Wonder Woman #44
DC Comics
Writer: Meredith Finch
Pencils: David Finch
Inks: Jonathan Glapion
Colors: Brad Anderson
There are just too many dudes with bows and arrows in comic books. That is the main cause I am telling myself I have for disliking this current Wonder Woman run. I have not encountered an issue that is compelling enough to get me to add it to my monthly pull-list. But this is the second issue I’ve checked in on during this arc and this issue is, unfortunately, no more compelling than the last.
Wonder Woman continues to find herself embattled against the hybrid god, Aegeus, who is campaigning to be the new god of War. Ya know…I guess since we’re approaching an election year. Almost half of the book is also dedicated to Donna Troy’s arrival in London, as well.
Admittedly, I have not done the best job on keeping up with the DCU’s continuity since the launch of the New 52. What I have seen of the Teen Titans is that it appeared that Wonder Girl was not there in the traditional model that I have been accustomed to. At least not as I remember her. Either way, I am sure they are up for being rebooted, just like everyone else in the DCU. If this is leading into positioning this Donna to be more “in” the DCU and to get her over to a new version of the Titans, that might be great. And I’m all for it. Either way, I like seeing her interact with Diana. The aspects of her story that I did not like is the the whole “I’m an Amazon in a big city”; it’s a bit that’s been overdone. That tack is not interesting
and they need to find something more engaging for this character to latch onto to become interesting. The whole problem with Donna Troy is when she is just written as a re-skinned version of Diana, and that is directly where the creative team went with this. I feel like the Finch’s can come with something more engaging than that old yarn.
I know that costume redesigns tend to be very polarizing things. I’m all for a more fully clothed Wonder Woman. But there is an AWFUL lot going on with Diana’s new threads. I’m not sure that I understand the point of thigh-high boots if you’re wearing leggings. I’d rather see full leggings in blue and some ankle-high buccaneer-style boots with a heel. Just to be clear, the new costume is leggings, with thigh-high boots, and a skirt, and gauntlets, and armor in the shoulders, and a red full-torso ribbed breast-plate. And going to this more super-hero-y looking get-up does not sync up with her transition to being the god of War. I would think that would have moved her to remain in the more Greek/Themiscyra outfit with sword and shield. It’s a shame, because otherwise the art is good. Really good. I love the look of Hephaestus when he shows up. And Donna’s rig is pretty sweet. But again, in one of the final panels, she has supposedly been given a set of street clothes by someone she has rescued. But they look like a costume. I like the costume, I just don’t get why the civvies look like something a crime-fighter would wear. Final note on art is that there is one panel where Diana’s bare back is shown as she is taking off her shirt that seemed out of place and unnecessary.
That leaves us with the story. London does not grip me as the new stomping ground for Diana. The city setting does not immerse me more in the story the way it is written; it just feels like AnyCity USA, so I don’t get the need for it to be a thing that she is now operating out of London. The primary villain in this arc, some whiny disgruntled cast-off offspring of one of the Olympians, just does not feel like a threat. OK, so somehow he got hold of arrows forged in Hephaestus’ smithy. But in one panel the guys is talking about going to play Arkham Knight on the PS4, then he shows up in the last panel as if we are supposed to believe this guy is a total bad ass. He’s inexperienced, unproven, does not really know his powers, and is armed with some special arrows (which will eventually run out), and he’s taking on the new god of War. He’s about to get his ass kicked, so we can please just get on with it and move on to the next arc?