Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Wonder Woman #8

By Hervé St-Louis
October 28, 2016 - 00:04

Barbara Minerva, also known as the Cheetah finally gets an extensive origin that chronicles her search for the mystical world of the Amazons and Wonder Woman. A woman of higher education and wealth, Minerva ignores the taunts and objections of the men in her life and decides to forge an identity for herself as a scholar first, and then as an adventurer. Will she find Themiscyra?

This issue does for Barbara Minerva what Flash #182 Volume 2 did for Captain Cold way back in 2002. It gives her a purpose and a reason to exist as the arch nemesis of Wonder Woman by looking at her life before she became the Cheetah. I always felt that as the major Wonder Woman villain, the Cheetah was not grandiose and worthy enough of plaguing Wonder Woman. Greg Rucka is starting to correct this problem this issue.

Finally, Minerva is given a worth origin that goes beyond the cliché and easy dénouements. Just like Wonder Woman, Barbara Minerva is caught in a patriarchal world where she is judged differently and more harshly than men. Her first tutor, a woman may try to give her as much as she needs to face the world but at the end of the day, a man will decide what is best for Barbara Minerva.

Her father is the first of those male authority figures. Unlike Queen Hypolita who seems supportive of Wonder Woman, Barbara Minerva’s father is distant and cold. Somehow, she still escapes his control to become an archeologist and an adventurer. It’s a shame that we do not see how she managed to rebel against her father. What we see instead, is how she is being challenged by her academic peers on her search for the Amazons.

Bilquis Evely has a pulp feel which is just right for this story that will make you think that Lara Croft is a red-haired adventuress. Romulo Fajardo Jr’ s colours add the right tough to an already pulpy comic. It’s a great mix and a great comic that I hope will become every Wonder Woman’s fans’s favourite.

Rating: 10 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12