Review: Wonder Woman #81
[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artists: Tom Derenick, Trevor Scott & Scott Hanna
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Reviewed by: Sean Blumenshine
Summary
Olympus has been returned to the gods! Now that the deities of Diana’s world are back in power, all of her troubles are over. Or are they? Using the welcome distraction, Cheetah has finally made her way to her final destination for destruction: Themyscira!
Positives
Yanick Paquette and Nathan Fairbarin’s cover is great. I love the simplicity of it. It conveys everything one needs to know about the issue in a colorful and cool looking image. It’s effective.
The interior art is mostly fine. There are a couple of spots in which a character looks a little strange but it’s mostly solid. The colors are great and the characters are expressive.
I love the armor that Atlantiades makes for Diana. That is definitely the standout moment of the issue. And it looks very cool.
I appreciate the idea that the story isn’t going to forget what happened. As the issue puts it, things were said that cannot be unsaid. Even if love is back in the world, things can’t be what they were. I am curious what this new phase of Wonder Woman will look like and what it will entail.
Negatives
I’m not sure why Maggie is in this. When she found Atlantiades in a previous issue, I figured the two of them would work together to help Diana. But Maggie just sits around until Atlantiades’ ascension. She’s sort of there just so Atlantiades can talk to someone and have her revelation. The character feels a little wasted.
While the main story seems to be over, there is a lot being left open. These story threads will obviously be the basis for G. Willow Wilson’s future stories but it’s for me to be excited about any of them. I have not been invested in this story and while this is a decent finale, I still don’t really care about these events. So the issue leaving room for more fills me with apprehension as opposed to excitement. The Veronica Cale element could still be interesting; that was the most engaging part of this story for a little while.
Verdict
This is an okay issue. It’s a decent finale to a not great story. The conclusion is a little easy and requires little to no effort on Diana’s part. Atlantiades solves everything by giving Diana new armor and, seemingly, new powers. There are some interesting moments and ideas that could be cool in future issues but there’s not a lot in this to grab onto.
