WONDER WOMAN #14

The Circle, Part One of Four:  What You Do Not Know Yet

January 2008

Written by Gail SImone

Pencils by Terry Dodson

Inks by Rachel Dodson

Cover by Terry and Rachel Dodson

Synopsis

On Themyscira, Hippolyta performs an ancient ritual, asking four unknown persons if they repent.  All tell her no.  The final person tells Hippolyta that to make the tribe whole, she must kill her daughter.  Hippolyta refuses.  Elsewhere, Wonder Woman is fighting gorillas enhanced by Gorilla Grodd.  Wonder Woman takes down the leader, but only to talk.  When she learns they only wish to stop poachers, she agrees to help.  At the Department of Metahuman Affairs, Sarge Steel orders Diana Prince and Tom Tresser to investigate the Society.  In Steel’s office, he meets with Lt. Colonel Candy, who has been assigned to investigate Agent Prince.  At the Society’s offices, Agents Prince and Tresser encounter Captain Nazi.  As he attacks them he tells them both that the Nazis are about to invade Themyscira. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I can’t think of anyone in recent memory who has come on board to a series with as much expectations as Gail Simone.  Not only is she attempting to kick start a title that failed in a recent reboot and then mired in a crossover event, but Simone is perhaps the most notable and prolific woman writing comic books who is now writing the series featuring perhaps the most recognizable woman superhero in the world.  Before it was ever announced that she would be the new writer, I think there are many people who wanted her to be the new writer.  The question at this point is:  does she live up to expectations?

The answer, for me, is that this issue gave me exactly what I wanted and I can say that fairly easy since I admire Simone and like her writing and, really, this issue offers a lot of why I like her:  the offbeat humor, the dialogue, and the great characterization.  It is obvious that Simone has read older issues of Wonder Woman and understands her well enough to write a convincing Amazon Princess.  I love the way she assessed her fight with the gorillas and knew she had won, but still stopped her attack to talk things over.  To me, that is a perfect example of Wonder Woman.

Perhaps the best part of this issue is the fact that Simone doesn’t try to alter or revamp the previous 13 issues:  instead she builds on what was already there.  It is a good choice because Simone has a lot of ideas and seemingly uses them all in this issue, so if she had tried to revamp Diana, it would’ve become a big mess.  Instead, we get a lot of madness and intrigue and some excitement leading up to the next issue and this title hasn’t had much of that in the last 13 issues. 

I am a little confused regarding the appearance of Etta Candy (assuming that is her as I don’t think a first name was given).  First, Etta Candy should be older than what she is shown here and second, her character never showed so much insight as she displays here.  I am willing to believe that perhaps this is a different Etta Candy than the one in the previous volume of this series, but with the changes wrought from the middle Crisis, who the hell knows anymore. 

Finally, I am also a little confused to this “Society” that Diana investigates.  Is this the same Society from Simone’s Villains United mini-series a couple of years ago or is this the Injustice Society in the recent Justice League of America story or is this something else altogether?  Is the Society connected in some way to Wonder Woman’s past (given the World War II connection) or is this new?

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