Originally published on Patreon
One of the things that I've been finding with the Wonder Woman titles lately, is that books set around the Amazons that incorporate multiple characters and delve into the history and the culture of the people tend to be a lot more interesting than Diana's solo book. Nubia's titles have been great, the big crossover event was good, every time we've paid attention to the folks who just live on Themyscira and aren't really fighters it's been hugely interesting. But Diana having adventures as Wonder Woman tend to fall quite flat for me. As such, I was excited to see Yara Flor, the new Wonder Girl, arrive this issue; hoping it would inject some much needed new energy.
And whilst the issue itself still failed to really do a huge amount for me, Yara was absolutely the highlight. The two heroes have come together to take on a giant statue of the god Eros, a man that Yara has some tough history with and a bit of a vendetta against. The two of them work well together, and the combat is pretty decent. But all of the interesting dialogue and character moments come from Yara.
Eros made Yara fall in love with him in the past, tried to manipulate her, and was the man who murdered her mother; so there's a lot going on between the two of them. As such there's a ton of back and forth and arguing; whilst Diana is pretty silent for most of the issue and when she does speak doesn't add much into things. This issue kind of shifts into a Wonder Girl story. And whilst I have no complaints about that as I really like Yara, Diana has ended up sidelined in her own book.
The rest of the issue sees the Titan (Greek, not the hero kind) Hyperion stomping through Washington. Steve and Sigfried take it upon themselves to jump on the back of a motorcycle and chase after him, with the Asgardian warrior jumping on the back of him to have at him. It's an okay moment, and it gives the guys something to do. The moments leading up to this involving Cheetah are better, with her trying to maintain some kind of distance between herself and the heroes even though she's making a good one herself. I'd kind of like to see something of a shift in her character, to have her stick around with the heroes more if possible as she definitely brings some much needed energy to the team. She doesn't have to stay forever, nor completely reform and become a hero, but I like seeing her on the side of the angels.
The art on the book is really nice, and the action scenes all look big and bold, and are easy to follow. Yara looks amazing throughout, and this issue just reminds me that she doesn't have her own book anymore, and that's a sad thing.
I'm hoping this story improves a bit over coming issues, as it's still kind of circling around the 'it's okay' area right now. It's getting better, absolutely, but it feels like it could easily slide into uninteresting again if it's not careful.
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