The first issue of Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace was a fun start to this new Digital First series. Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner treated us to a fun team-up story between Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn. Now with Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #2 we are getting another team-up story. This time around it looks like Wonder Woman will be teaming up with Lois Lane. What will drive these two together and what kind of threat will they be taking on? Let’s find out with Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #2.
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Inker: Juan Albarran
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Lois Lane flies over the Karakoram Range to do a story about a group of climbers who have gone missing for two days after a major storm and earthquake hit the area.
As Lois questions the pilot about how sturdy the plane is they are hit by a large flock of birds flying towards them. The birds cause the plane to crash on the mountains.
Over in the Bicol Region of the Philippines a town is hit by a massive storm that has caused a major flood. Wonder Woman arrives and immediately saves a group of kids in a school bus. She then goes about saving the rest of the people in the town who have been put in danger because of the flood.
Later that day the doctors at an local hospital thank Wonder Woman for saving everyone in the town.
A news report suddenly comes on the TV that covers the story on Lois’ plane crashing in the mountains. Remembering that Superman is off-world for a Justice League mission Wonder Woman flies to find Lois.
Somewhere on the Karakoram Range, Lois finishes burying and mourning the pilot, who died in the plane crash. Lois then attempts to use the radio on the plane but it is not working. She then works to add more padding to her jacket for extra insulation.
Mysteriously someone starts approaching Lois’ crash plane. The person signals to Lois to follow her. Lois does so and is led into a cave. When she looks inside the cave Lois is shocked at what she finds inside.
Over at the Karakoram Range base camp Wonder Woman meets with the rescue workers who are trying to find Lois and the lost climbers. Wonder Woman asks for the approximate locations of the missing climbers and the crashed plane. She promises that she will find them.
Back at the cave Lois asks a barely clothed white haired woman if she needs something to cover up. The woman says nothing and just leads Lois further into the cave where cracks inside are shown with lava at the bottom.
As they get deeper inside Lois is stunned to find the missing climbers tied up over the cracks. The white haired woman transforms into Shan Xiao, a monster who was created years ago by a warring tribe but sealed long ago. The recent earthquake released her and now Shan Xiao seeks to feed on the descendents of those who wronged her.
Shan Xiao grabs Lois and is about to eat her. Before doing that Wonder Woman arrives in the cave. Wonder Woman tells Shan Xiao to let go of Lois or die by her sword. Shan Xiao tosses Lois to the side and wonders if Wonder Woman will serve her.
Wonder Woman says she is looking to offer Shan Xiao an alternative to dying. Shan Xiao laughs because even magic and trickery could only seal her away and gets ready to fight Wonder Woman.
At that time Lois is able to recover and starts freeing the captured climbers. One of the climbers mentions that Shan Xiao ate one of the people in their group.
Wonder Woman charges at Shan Xiao but her sword strike is unable to pierce Shan Xiao’s skin. Shan Xiao grabs Wonder Woman and throws her into the opening that was created by the earthquake. The crack then closes.
Shan Xiao then goes after Lois and the climbers. Wonder Woman pops out of the ground to continue to fight Shan Xiao. Lois yells at Wonder Woman that Shan Xiao mentioned that the world favored her.
This gives Wonder Woman an idea and she flies Shan Xiao above the Earth’s atmosphere. When they get high enough the souls of the people Shan Xiao consumed leave its body, finally free to pass on. One of the souls approaches Wonder Woman and touches her face in a sign of her thanks.
Sometime later, over diner, Wonder Woman thanks Lois for the assist. Lois says she owes Wonder Woman a thanks for saving her. Lois then shows Wonder Woman a picture of the climber that died. Lois mentions that the climber’s mother had such strong faith that when she learned of her daughter’s death she was able to be calm enough to accept it. Lois and Wonder Woman then reflect on how powerful the bond between a mother and daughter is. End of issue.
The Good: Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #2 showed the flexibility in Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner. They were able to switch the tone of the story that best fits Wonder Woman’s latest team-up. They made a seamless shift from the crazy Harley Quinn to the more calm, reporter voice of Lois Lane without missing a beat.
In going with a team-up between Wonder Woman and Lois Lane we got to see what happens when a member of the Justice League isn’t around. In this case with Superman off-world on a Justice League mission we saw Wonder Woman quickly spring into action to save Lois Lane. There was no call needed. Wonder Woman knew Superman wasn’t going to be able to and she gladly stepped up to save a friend.
At the same time, Palmiotti and Conner did a good job not making Lois just a damsel-in-distress. Lois was active about figuring out a way down the mountain and, later, rescuing the surviving climbers. Lois being able to remain calm through all of this, especially when faced with the possibility of being eaten by Shan Xiao, was impressive. It showed how brave of a character is even when she knows Superman isn’t around to save her. She is very much about helping others, whether that’s as a reporter or a normal person.
That made the dynamic between Wonder Woman and Lois Lane as well established as they were able to team-up in a way that helped each other out. Even though Lois couldn’t be a physical match for Shan Xiao her attention to detail was key in saving the day. Using Lois’ background as a reporter in this instance made this be more of a unique team-up than the normal one you get between superheroes.
It was also a good change of pace that when we first see Wonder Woman it was in the middle of a natural crisis rescuing people and getting them the help they need. It is a reminder of how much of an impact Wonder Woman and other heroes can have on the world. Even if it wasn’t caused by a supervillain it does not mean Wonder Woman should not act. She is going to use her powers to help as many people as possible. In doing so you could see how she was able to bring hope to a whole town of people who were extremely happy that Wonder Woman was there to save them.
Daniel Sampere delivered solid artwork throughout Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #2. He did a good job showing in one page how Wonder Woman was able to save many people in the town that was hit with a massive flood. That along with the visual of the spirits being freed from Shan Xian, where all good ways to show how Wonder Woman is able to bring hope in others.
The Bad: Shan Xian was just a monster-of-the-week monster villain. There wasn’t much to the monstrous villain to believe we should be invested beyond Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #2. Shan Xian was just the necessary threat needed for the story to give Wonder Woman and Lois Lane a reason to team-up.
Overall: Wonder Woman: Agent Of Peace #2 was a big improvement over the first issue, which was a solid debut by its own merits. Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner did a great job playing to the strengths of Wonder Woman and Lois Lane. Wonder Woman’s portrayal in particular stood out as we see how she uses her powers to be a hero during different types of crises.
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