Sensational Wonder Woman Special #1 // Review
DC Comics closes-out Woman's History Month with a Sensational Wonder Woman Special one-shot anthology. Writers Paula Sevenbergen, Scott Kolins, and Stephanie Phillips offer up three full-length stories that are rendered for the page by an art team including Paul Pelletier, Norm Rampmund, Kolins, Alitha Martinez, Dexter Vines, and Vicente Cifuentes. The three different full-length one-shot stories seem to come from three different nonexistent Wonder Woman series with three creative teams that all fit together quite well. Wonder Woman is a versatile character. Though this particular anthology doesn't offer a lot of range between the stories, the three stories have enough variation between them to make for a satisfying anthology.
Sevenbergen's "Hell Hath No Flurry" is a quick encounter between Diana and Blue Snowman. Wonder Woman is aided by a young fan in freeing a small town from the villain's icy grip. It's a pleasant one-shot story that feels quick and breezy for its 20-page length. Wonder Woman's empathy makes a prominent appearance in a story that takes a tender approach to the traditional hero-vs.-villain slugfest. Kolins pits Diana and Doctor Fate against a Lovecraftian horror summoned by advanced scientific research into a new energy source in "The Threnn of Doom." Phillips' "Swapped" is an enjoyable superhero mash-up with a durably recurring fantasy comedy trope.
There's a pleasant progression to the stories from traditional superhero vs. supervillain adventure to cosmic horror to comic coming-of-age. Sevenbergen's issue opener feels quick and breezy for its 20-page length. Wonder Woman's empathy makes a prominent appearance in a story that takes a tender approach to the traditional hero-vs.-villain slugfest. Kolins' story is a sharply-crafted little bento box of a one-shot story that finds a remarkable balance between science, magic, monsters, and heroism. It's far from perfect, but Kolins manages in 20 pages what many creative teams would have difficulty crafting in three issues. Phillips has Wonder Woman is battling Circe. Normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but Phillips is in a weird mood, and she decides to pay homage to Freaky Friday. Things get more than a little complicated in a charming story.
Pelletier and Rampmund have a warm style that has served Wonder Woman well in the recent past. Their style brings the most traditional of the three stories with style to the page. Kolins' art has Wonder Woman valiantly fighting a Godzilla-inspired Kaiju...with a fascinating twist. The Lovecraftian supernatural has a warmly atmospheric quality that makes it the most memorable visual story in the issue. The art team of Martinez, Dexter Vines, and Vicente Cifuentes brings some nuanced drama to the page quite well in the final story, but the action feels a bit lost in an otherwise satisfying set of visuals to end the issue.
Again--Wonder Woman works remarkably well in a trio of short one-shots. There's no reason why a series like this couldn't find an audience every single month. The Sensational Wonder Woman Special should theoretically have no problem running monthly as its own Sensational Wonder Woman title. Even at its weakest, the anthology is executed well enough to maintain decent sales that would make a nice companion to her main series.
