Dr. Cizco continues his late night rants while Diana discovers she doesnât have to face her mess alone in Wonder Woman #788, written by Michael Conrad and Becky Cloonan, penciled by Emanuela Lupacchino, inked by Wade Von Grawbadger, colored by Tamra Bonvillain and lettered by Pat Brosseau.
The Bros
The Milk is back and Siggy and Steve are going to test some⌠or at least run some experiments with it with Etta. Siegfried has been working on his fitness and pop culture by watching tv, but heâs not past his old norse references or looking like a snack.
One of the things I think Cloonan and Conrad excel at both here and in their run on Batgirls is creating a relatable cast of characters. I mentioned before how much I appreciate the lack of a rivalry between these past loves of Diana and I just want to add how great it is that they work together as a team with Etta to help their friend out however they can. Sure, Wonder Womanâs got these powers and is an amazing Amazon, but she canât do it all. So our non-superheroes spring into action to figure out just what the heck is going on with Dr. Cizco peddling this Milk X-tra to manly men. Before they can, Siggy busts in with news that a nasty riot has broken out at The Justice League headquarters.
The Justice League
Iâm going to be honest, in the wake of the Buffalo gunman and the far right protest at a pride event, this issue hit close to home. Our creative team has pulled this event straight out of reality and they did an eerily accurate job depicting what would happen to our heroes when faced with a similar group of men. Cloonan and Conrad arenât leaving any room for ambiguity about this theme with the chants of âSend her backâ and the news media over inflation. Meanwhile, Lapucchino, Von Grawbadger and Bonvillain depict this scene clearly right down to the red hats.
This is a timely topic as waves of men across the country seem to be riled up to act out on the hate theyâre harboring. Time and time again the boiling anger theyâre feeling at being âreplaced,â though practically everyone but them still deal with wage gaps, lack of promotions, sexual assault and harassment, discrimination due to sexual orientation, and racism in much larger numbers. Conrad and Cloonan make the compelling argument that it would be easy for Dr. Cizco to gain in popularity by channeling their rage and pointing it at Wonder Woman. I donât disagree. The men in the comic and in real life seem eager to direct their anger at any one cause, and Wonder Woman, being a canonically Bisexual (though Iâd like more evidence of this PLEASE) Female immigrant, is the perfect target.Â
I appreciate that Superman and Green Arrow have better things to do, but I donât blame Diana AT ALL for feeling unsupported by them in this protest. Sure, she âcan take care of things,â but sometimes one of the struggles of being a strong woman is youâre expected to always be able to handle things on your own. And it SUCKS. Not that we need men to come to our rescue, but itâd be a lot easier if theyâd stand up to the sexist assholes before it gets to the point where weâre having to defend ourselves from them on our own doorsteps when it feels like itâs too late.Â
Anyway, unlike the men of the Justice League, Steve, Siggy, and Etta are here to help Diana.
The Villains
It isnât long before the crowd gets restless and Diana comes out to try and calm them down. Dr. Cizco canât have that, so he has his Wonder Woman lookalike toy set the bomb to go off. Even though theyâre saving folks left and right, the Wonder Team are still painted to look as if they caused it. And whatâs worse, Dr. Poison shows up to knock out Steve. Just like weâve seen with others, Dr. Cizco continues to loudly proclaim heâs being silenced on his broadcast TV show. While the Wonder Team tries to piece together the puzzle of whoâs helping our little professor, The Villains run the numbers on their chances of success against them and show they have one more trick up their sleeve.
Wonderful Whims
- The only experience I have with Draugrâs is from playing too much Skyrim, but I bet they stink to high heaven, Siggy.
- I definitely appreciated Siggyâs silly prose and amusing quips in this issue. My heartâs as cold as steel, too, baby.
Cat Purcell is a Career Services Librarian, cosplayer, artist, and massive coffee consumer.
