
DC Comics 2016
Written by Greg Rucka
Illustrated by Liam Sharp
Coloured by Laura Martin
Lettered by Jodi Wynne
I do really like the alternate storylines that are happening in this series so far. It makes easier for the teams to get their pages done and to keep on a bi-weekly schedule. Also it gives us the opportunity to experience Diana in different phases of her life so it’s almost as if we get two monthly titles in one. I think it’s a smart move and one that early on is working extremely well.
The first thing I really noticed when opening up the book is the work that Liam and Laura do here. You can’t escape it as the Wazari Jungle and it’s denizens are the first thing we see. It’s absolutely stunning stuff. The attention to detail here and throughout is breathtaking and it’s nice to see that it never waivers throughout the book. The use of pages and panels to control the flow of the story, the use of backgrounds, angles and perspective are wonderful and it’s nice to see this kind of love and attention on Diana again.
The way Greg is reuniting us with Diana and Barbara Ann is fantastic. There’s a whole history here that is both fresh and new while also familiar. Their interaction and the fact that you can see or infer that being friends with Diana often comes at a great price. How often have we seen those who are her friends turn into those that are considered her enemies? It’s like association and love for her become your own downfall in some way. It may not be what Greg was going for but that deeper look at her through their dialogue is powerful stuff.
Then there’s the Steve Trevor arc that’s happening here as well. That while they are on two separate well let’s call them missions they are going to intertwine. That we don’t know much about the history between Diana and Steve anymore is fascinating stuff for me. It just means there’s a whole new world to explore here and to see when and where they ended up going their separate ways. Something had to have happened and I look forward to Greg showing us this.
With each Crisis that happened Diana’s roots got muddier and muddier as if no one knew what to do with her or which direction to go. So that Greg is incorporating all of them and ironing out the details so that certain aspects stick and others are proven to be fabrications, why we’ll discover alongside Diana, is bringing back this whole aspect to the character that we’ve been missing. There’s light and darkness, hope and despair all alongside this huge mystery of who she is and will be at her core.
There’s an air of excitement to see which aspects are going to be kept and which are to be discarded and how Greg is going to make Diana feel whole again. In the meantime she has to navigate her world, her past and present and we get to go along for the ride.