A little musical interlude…
Creative Staff:
Story: Renae De Liz
Art: Renae De Liz, Ray Dillon
Colors: Ray Dillon
What They Say:
Diana and Etta attend a gala affair, but while the Holliday Girls makes friends onstage, Steve Trevor is called away for urgent business!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Legend of Wonder Woman has certainly worked some engaging material as of late even as it did the whole info dump kind of angle with the past. Spending time bringing Zeus into it and making clear his big plan for essentially wiping out things and starting from scratch, protecting Themyscira of course, certainly sets the stage for the kind of battles being fought in a larger scale. Giving Diana a chance to truly make a choice amid all of this and to become one more with the world of man because it helps to cement her position there more all while still very much making her of two worlds. That kind of balance is something that I definitely like seeing playing out and it allows Diana to experience so much more on both fronts.
Now that she’s powerless, to a degree, she’s embracing her side in the world of man in an interesting way. Seeing her go from being completely against knowing anything or even talking to people – especially men – to being all dressed up and out on a date of sorts with Steve and Etta is a radical change for her. The big event for Etta and the Holliday Girls is what dominates the installment, but we get some really nice time in seeing Steve and Diana together as he really is the classic good guy from the time as immortalized in film and TV. He is pulled away from things simply because of his celebrity status and that lets Diana head off with Etta, but there’s a lot of charm in seeing these two together because they are both so awkward and tentative without being utterly goofy and frustrating.
Most of the story does revolve around the Etta and Pamela rivalry and it is something that works well even if I do find it to be just a little too predictable at this stage. I keep waiting for the twist to come into it and we get a touch of that with Etta’s crush lieutenant telling her that Pamela isn’t as bad as she thinks she is. Considering the history the two women have, well, you can see why Etta won’t believe it nor would the reader unless something radical does happen. So when Pamela moves up Etta’s gig by two hours it just reinforces the problem and why Etta is as she is. What we do get is a really fun musical number – incredibly hard to pull off in comic form – and a wonderfully delightful guest appearance by a very young and scampalicious Alfred Pennyworth. Similar to the Perry White nod before, it’s the right kind of little connection that delights without distracting.
In Summary:
The book does a lot of good interlude character material and really draws us to both Etta and Diana more. I can’t remember the last time I read Etta in the mainstream DC Comics (caveat; I haven’t read any New 52) so I’m just utterly delighted that Renae De Liz is using her as much as she is here and providing such delectable design work for her and the Holliday Girls. As much as I love the world I live in today, there are aspects of this time period in terms of culture and style that are a larger draw for me. De Liz and Dillon continue to bring that to life wonderfully. Hell, the design work on the entrance to the party with the architecture and lighting alone wowed me this issue. This team is really doing some great work and I’m praying very hard for a massive hardcover omnibus edition of this when it’s all said and done. The Legend of Wonder Woman is a masterclass of focusing on a character and really building their world in a strong anf fantastic way.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: April 7th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
