Wonder Woman ’77 Chapter 22 Review and **SPOILERS**

Bring Me a Higher Love

Written By: Mark Andreyko

Art By: Tom Derenick, Carrie Strachan

Lettered By: Wes Abbott

Digital Price: $0.99

On Sale Date: August 11, 2016

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

So I saw Suicide Squad this week. My feelings about it are that one of the best things I saw was the trailer for the Wonder Woman movie on a theater screen. Gods, that looks so awesome. When she catches that mortar on her shield and then later is doing super slow-motion ninja swordplay…why am I even mooning about it? Just take a look, save me some typing.

And now that you’ve seen that inspiring tidbit, read my review of Wonder Woman ’77 Chapter 22! Which probably won’t be inspiring, but…just read on, read on.

Explain It!

Just one week ago, we saw that Harlow Gault’s disembodied, telekinetic brain had latched onto Steve Trevor’s head. Well, that’s still the case this week, and now he’s snatched Diana up in his telekinetic power bands or whatever they are and slammed her through a cement wall. A bunch of government agents in ski masks rush to her aid and open fire on Trevor-Gault, who just puts up a mental shield that stops the bullets in their tracks! Trevor-Gault is really feeling himself, but then elicits a cough—that’s when Trevor-Gault decides that he doesn’t want this weak body with a minor cold, he wants to control…Wonder Woman!

Wonder Woman is, of course, very flattered and agrees to take on the brain beret in exchange for letting Steve go. Gault happily (I guess, I mean it’s tough to tell what a disembodied brain is feeling just by looks) leaps from Steve’s to Diana’s head, and begins to take control—but of course Wonder Woman fights back! I mean really Gault, you could have figured something like this would happen. Wonder Woman fights against Gault’s influence and then the two meet—on the mental plane! Wow! Now this comic has become like Dreamscape or something! Gault is sort of a gross Visible Man model and Diana looks like regular Wonder Woman, until Gault comes at her with an ecto-sword and then she grows sick-looking gladiator armor. While Wonder Woman appears to be in some kind of trance to the outside world, on a higher plane she is having the battle of her life! Or really, she is kicking Gault’s ass.

The two of them battle for a while, Gault even sprouting wings and clutching Wonder Woman at one point, but then she says son, I am Wonder Woman and you are a lame-ass brain with an eye stalk, so don’t even try to play me. She sprouts crazy luminous wings herself, and clobbers the crap out of Gault until he’s an inert lump of gray goop that Diana can pull off her head. Gault is put into a, uh, special prison jar and hauled away by the authorities, locked in the super-secret prison that houses Wonder Woman’s other enemies. There, in his jar and inside a fairly squalid-looking cell, Gault announces his intentions for revenge!

Man, what a good time this comic is! They took a fairly ridiculous premise from the original television series and just leaned into it, taking the concept to ever more ludicrous places, until finally there is a battle on a surreal plane of thought. It’s like all the stuff the television show wouldn’t have the money to do, it’s in this comic book. And Wonder Woman behaves like a real hero, every time, and also kicks maximum ass, every time. People that read my Secret Six reviews (I know you’re out there somewhere) know I like Tom Derenick’s work, and it’s great here as well. There are some close up shots that look exactly like Lynda Carter, it’s eerie. I love this comic book, you shouldn’t be able to have this much fun for $1.98!

Bits and Pieces:

Usually the second chapter of these two-part Wonder Woman '77 stories depict Diana kicking major booty without compunction, but with compassion. This one is slightly different, in that Gault has the upper hand for like eleven seconds. You'll want to read this comic if you're a fan of crappy science fiction movies and/or superheroes winning. If you're not familiar with the original television show, don't worry about it. It's easy to hop in and follow along (from the previous chapter of this two-parter.)

9/10