Diana Continues Her Journey in Wonder Woman #775

Diana makes her way through the Graveyard of the Gods in Wonder Woman #775. Written by Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan, art by Andy MacDonald, colors by Nick Filardi and lettered by Pat Brosseu

Andrea Ayres: Wonder Woman #775 had a lot packed into a single issue. Given the pacing of Wonder Woman #774, I felt like we went into hyperspace here. The lead-up to the Graveyard of the Gods was so compelling. I feel a little let down we didn’t get to spend more time there. There are a lot of tonal changes in narrative, art and layout. To be honest, I’m not sure it all works. I’d like to dive right in because issue #775 felt like three or four stories in one. What say you?

Cat Purcell: It does feel like a lot of time and space was traveled in this small issue, and I could have spent at least two issues in the Graveyard! Though it felt incredibly fast, there were some parts that didn’t work for me and at least two that I loved. Let’s dive!

A Game of Wits

Andrea: We begin the issue with Deadman and Diana trouncing around in a bunch of tombstones. Deadman waxes poetic about how these dead gods ended up here:

“So many gods long forgotten, killed by their own followers as faith in them dwindled and the ones killed by their own brethren, then erased from stories and prayers, lost to time.”

Please, someone needs to erase all the “owns” from this script because it is redundant. There. Now that my pettiness is out of the way. The opening splash page here and accompanying script didn’t draw me in like the following page does. The text feels rote. It doesn’t feel like it ties into the previous issue’s bombast. In #774, we descend a shaft of utter horror with screams of agony. We emerge in a visually confusing place–a mess of headstones. I wish the focus had been tighter on Diana, Deadman, and the tombstones. The pulled-back nature of the initial splash page makes me feel removed from the emotion of the story.

Why am I supposed to care about random gods lost to time? There is not enough grounding in this world to cause me to have an emotional response yet. If that make any sense? I almost wish we had started with Deadman and Diana encountering the Keeper of the Grounds because that is a haunting image. Okay, I’m going to stop talking now. Please save me.

Cat: That toothy grin and… what are those.. stapled eyes!? Those will haunt me and would have fit right into the horrors we left Diana, Deadman and Ratatosk with at the end of the last issue. In deep contrast to the jarring reds and purples, I wouldn’t mind wandering in this field of dreamy greens and sparkly blue tombstones. But then again, I have always been a tad morbid. I’d also wanted a few more dead gods hanging around, but oh well. I AM pleased with Deadman’s observation of Diana’s costume changes as well!

Deadman introduces our squirrel friend while they decide to wander around until they find some help. Ratatosk takes them to poor Hermes mausoleum because here, I guess, even the fog is a messenger. Before they get going, they run into the spitting image of a plague doctor, oh I mean, the KEEPER OF THE GROUNDS. What was your take on this riddler, Andrea?

Andrea: One note on her costume: I am a fan. Plus, that lavender rope is just a vibe.

I wanted to like the riddles. It’s a menacing concept with promise, one that could have shown the sinister nature of manipulation. Instead, the entire scene ends up feeling a bit child-like. The riddles are simple, the forced tension is transparent, and the climax doesn’t satisfy. I was not sure what this scene did to move the story along. The idea of threatening Deadman and Ratatosk is good, but the execution felt off. This is an area where the pacing of Wonder Woman #775 bears fruit.

There is discordance between what Diana expresses and what the reader feels. Diana’s shown as angry, fearful, obstinate, but there hasn’t been enough time to build up these emotions with readers. I’m thinking specifically of pages 13-15, where the bulk of this riddle story occurs. The reader should feel rife with anxiety as Diana contemplates her answers. We don’t because there hasn’t been enough build-up. When she solves riddles in mere seconds, it renders any moment of precarity as naught.

Cat: That was similar to my take on it. At first, I was excited for the riddles, especially with the nod to The Hobbit by Deadman (I could always go for some elevenses!). But you’re right. It doesn’t pay off. At least Bilbo gets stumped for a bit by Gollum’s riddles. An inner monologue of frustration or some panels with silence would have helped convey that. We don’t even see her react much to The Keeper’s threats to Ratatosk and Deadman! What could have been an intriguing scene felt empty.

Her price for releasing the Pantheon was Chaos, which I did find an intriguing choice, especially as once again, she didn’t even blink before giving her answer. His Greek name, Khaos, literally means gap, and he preceded the universe and represented fate. As the gods are released from the Graveyard, there is a quote, “I will redeem you,” and I wasn’t sure how to take that. Were you?

Andrea: I know our humble editor has expressed enjoyment of our discovery of Deadman, and I must say I continue to be delighted. I want more Deadman content. The interplay between him and Diana is strong.

The only way I could take the utterance of “I will redeem you” is that it’s a big old honkin’ foreshadowing. I wasn’t entirely clear if Diana was saying this or if it came from some sort of amorphous ether? Haha, but I’ve reread the passage on page 16 several times, and I can’t make heads or tales of it. Dollars to donuts, though, it comes back in the next issue.

With Arms Nonetheless

Andrea: Okay, so we’re back on Olympus now as we mournfully leave Deadman behind. I think what this run suffers from more than anything else is the need to tie up loose ends with neat bows. Like there’s something too saccharine about how well Diana does all the time. She has all of these battles, but they almost always end in her favor with relatively little fanfare, and then everyone around her says, “Wow, you are a true genius.” Like there was so much set up for this Graveyard and then bing, bang, boom, the gods are resurrected! I just don’t like it, Cat!

