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Wonder
Woman
The Mission
195/OCT/2003
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Greg Rucka
Pencils: Drew Johnson
Inks: Ray Snyder
Colors: Trish Mulvihill
Letters: Todd Klein
Price: $2.25 US/R16.95 SA
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Can Greg Rucka reignite the flame for DC’s
female lead? It all starts in this issue as major changes come for
Wonder Woman.
It’s the first day in office for Jonah McCarthy as he takes
on a job under Diana [Wonder Woman] as an employee of the Themysciran
Embassy. With politics and super heroes mixing in with everyday
life, Jonah prepares himself for an extraordinary work environment…
This is a welcome new look at an ultimately one dimensional and
boring heroine. In the few Wonder Woman comics I have read over
the past few months nothing has really impressed me about the comic.
The art has been rather dull and the writing and characterisation
rather boring.
In comes Greg Rucka [Wolverine,
Queen & Country] with a diabolical twist, the
mixture of politics and superheroes. It’s
a great theme that’s yet to be fully explored in today’s
mainstream comics. I’m always one for a new idea and so keenly
picked up this ‘restart’ issue of Wonder Woman
and was not let down.
Rucka does a masterful job of letting us in the ‘back door
of the White House’ and seeing just what happens behind the
scenes in Wonder Woman’s life as the Ambassador of Themyscira
From choosing a cover for her new book to debates over moral standings
with her involvement in criminal investigations, it’s all
here and it couldn’t seem more ‘real world’ if
you saw it as a documentary on CNN.
But don’t be caught thinking that this has turned into a boring
political-themed essay, far from that. Rucka has intricately
weaved in the fantastical elements to make Wonder Woman a fascinating
character again. Parts of her life as
a hero collide head on into her new role as a politician. Imagine
Superman popping by the office and the Embassy Chef being a real-life
Minotaur and you’ll see that this new Wonder Woman is far
from boring and mundane.
The artwork by Drew Johnson [Witchblade,
G.I. Joe Frontline] was a let down for me and made
the books overall score plummet downward. The thing which really
irked me was the figure work. The characters look stilted and are
often more like a ‘still life’ painting than a dynamic
image suitable for the comic page. The cross hatching on the faces
is also strangely done and comes off looking like dirt rather than
shading or shadows cast upon flesh.
A bold new start for Diana and her team, intelligent
and entertaining writing but the book suffers for sub-par artwork.
Score
7/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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Comic Reviews
