Diana has made her way into a very secure facility. She has found an old foe of hers trapped in a cage. The Cheetah has been put through some vicious experimentation. Naturally, Diana will risk her life to save an old enemy in Wonder Woman #792. Writers Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad bring Diana through the end of her latest plot arc with the aid of artist Marguerite Sauvage. Meanwhile, Young Diana finds herself becoming the conduit for powerful forces in another chapter in the life of a young princess conceived by writer Jordie Bellaire and artist Paulina Ganucheau. 

Diana doesn’t have long. The facility she’s in will find out that she’s not supposed to be there really, really soon. Thankfully, she has the aid of the Cheetah. Wonder Woman’s old foe might be a danger to her, but she’s going to want to get out of confinement more than she’s going to want to harm her. And if Diana finesses things just right, she might even end up with a powerful ally. Somewhere in the past, little Diana is overcome with power. Antiope and her mother Hippolyte each have distinctly different reactions to Diana’s transformation.

Cloonan and Conrad exquisitely sculpt the drama between Wonder Woman and the Cheetah. The delicate balance of aggression between warrior and animalistic hunter slices across the page with a clever poise. The conflict between Diana and Barbara Minerva has been going on for a long time. Conrad and Cloonan do such an excellent job of rendering the subtle complexities between them that one need not be familiar with their history to feel the emotional pull of the drama. Bellaire’s contribution to this issue leans very heavily on the art to bring across a very powerful event. It’s a wise decision on her part.

Ganucheau’s art has been sweet and soft throughout the entire run of Young Diana thus far. The sudden possession of little Diana by overwhelming power hits the page like an electric fist, jolting Ganucheau’s pleasantness with something powerful. Sauvage’s work earlier on in the issue finds his colors adding beautifully to very aggressive action. The rendering of form on the page does a pretty good job of bringing across the intensity of battle, but it’s Sauvage’s colors that really sell the magnitude of it. By far Sauvage’s greatest moment this chapter is the sudden breakthrough as Diana and Barbara finally connect emotionally. It’s a very moving panel. 

Minerva has occasionally shown a more heroic side on the comics page. Conrad, Cloonan, and company give the Cheetah one of her most believable moments of heroism in a very palpable transformation. Diana has always been very focused on reforming the villains that she tangles with. With issue #792, Conrad and Cloonan deliver one of the most emotionally engaging transformations that Wonder Woman has ever managed in a single issue. The Barbara Minerva that Conrad and Cloonan bring to Wonder Woman #792 is well worth her own series.

Grade: A