Wonder Woman #773 // Review
The Valkyries are tired of constant war. The tree of life is dying. The fate of the nine realms may rest in the hands of a misplaced Amazon and a squirrel she had befriended in Wonder Woman #773. The writing team of Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan concludes a heroically Asgardian chapter in the life of Diana with art by Travis Moore. The serial at the end of the issue continues to explore the life of a young Diana's intellectual coming-of-age in a story written. by Jordie Bellaire with art by Paulina Ganucheau. The search for truth in youth strikes an appealingly dramatic tone at issues' end.
Fully aware of who she is in the tenuous haze of temporary amnesia, Diana enters the halls of the Valkyries. They are ready to let everything fall, having ushered humanity through countless wars. Diana is trying to make her case that the balance needs to be maintained, but her words become lost as Thor, and his champions arrive to try to force an outcome that can NOT be forced. Meanwhile, somewhere in the past, Diana has returned from an underwater exploration with a text that may shed light on a past the Amazons have forgotten.
Conrad and Cloonan know that one of Diana's greatest strength lies in the rational empathy of her role as peacemaker. The tactical mind of Diana is cleverly contrasted against moments in which she's allowed to really let loose. (She even takes a very sharply tactical moment to have a drink this issue.) The Amazon's adventure in Asgard concludes with satisfyingly deep drama, giving way to Bellaire's nuanced look at the life of a girl who has grown up on an island of immortals. She's reached adolescence and is more than ready to question everything in search of the truth. Bellaire's story tenderly lays out the complexities of adolescent intellectual development in a way that respects their complexity without overburdening the narrative with abstraction.
There's a powerful pair of extremes resonating through Diana's visit to the hall of the Valkyries. Travis Moore cleverly directs the flow of action between the aggression of all-out battle and Diana's deeper unspoken moments of drama. While Moore captures a range of emotions on Diana's face, from anger and frustration to love and relaxation. The panoramic atmospheric backgrounds at issue's end are quite breathtaking. In the second part of the issue, Ganucheau continues to render a very cleanly presented drama that delivers a sense of the simplicity of Diana's youth while embracing the emotional complexity of her inner thoughts. It's a wonderfully representational art style that serves the story well.
With a major chapter in Wonder Woman's adventures completed, Conrad and Cloonan are free to move into a decidedly darker direction in future issues. The space that Diana finds herself in at chapter's end isn't anything new, but Conrad and Cloonan have proven capable of breathing fresh life into old concepts in the course of recent issues. Bellaire's story seems to be reaching a compelling point. There's more than enough in the distinct narrative style of Bellaire and Ganucheau to warrant its own series. Under their direction, Young Diana is an engagingly insightful person to hang out with.
