Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Drew Johnson; Ray Snyder; Richard Horie; Tanya Horie; & Todd Klein
Cover Art by Phil Noto
SUMMARY:
Published by DC Comics for January 2004, it’s the third segment of the five-part Down to Earth storyline. While Themyscira’s leaders (Artemis, among them) disagree re: the outside world’s access to their island, trouble is brewing on Mount Olympus and at Themyscira’s New York embassy. Wonder Woman’s controversial book re: her Amazonian ideals and heavily spliced videotaped comments have spawn varying degrees of public criticism. It leads to one of her most trusted representatives cleverly debating Diana’ s most visible detractor on national television.
Meanwhile, Diana travels to Buenos Aires to visit a recuperating Vanessa Kapatelis (aka the Silver Swan), only to discover that her physician reluctantly allowed her abduction three months earlier. Already fuming, Wonder Woman is also alerted by Artemis that Ares may have returned.
At a jungle compound in Argentina, scientific genius Sebastian Ballesteros contemplates a devious multi-million dollar bribe to sell his captive Silver Swan to Veronica Cale.
REVIEW:
Writer Greg Rucka musters a fairly realistic take on Wonder Woman’s distractions amidst the media firestorm over her recent memoirs.
Curiously, Rucka’s version of the Olympians are shown conversing in contemporary slang, which makes for a mildly amusing scene. One fun bit is Eros snidely counting aloud the number of Diana’s references to particular Olympians, much like how egotistical actors stereotypically count their script lines. Rucka smartly adds some depth with spot-on TV cable talk show debating and an ominous final scene re: Silver Swan’s predicament.
As for this issue’s artwork, it’s relatively solid and bolstered by artist Phil Noto’s top-caliber cover image. However, the issue suffers one amateurish-looking small frame of Diana & Artemis during their discussion — maybe it was a last-minute insert, but this panel’s drawing is inadequate, as compared to the rest of the issue. All factors considered, Wonder Woman # 198 proves a decent read. It’s just that Diana/Wonder Woman doesn’t accomplish anything memorable.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
An unidentified “mole” hypes various upcoming issues for DC Comics in the single-page DC Nation column. A cover reveal for the next issue is included, as are brief peeks at Batman: Detective #27; JLA: Liberty and Justice; Catwoman # 25; and “Superman: The Kansas Sighting # 1.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6½ Stars
IMAGE NOT AVAILABLE
