Breaking the chains!
Creative Staff:
Story: Renae De Liz
Art: Renae De Liz, Ray Dillon
Colors: Ray Dillon
What They Say:
The Duke of Deception comes into his full power as a mass sacrifice charges the baetylus. Can Wonder Woman save her friends without revealing her secret identity?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a two week break that hopefully gave the team a little respite and a chance to keep things on track, it was definitely a long wait between issues for me. This book has been a strong weekly companion for the past half year that not having it felt like I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. Especially since the previous issue introduced us to our invisible jet and had a lot of fun.with Diana stepping up again as Etta and the Holliday Girls all worked with her to head into the thick of events themselves. That it turn into such a weirdly chaotic time certainly wasn’t what anyone expected, but the group dynamic with how it was presented both verbally and visually made it exciting to watch unfold.
The Legend of Wonder Woman has been moving through some great arcs and I love how the team here manages to create some great situations all while sneaking in proper delays to it so that there is a greater tease ahead. Diana’s being powerless and knowing that her choices would lead to doom either way has had her sitting things out until she decided to be an active participant in the fates unfolding. While she has no powers, she still goes the distance here – to the surprise of Etta’s friends in a great way – and she does the thing heroes do, throwing themselves in the direction others run from. What works here as she tries to save Etta, Steve, and everyone else, is that her connection to higher powers works to get her to realize that her true powers cannot be taken away. It’s not like she suddenly has all her abilities back, but she’s able to call where needed and garner help in the form of Pegasus.
And that’s a key moment for her in the changes she’s going through but it also shocks Steve enough that he remembers everything – at the moment that Diana sends him away. It’s a painful moment for both that’s well played here. The shorter focus is on Diana trying to get through to Deception of how he’s been deceived and Renae De Liz manages to humanize him here more than he has been so far but still keeps him adversarial in the right ways. It’s a good sequence to watch unfold as the team here gives him a sense of power but also humbles him along the way. It’s all prelude to the rise of the Titan, however, and that’s what may be most memorable here as it begins to burst forth – with some amusing Superman-ish color design about him. The end of the world is about to begin…
In Summary:
With a very welcome return after a brief hiatus, the Legend of Wonder Woman is mid-stride here and doesn’t slow down in the slightest. The scale of events continues to grow but there are such human and accessible aspects to it that you can climb on at any time and connect with it .Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon really are putting together something special here and the break works to reinforce for me just how much it’s become a fabric of my weekly experience in the realm of media these last six months. The story is moving in grand scale here with some fantastic smaller connections to really drive the narrative in a great way. Very recommended.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 5th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
