The publication history of Wonder Woman could often be read as one of how not to keep up with the times.  In the 1960s, when the Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman got a sci-fi reboot and were thrown into the silver age (along with all of the other developments at Marvel) Wonder Woman was still an incomprehensibly bad comic focused around her adventures with temporarily displaced versions of herself, as her adventures often included Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot.  As was written by Robert Kanigher, the series proved resilient to get updated to the times, as other titles were revamped and made to be more accessible to adults, Wonder Woman lagged behind, although she did eventually get a shortlived revamp that helped propel her into the modern age.  At present there is another change underway in comics, and perhaps never before have female superheroes been presented in such a respectful way, with the likes of Batgirl, Silk, Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel and Olive Silverlock leading the way for a new wave of female heroes.  Wonder Woman is once again not really being included in the new wave, despite being comics’ most identifiable female superhero.

Part of the problem has been the approach of the creative team.  While the original run on the Wonder Woman series under the new 52 was considered to be a standout, it seems as though the writer Meredith Finch, is hesitant to fully let go of what has come before and therefore has not yet begun to fully put her own spin on the series.  The same continues here, as Diana is still brought into problems surrounding her role as God of War, what has now become a fact for the character’s existence, even if it was more of a natural progression of the story under Azzarello.  In this issue Donna has escaped from Olympus and Diana is trying to find her, but she finds more than a few obstacles in her path, including the assassin that has been after her before.

Jim Lee has likened Wonder Woman to someone’s grandmother, likable and approachable, but not someone that would probably ever be considered cool or edgy.  While on the one hand there is not really that much wrong with Wonder Woman from a creative standpoint, even if the stories seem to be stuck a little bit in between various influences, the main problem with this series is becoming evident that it is simply falling behind the times.  Wonder Woman is recognizable to all, but favored by few, and while change is underway in other titles for other characters to make them more approachable than ever to all fans, it is the same old thing for Wonder Woman.  The character deserves not only better stories than what this series is presently offering but also a better outlook overall.

Story: Meredith Finch Art: Ian Churchill
Story: 6.7 Art: 6.7 Overall: 6.7 Recommendation: Pass