DC COMICS
WRITER: Gail Simone
ARTISTS/COVER: Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson

A powerless Diana Prince faces Captain Nazi while his horde of neo-Nazis descend upon Wonder Woman's home of Paradise Island. The new creative team is really stamping their imprint on this book, showing us new aspects of Wonder Woman, revealing new details about the Amazons, the mythical world they inhabit, the origins of Wonder Woman-- and even the background of Captain Nazi. Some of the changes may rankle older readers but they do seem to be natural extensions of the characters and the situations rather than something just forced into the book to change its direction.

Diana Prince, who now has no superpowers unless she is in costume, proves she can handle herself as just a mere human. Having her finally acknowledge that she actually enjoys physical combat is a refreshing development even while her willingness to humble herself to save her home makes her more sympathetic. There is lengthy, but effective portion showing the dark side of the supposedly-perfect Amazon society and a brief tour of other divine pantheons that exist in the DC world, including one that will apparently play a part in Wonder Woman's future. The scenes of Queen Hippolyta arming herself to take on the neo-Nazi invaders also showcase the character well, especially after her confusing depiction in the AMAZONS ATTACK miniseries. The bad guys however, particularly Captain Nazi, are beaten too easily, disappointing those who expected this issue to have a lot of action. (And wasn't Captain Nazi's father a scientist?)

The Dodson's art is lush and gorgeous, as usual, giving all of the characters a unique, yet memorable 'look.' The action scenes are a laid-out a bit oddly but the main characters do look powerful-- which makes the brief fight scenes all the more disappointing. It remains to be seen if the changes in this title will revitalize the Wonder Woman franchise but they certainly show a lot of promise, re-establishing her as a likeable superhero and not a preachy goddess. And for this reader at least, that is a good thing.

It gets four stars out of five.