“The Kind of Lies is Dead.” It’s written on the cell wall where Max Lord was nearly killed. “You take the time to write that on the wall in someone’s blood,” says Etta Candy, “that’s some personal #$%&.” She’s not wrong. Diana knows just who would have had that kind of a deep, personal need to kill Max Lord...and she knows that she’s going to be very upset to find out that he’s not dead. Writer Mariko Tamaki continues her deeply engaging introduction of the villain known as Liar Liar in Wonder Woman #768. Artist Rafa Sandoval, inker Jordi Tarragona and colorist Arif Prianto mix aggressively dynamic action with dark fantasy in an issue that delves a bit more into the origin of the new villain. 

Wonder Woman knows that Max Lord’s daughter has escaped prison. As the girl has a tremendous amount of power, she’s going to need to find her. Before she can do so, however, she’s going to need to fend-off an attack from the assassin known as Deathstroke. Meanwhile, Emma Lord’s psychoses are getting worse. A powerful psychic girl undergoing a psychotic break from reality is bad enough. A psychotic psychic girl with a vendetta against her father? That’s dangerous for everyone. 

Tamaki carves a lot of poetry into the plot. A victim’s death is proclaimed on the wall in his own blood. A psychotic psychic is knighted by her own hallucinations. The psychotic psychic knight is lured into a trap by the knowledge of her failure to slay her own father. In the midst of it all, one of DC’s greatest assassins is confronted by a champion who is looking to help a girl who thinks she’s evil. Tamaki has tapped-into one of the most impressively heroic aspects of Wonder Woman’s character: she seeks to save and improve the lives of even those who want her dead. In the course of Tamaki’s run on the series, Wonder Woman had a few opportunities to do away with both Lord AND his daughter. Tamaki has her going for the greater good, which is precisely what makes Wonder Woman such an inspiring hero. 

The art team does a good job with mood. There’s a shadowy feel to the investigation into the attempted murder of Max Lord. The world seen from Liar Liar’s eyes contrasts against this as a grim fantasy guided by a spectral rabbit. The blur of action between Diana and Deathstroke is particularly impressive. A shadowy figure appears in the window panel in the middle of a page in dark rendering by Sandoval and Tarragona. Prianto lays-in a few red blurs in the bottom panel. Next page, Wonder Woman’s on top of Deathstroke as they both fly out of a window amidst a shower of glass shards. The superhuman intensity of the combat is vivid and beautiful.

The four-page combat begins the second half of an issue that manages to focus quite closely on Emma Lord without diverting too much focus from Wonder Woman herself. It’s a strikingly deft balance between hero and villain in an issue that continues to distinguish Tamaki as one of the best writers to work with the character thus far. Minor nagging details aside, Tamaki is treading a thoughtful path through a very appealing run on Wonder Woman.

Grade: A