Last year, DC Black introduced readers to Wonder Woman: Dead Earth. With the much anticipated second book out last week, let’s look back at what made the first book so incredible.
Wonder Woman: Fury Road
What could make Mad Max: Fury Road, one of the best movies of the century, better? The answer we didn’t know we needed is Wonder Woman. With a desert wasteland, oppressive survivor colony, universal disregard for human life, and mutants, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth fits in with George Miller’s cinematic universe.
One of the most wonderful things about George Miller’s film is his use of color and composition to make a desolate world tragically beautiful. Mike Spencer, who does the colors for Dead Earth, also accomplishes this. He uses highly saturated primary colors to contrast the muted colors of the world, making the art pop even more.
Daniel Warren Johnson, the artist and writer, also brings a unique style to the comic medium as well as his design of Wonder Woman. For many super hero comics, the art has an airbrush feel to it. Johnson’s art has more of a sketchbook style to it with emphasis on the line work.
More Than a Myth
Meanwhile Johnson’s Wonder Woman is not the Greek Goddess readers are familiar with. Her hair is a frizzy mess. She is sturdy, soft, and strong. Her beauty is different from what readers are used to. While it’s clear she can still take anyone in a fight, this Wonder Woman also looks more innocent than most interpretations of the character with her rounder face, pouting lips, and larger nose. Her look emphasizes her vulnerability in this series, a key trait in the first and second book.
Johnson’s story highlights how Wonder Woman is at her most vulnerable in this title. Her godly strength, lasso, gauntlets, and friends have been taken away from her, but Diana persists. The world she loves is gone and she wasn’t able to do anything to stop it. This is devastating to the Amazon warrior; however, she does not lose faith.
A Hero We Need, but Not Who We Deserve
While readers see Wonder Woman at her lowest point, she still manages to be a hero. Her hope, compassion, and inner strength keep her going. It is not her superpowers or her accessories that make her an icon. It’s her empathy and determination.
In a world stripped of kindness and fueled by selfish blood lust, Diana is abnormal. Characteristics seen as weak by survivors are Wonder Woman’s strengths. These inhabitants gave up hope long ago, just like their ancestors, who were traumatized by the nuclear war. They’ve given up their morality in order to survive. They are the worst humanity has to offer, proof that Hippolyta was right. The world of man does not deserve Diana and never will; however, this somber note is not the message of Wonder Woman: Dead Earth Book One.
Wonder Woman (2017) hammers home the same point: the world of man is cruel and undeserving of Wonder Woman’s kindness. Diana accepts that humans are flawed, selfish, and hateful, but our cruelty and imperfections do not sink Wonder Woman to our level. Instead she rises above the nihilism, proclaiming that, “It’s not about deserve. It’s about belief. And I believe in love.”
Love and compassion are the core elements of Wonder Woman. No matter what situation she’s in, whether it’s World War I or an apocalyptic Earth, she is not willing to sacrifice her love and compassion. Her will and compassion are further tested in Book 2, which amps up the apocalypse and heartbreak way beyond the max.
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