After celebrating a major milestone with Wonder Woman #750 I decided that was a good time to give the Wonder Woman series another try. Wonder Woman #750 did a very good job celebrating one of DC Comics most iconic characters. It also established the fact that in the current DC Universe continuity Wonder Woman is the first official superhero. Given how DC Comics went out of their way to push that fact since Wonder Woman #750’s release I’m very interested in what big plans they have for Diana Prince. Let’s find out what is in store for Diana next with Wonder Woman #751.
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Jan Duursema
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: At Diana Prince’s home in Boston Detective Nora Nunes holds Wonder Woman at gunpoint. Detective Nunes reveals that the Boston Police Department have assigned her to be Wonder Woman’s neighbor in order to assess if it is safe for Diana to live in Boston without causing trouble. Wonder Woman promises that there is nothing to fear and that she is to be trusted.
Before they can finish their conversation a major storm begins. Wonder Woman gets a call from Etta Candy that she and her crew are on their way to provide relief for the citizens in Boston.
A little later Wonder Woman helps Triple S (standing for “Sight, Support, Sustenance,” the relief organization that Etta Candy started after leaving ARGUS) set up their relief station. As she does that Etta talks to Detective Nunes about her past and how she trusts Wonder Woman. Detective Nunes calls Etta out on being protective of Wonder Woman. Etta tells Detective Nunes that she will put her to work while she continues to doubt Wonder Woman.
Near the ocean Wonder Woman holds up a pier from collapsing in order to allow the people that were still out in the sea a chance to run back to land safely. Wonder Woman then calls Detective Nunes to meet her on the North End to continue her job as her “chaperone.”
On the North End, Wonder Woman stops members from the Sons of Liberty from using the storm to loot various places. Wonder Woman deflects all the bullets the Sons of Liberty shoot at her and Detective Nunes. Detective Nunes then knocks out all of the Sons of Liberty with her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, receiving a compliment from Wonder Woman in the process.
Hearing something coming at them Wonder Woman quickly uses her bracelets to stop a bolt of lightning from striking her and Detective Nunes. Wonder Woman says that the lightning has traces of magic. She goes on to say that this means the storm they are dealing with is not natural. Detective Nunes says she can handle the Sons of Liberty while Wonder Woman goes to find out who is responsible for the storm.
Wonder Woman flies towards the eye of the storm, blocking lightning attacks on her way. When she gets to the eye of the storm Wonder Woman finds the Dark Fates waiting for her. Being their first meeting the Dark Fates tell Wonder Woman who they are and reveal they sent Cheetah to attack her earlier (an event that took place in Wonder Woman #82-83 and main story in Wonder Woman #750). After introducing themselves the Dark Fates disappear, causing the storm to stop in the process.
Wonder Woman contacts Detective Nunes to tell her that it is over. Etta calls both Wonder Woman and Detective Nunes that their relief work is not done yet and she could use their help.
Wonder Woman and Detective Nunes spend the rest of the day helping Triple S save people and provide relief to those that need it in the aftermath of the storm.
Some time later Detective Nunes tells Wonder Woman that she gives a lot of credit to Etta for the good work she and Triple S provide. She goes on to state that she now understands how hard Wonder Woman works but that she doubts Diana being able to be on her game at all times like is necessary with her superhero life. Wonder Woman admits that she is not perfect but that if their relationship is to work then they must be able to trust each other. Detective Nunes shakes Wonder Woman’s hand and agrees to work with her to keep Boston safe.
Over in Hub City Devastation (who was raised by the Titans from the Greek legend) is beating up Firebrand. Warmaster suddenly appears. Warmaster says she knows all about Devastation background and offers her a chance to get revenge on Wonder Woman by being part of her Horsewomen.
Back at Diana’s place, Diana attempts to contact Donna Troy but gets no answer (this is due to Donna Troy being turned into one of Batman Who Laughs’ Infected, something Wonder Woman does not yet know about). Diana promises herself to do a better job being more connected with Donna.
As she finishes unpacking Diana finds a letter from Etta with a Triple S shirt to let her know she is an honorary part of Etta’s organization.
Diana then turns on her TV. As soon as she does she sees a news report about violence that erupted at a bar in Boston.
Over at a Boston bar a woman named Iron Maiden drives her sword through a guy’s gut. End of issue.
The Good: For the most part Steve Orlando and Jan Duursema did what they needed to do to build interest in the future of this series with Wonder Woman #751. While the issue does rely on certain things that happened in recent issues of Wonder Woman I never felt lost as a reader just jumping on with this issue. Orlando and Duursema understood that there were likely many readers who will be checking this issue out after Wonder Woman #750 attracted many DC Comics fans to the series.
What was most enjoyable about Wonder Woman #751 was the brisk pace it moved in. Even though there are a lot of dialogue heavy scenes none of them outstayed their welcome. Orlando made sure to make all of the interactions between characters have a natural conversational flow to them. Creating dialogue that comes across as a conversation you expect from people just meeting allowed the informational dumping we got at various points work well within the context of Wonder Woman #751.
