DC Comics reviews 6/20/23 – Titans #2, Nightwing #105, Wonder Woman #800
Wonder Woman #800
It’s been an interesting approach for two #800 milestone issues. The Flash #800 celebrated Wally West with subtle nods to the other holders of the title of the Fastest Man Alive. Previous creators worked on short stories leading to a finale from the incoming creative team. Wonder Woman’s 800th issue came off disjointed and unfitting for comics’ greatest female hero.
Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad complete their run with their spin on Alan Moore’s Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow with Whatever Happened to the Warrior of Truth? Trying to adapt a Moore story was never going to pan out for Conrad and Cloonan as they’re just not strong enough writers to pull this ambitious story off.
Diana is in a semi-state of suspended animation and having visions/dreams/spiritual encounters with her allies. Though the foundation of the story is weak, Cloonan and Conrad do craft some nice moments with some expected characters. A cadre of artists including Joelle Jones, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Todd Nauck and Jen Bartel contribute to this art. None of the art is glaringly bad though there are some standouts.
The ending kinda just comes out of nowhere and it’s hard to consider if it will actually mean anything as soon as August. Next up is the Tom King run, which gets off to an auspicious start here.
King has struggled in mightily in writing layered female characters. He tends to write women as know-it-alls who are consistently smarter than any dude in the room, more powerful, agile, sneakier and overall better in any category. King hasn’t grasped that this is not a sustainable approach to making a character likable. It just makes them grating and boring reads.
It’s King who decided if Batman and Superman had sons, then Wonder Woman should have a daughter. In his Trinity secondary story, King introduces Trinity and she’s predictably dismissive and obnoxious to two characters, Jon and Damian, readers already have formed an attachment. King’s dialogue is too on the nose and clear how he wants readers to view Trinity “You didn’t see me because I’m — I don’t know — like better than you at all the things. Is this news? That I don’t regret, but you probably do, so I’m sorry about you doing the regretting if that helps, if it doesn’t that’s not on me.”
How is that supposed to make Trinity endearing? In just a handful of pages, King wants readers to go along with the idea that Wonder Woman’s daughter can avoid being detected by the son of Superman and son of Batman? That Super Sons dynamic has worked because that bond has been established for seven years now. Forcing Trinity into that mix and then proclaiming that she’s better sounds like a disastrous recipe.
Trinity’s obnoxiousness aside, it’s disappointing that Trinity’s introduction seems to push Yara Flor out of her spot as the Future State Wonder Woman. Of course, Jace Fox is also absent in this trinity tale and the Future State Justice League’s diversity seems to have been wiped out for a return to a more familiar status quo. Daniel Sampere’s art and Tomeu Morey’s colors are the highlight of the story, which has too often been the saving grace for King’s stories.
This big milestone issue never managed to feel special or a celebration of all things Wonder Woman so much as a means to sunset her current arc and set up a new likely divisive creative run.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Photo Credit: DC Comics