“Under the Radar”
Creative Staff:
Story: Amanda Deibert
Art: Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan
Colors: Hi-Fi
Letterer: Janice Chiang
What They Say:
Wonder Woman shares a story from her childhood with Etta Candy about a traveler who changed her life.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Wonder Woman stories continue to be some of my favorites that we get from the digital-first side since I really miss things like Sensation Comics that we had a few years ago. Here, Amanda Deibert plays with history in a fun way to provide a nice tie for the Amazons while showing Diana something that would really scratch that itch of hers to get out into the world. Aaron Lopresti has long been an artist I’ve liked from his varied works and he puts in a good run here with Themyscira and the Amazons that we meet there while also going for some modern playful funkiness at the start. It all comes together well, especially with Hi-Fi delivering some great colors throughout.
The premise starts with Etta Candy on a military ship in the open see that’s about to have a missile likely sink it only to be saved by Diana. She does it in her own special way by bumping the missile a couple of times with her invisible jet before landing on the deck of the ship to visit with her old friend. I love the confusion of the sailor on deck and how Etta just treats it all as normal stuff. But the talk of the jet and its invisibility technology has her reminiscing with Etta a bit about the first plane to actually land on the island, which while unsaid is basically the comics version of Amelia Earhart. Having her crashland on the shore of the island, losing her navigator in the crash, definitely provides for an interesting parallel to the traditional use of Steve Trevor for it.
The story works nicely in that there’s no real “action” per se but rather the Amazons becoming interested in the flying technology that could make for a useful weapon of offense and defense at some point and that’s something worth exploring. It’s amusing seeing young Diana peppering the woman with questions and then the two working together to repair it and for Diana to be first in flight, making her realize even more how she wants to be able to freely go around the world. It plays out well and using the idea of the pilot staying there and working with the Amazons, going local and all that, is definitely an appealing vision of how the real story could have ended instead of tragedy.
In Summary:
Wonder Woman stories hit a certain sweet spot for me in what they can tell and this one hits a good part of that with a focus on Diana’s youth and a tenuous connection with the rest of the world that was a draw to her. Watching that child-like curiosity to her here combined with the active side of her and how it was used to expand what the Amazons could do comes together well. I also liked the nod to history which was as blunt as could be without actually naming names but it delivers something engaging and fun because of it. Definitely an enjoyable story that was well-produced through and through.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology and Kindle
Release Date: October 28th, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
