Old gods surface once again.
Creative Staff:
Story: Louise Simonson
Art: Paul Pelletier, Norm Rapmund
Colors: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Janice Chiang
What They Say:
While on an archeological dig in Peru, Diana Prince uncovers the burial chamber of the Ayar Cachi, the Incan god of Earthquakes. Her dig is interrupted by the arrival of Cheetah who wants the power of Ayar Cachi for herself!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The arrival of this story set off all kinds of excitement for me as I haven’t read a Louise Simonson story in what feels like forever. Her work with the Superman group back in 90s during the triangle-numbering days made me a huge fan of the character but also her work on top of so many other projects she had been involved with. So getting a new story from her here, working with artists Paul Pelletier and Norm Rapmund, definitely delights. Pelletier and Rapmund have delivered well in the last few years with different projects I’ve seen them on and I love how here with Adriano Lucas’ color design that we have something that feels a little more old school in a way, especially with the narration, but has such vibrancy where needed to still feel very modern.
The premise here has Diana off doing some archaeological work in Columbia though she’s doing some of the heavy lifting as Wonder Woman. Her investigation has lead her to a cavern (where she breaks it down in a really bad archeological way we must overlook) to reveal a chamber that was designed as a place to hold the old god Ayar Cachi. It’s beautifully designed and held up well over the centuries and we see how she figures out how it’s likely set to free the god. But she knows that the gods like their traps so she sends the info off to Barbara Minerva to look into because it’s best to try and contain these things. Of course, she has no idea that Minerva is actually Cheetah so she’s surprised when she shows up hoping to gain this power for herself. Thankfully, Diana’s in civvies mode at first for this so we get to see her doing some real archeological dig work while waiting instead of just ripping apart walls.
With this story taking up the full issue, we get a good portion of it devoted to the fight that gets underway from both of them as Cheetah tries to activate the artifact. That mostly just sets bad things in motion as it’s not activating according to plan and we get to see how the two sort of work together but more how Wonder Woman uses Cheetah in order to try and handle the situation. Pelletier’s artwork is great here and just the initial moment where Diana suits up as Wonder woman sets the tone for it. It opens things up wonderfully and just powers forward from there. Cheetah has a lot of good scenes even with her singular focus because she’s got the right kind of mindset to go up against Wonder Woman without fear and to try and achieve her goals. More power is a simple one but the ambitions of the character are big so it easily makes sense.
In Summary:
I continue to enjoy the Wonder Woman stories but then you get something like this from talent as listed above and you’re just giddy. It’s a solid story that’s smoothly executed and has such a great design about it that you just love all the details associated with it. Pelletier has a lot going on with the ruins in the cavern and what it represents so you can be drawn into that as well as the elder god as it begins to rise. Simonson’s script is smooth and easy and I like that we at least got a little Diana time here as that’s an area that’s just too lacking in these stories. Overall, a very solid installment with a good story and artwork to deliver some Wonder Woman standalone material. Very recommended.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology and Kindle
Release Date: June 17th, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
