DC Comics continues their daily Digital First releases with Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace. As with Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Batman: Gotham Nights, this Wonder Woman issue is a repurposed story that was featured in DC Giants that was previously exclusive to Walmart. Based on the cover of Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace it looks like we will be getting a team-up story between Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn. This isn’t a team-up I’ve really seen so I’m excited to see what Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti do with the chemistry between these two. Let’s find out now with Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace.
Writers: Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
Artist: Inaki Miranda
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Things start with Wonder Woman blocking a barrage of bullets being fired at her and Harley Quinn.
Sometime earlier Wonder Woman is following a lead on the cause of several building collapses that her friend Etta Candy gave her. Before she gets to that lead Wonder Woman is stopped for a moment to snap some pictures with fans.
Later Wonder Woman arrives at the apartment complex and tells the guards she is there for a meeting with Simon Wickett. The guards think Wonder Woman is just a cosplayer and tell her to turn around, even pointing a gun in her face. Wonder Woman tells the guards to remember she requested to go inside nicely.
The next thing shown is Wonder Woman throwing the guards through the glass doors. She then heads up to the higher floor by using the elevator.
Simon Wickett sees Wonder Woman entering the building from his penthouse along with his girlfriend, Pita. Simon immediately halts the elevator.
Simon then talks to Wonder Woman through a screen, asking why she is there. Wonder Woman says she is there to question him on the recent building collapses. Simon says he is not involved and has done nothing wrong. He goes on to say that he is just in the business of purchasing real estate and has to purchase one building on Coney Island but is having trouble with a psycho there so he hired four hitmen to go after her.
Simon then goes to his helicopter with Pita. Before he leaves Simon cuts the elevator line. Wonder Woman uses her sword to stop the elevator and get off on one of the building’s floors. Simon then sets off explosives that completely collapse the building.
Wonder Woman is able to get out of the wreckage alive but collapses after having a drink of water due to her injuries.
Over in Coney Island Harley Quinn presents her friend Sy Borgman with a birthday cake. Harley Quinn went a little overboard with the candles. Eventually the heavy wind in the area ends up blowing the birthday cake away.
Wonder Woman suddenly appears much to Harley Quinn’s joy over teaming up. Sy mentions that Harley is a huge Wonder Woman fan. This is shown with Harley suddenly reappearing in her own version of the Wonder Girl costume.
In Harley’s room Harley asks which of Wonder Woman’s villains they will be fighting. Wonder Woman says it’s Simon Wickett, who Harley never heard of.
They then go to a diner where Wonder Woman explains the situation Harley is in with four assassins after her. Proving that to be fact the waitress suddenly tries to kill Harley Quinn but is stopped by Wonder Woman. The assassins try to kill both of them but Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn quickly knock her out.
Later, Harley Quinn wakes up the assassin, who she has put on catapult. Harley and Wonder Woman question the assassin what she was hired. The assassin goes over the other assassins that will be coming after Harley. Not liking the answer Harley launches the assassin on the catapult across the city.
Wonder Woman quickly flies to catch the assassin. She then turns the assassin over to the police.
As Wonder Woman and Harley talk to the cops a red ball appears in the police station. Two monsters pop out of it to attack Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn. Harley Quinn uses some donuts to lure the monsters outside. When the monsters get to the streets they are run over by a semi-truck.
Red Ball, the second assassin, says she was only hired to kill Harley Quinn but having to go against Wonder Woman is above her pay grade. She says if she can get Wonder Woman’s autograph she will tell them who the other two assassins after Harley and will surrender. Wonder Woman agrees.
The remaining two assassins are driving through traffic when they get the message that it’s their turn to go after Harley Quinn. Before they do Wonder Woman lifts the assassins car and flies it over to the police.
The two assassins immediately want to bargain. Wonder Woman agrees if they give her the information she needs on Simon Wicket. They both agree.
The next day Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn are at the airport where Simon Wickett’s plane is landing. Harley Quinn immediately takes the plane down by hitting the wing with a rocket. Wonder Woman then rushes in to get Simon, Pita and the pilot out of the plane’s wreckage.
Wonder Woman then hands Simon and Pita over to the police while getting the pilot medical attention.
Wonder Woman tells Harley Quinn she could’ve killed the people on the plane. Harley says she didn’t and starts trying to joke with Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman calls Harley exhausting. This just gives Harley more material to banter. End of issue.
The Good: Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace does exactly what you want a comic book to do. Much like Robert Venditti did in Superman: Man of Tomorrow, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti understand whoever picks up Wonder: Agent of Peace knows who the character is. Wonder Woman is such an iconic character that has been around pop culture that there is no need to spend time with her origin. Fans just want to get right into a fun adventure starring the character. And that is what we get as we see Wonder Woman team-up with Harley Quinn.
Conner and Palmiotti do a good job in getting you right into the story as we learn that Wonder Woman is on a mission that her friend Etta Candy asked her to do. There isn’t much more explanation needed as you understand that Wonder Woman is someone that is always down to help a friend with a case. It helps ground Wonder Woman in a way that you get why she isn’t just a hero who sticks to the Greek mythology threats. She is someone that does go against all sorts of villains.
The cat and mouse game worked well in this case since Simon Wickett isn’t a bad guy who can combat Wonder Woman one-on-one. Setting up that capturing Simon was the end goal made this be more about the journey Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn were on to get to that point. You were questioning how many assassins these two would have to fight off in order to get to where they can capture Simon.
And given how powerful Wonder Woman is it was good that they did not try to make her weaker or try to create new characters that could match her in power. It was simply Wonder Woman using her skills and fame to quickly get through these would be assassins. I particularly liked Red Ball’s reaction when she realized that Wonder Woman was with Harley Quinn. It showed the character is not going to be dumb and fail like the other assassins. Also asking for the autograph does a good job highlighting how much love there is for Wonder Woman.
Conner and Palmiotti do a good job playing into the fun dynamic between Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn. They played well into how the personalities of Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn balance each other out. Harley Quinn being a big Wonder Woman fangirl made their interactions have an even more fun tone. You could tell that it wasn’t just Harley Quinn being Harley Quinn with her banter. She was genuinely enjoying being able to team-up with Wonder Woman.
Inaki Miranda delivers artwork that gets better as Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace progresses. The art started a bit rough but as the story went on there was a firm grasp of the world that was being created. Specifically when it came to the designs of Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn there was a good handle of how they should look by the end. And the bits of action we did get showed off the characters respective skills.
The Bad: Where Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace falters a bit is in the fact that it doesn’t use a villain that readers will be familiar with. There is no believability in Simon Wickett or his assassins being an actual threat to Wonder Woman. Maybe if one of the assassins turned out to be Lady Shiva there could’ve been an actual tension in the story. Without a credible name there was a lack of tension or worry for Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn.
Overall: Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace delivers an enjoyable team-up adventure with Harley Quinn. Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti showed a clear understanding of both characters. The lack of a notable villain did hurt the story but the chemistry great between Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn makes up for it. It’s definitely a comic that if you are a Wonder Woman and/or Harley Quinn fan I recommend checking out.
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