There have been abysmal takes on Wonder Woman before. I have read stories where one of the most powerful people in the DC Universe has been portrayed as naive, insecure, even jealous, a far cry from her better, stronger portrayals.
Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad’s Wonder Woman Vol. 3: The Villainy of Our Fears suffers from none of these issues. Their Wonder Woman is confident and compassionate yet unquestionably a warrior. Diana’s backed up by a strong supporting cast of allies, including two former paramours who get along swimmingly. The story manages supervillains, gods, and aliens alike with no sense of disconnect.
And yet, the whole thing is kind of “meh” in a way that perhaps explains why so many Wonder Woman runs (including, perhaps, the one that follows this one) turn to deconstruction to generate any excitement. Mind you, I don’t attribute this to something flawed in the character herself, but it certainly seems writers have more trouble with Wonder Woman generating the same kind of suspense than we’ve seen in the last two, or three, or four Batman runs.
Villainy ought be a Wonder Woman book that lands for me, given the presence of two or three of Diana’s classic foes. But insofar as Villainy Inc. is concerned, the writers inject the bad guys with so much camp that it’s hard to take them seriously, let alone be concerned that Diana’s under any real threat. Too, by the end Villainy gets at points downright treacly, such that neither danger nor sentiment feel earned. The writers aren’t doing anything wrong, but it doesn’t feel like they have anything new to say or different to offer.
[Review contains spoilers]
There was a time Wonder Woman villain Dr. Psycho appeared a real threat, able to cause significant harm with his mind control powers. But Cloonan and Conrad’s Psycho is overblown and melodramatic, given to monologuing, and that his plan turns on something called “Milk X-tra” is just laughable. From the start we see Psycho as subserviant to a greater power; his minions Dr. Poison and Professor Calculus (if all drawn from the Wonder Woman mythos) are equally campy and dispatched by the heroes fairly easily. If you want superhero battles, there’s superhero battles, but never was I concerned Diana was in trouble, nor is there anything here that puts a lasting mark on any of the characters.
[See the latest DC trade solicitations.]
The four-part “Villainy” story that begins this book ends on an auspicious note — Wonder Woman arrives at Checkmate headquarters1 in her khakis and glasses, saying that next time, “Call me Diana Prince.” This, at the end of an arc in which Diana resolves that all the difficulty she’s been through lately2 has only made her stronger (a trope applied to Wonder Woman constantly), though if late 1960s espionage Wonder Woman is your idea of a good time, this is a nice place to end up. Weirdly, though, the writers abandon this almost immediately; in the next arc, “Feral,” Diana keeps the khakis, but the “Diana Prince” identity is never mentioned again.3
“Feral” is Villainy’s best sequence, in that it’s mildly bloodier than the rest and does actually offer a couple of surprises. Artist Marguerite Sauvage, coloring herself I believe, offers strong, serious figures imbued with lovely watercolor-y pastels. Dig, too, Sauvage’s Wonder Woman costume with pants, as well as the return of Cheetah’s early 2000s appearance, if I’ve got that right. Fallout from Trial of the Amazons is tertiary in Villainy overall (just two pages dedicated to Diana finding out her mother wasn’t actually murdered!), but I also liked seeing here what “normal” interactions between Wonder Woman and the Esquecida “Amazons” might be like.
The eight-issue Villainy ends with a one-off team-up with Superman and Batman, and part one of the “Before the Storm” story4. Strangely for the first part of a story (though not for the end of a trade; you parse that one), Cloonan and Conrad go “full theme,” with Diana’s allies remarking on how dedicated she is and how much she means to them. Again, the sentiment (and sentimentalism) feels forced and unearned, the same with the “group hug” moment in the team-up (though I appreciate the writers' JLA callouts). I’m no fan of “emotionless Batman,” but a three-way Batman/Wonder Woman/Superman hug seems more something the writers might want than something that would authentically happen.
I do like what seems by the end of Wonder Woman Vol. 3: The Villainy of Our Fears to be a Checkmate office filled out with Steve Trevor, Etta Candy, ancient Norse hero Siegfried, and anti-hero Cheetah. That’s a Checkmate book I would read, though I can’t imagine that status quo will last longer than the next volume, Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad’s last. I know Tom King taking over has been met with consternation in some circles, but I’m certain at least that for better or worse it’ll be more moving than this one.
[Includes original and variant covers]
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With all having been said and done regarding Brian Michael Bendis' Checkmate, the upshot seems to be Checkmate consists of Steve Trevor and Etta Candy running spy missions out of an old Washington, D.C., post office building. ↩︎
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See Trial of the Amazons. ↩︎
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Early in the book, just sitting around with Etta, Diana is wearing glasses. Perhaps that’s meant to be shorthand for “we’re being casual,” but I’m not sure the writers thought the affectation all the way through. Surely they’re not suggesting Wonder Woman needs glasses to see? ↩︎
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It seems unusual to me (in that I don’t think it happens very often) for DC to chop trades in the middle of named storylines, though they did with the first Monkey Prince collection, too. I don’t mind it within reason, given that to an extent trades are just a way to read monthly sequential comics in another form. (Now I want a Diana Prince/Monkey Prince team-up.) ↩︎
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