Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #11 // Review
Amazo. The Super Adaptoid. Rogue. Traditionally, characters who can steal or copy super-powers from others can do so more or less instantaneously. Writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner work with the subtle horror of a more slow-acting power theft in Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #11. Artist Daniel Sampere competently renders the story for the page. Diana is up against a woman who is slowly robbing her of her strength. In another tightly-crafted one-shot story by the husband and wife team. Palmiotti and Conner continue to set the standard for the series's best stories in another satisfying issue.
Wonder Woman had been aiding the police in thwarting a jewel heist when she had stumbled into a strange encounter. One of the thieves attempted to use magical one-of-a-kind Alicut Star Ruby to steal Wonder Woman's powers. The thief had been taken away by the police, but the spell had been established. The thief could slowly rob Wonder Woman of her powers, but only while she was in close enough proximity. Now Wonder Woman needs to stay away from the villain who she means to defeat in a truly challenging conflict.
A story like this would benefit from a longer, more protracted period of gestation. The villain in question could make brief appearances over a year as the hero dealt with other adventures...gradually becoming aware of a loss of power. Palmiotti and Conner do a brilliant job of cutting to the chase on a story like this by focussing on long-term power loss as the central plot to a single story that plays out in less than 20 pages from beginning to end. It's not nearly as sharp as the pair's story in issue nine, but the two have a very solid understanding of what makes a Wonder Woman story work.
Sampere is as good with action and physical conflict as he is with the story's procedural and investigative ends. The artist admirably tackles some visual elements that don't always work on the comics page. More than a few striking moments happen in silhouettes, which are a challenge for any artist. Sampere manages to nail the impact of those silhouetted panels nearly every time. There's a clean, straightforward delivery of tension that is carried quite well from beginning to end. The initial fight is in a rainstorm that Sampere renders with a classily immersive atmospheric energy.
This is one of the more aggressively action-based stories in the series thus far. To Palmiotti and Conner's credit, they manage to keep the character's idealism intact in a story that rolls and bounces around the page like a standard superhero slugfest. The heart of what makes Diana such a unique character is her compassion. Palmiotti and Conner continue to hold that compassion close to the center of the story in another fun outing with one of DC's most beloved characters.
