can free one of her Amazonian sisters from Hades. Aided by her Pegasus, Jerry, and a forest guardian spirit called Caipora, she travels into the underworld, but finds more trials awaiting her.
This issue sees a really cool blend of the Greek mythology we've come to expect from Wonder Woman books, whilst also doing new and exciting things by bringing some South America mythology into it too, chiefly in the form of Caipora, a childlike entity that we get to spend lot of time with in this issue. This mixing of mythologies and beliefs is done in a subtle way, and the book still feels like a classic Wonder Woman story, thanks to the inclusion of the Greek mythology too. This was a smart choice, as it means it hopefully won't discourage fans who really like the classic feel of Wonder Woman, yet gives people something that makes this feel like a fresh new book, and sets Yara apart from Diana.
I really enjoyed the books depiction of the underworld too, and the strange little creatures that work their actually made me chuckle out loud. Something about their weird little dudes made me think of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, and their incomprehensible gibberish speech bubbles just sounded like his weird noises in my head. Joelle Jones has managed to craft something truly fin and interesting here, and it was these small funny moments that really won me over and made me invested in the book.
With so many of the books in Future State dwelling on the darker aspects of the DC Universe, and feeling really depressing because of this, it was really nice to have a book in the line that actually has a sense of fun and wonder to it, one that isn't always dark and dour, but is something that you'd actually want to read month to month as an ongoing.
Out of all of Future State released so far this is the best one, not just because of the interesting new characters, and the lighthearted nature of the book, but because it's the only one where I read it and thought 'yes, I want this to be a big part of the regular DC Universe'.
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