By Edgar Miraculous Dyer
The first TEN issues of Michael W. Conrad's, Becky Cloonan's and Travis Moore's tour on the Wonder Woman comic, called Wonder Woman: Afterworlds, is an exceptionally written and illustrated literary work - all the more exceptional, ..being a comic book story.
I suppose you could call it, "a good start", since the creative team just wrapped its opening story arc, Afterworlds, and is moving swiftly onto its next one, already much anticipated, by fans. However, I think calling it a good start diminishes it, somehow. It is, simply put, one of the most entertaining story cycles, to be featured in the Wonder Woman comic, in recent memory. It may be said to herald a second Golden Age, in crafting the sort of wildly imaginative, far-flung, pulpy adventures, we haven't seen, since Mike Sekowsky's work on the comic, ..in the Mod Era 1970s.
Afterworlds is plain good reading. Let it stand, as that.
In reading it, I recall films, like Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb, Krull, Monty Python movies (like 'Holy Grail, Life Of Brian) and film adaptations of Lewis Carroll's books, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland ..and Alice Through The Looking Glass. I recall Alex Raymond's classic Flash Gordon newspaper strip, Jack Kirby's New Gods comics (of course) ..and Walt Simonson's landmark run, on Marvel Comics' Mighty Thor, in the 1980s. What Michael W. Conrad, Becky Cloonan and Travis Moore have achieved, here, is truly phenomenal, and I urge you to get it and see for yourself...
Since I won't come close to doing it justice, with this review. I won't. You'll just have to get it.
Want to KNOW WONDER WOMAN, the way I know Wonder Woman? You've got to get ALL THE WAY down to the... STAR-SPANGLED PANTIES!
A couple of weeks ago, amidst announcement of an Indo-Pacific Alliance and another 'Cray Miserables' Trumper rally headed for the U. S. Capitol, ..I read the Afterworlds finale, Wonder Woman #779, again.
Wonder Woman #779 reminds us that Wonder Woman is an Amazon daughter of ancient freedom-fighters, for whom the expression of free will, justice and compassion is practically a religion. In Conrad's and Cloonan's hands, the threat to freedom and to the future, by the Roman god Janus, is a cosmic one. It is a threat, which Diana is uniquely positioned to confront, as an Amazon and as Wonder Woman, ..and there is clarity in that, from Issue #770, straight through #779.
The clear articulation of classic, superhero comic enmity, too often missing in the pages of Wonder Woman is at work, in #779. Classic, superhero comic enmity is what happens, when the conflict between the superhero and a supervillain makes such sense, as to be inevitable. Diana's clash and confrontation, with Janus, has to happen. After seeing the heroine and her Asgardian companions, through amazing adventures to bizarre places...and bloody Janus, ..you will remember that about Wonder Woman: Afterworlds.
The totality of Janus's look, crafted by the masterful pencils of Travis Moore and the colors of Tamra Bonvillain, is scarier, than a barn full of farming tools, in a tornado (movie). Green-skinned Janus's feminine aspect - there's TWO of her ..or them - looks like she stepped out of a James Wan horror and may rival DC Comics' Queen of Fables, ..in weirdassness! With Janus, we see Wonder Woman creator's, William Moulton Marston's, creepy, quirky Roman gods returning to the comic, in a big way! Aside from being scarier than crap, Janus, is one of the Amazon's weirdest modern adversaries, in powers and motivation, by a nautical mile. She is also metaphysically transgender, which makes Janus, a landmark character in the history of the Wonder Woman comic.
Michael W. Conrad, Becky Cloonan and Travis Moore have created Wonder Woman's first transgender super-villain. That is not weird, in itself, but, I loved the overall weirdness and the imagination, that went into this issue. Brilliant...and James Wan's Lipstick-Face Demon gets a new bestie!
I am not much knowledgeable of the art of lettering, professionally speaking, ..but, this issue was a whole lotta' words, f'ur damn sure. My eyes did not tire ..or bleed. The lettering didn't diminish art or story, and enhanced the suspense, in some instances. Pat Brosseau beat the keys off the board, with Wonder Woman #779, and the quality of his work is omnipresent, in the crisp visual and narrative impact of this issue...
In our enjoyment of reading it.
According to Michael Conrad, Diana's Asgardian companion in Afterworlds, legendary Germanic dragon-slayer, Siegfried, is related to Gundra, her sister Valkyries and his mythical in-laws, the Von Gunthers (as in Baroness Von Gunther and 'Warmaster'), through marriage - these are characters, that have been in the comic, since the Golden Age Forties! Siegfried is the modern answer to Robert Kanigher's Mister Genie - a pitch-perfect, long overdue, superhuman male playmate, for Wonder Woman. He promises to be an interesting, romantic or non-romantic rival for Diana's droll, editorially assigned instant-husband (since World War II), Colonel Steve Trevor - an anti-Steve, even! While brand new to us, Siggy, as he's called, is already in the family of Wonderverse characters, and in that, I think there is rationale for keeping him around...
At least, long enough to annoy the hell out of Etta and Col. Steve!
Moore's and Bonvillain's visuals surprise us, giving their wild, Germanic folklore hero, a proto-Indo-European look, more common to India, Afghanistan, modern Southwest Asia or even the Arab World - a diversity curveball, surely! Had Siggy had been in the mix, when we were kids, with his cool, Kirbyesque armor, Asgardian background, devil-may-care attitude and magic sword, ..I have no doubt I'd have wanted the action figure or plastic Ben Cooper Halloween costume!
We may never see him, again, after this run, but, I think Siggy is a keeper. Eighty years in the can, this comic needs the kind of classic supporting cast, we see in the Superman and Batman comics, ..and I think this quirky, sexy Asgardian is just what the doctor ordered to stir things up!
The Cloonrad-Moore run is turning out to be one of the most imaginative runs, since Mike Sekowsky's. I still do not feel I've covered the totality of its genius and artistic supremacy, quite thoroughly enough. Drop Etta (any Etta), Mala, Col. Steve, Queen Desira and I Ching into the mix, ..you've got a second Golden Age, for this comic - like the one, we almost got, right after the Mod Era ..and just before the Wonder Woman TV show went supernova, way back in 1975. We're so close to getting another one, ..again.
We're always so close. Look alive, Kangaliers!
Edgar Miraculous (Mel) Dyer, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio) and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill.
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