Creative Staff:
Story: Amy Chu
Art: Maria Laura Sanapo
Colors: Wendy Broome
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
What They Say:
As Katie faces her biggest villain yet, can Wonder Woman save her one more time?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Amy Chu hit a sweet spot with me with the first issue of this storyline that even as completely predictable as it is delighted me. I liked what she introduced, the ties to the past, and the mix of playfulness and Disney-esque villain that we get from it in the present. It also didn’t hurt in the slightest that Maria Laura Sanapo put together a great-looking book with distinctive material for the two main time periods that we get here. The result is a pretty fun story that showcases some of the best parts of Diana and the impact she has on people over the years. And a little bit of fun revenge, though I’m not sure that it’s what an Amazon would call it.
With a look at Katie’s story previously when she first met Wonder Woman, she relates more of her past to Alanzo this time around as well and it’s a delight to see how the two connected. Diana was always one to feel kinship to women like her and Katie as a photojournalist in the 40s would certainly fit that bill. Seeing how the two helped each other in that period to get out there and do more was a lot of fun. But I also liked seeing how things kept on at different times with Katie getting older and Diana still coming to see her and spend time with her, learning how to have fun in ways that still largely felt alien to her and her existence on Paradise Island. The two were well-matched to connect with the world in different ways and there’s a lot to love with how Sanapo brings it to life here.
The present-day storyline isn’t complicated or hard to predict but it plays out as it should with Katie being drawn into the director’s office with Alanzo helping her in order to make it clear that she’s not going to be staying. Everything takes the “twist” when a well-trimmed man arrives claiming to represent Katie and revealing that the place has been bought, the director fired, and Katie set to live here as long as she wants. I mean, we all knew it was Diana, and seeing her show there to partake in it does feel like a dose of revenge in its own way to help out a friend. It’s a nice little bit of justice for someone that was being treated as badly as she was and seeing the way everyone reacts to Diana is always fun – particularly since nobody was taking Katie too seriously on it. Such is the tragedy for too many people as they get older in that others don’t listen and don’t believe the stories told.
In Summary:
There’s a lot of fun with this story overall and Amy Chu played all the parts right in making it work. You could see every beat a mile away but you also couldn’t look away because while not a world-ending cataclysmic story, it’s the type of story that you enjoy seeing in shorter form like this with a series like this. Modern comics doesn’t allow for it in the mainline books anymore so I continue to be thrilled that it gets a chance in a series like this and that we have writers like Chu that know how to manage it right alongside talented artists like Maria Laura Sanapo to give it the charm and character it needs.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 10th, 2021
MSRP: $0.99