This work particularly well in getting the reader to get behind the motivation behind Detective Nora Nunes. It would’ve been very easy to make Detective Nunes into an antagonist that hounded Wonder Woman for several issues. Luckily Orlando does not take that route. Instead he makes sure to give Detective Nunes a full character arc within the pages of Wonder Woman #751.
Having an arc that came across as coming full circles made Detective Nunes a fully realized character. You understand why she starts off giving Wonder Woman a hard time. Everything she says about Wonder Woman bringing extremely dangerous trouble to Boston is true. We see this be an issue that Superman is dealing with since revealing his identity. While Superman is just now dealing with those ramifications Wonder Woman has been in that position since her debut. So for Detective Nunes and the Boston Police Department Wonder Woman presents a danger to their city that already is dealing with their own level of crime.
Starting their relationship off there gives Wonder Woman an opportunity to show that she brings no harm to Boston. All she wants to do is set up a place that she can call home whenever she wants to unwind. At the same time, Wonder Woman is aware of what Detective Nunes told her is true. Understanding that is a great example of not only Detective Nunes but also the reader of the weight Wonder Woman constantly carries.
Detective Nunes coming around and agreeing to partner with Wonder Woman by the end of this issue was a nice way to show that Diana’s efforts are appreciated. Setting up this alliance provides Wonder Woman with a nice addition to this series supporting cast. Given that Wonder Woman’s supporting cast hasn’t reached the iconic level of Batman or Superman’s, starting to flesh this part of the series out with strong characters like Detective Nunes is a good start.
Brining in Etta Candy was also another good choice to continue who is part of Wonder Woman’s supporting cast. Etta was someone that popped back up in G. Willow Wilson’s run on this series. Taking where Etta was during that period to now having her break out to create a relief organization in Triple S is a smart way to give her a role that is even more important. Leading Triple S gives Etta a chance to make her appearance be meaningful as we now know the kind of help she and her organization will provide whenever she shows up moving forward.
Through all of this Orlando does a very good job in establishing how Wonder Woman sees her move to Boston as a fresh start. She has been involved in a lot of events, both in her own series and in the Justice League books. With all that has gone on it is time for Wonder Woman to assess her own life and the people she wants to have in it.
Which made the point that Wonder Woman tried to contact Donna Troy be so meaningful. Though Wonder Woman has taken on several sidekicks that she considers sisters like Donna Troy and Cassandra Sandsmark she hasn’t always been the most present mentor. Understanding this about herself and making an effort to reach out to Donna and possibly Cassie in the future is a strong sub-plot for this series to have for future stories.
In the immediate future you do question if Orlando will get involved in Donna’s current situation as part of Batman Who Laughs’ Infected. Given that Orlando made it a point to show Donna in her Infected form fighting Lex Luthor it would not be surprising if we see Wonder Woman’s reaction to this. It would be a great way to develop Wonder Woman’s character as someone that understands she needs to take her role as a mentor more seriously.
The final few pages also serve as a nice tease to set-up how Warmaster is assembling her own Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse. This is a neat concept that has a lot of potential to be strong threats that Wonder Woman faces off against. Orlando gives us enough of each Horsewomen’s personalities to be intrigued to learn more details about them in future issues of Wonder Woman.
Jan Duursema does a great job taking the steady flow of Orlando’s writing and making sure the Wonder Woman #751 keeps moving forward with her artwork. Duursema gives the right amount of detail in every panel to get across what each character is saying or thinking during each page they appear in. She particularly nails the arc that Detective Nora Nunes goes on. Through the artwork we see how Detective Nunes expressions change from a skeptic to optimist when it comes to her opinions on Wonder Woman. It’s something that subtly happens over the course of Wonder Woman #751, which strengthens the overall story in this issue.
The Bad: The one spot where Wonder Woman #751 falters is with the use of the Dark Fates. These characters disappear as fast as they make their presence known to Wonder Woman. The time they spent in Wonder Woman #751 was by no means enough to make them appear as a big threat readers should be interested in. Instead they just came across as a random monster of the week type villains who just needed to fill a role and then bounce.
This is especially disappointing because their role in the story should’ve been given to Warmaster’s plot. With how quickly this issue moves giving the page count dedicated to Dark Fates to Warmaster and her Hoursewomen would’ve been extremely valuable. It would’ve easily been that one of Warmaster’s recruits was the one that caused the storm. The results could’ve been the exact same with that character disappearing before a big fight. But since these pages were dedicated to the Dark Fates the true cause of the magical storm plot came across as a lackluster reveal.
Overall: Wonder Woman #751 accomplished what it needed to accomplish. Steve Orlando gave Wonder Woman a fresh start. In doing so Orlando was able to develop Wonder Woman’s supporting cast and create interest in the new Hoursewomen as big threats for the future. Orlando’s strong story was strengthened by the strong artwork Jan Duursema provides throughout the story. The detail Duursema gives each character went a long way in helping create a sense of pushing forward with the story in Wonder Woman #751.
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