Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Art and cover by DON KRAMER and MICHAEL BABINSKI;
This is it! The mysterious leader of the paramilitary organization finally confronts Wonder Woman as she continues learning what happened to the Amazons and why reality is askew! J. Michael Straczynski’s epic tale keeps rolling on!
I was very disappointed with last month’s Wonder Woman, and this issue was the deciding factor in whether I would keep buying the title. Follow the cut to see if it passed or failed.
JMS’ revamp of the Wonder Woman franchise has been incredibly inconsistent. I loved #601, was left wanting with #602, and thought #603 was… well, let’s leave it at “I had some nasty words to say about it.” #604 was certainly better than the issue preceding it, but it wasn’t quite great.
The weakest link in JMS’ Wonder Woman so far is the story — which is interesting, because that’s what drew me to his revamp in the first place. Much like I said regarding his Superman: Earth One, the story is good, but nothing special. Sure, it’s something new for Diana, but in the end it’s a pretty standard story. Unlike last issue, the pacing of this story was solid (though the end dragged a bit), and we finally got an antagonist who wasn’t a faceless cookie-cutter goon. While the end product was your average mythological superhero comic, JMS plus Wonder Woman should equal anything but average.
Unlike Earth One, though, Wonder Woman doesn’t quite excel in the art department. Kramer and Pansica certainly aren’t bad artists, and I particularly like their layouts, but certain panels seem a tad rushed and/or sloppy. However, other pages are excellent (uch as those where Diana is fighting her new adversary), so it sort of balances out. Still, I would prefer consistency over a couple of nice pages.
In the end, I’m not sure what to do with JMS’ Wonder Woman. This issue doesn’t make me want to drop the title, but it doesn’t really make me want to buy the next one either. As I’m a bit of a completionist. though, I’ll probably keep buying the title either until JMS leaves or until it gets terrible.
Final Verdict: 6.2 – Browse
