Wonder Woman: War Torn, Vol. 7 by Meredith Finch

Genre: Superhero Comics

Series: Wonder Woman Vol. IV

Publisher: DC Comics (September 8, 2015)

Length: 176 pages

My Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

The critically acclaimed run of Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang has come to an end on Wonder Woman. A new creative team (writer Meredith Finch and artist David Finch) has taken over, tasked with maintaining the momentum of the big New 52 revamp of this iconic character, yet bring a different style and new direction.

Their first story arc begins with a fairly simple but insightful premise: a woman pulled in too many directions.

As followers of Azzarello’s run already know, Diana is now a member of the Justice League, Queen of the Amazons, the new God of War, and in a relationship with Superman. (The woman has lots of responsibilities!)  Understandably she feels unable to meet all her obligations. I mean, when she leaves Paradise Island to deal with League business or try to have a “date” with her Man of Steel (I’m not going to even make the obvious joke.) she knows her Amazonian sisters feel ignored. If she stays on Themyscira, people in the outside world may be harmed. And so Wonder Woman tries to maintain a juggling act of all her responsibilities, hoping that somehow she can keep everything together.

But it isn’t just Diana who is concerned about her inability to adjust to her new roles.

Inside the Justice League, there are those who question her new status of God of War and worry that she will not be the same person anymore, even as she takes a leading role in uncovering a diabolic threat to the inhabitants of earth.

Back home on Themyscira, dissension continues to grow. Diana’ sisters doubting her choice of allowing men onto the island and seeing in her concern for the outside world a signs that she isn’t dedicated to her own people.

As things progress, Diana discovers that her past actions may have helped cause an ongoing problem in the world, and trusted sisters on Themyscira turn their backs on her, resulting in the return of an old character and forcing a confrontation to determine the fate of the Amazons.

Now, I’ve been told that some readers have found some of the plot lines in this collection a bit offensive. Words like “biphobic” and “misogyny” have been thrown around a bit. I didn’t really see it, but then again, I wasn’t really looking for it. If you are sensitive to those type issues, I suppose this is my warning about it.

Overall, I thought this was a very entertaining, action packed story – a great transitional piece from the prior story line to the new. The narrative was well thought out, focusing on obvious problems Diana would have in her situation, and abounds in realistic situations and conflicts. Coupled with this, I really loved the beautiful art. Nope, it isn’t the fluid and nuance style of Chiang, but it matched the new tone and direction of the narrative, while still retaining the unique character styles which Chiang introduced. Give it a try, you might like it.

I received a copy of this book from DC Comics in return for an honest review.

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