Wonder Woman #758 // Review
Transgression and redemption are difficult enough for mortals with only the briefest time around the sun. When such matters edge into the lives o the vastly powerful that echo throughout time, things can be much more complex and convoluted. Diana of Themyscira is all too aware of this as writer Steve Orlando ushers her through Wonder Woman #758. Artist Emanuela Lupacchino brings the story of redemption to the page with the aid of inker Ray McCarthy. Color animates the action courtesy of Romulo Fajardo Jr. Orlando and company begin to close-out a storyline with a monumental moment that echoes events that were handled with much greater complexity decades ago during George Perez's run on the series.
Paula Von Gunther has been paralyzed in magical statue form. The Phantom Stranger is at least partially responsible for this, though he is quick to point out that Paula's own actions have doomed her to the judgment of a higher power. Wonder Woman is unwilling to accept this with no possible common ground between her and the Phantom Stranger, the two such into a physical conflict. Assuming Paula is able to be freed from her magical paralysis, she still has to deal with judgment from Themyscira. Things aren't going to be easy for her OR Wonder Woman.
Orlando balances the conflict between Wonder Woman and the Phantom Strange quite well. Given that it's essentially a single encounter between two characters that lasts eight pages, Orlando has done a remarkable job of keeping it interesting from beginning to end. Physical action mixes with intellectual and philosophical interaction with engrossing energy that swiftly moves the pages. The confrontation in the Queen's Chambers in Themyscira at chapter's end lead to a decision to open the culture of the Amazons to the world. Matters that should move across the page with greater poise feel a bit rushed.
Lupacchino keeps the physical end of the action moving across the page. There's a percussive kinetic feel to Lupacchino's action. The action's overall layout manages to keep the more substantial bits of drama moving along without any breaks. Some very weighty bits of text have to be wrapped around the physical struggle between Wonder Woman and the Phantom Stranger. Lupacchino and inker McCarthy give everything its proper weight while Fajardo Jr.'s colors provide the mystic energy of the encounter its adequate radiance.
Anyone who has been around this long has the occasional "shadow of the past" coming around to cause trouble. Back in the Post-Crisis era of Wonder Woman, George Perez handled the concerns of opening Themyscira to the outside world with a much deeper sense of drama. Perez's run on the series WAS much more focussed on political and interpersonal drama, however. Understandably, an era of Wonder Woman that features a more exceptional balance between action and drama would be a bit quicker with the story's political end. Orlando wraps-up his work on the series with next month's Wonder Woman Annual #4. Later this month, new writer Mariko Tamaki takes over the series for the beginning of her run with Diana.
