Wonder Woman #607 (DC Comics)
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski & Phil Hester; Pencillers: Dan Kramer & Eduardo Pansica; Inkers: Andy Owens, Sean Parsons & Ebar Ferreira; Colorist: Alex Sinclair; Letterer: Travis Lanham; Editor: Brian Cunningham
Right from page 1 of this particular issue, I was reminded again of the impractical “design” of Jim Lee’s new WW costume. I had never seen the purpose of the straps on the upper arms, and apparently neither can the pencillers and inkers. The straps are missing on page 1 on one arm, back on page 2, missing page 3, on page 4, both off and on in panels on page 5. The guideline of “form follows function” was lost in this costume design with the result that the artists can’t remember to include them. Why do they exist? Bah.
Anyway, onward with the story. This rather bloody story. There’s been a lot of killing in this story arc. But at last in this issue Diana finally gets a reason why: the Morrigan, a composite triune diety, at present consisting only of two, want to drive Diana so far into rage that she can be absorbed into the Morrigan.
Okay, at last a reason for warping Diana out of “regular” continuity into a place where she has to re-prove her real nature. And not a bad one. But it has sure taken a long time t get to this point, with a lot of violence thrown in along the way.
I could question the suitability of having so much violence in Wonder Woman, but I’ve discussed my thoughts on the nature of the characer elsewhere.
I’ve mentioned the inconsistency of the costume, but the rest of the art works fine. I might think that Artemis’ bust balloons a bit much, but I’ll trade that off for the wonderfully rendered Minotaur. Too bad he committed suicide.
This is not a story arc I would hand to younger girls. All the violence is directed at women, almost all of it up to this point perpetrated by males. I don’t think sexual politics was intentionally a matter here, since the Morrigan are female, after all. But it does feel lopsided.
