George Perez Ends His Run On Wonder Woman With The Narcoleptic Destiny Calling.

The Good: Decent backstory work, Moments of artwork
The Bad: No real plot, Adds nothing significant to the Wonder Woman mythos, Much of the artwork, No real plot development.
The Basics: After the gods leave the ruins of Olympus, the Amazons allow visitors from Man’s World and nothing much happens in Wonder Woman: Destiny Calling.


For many months now, I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Wonder Woman: Destiny Calling, if for no other reason than it was the last of the George Perez volumes I had to read. Now, I find that I have both very little to write about in relation to the graphic novel and that I had remarkably little enjoyment of the experience. In fact, I am somewhat baffled at how Wonder Woman survived as a comic book after this point.

In an effort to say something positive about Destiny Calling up front, I will say that I like the book’s verbosity. This Wonder Woman book is intended for literate, thoughtful people and as such, it is packed with words. Far from the stereotype of a comic book, at least in terms of the level of verbiage, Destiny Calling frequently packs in the words at the expense of the artwork. This is intended to be a book filled with stories, in the best tradition of graphic novels, as opposed to a simple, vacuous comic book. No, this is more about the words and that makes it a very dense book.

Unfortunately, it does not have much in the way of a story to truly back up the verbal density.

Following her first encounter with Circe, Diana returns to Boston somewhat shaken. Her friend Julia Kapatelis is glad to see her, as Julia’s daughter, Vanessa. When Diana is called back to Themyscira, Vanessa witlessly pines for a boy who is more interested in the school’s new ditsy blonde. On Themyscira, Diana discovers that the gods are eager to ascend to a new state of being, but they need the help of the Amazon priestess, Hippolyte, and Diana herself. Despite the warnings of Hermes, Diana aids the gods in their endeavor and Paradise Island continues on as an immortal realm without the gods watching over them.

Following that, the Amazons vote on whether or not to allow visitors from Patriarch’s World. The vote goes in favor of visitors and Diana returns to Boston long enough to recover the Kapatelis’s. Bringing Julia and Vanessa to Themyscira serves as an excuse to tell stories about the Amazons and pretty much put the reader to sleep. Long after the reader has stopped caring – after a memorial for Myndi Mayer – Hermes appears on Earth to help Diana, but his appearance leads to the arrival of the Gorgons and Ares’s children! With Ixion, Euryale, and Phobos on a rampage, Wonder Woman must return to save the day!

Destiny Calling is a rare trade paperback anthology where the story entirely meanders. There is no grand villain to thwart, the stakes are not the existence of the universe. Instead, much of the book reads like a mythology text or a text book of Amazonian history. While it has moments of entertainment and the lessons are worthwhile (this is a good book if you are raising your child to believe as the Themyscirans do), Destiny Calling is devoid of grand conflicts. There is a minor adventure story threaded through the latter half of the book, but largely, this is a winding philosophy story that is surprisingly dull.

The artwork in Destiny Calling is shockingly erratic. The book frequently sacrifices art for long passages of expositive writing. I’m generally fine with that, but in this case, it fails to use the medium particularly well. Most of the panels lack a sense of movement within them and they also suffer from being very underdetailed. As a result, much of Destiny Calling looks like a comic strip instead of a sophisticated graphic novel. The colors in Destiny Calling are similarly underdetailed. The book lacks a strong sense of shading and color, instead presenting strong colors without variations or gradations to them.

While the book picks up in the last third with the arrival of Hermes and the rising of the demigods, Destiny Calling is a surprisingly monolithic book that is dull. There is no real other way to say it; it is dull and it takes so long to get interesting, readers are likely to quit well before there is anything worthwhile to the book.

For other Wonder Woman volumes in this incarnation of the Amazon Princess, please check out my reviews of:
Gods And Mortals by George Perez
Wonder Woman: Challenge Of The Gods by George Perez
Beauty And The Beasts By George Perez
The Contest By William Messner-Loebs
Wonder Woman: Lifelines By John Byrne
Paradise Lost By Phil Jimenez
Down To Earth By Greg Rucka
Eyes Of The Gorgon By Greg Rucka
Land Of The Dead By Greg Rucka
Mission's End By Greg Rucka
The Hiketeia

2.5/10

For other book reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Despite Some Admirable Qualities, Wonder Woman: Challenge Of The Gods Flops.

