Funk Up Your National Security
Written By:
Amy Chu
Art By:
Dario Brizuela, Jenn Manley Lee
Lettered By:
Wes Abbott
Cover Price:
$0.99
Release Date: August 18, 2016
**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**
I’ve been watching The Get Down on Netflix, a show that takes place in 1977 New York
City. I was but a wee babe back then, but by the time I was cognizant much of
New York was still a deplorable shithole. Yet I must admit, it was much more
fun: Times Square was an illegal casino of three-card monty hustlers and
dice-throwers, hookers paraded around wearing next-to-nothing in broad
daylight, and everywhere was just action.
Sure, gum wrappers and cigarette butts would swirl around in the afternoon
breeze like late November leaves, and a lot of this “action” was, in fact,
violent crime, but it was a damn sight more interesting than watching Papa
Tubby and his family of reticent whitefolk waddle around to a bunch of chain
stores and restaurants for the privilege of paying extra than they would in the
same places back home. In that same hazy, wide-necktie era of President Gerald
Ford and a burgeoning hip-hop scene existed the television Wonder Woman, a fact that has provided much context for the Wonder Woman ’77 title…but never quite
like this chapter does! Is it too much, or does it strut its stuff? Read on, if
you can dig it!
Explain
It!
Despite the great Harvey Pekar’s advice, to get a
“flunky government job” so you can fuck off and collect a pension, working for
the government seems really, really boring. In the private sector, they get to
find workarounds for the legal constraints that require extra documentation and
compliance. But the government that hands down those laws has no such recourse.
So we find one Doralee Bernly, thirty-year secretary to Army General Walker,
preparing to sell secrets to the Russians just as she’s about to retire. Why
would she risk her reputation and screw her boss like this? Because she’s
bored! What, you think her life was all clandestine meetings and espionage to
this point? It’s been filing requisition forms and getting General Walker
coffee, for crying out loud! I’m sure if Doralee had to insert one more sheet
of carbon paper into a typewriter spool, she was going to shoot herself.
Doralee is meeting her contacts at Washington National Airport—not Reagan
National yet, kiddies—on a flight coming from Detroit. And Steve Trevor and
Diana Prince are hot on her trail, already wise to her seditious scheme!
Also on this flight are members of the popular funk
band Superfunk! You remember Superfunk, don’t you? They did those songs “Funk You
(and the Horse You Rode in On)” and “What the Funk is that Funky Smell.”
They’re coming into Washington, D.C. to meet the President, and there’s already
some fans congregating at the airport, blasing their tunes through a boom box
(or “portable radio” to the young folks.) Doralee bemoans the fact that “they”
are on this flight…and at first glance, I thought “they” were the members of
Superfunk! I thought it was a sort of “you people” thing, but now I realize
she’s talking about her Commie pals. Then in the next panel, Steve Trevor says,
“Looks like it’s coming in from Detroit,” which could be construed as an
observation he made because of the funk-rocking black folks hanging
around—look, I don’t think this was the intent, but it could have been depicted
clearer. In fact, the art in the entire chapter isn’t very articulate, but more
on that later.
On the plane, Superfunk are letting it all hang out,
except for band member LeRoi, who doesn’t like flying. His buddy Malcolm helps
out by letting him listen to his brand new Walkman (or “ancient iPod” to the
young folks), which he really enjoys because his own band is playing through
the headphones. They disembark the plane right behind the Russian contacts, who
are dressed very inconspicuously in matching black suits and dark glasses. As
Superfunk’s fans rush to greet them, there’s a kerfuffle and LeRoi drops his
Walkman at the same time Doralee drops her purse and what do you think happens?
Identical cassette tapes (or “mp3 players” or whatever the hell would work with
kids these days) fall out of each and get mixed up! Boi-oi-oi-oing! LeRoi makes
off with the tape full of state secrets, while Doralee hands over a dub of
Superfunk to the Russkies, and that’s when Diana and Steve move in to arrest
them. But when they get back to the Inter Agency Defense Command
headquarters…oh, you know what happens.
This brings everyone over to the Watergate Hotel,
where Superfunk is staying. LeRoi pops in his cassette tape and hears some jive
talking, but before he can hear much of it, Doralee shows up with the Russians
and they abduct him! Diana and Steve are about the enter the hotel, but Diana
spies LeRoi being taken away in a black car, so she spins into Wonder Woman and
prepares to stop them! And so concludes the weirdest chapter of Wonder Woman ’77 I’ve ever read. I did
like the story sort of part goofy What’s
Happening?! episode and part political intrigue and espionage. That Wonder
Woman proper didn’t figure into the majority of this story (indeed, hers is
really a more “token appearance”) doesn’t hurt it at all, particularly since
Diana Prince is characterized really well in this series. The art in this
chapter was pretty disappointing though, it looked really hesitant and stiff,
and frankly seemed amateurish. Still, for a buck, you could do a lot worse. I
know I say that a lot when reviewing digital-first titles, but it’s true,
dammit!
Bits and
Pieces:
Some interesting Cold War espionage meets Motor
City’s funk revolution in this historically accurate chapter of Wonder Woman ’77. The story is pretty
engaging, despite not containing a whole lot of actual Wonder Woman, but the
art dragged the whole thing down quite a bit. Still, if you’re looking for some
late 70s Wonder Woman action, then
you’ll find it here.
6.5/10
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