It’s Wonder Woman’s final showdown with Villainy Inc and Dr. Cizko in Wonder Woman #790 is 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.
Bad Calculations
With one of Cloonan and Conrad’s classic twists, it appears Etta had planned all along to get captured. See, Etta and the Professor have history, and she read him like a book. Candy gets to trash his beloved machine while winding him up. Diana arrives just in time to help take him down and find out where Cizko is.
One of the things this team has done well is bring back the bondage in Wonder Woman. Diana was more likely to be tied up than her villains in creator William Moulton Marston’s Golden Age issues and Cloonan and Conrad have made more than a few references to it during their run. It’s a part of Wonder Woman’s history that some would prefer to leave behind, but Marston thought the imagery was important to show how powerful women can break free of their bonds. Not only does this issue give Etta a chance to bust out of her captivity, but she does it in the college setting Professor Marston often set his comics in as well.
Perfunct Poisons
The boys aren’t fairing so well against Dr.Poison, unfortunately, and Etta breaks down the door to come to their rescue. With precision, she frees their bonds with a few bullets and we get a glorious shot of Siegfried newly freed. Just as Dr. Poison is about to send them all to their deaths, Steve jabs her with her own medicine and three of our four heroes are ready to head to the head honcho’s house.
Etta also gets the chance to bring back another classic in Golden Age Wonder Woman, the bouncing bullets. Typically Diana deflected them with her Bracelets of Submission, but here we see Etta free Seigfried and Steve by blasting their bonds off with bullets from her gun.
Backfiring Brainwaves
Dr Cizko is having no luck on his own and poor Sweetheart isn’t helping. Wonder Woman arrives and there’s a pretty good back and forth between them. We finally get the chance to hear Diana go off on him and when Dr. Cizko tires of the talk, he tries mind control to subdue her. When that fails too, he escapes, but doesn’t get far before Diana is fed up. With all the meddling he’s done in her life and death, she’s over it and ready to let him fall from the top of the roof. Sweetheart saves him but has second thoughts as he tries the mind control again, dropping the crystal ball and foiling his plans to control Wonder Woman. Now it’s his turn to be bound and gagged.
With everything tied up nicely, we get to see Wonder Woman appear again as Diana Prince while the Wonder Friends sort through the aftermath. But what could Hera, Greek goddess and the mysterious Management behind Cizko, have in store for the milk business?
This was an arc that had its ups and down for me. It was certainly satisfying to see Cizko finally brought to justice after all of his toying around with Diana since Valhalla. There were moments I wanted more depth and other times I wanted it to pick up the pace already. But all in all, I LOVE what Cloonan, Conrad, Lupacchino, Van Grawbadger, Bonvillain, and Brosseau did to bring back so many classic, Golden Age villains and tie it into some new plots!
Wonderful Whims
- Is it any wonder Professor Calculus got fired?
- I like the reference to The Hiketeia on the cover here, but I’m gonna be honest, I’m not sure if this arc is quite at that level.
Cat Purcell is a Career Services Librarian, cosplayer, artist, and massive coffee consumer.
