‘Wonder Woman #773’ (review)

Written by Becky Cloonan &
Michael Conrad, Jordie Bellaire, 
Art by Travis Moore, Paulina Ganucheau
Published by DC Comics

So what happens now when Wonder Woman meets the Valkyries?

If you’re expecting fireworks, then this issue may disappoint you.

It’s not that we don’t get any action, but we definitely don’t get what the cover promises.

Did you see Diana throw Thor’s lightning hammer at a Valkyrie?

Nope! We don’t get that.

Not to say that Wonder Woman #773 happens absent conflict.

Instead, Diana’s quest to find the missing Valkyries reveals a conversation about consent and destinies, of feminine compliance in masculine horror. They no longer wish to ferry the fallen warriors in Asgard, having grown tired of it on the mortal plane as well.

It doesn’t matter if the blood of the fallen feeds the world tree to keep Asgard going. The Valkyries are tired.

But before they can state their case longer for Wonder Woman, Thor and his battlebros charge into Fortress Valkyrie. Just as the room grows tense and war is in the air, watching these women standing up to Thor’s patriarchal aggression, Diana regains her memory.

Now we get some fireworks. But this is Wonder Woman – she’s not here to prolong the fight, but to end the source of conflict. She disabuses Thor of his new hammer, which unknowingly came from Doctor Psycho and has been filling his brain with misogynistic awfulness and skewing his negative qualities.

After defeating Thor, then Doctor Psycho, Diana awakens to diplomacy among the gods, Asgard is saved, and Siegfried is back in full ghost health. One-more-night-with-a-sexy-ghost healthy, even.

So now Wonder Woman must away to Olympus. Deadman keeps saying it’s in trouble. And by this isssue’s cliffhanger, it sure doesn’t look like paradise!

The backmatter Young Diana story remains charming and another meditation on lies and the truth that Woner Woman is based on.

As we finish our first week of Pride Month, it’s pretty cool seeing casual depictions of queerness in the Young Diana story as well, such as with Queen Hippolyta and adviser Phillippus.