The Good: Decent character development, Nice attempt to shake up narrative structure, Moments of heroics
The Bad: Narrative shakeup fails, Simple plot, Missing chapter, Largely unimpressive artwork
The Basics: Very average, Wonder Woman: Challenge Of The Gods has Princess Diana on a classic hero journey which is uninteresting until the final chapter.


As my Wonder Woman year continues, I find that reading some of the high-quality graphic novels, like Justice (click here for that review!) might be spoiling me. After all, it is hard to go back from lush paintings on every panel to something more akin to a comic strip. Yet, as I picked up Wonder Woman: Challenge Of The Gods, that is exactly what I found myself feeling. The disappointment from the artwork was something I tried to shake off, but given how the first chapter in this trade paperback anthology has an annoying narrative technique, this became more difficult to dismiss than I would have liked.

Challenge Of The Gods picks up where Gods And Mortals (click here for that review) left off, with Diana, having been dubbed Wonder Woman by the American media living in Boston, Massachusetts in 1987. Wonder Woman's backstory was begun - or rebooted - in the prior anthology, so there is no relation to the Wonder Woman of the original (pre-1987) incarnation. In fact, in Challenge Of The Gods, the reader learns that Diana must be under forty years old. I tend not to gripe much about the reboot of the franchise as I do about how it affects other portions of the DC universe. After all, Superman had adventures with Wonder Woman before this incarnation of her, so how is that supposed to work? It might be a moot point in most books, but Challenge Of The Gods is where Wonder Woman meets the Justice League of America and the story is very dated to 1987 (including Diana having a meeting with President Reagan). And while these trade paperback anthologies are supposed to provide the complete story of Wonder Woman in order, they are anything but.

Opening with "Time Passages," the writers explore what Wonder Woman went through in the wake of the Ares Project. While the military runs tests on Diana, like having her block the weapon's fire from three automatic weapons firing at once with her bracelet and pitting her against a tank, Diana becomes a cultural icon appearing on Carson and lecturing at local schools. But even as the chapter diverges to lead into Diana's next threat, in the form of Barbara Minvera, they catch up on Steven Trevor's story and mention a whole anti-superhero plot which Diana helped to foil. The thing here is that the allusions to the G. Gordon Godfrey incident make the reader feel like they are missing something vital, when it is probably just a limited crossover event which DC was promoting at the time.

"Time Passages" shakes up the usual narrative technique of the comic book by presenting vignettes with columns of writing - letters, memos, diary entries - with fewer images telling the stories and no sense of narrative movement. Instead of using the medium effectively to have dialogue paired with flowing images, this first chapter is a grind to get through because it "tells" instead of "shows." This is an unfortunate and unlikable chapter.

Unfortunately, it sets up most of the rest of the book for the reader to return to utter mediocrity. Challenge Of The Gods is an anthology of Wonder Woman issues 8 - 14. Issues 9 - 13 (chapters 2 - 6 in this anthology) are very obviously hero stories of the most mundane type. Cheetah attacks Wonder Woman when Barbara Minerva attempts to swindle Diana out of her golden lasso without understanding its true powers. Following this, Diana is recalled to Themyscira and while there, Pan nudges Zeus into noticing Diana. When Zeus makes an advance on Diana (which she resists), the goddesses who birthed Diana send her on a quest.

That quest takes Diana into the bowels of the underworld through Doom's Door on Themyscira. On the other side of it, Diana encounters all forms of mythological villains. Her mother, Hippolyte, follows her. In later incarnations of Wonder Woman, Hippolyte was Hippolyta, so why it is different here is a mystery to me. Anyway, while Diana is on her grand quest, Steve Trevor and Lt. Candy grow closer and Diana learns of the origins of her name and her outfit.

These chapters are all very typical, very banal hero quest stories. The thing is, there's no clear quest for most of the story and Diana meanders from experience to experience while her quest is broken up with progress among the gods and Hippolyte's progress in following her. But the quest culminates in the revelation of the true villain behind both the obstacles Diana faces in the underworld and the tensions among the gods. At the climax of her quest, at the end of chapter six, Diana is charged with her final task. Rather annoyingly, Chapter seven opens with Diana returning from completing that task.

Apparently, Diana's interactions with the Manhunter were part of a different book or crossover event - from the context clues, a Justice League event, one assumes - which is not included and as a result, the reader is set up for a lot of disappointment when they turn the page.

