Creative Staff:
Story: Renae De Liz
Art: Renae De Liz, Ray Dillon
Colors: Ray Dillon
What They Say:
As the festival of Anthesteria dawns, so too does the possibility of an Amazonian revolt against Queen Hippolyta!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As enjoyable as the young Diana material was, shifting her up to the teenage years is definitely an important part of the storyline. There are a lot of tales to tell of her as a child and this series worked it well to explore some of the nature of the island, the people, and the queen as we ll. It provided the right foundations while adding that looming evil in the background that she could sense but not do anything about. And it worked nicely to give her several years of training along the way that can take place mostly off-panel before moving to where we are now in her teenage years. That continues to be fun because the reality is, how can you compete with an immortal that has thousands of years of practice and experience? No matter how far Diana goes in her training, there will always be a weakness to it not born of that experience.
This time around things are starting to “mature up” a bit with Diana as events are slowly starting to come together and you can see dangers everywhere. Her training with Alcippe has been proceeding along well, though again she can go only so far against her, but there are nice moments in understanding her growing interest in the rope and lasso technique and a desire not to kill – which is balanced by Alcippe’s caution that you don’t always get that choice or opportunity. The time the two have spent together has bonded them well, though it’s still very much a mentor style relationship. Alcippe’s a little more open about her past and how much she respects Hippolyta, which is important for Diana to understand since she just continually sees her mother as weak and submissive to certain elements of how their world works.
With the festival of Anthesteria coming into play, there are some neat ideas in the mix. Diana gets to meet up briefly with a pair of priestesses for Hades and Ares, a nice and welcome touch to the whole nature of the gods side we don’t always get, and it’s a gateway to the changes being forced through that could see her mother forced to step down as queen. There are elements of this that speaks well of the problems Diana and her mother have, especially as Diana sees it being about herself in the end – and logically so, but it also shows how some of those that are beholden to certain gods could be operating under their plan and how it could upset the balance of things. And the balance of life on the island is really unique, something that we do get a bit more of here in how the Amazons view the rest of the world and essentially believe it to be empty of all life after the events with the Titan ages ago. It’s a brief bit but the kind that adds some important understanding to how society here views the rest of the world.
In Summary:
Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon continue to put together a strong work here within the digital-first framework. I enjoy these kinds of books a lot because it takes a different tone and works a different canvas while still playing to the familiar. This duo has really been consistently strong from the start in telling a very large tale through the years while really allowing us to connect with Diana. The scripting is solid, I love that it takes the time to really talk and explain things as a parent would to a child, and the artwork is fantastic across the board – particularly with the color design. This is definitely one of my highlights of every week.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: December 10th, 2015
MSRP: $0.99