Wonder Girl #1 Review

Infinite Frontier is a whole new era for the DC Universe. We’ve seen many shake ups to the status quo for all the heroes across the DCU. That includes the Wonder Woman family, which is currently without Diana Prince as she is off on Asgard. To possibly fill the hole left by Diana a new hero who became the Wonder Woman of Future State is ready to make her debut as Yara Flor is the new Wonder Girl. Based on her run on Future State: Wonder Woman its clear that Yara Flor is being positioned to be the new breakout character of Infinite Frontier, similar to how Harley Quinn was the breakout character of New 52. Will Yara Flor be able to live up to expectations as the new Wonder Girl? Let’s find out with Wonder Girl #1.

Writer & Artist: Joelle Jones

Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Sometime in the past Ares and his army battle the Amazons of the Amazon. Ares’ army overpowers the Amazons to the point that there are only a few remaining, including a young Yara Flor and her mom. Yara breaks free from her mom and runs to try to kill Ares. When the attempt fails Ares goes to kill Yara but is stop by her mom, who sacrifices her life for Yara’s safety.

In the present Yara’s flight arrives at the Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro.

Over on Themyscira, Queen Nubia watches another tournament being held in the coliseum. Nubia suddenly sense something that feels as though it has left a stain of dread behind it.

Over on Mount Olympus, Hera also senses something that she finds to be familiar.

Over at Bana-Mighdall, as he Amazons there are training Queen Faruka senses something is not right.

Back in Rio de Janeiro, Yara leaves the airport.

Across the DC Universe Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark), Oracle, Nightwing, Harley Quinn, Catwoman and others are shown sensing something happening.

Back with Yara we see her on a bus stuck in traffic. She is able to spot that there has been some sort of accident ahead and decides to run off and check it out.

Yara finds a turned over car and immediately takes the driver stuck in the car out, saving them just before the car explodes. The bus driver, named Joao, thanks her and mentions he knew she must be special.

Over on Mount Olympus, Hera tells Eros that it looks like the Amazons have activate their weapon.

On Themyscira, Nubia tells several Amazons that they need to extract that Amazon who has appeared from their native soil diplomatically.

On Bana-Mighdall, Faruka tells her soldiers if the Amazon doesn’t come peaceful with them then they are allowed to kill her as her existence could leave them vulnerable to Hera’s attack.

Over at the Iguaçu Falls, Yara gets annoyed by a Vlogger named Kevin filming and goes off on her own. While overlooking the falls Yara is suddenly tied up by Golden Boleadoras and dragged into the water.

Underwater Yara regains consciousness and sees Iara (a Brazilian mythological being similar to the Lady of the Lake) near her holding the Golden Boleadoras. End of issue.

The Good: Wonder Girl #1 does exactly what it needs to do to introduce us to Yara Flor and place her on the hero journey she will be on. There is some assuming on the part of Wonder Girl #1 that you are somewhat familiar with Yara as this issue starts. But there is enough here that a foundation is for future issues to add to what has been established.

Opening with a flashback of how Yara Flor became displaced from the Amazons of the Amazon was a strong way to start. It provide us with some context of how Yara factors into the great Amazonian mythology in the DC Universe. She isn’t just entering the Amazons world as a newbie. She has some connection to it as she grew up with the Amazons of the Amazon. And like many heroes in the DC Universe, we see that there is great tragedy that happened in her childhood as she was forced to watch Ares and his army just about wipe out the Amazons of the Amazon along with her mom.

Placing Ares as the one responsible for wiping out at the very least Yara’s tribe of Amazons of the Amazon immediately adds greater importance to why Joelle Jones showed us this flashback. It wasn’t just to give some backstory into Yara’s origin but also show the connection to mythology that is going to be held. Ares actually being part of wiping out the Amazons of the Amazon shows that there is much more to Yara’s story than we know as of yet.

Which transitioned well into how Yara return to Brazil holds a much greater importance than her going back to where she is from for the first time. Not only do the heroes of the DC Universe sense that Yara’s presence is a big deal but Hera, Nubia, and Faruka also sense her arrival in Brazil. Showing these three reaction made Yara’s return a big deal as it is made clear there is much more to Yara than being another Amazon. The way Hera, Nubia, and Faruka talk about Yara it is shown there is something special about her. Which is a good place to start building out Yara’s legend as she is set to become the new Wonder Girl and position her in the special category of Amazons like Diana Prince, Cassandra Sandsmark, and Donna Troy.

Jones also does a good job in how she portrays Yara as a teenager. Yara carries herself very much like a Dreamer who is going back to the country she is from. I appreciate that Jones is taking the time to portray Yara in this way as this is a type of character we haven’t gotten in comic books. It also allows Yara to represent more than just the next generation of heroes. She is very much part of representing her generation of kids. Being a Dreamer gave greater layers to her character as we do see Yara wide eyed when it comes to being in Brazil for the first time since leaving.

Diving deeper into Brazilian mythology by introducing us to the DC Universe version of Iara was a great move. Iara being the one to likely provide the Golden Boleadoras, Yara’s version of the Lasso of Truth, adds to how Yara will have close ties to the Brazil’s mythology similar to how Diana, Donna, and Cassie are tied to Greek mythology. Adding other types of mythology helps grow the potential in the Wonder Woman franchise that has largely focused on Greek mythology. Opening these doors to Brazilian mythology will give Yara her own stories while still being able to grow a connection with the classic mythology tied to Themyscira’s Amazons.

As good as Jones’ writing was her artwork was even better. Jones, along with colorist Jordie Bellaire, does a fantastic job with making the opening flashback have its own tone so it feels like it happens in the past. Through Wonder Girl #1 you get the idea that Yara Flor’s debut is a big deal. From the splash page of all the heroes sensing her arrival to Yara’s meeting with Iara, it all gets across that there is a shift happening in the DC Universe. It is a strong tone to set that Jones and Bellaire nail through the artwork alone.

The Bad: The only part that does not work with Wonder Girl #1 is the fact that we open with the expectation that you read Infinite Frontier #0. Its in that issue where we get the splash page where we get the context of Yara going from the United States to Brazil. It would’ve been better if we opened with that splash page of Yara boarding her plane since not everyone will have that context when picking up Wonder Girl #1. This would’ve helped get over the idea of Yara being in that Dreamer generation right away that is part of the her hero journey.

Also, an extremely minor gripe with the splash page with all the heroes is the fact that Donna Troy was left out. As cool as it was to see Oracle, Nightwing, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn none of these characters are part of the Wonder Woman Family. Donna Troy should’ve been part of this splash page as she is the original Wonder Girl and a deep history in the DCU.

Overall: Wonder Girl #1 kicks off Yara Flor’s hero journey with a strong statement. Joelle Jones does a lot of great work to create a foundation for what makes Yara Flor a breakout character for DC Comics. Mixing in different mythologies, from Greek to Brazilian, adds to the excitement around how this series will expand the Wonder Woman franchise into brand new frontiers.

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