As one who has no problem panning things, how did a trade paperback anthology with unimpressive artwork and stories I generally found underwhelming score so highly? Simple: chapter seven. The seventh chapter has a lot of character and it is more than an expository space where our Diana is told a story by a dead Diana. No, in the final chapter of Challenge Of The Gods, Hippolyte and Heracles square off and the result is not a fight, but an actual story of growing out of the past. In Gods And Mortals, Heracles is a crazed rapist who enslaves the Amazons and now, after thousands of years, he re-enters the narrative and his story and the character interplay between him and Hippolyte works wonderfully. The story is surprisingly tight and smarter than the average comic book by far.

Still, it is not enough to recommend this book. While Challenge Of The Gods helpfully includes a character profile on Cheetah, it does little else to entice buyers. The colors of the inks are muted and this book has a newsprint quality to its pages. In addition to artwork that is very simple - scenes with multiple goddesses and several Amazons are just visually problematic - the sense of movement is often limited. As well, the book is filled with annoying comic book conceits like characters saying "eh" constantly which do not translate well for serious readers.

While there is enough in Challenge Of The Gods to progress the Wonder Woman story forward in ways that ought to be considered essential, the book is just too basic for serious readers.

For other trade paperback anthologies which feature Wonder Woman, please check out my reviews of:
Who Is Wonder Woman by Allan Heinberg
Wonder Woman: Love And Murder By Jodi Pocault
Amazons Attack! by Will Pfeifer
Wonder Woman The Circle By Gail Simone
Ends Of The Earth By Gail Simone

5/10

For other graphic novel reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Wonder Woman Reboots With Gods And Mortals The First Trade Paperback Anthology!

The Good: Moments of story, Moments of artwork
The Bad: Ultimately, some of the characters feel like generic sidekicks, Awkward artwork in points
The Basics: A decent trade paperback anthology that starts the story of Wonder Woman, Gods And Mortals explores the origins of Diana and her mystical island.


I love being able to start things at their beginning and, frankly, I've been a little disappointed in my study of Wonder Woman to not have been able to start at the very beginning. Fortunately, I have picked up the trade paperback anthology Wonder Woman: Gods And Mortals which is, for all intents and purposes, the new beginning of the Wonder Woman saga. Following Crisis On Infinite Earths, a major crossover event in the DC comic universe (or multiverse), DC Comics sought to reboot several of its most important and iconic characters. Wonder Woman was one of those. As a result, in 1987, the monthly Wonder Woman comic book restarted with issue #1.

Issue #1 restarted Wonder Woman with the origin of Wonder Woman and the establishment of the essential mythos of the character. Gods And Mortals starts with issue #1 and includes the first seven comic books of the new Wonder Woman series. This actually works out fairly well as they work to tell one essential story and the trade paperback anthology, which was published in 2003, includes writer George Perez's thoughts on his work on the series as well as these early issues.

"The Princess And The Power" opens with a neanderthal man in 30,000 B.C. killing a pregnant woman he is inadequately providing for after his arm is bitten off. From there, the story leaps to 1200 B.C. and Mount Olympus where the Greek Gods and Goddesses are squabbling among themselves, mostly about how powerful Ares (God of War) has become. Many of the Goddesses, accompanied by Hermes, journey to Hades* and the Cavern of Souls, where they find the souls of women whose lives were cut short through the violence of men. They resurrect these souls as Amazons, immortal women who are bestowed great power. Unfortunately, they were corrupted by Ares and Heracles is set upon the Amazon community. Thwarted by Hippolyte, the most powerful of the Amazons, Heracles is embarrassed and drugs her, enslaving the Amazons. Ravished and defeated, the Amazon women are rescued by the Goddesses and are sent to a magical island where they live and grow in peace and isolation, though all are forced to wear bracelets to remind them of their time in the servitude of Heracles for their arrogance. Charged with guarding a great evil sealed under the island, the Amazons spend thousands of years repenting and growing stagnant. Then, Queen Hippolyte is blessed with a baby, whom she fashions out of clay and is bestowed with the gift of life, as well as many superhuman abilities. This is Diana, who is raised by all on the island to be the smartest, strongest and most virtuous of the Amazons. But when the oracle foresees the Gods and Goddesses being crushed by Ares, a tournament is planned and the victor shall be sent to Man's World to thwart Ares!

In "A Fire In The Sky," Air Force Colonel Steve Trevor is introduced. A pawn for a warmongering General, Trevor is sent to show off an American plane over airspace that is not supposed to have anything under it. At that point, Diana is preparing for her mission, having been given a lasso of truth forged from the girdle of Gaea. But as Diana is about to leave Paradise Island with Hermes, a fighter jet with Trevor appears over the skies of Paradise Island. Diana destroys the bomb Trevor's copilot launches and rescues the wounded Steve Trevor.

