Diana had just entered into a contest with some formidable opponents including Donna Troy and Yara Flor.  Opponents become allies when the field of contest falls into the earth amidst an ancient power from beyond Doom’s Doorway in Wonder Woman #786. Writers Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan carry the The Trial of the Amazons crossover closer to its conclusion with art by Rosi Kämpe and Becky Cloonan.  Also: writer Jordie Bellaire continues to explore the life of a girl who expects to accept the challenges of being queen with another chapter in the Young Diana series drawn by Paulina Ganucheau.

Going forward with the contest may have been a bad idea. Former queen Hippolyte had been murdered. No one knew who did it. There could be further danger. Nevertheless: the contest continued. Each of the Amazon nations had chosen its champion to compete in a series of challenges. Who could have expected that the challenge would include a complete collapse of the arena grounds into ancient catacombs that even Wonder Woman didn’t know about? What pre-Themysciran dangers could lurk in the heart of the island? Elsewhere, Young Diana learns a bit from her mother about the sometimes mercurial nature of leadership.

Conrad and Cloonan bring the contestants together in a sharp moment of crisis. It’s kind of a large ensemble of adventurers, but the writers give each one of them a distinct personality that keeps a team of Amazon warriors from seemingly like a homogenous mass of heroism. The contrasting work of Bellaire pairs the dangers of Diana’s current life with more peaceful lessons on the nature of working together that Wonder Woman learned as a child. The two chapters pair well together under a single cover even if the transition from the first story to the next feels a bit jarring when the two stories are read back-to-back. 

Kämpe and Cloonan plunge Wonder Woman and company into subterranean darkness with the think ink of heavy shadows. Diana manages to find the center of the panel even in a large ensemble of formidably-rendered warriors. The rendering of the woman/snake monster Echidna gives the villain a kind of powerful stature that embraces a kind of godlike serpentine grace that gives the assembled heroes something suitably big to square-off against. The setting of the ancient catacombs may feel a bit like a generic dungeon, but the action in the foreground is fun. Ganucheau continues to find a really appealing visual vocabulary for the world of Young Diana. She’s closer with her mother now. The resonant emotional warmth of Ganucheau’s art embraces the greater emotional connection between Young Diana and Hippolyte.

Conrad and Cloonan have a lot of story to move through if they’re going to be able to wrap up the Trial of the Amazons series in a satisfying way. Engaging all of the contestants to come together as a team right away moves things along quite well. Bellaire’s coming-of-age story is a pleasant,  little moment at the end of the adventure.

Grade: B+