Review: WONDER WOMAN #12

WONDER WOMAN #12
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Nicola Scott and Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Published by DC Comics
Release Date: December 14, 2016

In the wake of the terrorist attack on an American mall, Diana and Steve concentrate on learning the extent of Wonder Woman’s newly gifted powers, while Etta and Ann deduce the origins of the perpetrators: the SEAR Group. To the U.S. Navy, the imminent threat is biochemical, but Ann may know better… rearrange a few letters and Diana’s true mission may well be underway.

It’s astonishing how much Greg Rucka can pack into a single issue without leaving readers feeling overwhelmed. Far from it, in fact, as Nicola Scott and Romulo Fajardo Jr. are able to cascade full page spreads across a single 20 page issue that still leave room for pregnant moments in smaller panels and plot development that speeds toward Year One’s endpoint.

Perhaps it’s because Rucka insists on showing who his characters are, instead of telling, directing these momentary pauses and subtle dialogue into the development of the overall narrative. In the span of a single page, we get clever and blush-worthy insight into the sexualities of our two supporting women — Barbara Ann Minerva and Etta Candy — although I’m not sure either one was much up for debate prior to this scene anyway.

We also get a beautifully poignant moment when Steve asks about who Diana felt most torn about leaving behind. The sequence does something so lovely, and reinforces Diana’s bisexuality as she holds regret in her heart for the woman she loved and left, while seeking comfort in her new friend, someone who would grow to mean much more to her. Paralleling the moment in Wonder Woman #9 (set in the present) where Diana and Steve finally kiss, this is another prime example of how beautifully Rucka is weaving these two stories together week after week.

The subtle moments extend past these more romance-laden instances, with the creative team working in beautiful sync to keep the whole of the story their telling in the forefront of our minds. The way Scott zooms in on Diana holding her wrist in discussing the Tree of Darkness. The look of realization running across Ann’s face as she breaks the SEAR Group’s anagram. The natural reaction Diana has to very unnatural things we eat, drink, and breathe in the world today. They all add up to spectacular depth and movement forward for the story as a whole.

Scott captures the ranges of emotion Rucka spreads out over the issue, each with astonishing precision, never succumbing to representing Diana as naïve, rather than simply inexperienced. But it’s in those Diana must interact with and confront that Scott’s talents explode, giving us these tortured souls, beset by Fajardo’s appropriately sickening green color palette, to impress upon us the true tragedy of what’s to come.

Would that all instances of hate were so easily explained by divine intervention, rather than socio-economic divisions of race, class, and gender. And would that we had a Wonder Woman to stop it all in its tracks in America today.

One more thought on the future, likely to be addressed in Liam Sharp’s next storyline with Rucka, not the end of Nicola Scott’s or Bilquis Evely’s: Kasia. With Diana’s lament for leaving this important person behind, and her recent (modern day) romantic movement with Steve Trevor, one has to wonder — what happens when/if Diana actually reaches the true, original Paradise Island and finds Kasia once again? Will she, an immortal, simply want to pick up where they left off? Will she have moved on? Will she have pined? And how will Diana, older and changed by her time in the outside world, react? This is where Diana’s sexuality and sexual history pays off narratively, and not just in terms of quality queer representation.

With the arrival of Wonder Woman’s ultimate challenger, I’m left at the edge of my seat for Year One’s conclusion in issue #14. But truly, there’s been no stone unturned along the way, as Rucka, Scott, and Fajardo craft this vision so succinctly — and yet richly — that I could simply immerse myself in any given issue for weeks on end. Thank goodness for the depth of Wonder Woman, the sheer commitment of its creative team, and the ability to have it all, maybe when we need it the most.

The Verdict: 10/10

 

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