In "Deadly Arrival," Hermes brings Diana to Boston after returning Steve Trevor to a military hospital. Having been given a talisman from Ares's mad daughter, Hermonia, Diana is given the task of learning how to use it. She finds herself at Harvard in the company of Professor Julia Kapatelis, who speaks enough Ancient Greek to understand Diana and express a willingness to help her. But Ares's sons, Deimos and Phobos send an enchanted statue to slay Diana in Man's world, hoping to curry the favor of Ares. While Steve Trevor finds himself under arrest and at the mercy of a military conspiracy centered around a cult to Ares. And in Boston, Diana and Julia, as well as Julia's daughter Vanessa fall under the influence of the demigod Decay!

In "A Long Day's Journey Into Fright" Diana rescues the aging Vanessa and her new friend Julia from Decay. While the Goddesses of Olympus prepare to sail into oblivion, Lieutenant Candy uncovers information in Top Secret documents which might exonerate Trevor and upset the Ares Project. But Diana's heated battle with Decay in broad daylight puts her in the public eye and she is coined "Wonder Woman" by the press. Seeing her on television, Steve Trevor realizes his visions after the plane crash were not just a dream and he finds Diana and Julie in their refuge.

In chapter five, "The Ares Assault," the gods once more put their faith in Diana to save them from oblivion as Phobos and Deimos's plan to bring the world to the brink of war comes to fruition. Using the talisman, Diana, Julie, Trevor, Lt. Candy and Colonel Michaelis enter the demented hellish realm of the gods. While Phobos strikes terror into the mortals, Deimos tries to dispatch Diana, with his snakehair repeatedly biting her and driving her closer to death!

In the sixth chapter, "Powerplay," Diana and her team use the full talisman to transport to the military base where the followers of Ares have taken over and are preparing to launch nuclear missiles at the U.S.S.R. As conflict breaks out, Diana is taken by Ares to his plane where the god taunts her and she must use her wits to stop him.

Finally, in "Rebirth!" the military cabal worshipping Ares is unraveled and Diana is healed by the gods. She brings Vanessa back the power to restore the girl to her proper age and in the process becomes the newest hero of Boston. As the world gets used to having a Wonder Woman, Diana acclimates to fame and having a publicity manager, not knowing that being in the public eye is setting her up for her next conflict!

George Perez, who wrote all seven stories, has the surprisingly easy task of reinventing Wonder Woman and the truth is, the challenge is not one that is insurmountable. After all, while most people know Superman or Batman's origins, Wonder Woman's are much more nebulous and less common-knowledge. So, Perez details the story of a mythical woman created by the gods and Goddesses. Pretty cool origins and actually, the first chapter takes a decent amount of time before Diana appears and I actually like how much thought went into the backstory.

But therein lies perhaps the most problematic aspect of the Wonder Woman story in Gods And Mortals. Wonder Woman is endowed with the powers of several gods and Goddesses and between her innate abilities and the tools which she is given, she is formidable. But she does not exactly reason her way out of her problem and the way it is presented in Gods And Mortals, she pretty much stumbles onto her salvation and that feels weak.

The paper quality of Gods And Mortals reminds one of newsprint and the coloring is more muted than contemporary comic books, which is disappointing, especially for a contemporary trade paperback anthology. As well, the images have a generally comic strip look to them and those looking for rich colors and a strong sense of movement will be out of luck with this book. While characters are generally easy to differentiate, the drawings are simpler than those who like current comic books are likely to enjoy. Even so, Perez, who penciled the book in addition to writing it, included decent detailing, like all of the bites on Wonder Woman after she attacks Deimos.

Ultimately, Gods And Mortals is very average and my recommendation is a weak one. This is essential in that it is a solid beginning to the super heroine, but it is hardly incredible literature.




* The only real bad oversight for Greek mythology comes from this book's common mistaking of Hades (God of the Underworld) for Tartarus (the actual land of the dead).




For other Wonder Woman anthologies, please check out my reviews of:
Who Is Wonder Woman? by Allan Heinberg
Love And Murder By Jodi Pocault
Amazons Attack! by Will Pfeifer
The Circle By Gail Simone
Ends Of The Earth By Gail Simone

6/10

For other graphic novel reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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