Wonder Woman #764 // Review
Maxwell Lord has been seeking revenge against Diana. In another life she killed him. His revenge is nearly complete. He has only to make the final move. Diana will do her best to regain control of the situation in Wonder Woman #767. Writer Mariko Tamaki closes-out a chapter of Wonder Woman’s life with a climactic conflict rendered for the page by artist Rafa Sandoval and inker Jordi Tarragona. The issue paints a complicated story in broad strokes that give Wonder Woman a tremendous force to struggle against. Tamaki frames much of the issue in a single struggle between Wonder Woman Maxwell Lord that carries enough weight to deliver a satisfying conclusion.
Count Vertigo has been defeated. Wonder Woman explores the deposed monarch’s castle. Maxwell Lord’s daughter has evidently been tied to the count’s throne. She utters an apology by way of laying a trap for Diana. Maxwell Lord is ready to strike. True to form for a supervillain, he feels the need to explain himself as he forces her to struggle against his mind control. She’s not only struggling against Lord, but she’s also struggling against herself, her hands, and her own sword. There’s little question that she’s capable of defeating Lord, but at what cost?
Tamaki frames the climactic battle in a throne room on the other side of the planet. There’s an epic feel to the conflict that makes 12 or more pages of struggle feel exactly as compelling as they need to feel for the story arc to close with some sense of satisfaction. Diana’s overcome mind control before. Tamaki makes it feel like a real triumph this time, though it’s clearly a pyrrhic victory for her. It’s a struggle that has clearly shaken her. There IS a conclusion here, but Tamaki does a good job of balancing success with future conflict in an ending that reveals dangers to come.
As compelling as the struggle is, the title character isn’t allowed much more than a few paces forward throughout almost a dozen pages. This makes for an incredibly static conflict--a challenge for any artist working in the graphically kinetic world of comics. Sandoval and Tarragona maintain tense energy throughout the battle. The inner conflict of wills might have been planted on the page with more graphically intense visuals. Sandoval and Tarragona are wise to show the conflict largely in faces and postures. The artist keep the effects of the mind control and the struggle on both sides framed within hero and villain. This makes for a substantial a deeper emotional journey than might have been managed with a more fantastic visual representation of the struggle between Diana and Max Lord.
Tamaki has been working on a very small canvas. There have been several conflicts introduced to Diana throughout Tamaki’s run, but they all center around Maxwell Lord and his daughter/her neighbor Liar Liar. It’s remarkable how much ground she’s been able to cover with just those two arch-villains. Given how well she’s orchestrated things between one main hero and two main villains, there’s no rush for her to open up to new conflicts. The way Tamaki is running things, she could keep Wonder Woman fun and engaging for a very, very long time.
