I was unsure of Messner-Loebs’s return to Wonder Woman during the opening scene, featuring a bunch of boys in their “we hate girls” club getting lost in a cave. It seems too antiquated, maybe it’s just Lee Moder’s pencils–he can’t draw the boys to look young enough. They’re visually teenagers, too old for that sort of thing.
But then Wonder Woman shows up and the comic immediately gets good. Well, maybe not immediately–two pages after she arrives it does. It turns out Diana is going to be an unofficial camp counselor to a girl’s day camp (for Etta). It’s vapid material teenage girls learning to accomplish things and have pride in achievements and not shoes. Messner-Loebs even manages to be subtle about it at times. It’s a strong story, especially since all Diana’s character development is in the background.
It’s a very worthwhile, if gentle, read.
CREDITS
Wonder Girls; writer, William Messner-Loebs; penciller, Lee Moder; inker, Dan Green; colorist, Christ Beckett; letterer, Dezi Sienty; editors, Chynna Clugston Flores and Kwanza Johnson; publisher, DC Comics.
