Dynamite Entertainment/DC Comics 2016
Written by Andy Mangels
Illustrated by Judit Tondora
Coloured by Michael Bartolo & Stuart Chaifetz
Lettered by Tom Orzechowski & Luis Buhalis
This is seriously the team up that fans have been waiting decades for. Finally Diana Prince and Jaime Sommers are sharing an adventure together and the premise is great. A threat that all Government Agencies are brought together to combat and hopefully it’s one that combines enemies of both the IADC and OSI. I just wish it weren’t written as if it were for kids or like some cheesy seventies script. There are times when the characters broadcast what they are going to do and it’s more fanboy and less professional than it should be. Also while I like the sound effects for Jaime i’m more surprised they weren’t used throughout the issue instead of in only certain places.
That the two women are on their way to a meeting when a building explodes and they both rush to help is a nice way for them to actually meet. It’s well within both their characters to do exactly what we saw. So as it turns out both women are on their way to the same meeting and that’s cool it’s got a few nice moments when the meet again for the first time. Although once they join the men I don’t recall the shows being so heavily sexist in their dialogue. There has to be a better way to demonstrate tensions running high than resorting to sexist dialogue.
I do love the interiors here. There’s a definite tone, feel and mood that fits both the franchises extremely well while also feeling like it could be an animated movie. Judit nails some of the poses and facial expressions that made the characters iconic. The use of page layouts through angles, perspective and backgrounds really tell the story wonderfully. The work here really has that old iconic feel to it and it evokes such wonderful memories for those who have been around awhile. It’s classic comic book style will definitely appeal to fans of all ages.
I do like that time isn’t wasted in getting the story moving forward. As the teams split up and head to different locations the action begins in earnest. This is when it starts to really feel like it’s a proper comic book story to me. There’s wonderful action sequences and some great dialogue and the girls thanks to their abilities can rescue the Dr. they are sent to protect and still rush to Steve’s (Trevor) side and help them out as well. Once the actions starts the pacing of the story feels like it picks up and flows much better.
I like that we don’t know who is the bad guy yet or what they are truly after. That we kind of learn alongside our heroes is a good thing in my opinion. The use of a mole in their midst while cliche fits in with a lot of what we saw from these franchises in the past and hopefully means that something along the lines of Fembots are also in play. Plus the breach at IADC Headquarters was well done and we got to see IRAC and Rover and some great action from Eve as well.
All in all it was a good issue. It started off more than a little cheesy like Andy was trying too hard to make it an episode of the show instead of just writing a solid story but it morphs into one by the end of the issue. With some nice touches and homages to the past and something exciting to look forward to this could be what we’ve been waiting for.