“Love and Murder: Part 5”
Writer: Jodi Picoult
Artist: Paco Diaz
Publisher: DC Comics
While Amazons Attack has been rather lackluster in terms of emotion and overall structure, Jodi Picoult’s run on Wonder Woman has really been the character-driven centerpiece of the event. In my past reviews of Wonder Woman during the event, I have really found it to be the true "Amazons Attack" story, the story that the “mega-event” should be. There’s just been so much more substance to Wonder Woman over the course of Amazons Attack. I gave Part 3 of “Love and Murder” (Wonder Woman #8) 5 silver bullets because of the way it completely overshadowed Amazons Attack #1. Jodi Picoult has done a formidable job in her first foray into comic books; unfortunately, she’s been stuck with character that is in editorial hell.
After reading Amazons Attack #3 and being thoroughly disappointed, I hoped that Wonder Woman #10 would do what the previous tie-in issues to Amazons Attack have done. Unfortunately, that was not the case this week as the current issue of Wonder Woman is not up to par with the previous ones. I don’t blame Picoult for this, nor do I blame Will Pfeifer. It’s clearly an editorial problem as these two issues are supposed to correspond. However, rather than coinciding with one another, or having to read one first and the other second, the only way that these issues can relate is if you read them at the same time. I kid you not, there are points in Amazons Attack that tell you to go to Wonder Woman #10, but if you just read one of these issues, you won’t have the slightest idea of what’s going on.
Before I really go on, I do need to say that this issue does continue the current trend of Wonder Woman’s dilemma of who she identifies with: humans or Amazons. The only problem with the debate is that sometimes she sounds like an angst-ridden teenager as opposed to the Princess of the Amazons. However, Picoult does do a decent job of capturing Wonder Woman’s intensity early on in the story when she goes up against the Amazons. After a second read, I really enjoyed the narrative and inner-monologue as Wonder Woman described her feelings and controlled her anger battling her “sisters.” And then of course, there is the great banter between Wonder Woman and Nemesis. The scenes between these two characters have been the absolute gem of Picoult’s run and are definitely the highlights of this issue. Except of course the odd “fastball special” type move.
About halfway through this issue, things start to go south. There’s some pretty awful dialogue between Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Batman and Nemesis that made me smirk at first, but only left me cringing. And then, yet again, Batman is sitting around doing nothing. Shouldn’t he be decked out in high-tech armor, flying the bat-wing through the hordes of Pegasus-riding Amazons? Nope, he pretty much sits around and gets made fun of by Nemesis.
And then there is the Amazons’ secret weapon. I mean, I really wanted Kratos from God Of War to pop up and start ripping up the Justice League. How cool would that be? But rather than the Amazons having some male warrior-slave, they have STYGIAN KILLER HORNETS! Oh my! So DC has got Darkseid with his eyes on the Earth, Sinestro about to rip apart the universe and the best the Amazons have got is killer hornets? Killer hornets that, as soon as they appear, are eradicated by Superman and Hal Jordan. Enter obligatory plot device as Nemesis is stung by the bees and Wonder Woman’s would-be boyfriend goes down at Hippolyta’s hand. So Wonder Woman is mad at her mom and the end of this issue is a bit… odd.
While I have praised the artwork of the Dodson’s throughout this series, Paco Diaz takes over in this issue, and while his work is good, there’s a lot of inconsistency. The facial expressions that Diaz draws are great and convey emotion very well, but Wonder Woman’s body structure changes multiple times throughout the issue. Diaz does a great job with the larger scale images, but anatomy throughout the issue is a bit of a sticking point for me. Not to mention the first page looks really strange. Overall, the artwork isn’t bad. It’s decent, but I do wish Alex Sinclair was a bit more vibrant with the colors.
It is unfortunate for Picoult that she was stuck with such a poorly executed storyline. I think if she was given free reign over Wonder Woman this would have gone much differently. This issue is redeeming however, because it still manages to capture a more emotional side of Amazons Attack and focuses on the character that readers care much more about. Compared to Amazons Attack, this issue is worth the read for Wonder Woman fans. But if you care less about Amazons Attack, you really aren’t missing anything universe-changing.
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