The Good: Decent interpretation of history, Interesting protagonists, Decent coloring
The Bad: Unfortunately oversimplified, Very blockish artwork
The Basics: Realworlds: Wonder Woman pits an actress playing Wonder Woman against a redbaiting Senator who is destroying Hollywood by introducing the Red Scare!
Traditionally, the stories DC comics has produced that are only tangential to the main DC Universe do not fare as well with me. I am not a huge fan of the “New 52” reboot that fundamentally changes many of the characters in the DC Universe. While many times, DC Comics makes such “alternate universe” stories obvious by putting them under an Elseworlds imprint, occasionally, there is a story or a reboot that fundamentally changes the reality of an important character’s life or story arc, like Amazonia (reviewed here!). Realworlds: Wonder Woman is not that kind of story. Instead, it is more like an Elseworlds tale in that it tells a story very clearly outside the normal continuity of DC Comics’s Wonder Woman books.
Realworlds: Wonder Woman is a story that seems to be a basic history book, set in our world where there is a character of Wonder Woman. In Realworlds: Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman is a character in a serialized set of film shorts and the book has remarkably little to do with the character of Wonder Woman. Instead, Realworlds: Wonder Woman focuses much more on the actress who plays Wonder Woman and her struggle in Hollywood than it does on anything within the serials she participates in.
In the late 1940s, Wonder Woman is a heroic character in the serials and, in keeping with the time, as she fights Axis forces that make a resurgence after the War, she is frequently aided by her Soviet counterpart. While this has not been a problem before, it conflicts with the political machinations of Senator Randolph Goldman. Goldman wants Brenda Kelly, the actress who plays Wonder Woman, to appear at campaign rallies as Wonder Woman to speak out against Communism.
Despite her boyfriend, Charles – the writer of a film called Aurora -, and her co-star Millie being persecuted as Communists for meetings and groups they may have attended only once almost a decade ago, Brenda appears for the Senator. As the Senator gains support and the Red Scare raises in pitch, Brenda finds herself struggling with being on the wrong side of the issue and trying hard to rectify the accusations against her friends using the truth. But it soon becomes clear that Senator Goldman is not interested in the truth, he needs fear to get re-elected and keep the people under his control. As Brenda works to extricate herself, her friends and comrades make moves on their own.
Glen Hanson & Allan Neuwirth, who wrote Realworlds: Wonder Woman, have a decent grasp of history. Understanding that the United States and the Soviet Union were strong allies in order to overthrow the Nazis and fascists is not something as widely regarded openly in U.S. society. And yet, the whole hatred of Communists was not an organic thing and Realworlds: Wonder Woman does a decent job of exploring just how hard it was for people to fight those in power, at least on the West Coast.
Realworlds: Wonder Woman is well-realized, but incredibly simple. The artwork is blockish, though it is well-colored. Because Realworlds: Wonder Woman is hardly an action-packed adventure story, the book does not have much in the way of movement within the panels or between panels. The attempts it does make, especially at the book’s climax, are somewhat sloppy and underwhelming.
Moreover, because Realworlds: Wonder Woman is a history story retold in the context of the DC Universe, there is no real character development that extends beyond the fifty pages of this book. It is worth reading, but given that it is simple and rendered in a very mediocre way, it is hard to recommend more than simply reading Realworlds: Wonder Woman, as opposed to adding the book to one’s permanent collection.
For other alternate reality stories set in the DC Universe, check out my reviews of:
Justice
Kingdom Come
Green Lantern: Willworld
5/10
For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |
No comments:
Post a Comment