“Labyrinth”
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Tom Derenick
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Travis Lanham
What They Say:
Wonder Woman and Donna Troy enter an ancient and mysterious Labyrinth. Can they survive its challenges and make it to the center alive?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Dan Abnett’s one of those writers that I have a weird relationship with as a writer. There are books that he’s on where they’re layered and engaging with some really creative turns that I just admire the forethought and planning on. But he’s also skilled at the standalone story that highlights the character(s) in a way that makes it clear that he’s “got” them that others don’t always get. Here, he’s paired with the talented tom Derenick to give us a Wonder Woman story that makes it clear they know who she is but that Diana also knows who Donna Troy is, and in turn that Abnett and Derenick do as well.
It’s a simple premise setup in that Diana has invited Donna to go with her to visit a legendary labyrinth that challenges your skills. Diana goes every couple of decades or at least once a generation to ensure that she’s capable of handling its challenges and in turn handling what the world has to offer. We see that in their discussion with Ariadne, who maintains the labyrinth, as she talks about how the labyrinth reflects the growing complexity, darkness, and violence of the world itself. This is definitely the kind of challenge that works well for heroes like this as Diana uses it to reassure herself that she hasn’t gotten rusty while as a first-timer, Donna is being forced to realize that she’s just as capable as those around her.
Donna is the real focus here, though Diana has her struggles as well because of the changing nature of it, but you really get the sense that Donna suffers from a form of imposter syndrome. Which is understandable the way the character has been treated and written by others over the years and the kind of rebooting nature of the character. But here, we see her work through these fears with her sister at her side, mastering the understanding of the challenges in that they’re not meant to be about fighting but understanding the enemy at hand and how to solve it. It’s not action versus action, but understanding the way to bring peace to things. And returning war against war doesn’t bring peace- just survivors. It’s a solid piece for both of these characters to showcase their slightly different understanding of it all and how to move forward.
In Summary:
With a solid team that knows how to put together something like this, Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace is a really good read. It’s straightforward but knows how to get into the core of the characters and progress from there, to peel back the layers just enough and expose them so they know what they need to do to move forward. It’s not a deep or complex piece because neither character is truly that in this kind of form. But what it does is help to better cement Donna Troy in general and gives both of them a fun story to mess with. Abnett’s writing may get a little verbose in places but it covers everything well and Derenick’s artwork just hits that sweet spot of getting everything right with this group and what they face.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology and Kindle
Release Date: December 16th, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