Going from the Graveyard to Olympus was a shock to the old peepers. MacDonald’s art is developing, and I think he’s still finding his footing. The scenes with large swaths of people are complex due to confusing perspectives, proportions, and coloring. I’m not sure what you felt about it, but my eyes found it hard to find a focal point and stick with the story.

Cat: This is one of my complaints with Captain Marvel right now too. Let women fail! It happens. It’s ok. Sometimes we even fail spectacularly! And that’s often the thing with superheroes we crave, that they have super strength or are super good, or whatever, but also that they’re like us still.

I was hoping we might get some of that now that everyone’s back in Olympus. In a roundabout way, against her own choices, Diana is kind of the reason they were in the Graveyard as well? But they laid all the blame on Janus. I am glad they listened to her, though. I didn’t feel like seeing him burned alive! So we’re back to another part with the gods, eh?

Andrea: I realize I didn’t mention why I chose the topic “With arms nonetheless,” so before I go on, I will address that quickly!

I wonder why readers of comics are so often reminded female superheroes can (and do) fight. They use weapons, and they are capable warriors! I don’t think we’d see a similar sentence in a book about a male superhero. For this particular section on Olympus, where it’s more set up for where Diana heads next, it feels like the phrase “with arms nonetheless” is there to make readers feel safe. Don’t worry! The action will return! Is this off base?

Cat: Not at all! I hadn’t even thought of it, but you’re right. And it seemed even more ridiculous with Diana’s history of having grown up on an island filled with nothing but warrior women. Diana is capable with a sword would be as natural as her going for a walk. Which I’m gonna use as maybe the reason why Zeus meets with her and is immediately like, “Ah, this all makes perfect sense,” and then they just drink some wine. But this time, Diana has no room for it and immediately wants to solve how Other Janus left Olympus. Before she goes, Hephaestus asks about her new lasso. And I thought that was a nice example of minor in-character moments this team is good at. I suspect his mentioning the lasso with the shortcut to Other Janus’ God Scraper is nothing short of foreshadowing, though!

Andrea: I did like that bit with lasso as well. Plus, I want that lasso in particular. So I don’t know; I’m a lasso lush. I don’t know what else to call myself at this point. After so much visual information packed into the previous few pages, the panel break on page 22 was probably my favorite element of the issue. I’m still not sold on the need for so much time spent on Olympus, but it did give us this beautiful segue to the final section of WW #775.

She Will Determine Her Own Destiny

Cat: That panel! If I could have a second single shot from this run so far to have blown up and put on my wall, it would be this one. I could draw inspiration from it every day! And if there was ever a quote to sum up Wonder Woman, it is “She will determine her own destiny”. I’m a sucker for these things.

Andrea: I am too! That said, I wasn’t a fan of being thrown into a scene of an attempted sexual assault. Diana gaining information about the well’s dangers could have been received in thousands of different ways, all without the inclusion of the assault. Did you have particular thoughts on that scene?

Cat: It was jarring! I think everyone knows that the Satyrs are the biggest scum in mythology. He didn’t even have any helpful hints or clues to her using the well. It seems that was her idea from the beginning. I’m not a fan of seeing sexual assault, even if it does relate to the plot. I certainly don’t care for it when it doesn’t.

That being said, I liked that the well was also the last clue that the Keeper gave! I’m ecstatic that said well leads to ELFHAME! Are you ready for this chapter, Andrea? Because I am rubbing my hands together in DELIGHT!

Andrea: OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY YOU ARE RIGHT about a FEW THINGS HERE. It may have been the quickest way towards getting us familiar for those who aren’t familiar with Satyrs. It doesn’t mean I agree with its inclusion, but I do get it. Honest to biscuits, though. I’m so excited about Elfhame. The entire issue felt on the ho-hum side. Then, on the last page, Diana emerges, and it is excellent news for this chick. MacDonald’s art tends to work best when there isn’t much happening, as with this final page.

Cat: I concur! I’ve felt myself missing Moore and Bonvillain, particularly this issue and with depicting faces, but MacDonald’s backgrounds and scenery are captivating! That last shot was a prime example of where he excels.

And I can’t believe I got so lucky as to get the next arc I could ever HOPE to have Diana visit! I know I am not an exception in my love for Arthurian tales and to know that Wonder Woman will be looking for clues in the Faerie land of Queen Mab herself has me tickled. And to be fair, Elfhame isn’t quite the same as a King Arthur story. They may not even intersect. But this might be as close as I’ll get and I’ll take it.

Final Thoughts

Andrea: I’m uncomfortable with some color choices, especially for gods who aren’t or do not present as caucasian. Overall, Olympus and many of the gods feel aggressively white or white-passing, and it feels like a real missed opportunity that I would be remiss not to mention. Oh, and one more thing now that I’ve turned this into a grievance-laden conclusion, sometimes the scale and proportion of bodies feel mismatched. Still, count me among the excited for the next arc.

Cat: That’s a great point, and one I hope will not continue to be overlooked as we get into celebrating the many upcoming titles in Wonder Woman’s lore for the 80th anniversary. The things that bug me about these issues continue to even out with the little nuggets of myth or references to other stories. Conrad, Cloonan, and MacDonald shine in the details. Filardi’s colors are perfectly atmospheric. I’m thankful #776 is only 2 weeks away!