Wonder Woman #36

War-Torn

Writer: Meredith Firth
Penciller: David Finch
Inker: Richard Friend
Colorist: Sonia Oback
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Cover: Finch, Friend, & Oback
Assistant Editor: David Piña
Group Editor: Matt Idelson
Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston

This issue of Wonder Woman marks the start of a new creative team. Whereas the previous team seemed to keep Wonder Woman mostly isolated from the rest of the DC Universe, this team demonstrated a desire to include the Justice League right off the bat. The cover is a perfectly solid cover by David Finch, who is a perfectly solid artist, which really helps the book out as a whole.

There's a lot of backstory stuff going on with the Amazons that doesn't involve the Flash, so I'll just hit on the points that do matter. When several villages are seemingly wiped off the face of the Earth by natural causes, Cyborg summons the entire Justice League to the new Watchtower. Flash has installed some plug-ins to help get rid of the Lex Luthor smell in the satellite.

Cyborg shows them the devastation in Thailand and Ecuador, and Flash suggests it could have been caused by sinkholes. But Batman shoots that theory down, saying sinkholes don't close up like that overnight. The only reading Cyborg is able to gather is a high amount of vegetation, so Wonder Woman tracks down Swamp Thing in Thailand and ruthlessly attacks him.

Aquaman soon arrives to help calm Wonder Woman down, and Swamp Thing angrily explains he had nothing to do with the villages and is just concerned by their disappearance as the Justice League is. As Aquaman and Wonder Woman fly off in a jet, he confronts her about her rash attitude. She admits she feels like she's being pulled in a million different directions with all the trouble the Amazons are facing and Superman's recent battle with Doomsday. Diana says with all her responsibilities, no matter what she does, she'll always be letting someone down. So Aquaman tells her to make sure she doesn't let herself down.

The Good:

This was a perfectly fine start for a new creative team. It introduced a new mystery for Wonder Woman to solve, involved some nice guest stars through the Justice League, and including a surprise fight with Swamp Thing. The art was nice and clean, but not particularly spectacular. I'm sure I'd have different feelings if I were a Wonder Woman fan, but as a general DC comics fan, I thought this issue was fairly decent.

The Bad:

There wasn't a whole lot of Flash here, but it was nice to see he wasn't forgotten. His sinkhole suggestion wasn't particularly bright — I'd expect more from a scientist — but at least he offered up a suggestion, something none of the other Leaguers did. And Flash's joke about Luthor was rather lame, but it did help me figure out where to put this issue in my timeline. This is after Luthor gave the Justice League his satellite, but before they officially made him a member of the team.

Final score: 5 out of 10

Next time, we'll continue with the Wonder Woman theme with a passive Flash appearance in Superman/Wonder Woman #13.