[Editor’s note: Thank you for your patience waiting for this review while we updated our website host. This review may contain spoilers.]
Writers: Rafael Scavone, Rafael Albuquerque, Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, Mairghread Scott, Greg Rucka, Fabio Moon, Marguerite Bennett, Renae De Liz, Jill Thompson, Hope Larson & Gail Simone
Artists: Rafael Albuquerque, Dave McCaig, Jenny Frison, Karl Kerschl, Michele Assarasakorn, Brian Bolland, Annie Wu, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, Liam Sharp, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Fabio Moon, Marguerite Sauvage, Yanick Paquette, Nathan Fairbairn, Renae De Liz, Ray Dillon, Sebastian Fiumara, Ramon Bachs, Mat Lopes, Claire Roe, Jordie Bellaire, Marcio Takara, Marcelo Maiolo, Colleen Doran, Hi-Fi & Phil Jimenez
Summary
Some of the industry’s best talent come together to present a wide variety of Wonder Woman tributes for the character’s 75th anniversary.
Positives
The cover by Jim Lee is pretty cool. It reminds me of his All Star Batman &Â Robin work. I think the image is a nice way to start the tribute.
This book really takes advantage of the idea of an anthology. While there is a collection of stories, that is not the only aspect of the book. There are also just pieces of art by various wonderful artists. Classic work from Brian Bolland is featured. And Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Lori Jackson create a Daily Planet article in which Lois Lane interviews Diana which is pretty great.
The art pieces throughout are all wonderful. One of the highlights, for me, is Annie Wu’s work which is pictured below. My personal favorite is the piece by Marcio Takara and Marcelo Mailo that features Diana, Donna and Cassie. But every piece is amazing and I would buy prints of all of them.
My favorite art in the short stories is from the story, “Predators,” which is drawn by Karl Kerschl with colors by Michele Assarasakorn. The art in this story looks like a classic Disney film which I mean as a massive compliment. Kerschl and Assarasakorn are not artists with whom I am familiar but I definitely want to see more of their work now because this is amazing. “Predators” is written by Brenden Fletcher and Kerschl. It’s one of my favorite stories in the book. I always liked Diana’s connection to animals and it is not represented enough. It’s a simple story but a touching one.
My favorite story is “Big Things One Day Come” which is written by Gail Simone with art by Colleen Doran and colors by Hi-Fi. I love how much Simone focuses on Diana as an inspirational figure. Part of Diana’s legacy is legacy. How she affects readers is important and Simone gives us that with Star Blossom. There is also a nice bit where Wonder Woman is able to break a gorilla out of a troll’s mind control and calm him down. As I mentioned above, I love the animal empathy and it’s a sweet scene. Wonder Woman having to deal with a dumb internet troll is really satisfying especially after everything that just happened with Chelsea Cain [Editor’s note: Chelsea Cain, writer of the hit Marvel series Mockingbird, recently quit Twitter after a barrage of harassment from online trolls. But thanks to the attention they gave her, negative as it was, Mockingbird sales increased after the incident]. And I love the idea that whenever Superman is faced with Kryptonite, he just calls Diana and she tags in. That is hilarious but also sensible. I am just impressed at how much Simone is able to do with such a short amount of space. The art by Doran and Hi-Fi is excellent as well.
I like how several incarnations of Wonder Woman are represented. A few of the stores tie directly into the current story line in the main title. One story takes place during World War II. There is a Bombshells tribute song and a story from The Legend of Wonder Woman. I just dig the variety.
Negatives
I wish Wonder Woman ’77 had been included somewhere. Or at least a tribute to Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot in some form. I understand that this is all about the comics, which I love, but both of those actresses feel like important parts of the legacy to me.
Verdict
This is absolutely amazing. I could not have asked for a better tribute to Wonder Woman. All of the various styles and ideas are all strong and work together in this book. Every writer and artist involved obviously loves Diana and created a spectacular book because of it. I highly recommend buying this issue; it is worth every penny.
