The world is not as it should be.
Creative Staff:
Story: Renae De Liz
Art: Renae De Liz, Ray Dillon
Colors: Ray Dillon
What They Say:
The seas have extracted a harsh price for Diana’s rescue of the outsider, casting her adrift upon the shores of Man’s World! A kind woman introduces her to this strange new place, but Diana does not wish to stay.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The first nine issues gave us a lot of material and ground to cover and De Liz and Dillon certainly did it in strong fashion. I loved their design of the world, the mystical elements, the simple magic of Themyscira, as well as the color and character design that made it stand out in a really strong way. So with it shifting to the outside world in the previous issue, kicking it off just outside of Boston, I was admittedly wary because this is going to look different. Can their style bring it to life in a similar but different way, capturing the right tone and feel after spending so long involved on Paradise Island? Thankfully they look to have found the right balance, making it a bit grayer in some senses while also finding the places to really bring a similar kind of pop and vibrancy to life with it.
While we get a little lead-in time that’s setting up something that I’m not sure what it is yet (I’ve long disconnected from a lot of the series lore over the years) with Thomas, a young man that’s being drawn in by something dark after he learns of his brother’s death, presumably in the war. This is all setup and it’s interesting but is just a piece of what’s to come and not the focus. The main focus is on Diana’s waking up in a small house with an elderly woman whose husband is the fisherman that fished her out of the sea. They’re north of Boston by some miles and fit in with that kind of quaint and fun hardy New England stock spirit, making for some animated and engaging conversation on her part as she talks to Diana. Diana, for the most part, has little to say and takes it all in but is able to understand her relatively easily. There’s a sense of minor shell shock from her after all that’s happened and she’s smartly just taking it all in.
There’s some really fun bits to this, mostly in coming from the old woman as she talks about her grandson and verbally spars in a fun and playful way with her husband who she keeps out of the house while Diana recovers now that she’s awake. Though I’m hard pressed to believe that they’ll be recurring characters, what Diana gets from them is important as she realizes the world is not as she was taught. She got a lot of that from Alcippe when she first set outside the walls of her city, but discovering the world is not a wasteland? Not fire and brimstone and full of death but rather alive and with love? It may not be magical like Themyscira, but there’s something to what’s here that you know she finds engaging and curious.
The book does bring two things into the framework to play with that has me excited to see how it will unfold. First, she ends up with her first taste of the American flag through the old woman, tied to the story of her grandson, and you can see this being used as a mark of respect and thanks when she does end up utilizing it. The other is in that she makes her way south to find a boat so she can get back to Themyscira but instead comes across Holliday College where a festival of sorts is underway. We don’t get to see her, but Etta Candy’s name is there to be had and I’m excited to see how she’s interpreted in this particular telling, especially based on the cover artwork we have for it so far.
In Summary:
I continue to delight with this series and the opening installment of life outside of Themyscira has eased my relatively minor and mild concerns. The team here has been knocking it out of the park from the get go and their shift to this part of the world opens up all kinds of new doors. This issue is a touch awkward if only because Diana is more of an observer, saying almost nothing to those that have helped her and just taking it all in. The minor narration towards the end helps and it’s understandable why she’s so cautious considering what she grew up learning that the world was like. It’s a solid awakening issue that has me excited to see what’s next with Etta Candy!
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 14th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
