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WONDER WOMAN: SPIRIT OF TRUTH
Recommended (8/10)
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DC Comics
Writers: Paul Dini & Alex Ross
Artist: Alex Ross
Editor: Charles Kochman & Joey Cavalieri
Price: $9.95 US/$16.95 CAN |
It should come as no surprise that Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, like the three other oversized books that preceded it, looks fantastic. However, the story isn't quite so compelling. Though it boasts a soothing, introspective tone, it just didn't connect for me as strongly as I hoped it would.
Wonder Woman is frustrated. Her efforts to act as an ambassador of peace in Man's World aren't working out as she'd hoped, as her appearance and femininity blind close-minded world leaders to her message. Complicating matters is that those she fights to protect are as scared of her as they are of their persecutors. A friend suggests a different perspective might prove beneficial, so the Amazon princess blends into the crowd she is sworn to protect rather than flying above them.
In the 1980s, George Perez relaunched and reshaped the best known female super-heroine, and in the process, he mesmerized readers with her beauty. Perez's vision of the character exuded innocence and love. Ross's vision of the character is just as hypnotic, but in a completely different way. There's a wisdom to his Diana, but there's also a profound sadness that draws the reader toward her. As always, Ross transforms the two-dimensional characters of super-hero comics into real, living, breathing human beings who exist in our world, not one of galactic conquerors and orbiting headquarters.
Though they're less than subtle, there are some nice dichotomies in the book. There's the usual bringer-of-peace/warrior contrast that is a central part of the Wonder Woman character, but as the title suggests, the main theme here is meant to be truth. It's entertaining to see that to discover the truth of the atrocities she's trying to prevent and of her role in Man's World, Diana must pretend to be someone she is not. In essence, she lies to learn various truths.
Overall, though, this strikes me as ground that was covered in the previous oversized Dini/Ross books. The heroine comes off as particularly naive in this story. That sort of naivete would have worked for the young woman Perez used to write about, but Dini and Ross tackle a more mature Wonder Woman here.
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