Absolute Wonder Woman #6 // Review
Diana has been summoned to appear before Hades...lord of the underworld. Naturally, she IS quite humble about the meeting. If nothing else, she’s going to be quite interested to see why it is that Hades wishes to speak to her in Absolute Wonder Woman #6. Writer Kelly Thompson continues a deeply satisfying run with a darker Diana in an issue that is breathtakingly brought to page and panel by artist Mattia De Iulus. In addition to this, there are a couple of single page stories of Absolute Wonder Woman as a child that are sheer pleasure rendered for issue’s end featuring the art team of Dustin Nguyen and Beca Carey.
Hades has Diana cast off her armaments before he will agree to speak to her. Why it is that the lord of the underworld would want her disarmed is really more of a matter of curiosity than anything. As is his asking about her encounters with Prometheus and the last basilisk. She’s perfectly happy to tell the tales of the origin of a couple of her armaments, but she doesn’t exactly have a choice. If Hades doesn’t want you out of the underworld, it’s very, very difficult to escape.
Thompson continues to draw on ancient legend in a way that tends to be avoided by the Wonder Woman writers of the past eight decades. Thompson does so in a way that feels a lot more sophisticated than Kanigher, Wein or Potter’s similar attempts in the past. Diana’s appeal to Prometheus is one hero calling on the aid of another in a way that feels suitably monumental on a whole bunch of different levels. Diana’s battle with the last basilisk is a strikingly concise look at the monster slaying trope of ancient legend. The scripting feels delightfully well-executed.
The art is phenomenal. Mattia De Iulus’ work on The Cull for Image was impressively immersive. Here he’s given a chance to render powerful images from ancient myth through a modern lens. De Iulus’ sense of perspective is particularly impressive when measuring the humble form of Diana against the massive might of the titan known as Prometheus or a giant basilisk. The painted style of rendering is jaw dropping...but so much better at actually rendering a story than the similar work of someone like Alex Ross who lacks the Iulus’ genius for action and fluidity of motion. Amazing artists for cover images aren’t that hard to find...but a cover artist who can also tell a story between the covers? THAT is a treasure.
And the issue ends with a couple of one-page comics that Thompson wrote involving a young Diana that feel...they almost feel pulled out of a parallel dimension where li’l Diana might have been on the comic strip page next to Dennis the Menace. It’s sharply clever stuff that hits all of the right beats to be a single-joke strip in an era long after that sort of thing has become fashionable. It’s a fun ending to a very fun issue.
