Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Wonder Woman #602

By Andy Frisk
August 26, 2010 - 22:46

Princes Diana easily puts the mythological wartime feats of ancient Greece’s greatest warrior Achilles to shame when she mows down an entire battalion of well armed US troops with her bare hands (at first) and a sword and shield (later). Diana, on a quest to save remaining pockets of persecuted Amazons in hiding world wide, manages to do so for a small group of them held up in an old temple of Aphrodite’s in Turkey. While there she gets into an existential battle of words with the voice of said goddess, and ends up ending the existences of several of the assaulting troops in a very bloody, violent, and visceral way…

No, this ain’t your momma’s Wonder Woman, or even your older siblings’. This is a very well written, edgy, violent, and (for being more fully clothed), physically hotter Wonder Woman. She’s a savior and a warrior. She’s a killer and a nurturer. She’s been these things before (remember the controversy she stirred up when she killed Maxwell Lord?), but now she’s a mass killer, and all the lives she takes makes the one little execution she performed years ago (in order to save the world) look like nothing. No, this isn’t even the Wonder Woman of a few years ago.

This is the Wonder Woman that J. Michael Straczynski is creating nearly from scratch before our eyes. She seems like a character better suited to a parallel Earth though. How, why, and if the changes that have occurred in her life are permanent is completely unclear. If they’re going to be permanent, a major re-write of DCU history is going to be necessary. If this is all going to go away…well, then what was the point? I’m not a fan of not knowing where my hero is headed and if the new costume, attitude, and origin are short term sales gimmicks or major reboots. Time will tell on this one.

Something that remains clearly evident though is the talent of this book’s artistic team. It is just about as close to flawless as a mainstream hero book’s art can be. This visual rendering of Princess Diana is the most interesting ever…period. The detail in her truly appealing new outfit is spectacularly drawn. When she drops the jacket for some more dirty hand to hand combat ease of movement, she looks even better, and not because she’s showing more skin. I’d take the old Diana in this costume and drawn by this team any day of the week over nearly every other visual representation of her.

Unfortunately, I can’t take this new Diana’s story to heart. For a character that was a pure representation of the power of love a few months ago during Blackest Night, she’s more Ares than Aphrodite now. While this might be great and compelling storytelling wise overall, this isn’t the Wonder Woman I’ve known and loved. 

Rating: 6 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12