Wonder Woman #762 // Review
Diana's solution to a hallucinating active shooter situation: bind the shooter with the Lasso of Hestia. Maxwell Lord's solution to a similar situation: confuse the shooter into thinking that he's a dog. They've got different approaches, but they both have to work together in Wonder Woman #762. Writer Mariko Tamaki continues an engagingly deep action story brought to the page by artist Carlo Barberi and inker Matt Santorelli. Colorist Alejandro Sanchez lends atmosphere to a range of different scenes. Having emerged beyond the silliness of the previous issue, Tamaki and company dive more in-depth into themes of truth and fabrication in a fast-moving action story.
Wonder Woman understands the importance of a good bluff for tactical purposes growing up in a warrior culture. Having emerged into a twisted post-modern world of fabricated reality, she's horrified to see everything descend into chaos. Wonder Woman saves a man's husband who is trapped in a burning building. He thinks he's in Barbados. He's actually in Washington, D.C. Everyone else seems to be going crazy as well. Max Lord is arrogant as hell about the situation, but he knows he's the best chance at helping humanity from a threat that turns out to have been instigated by the girl living just down the hall from the apartment Wonder Woman has just moved into.
Tamaki is pointing the narrative in an enjoyably thematic direction with respect to questions of truth, lies, and trust. Lord genuinely wants to help people out, and he's seen the path that his actions might ultimately lead humanity in. He wants to do what's right. Supervillains always get really interesting when they get bent in this direction. Tamaki is doing justice to the evil-turning-to-good trope. In addition to this, Tamaki's sense of humor opens-up on witty, little bits of dialogue that might have otherwise felt very flat on the page. Deeper themes about truth and lies aside, issue #762 flows very much like a traditional superhero story. Tamaki's crisp dialogue makes the chapter feel that much fresher.
Barberi and Santorelli render the heroic confidence of Wonder Woman with the kind of nuance that includes delicate adjustment in mood. Genuine shades of concern shade Wonder Woman's face. The flow of action across the page is rather deftly handled by Barberi and Santorelli. They even manage to find a fresh approach to a bullets-and-bracelets visual that has been around for well over 75 years. There are some compelling visuals in and around the corners of the action. A car crash right before the final splash page is contrasted beautifully against a pet rabbit's graceful hop away from the collision. It's beautiful stuff in places. Sanchez's coloring has quite a few opportunities to add to the atmosphere, including a panoramic shot of Amazons on horseback on Themyscira at the opening of the issue and the deep, unflinching brown of Max Lord's eyes as he nearly takes a bullet.
Though he's clearly a heroic villain here, Max Lord isn't quite appealing enough to be an anti-hero status. Still, the entire team does really well with Wonder Woman's supporting cast, including a sinister neighbor girl, her pet rabbit, and what might be the single most appealing treatment of Etta Candy to have made page or screen thus far. Tamaki and company recover from the silliness of 761 with a solidly entertaining reveal of Wonder Woman's latest villain.
