Tag Archives: Steve Trevor

Today’s Super Comic — Wonder Woman #2 (2016)

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Let’s hope the movie is this great.

When Wonder Woman relaunched for DC Rebirth, writer Greg Rucka utilized the even-numbered issues to retell her early days. The second issue (or part one) introduces us to a young Diana who’s curious about what lies beyond the shores of Themyscira. Scenes of her life in paradise alternate with scenes of Steve Trevor’s life in the United States, and if you know anything about Wonder Woman’s origin story, you can guess where part one ends.

Rucka isn’t reinventing the characters or the story. He’s modernizing them and selecting from the best of what came before. It’s Wonder Woman’s latest draft, and it’s a superb one.

That’s an advantage of the comics medium—when you continue these characters in periodical format decade after decade, you have plenty of opportunities to refine and improve them. And yes, mistakes will be made and things will inevitably go astray here and there, but that’s what reboots are for. When you learn from previous mistakes and successes, you’re much more likely to get an excellent book like this.

This “Year One” arc for Wonder Woman is all about discovery. She’s discovering a new world. A new world is discovering her. And she’s discovering more about herself. The characterization is spot-on—she’s joyful, compassionate, fierce, heroic, and even a little fearful of this new world she’s entered.

Given how recent the book is (the trade just came out), I don’t want to delve into any greater detail, but know this—this is Wonder Woman done right. If you enjoy the movie when it comes out but never read a Wonder Woman comic, then read this one. If you don’t enjoy the movie, read it anyway.

Writer: Greg Rucka

Penciler: Nicola Scott

Cover: Scott & Fajardo Jr.

Publisher: DC Comics

How to Read It: recent back issues; Comixology; included in Wonder Woman vol. 2: Year One (TPB)

Appropriate For: ages 12 and up

Today’s Super Comic — Wonder Woman #4 (1987)

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Like many of DC’s most prominent characters, Wonder Woman got rebooted in the late ‘80s. All previous continuity was out, except to be used as inspiration. And the architect behind this reboot was one of the all-time great comic book artists, George Perez. He plotted and drew, leaving the actual scripting to others, but he demonstrated a solid understanding of story structure.

The retelling of Wonder Woman’s origin and debut is spread out over several issues. The story takes its time, but things are constantly happening. It’s paced like a YA novel, more or less. Four issues in, and Diana still speaks barely any English (which makes sense, as she’s not exactly local). Also in #4, she fights her first monster in public view, thereby earning the Wonder Woman nickname in the press.

Decompressing the story was a wise move on Perez’s part, because this is when the character is at her most interesting. She’s an immigrant from paradise, basically, which gives her a unique perspective when seeing the rest of our flawed world for the first time. And she arrives with a clearly defined mission—stopping Ares from unleashing another world war.

Meanwhile, Col. Steve Trevor, who has made his share of internal enemies during his time in the Air Force, is framed and on the run. His and Diana’s situations begin to interlock nicely.

And this is just the middle of the story so far. The slow build suits her…as does Perez’s art, but Perez’s art suits pretty much every single superhero ever.

Writers: George Perez and Len Wein

Penciler: George Perez

Inker: Bruce D. Patterson

Publisher: DC Comics

How to Read It: back issues; Comixology; included in Wonder Woman vol. 1: Gods and Mortals (TPB)

Appropriate For: ages 10 and up