Wonder Woman #36 Review

Written by: Meredith Finch
Art by: David Finch
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: November 19, 2014

No Wonder

I do not envy Meredith and David Finch for having to follow the incredible run of Azzarello and Chiang on this book. It was only one of the best runs of Wonder Woman ever and such a hard act to follow.  However, a creative change usually brings a breath of fresh air to a book and at the very least is a good jumping on point for new readers.  Unfortunately, the Finchs don't really take that route.  Instead of their own spin, they rely so much on the previous run that this issue seems more like an epilogue than the beginning of a new run.



The story involves a natural disaster and a mysterious figure that may or may not control the weather.  I can only hope the villain is a certain Rogue, but we'll have to wait and see.  What we don't have to wait for is conflict on Paradise Island.  Everything that happened in the past issues is coming home to roost.  The Amazons are thinking twice about letting the Sons of Amazon on the Island and blame Wonder Woman for it.  This is the first thing that bothered me about this issue.  I understand that some of the Amazons would have second thoughts, but the Sons did just put their lives on the line to save all of them.  This is the thanks they get?  They even go as far as bad mouthing Zeus.  Come on!

We then go to the Watchtower where Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League are discussing the recent disasters.  I really like Wonder Woman getting involved with the rest of the League.  This book has been so insulated from the rest of the New 52 that I hope we see her get out and about more.  Hopefully, the interactions will get better than what we get here.  When Wonder Woman goes off and confronts Swamp Thing, she is a total joke.  She flies off the handle without checking any facts or even asking Swamp thing a question.  She is better than that.

She then has a heart to heart with Aquaman that is basically a bullet point discussion of what happened to her up until now and just feels forced.  The book ends with a cliffhanger that is very, very personal and is bound to cause a lot of trouble on Paradise Island in the near future.  While I didn't really like this issue as a whole, I did like the ending.

I also liked David Finch's art.  It's a more traditional look than the previous run which goes with the more open story.  There are a lot of characters and they all look great.

Bits and Pieces:

This issue marks the first of the new run by Meredith and David Finch and while I loved the art, the story was not what I expected. Instead of making it's own way, it seems intent on bringing up the past and even ruining it.  Because of that, it's not new reader friendly and long time fans may be turned off.  I did like the cliffhanger and I hope that leads to it's own, interesting story.  Until then, I can't recommend this issue.`

4.9/10