Monday, February 15, 2016

Wonder Woman ‘77 Chapter #15 Review and *SPOILERS*




Gastric Relief for the Wonder Woman Intolerant

Written By: Marc Andreyko
Art By: Richard Ortiz and Christian Duce, Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters By: Wes Abbott
Digital Price: $0.99
Release Date: February 15, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s Day with their insignificant other. I say “insignificant” because one person I know you didn’t spend time with was Wonder Woman. For one thing, she’s a fictional character and cannot really “spend time” with anyone. But for another thing, the new chapter of Wonder Woman ’77 came out today, not yesterday. You might have been waiting up for her to show, clutching a bouquet of paltry posies and a lame Valentine’s Day card that you spent forty minutes picking out at the pharmacy, but she didn’t arrive, and instead showed up a day later as if to say, “I’m not deaf, I’m ignoring you.” Yes, Wonder Woman sees your weak attempts to get her attention, and she doesn’t care. She’s Wonder Woman for Hera’s sake! There are more important things for her to do than assuage your feelings. Look, just read my review of chapter fifteen and maybe you can glean a little but of what it means to be in her presence. Because let me tell you, nothing you’re doing now is going to get her to come over for dinner.


Explain It!:

Last chapter saw an appropriately attired Wonder Woman swim to the shore of Paradise Island to find Clayface had absorbed some magic clay and created two dozen Wonder Woman clones. Diana has exactly zero trouble twirling into her proper costume and pounding these clay pretenders into…er, clay. Her Amazonian buddies rush to her aid, but the phony Wonder Women spray some goop out of their hands that sets the Amazonians on fire. This really ticks off Wondy, who flies at super speed and tears the remaining doppelgangers apart.


Clayface manipulates the scraps into a gigantic Wonder Woman with a spiked mace for a right hand. This, also, poses precisely no threat to her at all: Diana grabs an old shield just sort of hanging out on the battlefield and flings it at the gigantic Clayface, shearing his arm off. This is decisive heroism, folks, no need to show Wonder Woman getting clobbered until her face looks like a bowl of plums at my grandparents’ house before she turns the tables. Sometimes superheroes are just better, you know? Clayface is pretty annoyed so he just turns into ooze and covers Wonder Woman in an attempt to smother her. He’s about to beat up her Amazonian gal pals, but then Diana just straight up commandeers Clayface, because she is also made from the magic clay he absorbed. See what I mean? I like to see a villain get totally outclassed at every turn, sometimes. It feels good when the good guys win.


After this, it’s nothing for Wonder Woman to make Clayface sprout wings and dunk him in a volcano, which makes him leap out and into the water, where he hardens into volcanic rock. Easy peasy. Diana is healed by the purple ray and sends some chunks of petrified Clayface in a tank to Steve Trevor. I mean, is there anything cooler? The art is great in this comic, and the fill-in pages/panels look very consistent with the rest of the story. After last chapter’s setup, this was all payoff and it flowed very well. This was a simple but clever premise for a story and I enjoyed all of it. Clayface started some shit and Wonder Woman finished it. She made compassion look cool and wore a bunch of awesome outfits. Hello, Wonder Woman I’ve Been Looking For.


Bits and Pieces:

It’s a showdown between Wonder Woman and Clayface, and I don’t have to tell you who’s got the winning odds. This is a great conclusion to last chapter’s setup, full of action and heroics in the traditional comic book form. The art is great, the premise is cool, and it costs a buck ninety-eight. If you know of something that will put as big a smile on my face for less than two dollars, then I’m all ears. Something legal, I should stress to some of our more shady readers.


8.5/10

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