Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace has taken the direction of being a team-up series up to this point. So far we’ve seen Wonder Woman team-up with Harley Quinn, Lois Lane, and General Tolifhar of Gorilla City. This direction has not been a bad thing for the character as we do get to see her interact with more characters from the DC Universe beyond her Justice League contemporaries. Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti have also made sure to keep the focus on why Wonder Woman is viewed so highly through these adventures. Now with this latest issue of Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace it does not look like we will be getting a big team-up, rather Wonder Woman will be going up against some major DC Universe villains from other heroes rogues gallery. How will this go for Wonder Woman? Find out with our review of Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #4.
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Inker: Juan Albarran
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
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: At a dinning room Penguin has gathered Cheetah, Captain Cold, Scarecrow, Lion-Man, Two-Face, Black Manta, and Killer Croc to discuss their current situations with the superheroes they regularly fight. Penguin brings up how all the superheroes have now gotten accustomed to figuring out how to defeat them all. He goes on to suggest they switch things up by swapping which heroes they all fight. To decide which villain fights which superhero Penguin has them all pick a name out of hat.
Years ago, in Boston, Wonder Woman teams up with Socialite to stop two guys, who are posing as cops, from robbing a mail truck. After stopping the two thieves Socialite suggest that she and Wonder Woman go get some tea together.
Later, at a restaurant, Wonder Woman shares her backstory with the Socialite. Socialite then gives details on how she met her current boyfriend and how they have fun and get along well even if he isn’t a millionaire like her past boyfriend.
One of the waiters comes up to Wonder Woman and Socialite and request to take a picture of them. They both agree and take a picture.
In the present Wonder Woman is looking at the picture she took with Socialite. She looks at the time and remembers she has to be somewhere before it is to late.
Wonder Woman goes to a local hospital where she is able to visit Anna (formerly Socialite), who is dying of cancer. Anna reflects on how Wonder Woman still looks the same as when they first met decades ago. As they reminisce about all their team-ups Anna says she has come to peace with finally being able to rest in the afterlife. Anna then requests Wonder Woman to tell her goodbye since she is done fighting as a hero. Hearing this Wonder Woman breaks down crying before she can even say the word “goodbye.”
Sometime later, Wonder Woman attends Anna’s funeral. After being the last one at the graveyard Wonder Woman notices something approaching. She flies up and sees a large number of nuclear bombs all about to make impact with the ground. Wonder Woman tries to stop the one that is going to land on the graveyard but she is too late.
Wonder Woman is able to recover from the impact of the nuclear bomb going off. When she gets back up she is stunned to find zombified versions of Anna and other people buried in the graveyard.
Hippolyta arrives with the rest of the Amazons and announces that they are done with diplomacy and will now be cleansing Earth of whatever is left of humanity. Hippolyta proceeds to show Wonder Woman the death and destruction humanity causes with their weapons of mass destruction. Wonder Woman tells her mother that she still believes there is good in humanity.
As they fly above Earth’s atmosphere Wonder Woman can’t believe that the planet has been destroyed. Hippolyta says that Paradise Island has been sparred of the destruction and now the Amazons will finish what mankind started by wiping out all of humanity that remains.
Wonder Woman stands in the middle of a burning city unable to believe that what is going on in front of her is real. She then demands whoever caused it to show themselves.
Scarecrow is shown to be pumping fear gas throughout the graveyard Wonder Woman has been on the entire time. Wonder Woman is able to power through the effects of the fear gas long enough to rip Scarecrow’s mask off his face. This causes Scarecrow to imagine Wonder Woman turning into a monster that causes him to collapse in pure terror.
After locking Scarecrow up in Arkham Asylum, Wonder Woman reflects on how Anna was able to make the world a better place. Wonder Woman then wonders if she’ll be able to say the same thing when her time comes to pass away. End of issue.
The Good: Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #4 gave us a bit of a change as this issue introduced us to a brand new character in the form of Socialite. Introducing a new character that has ties to Wonder Woman’s early history that pre-dates the current superhero era of the DC Universe was a risk. But it was a risk that Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner were more than ready to take on as they delivered one heck of a story.
The best choice that Palmiotti and Conner made in this issue was not spend the entire issue going over Socialite’s entire backstory. Instead they focused on what the character’s chemistry is with Wonder Woman while sprinkling enough details about Socialite to have a firm grasp on who she is. This allowed the story in Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #4 to have more of a natural flow. Especially with how it factored into the way Scarecrow was used as the villain of this story it worked even better.
The details about Socialite we did get were enough to understand that she had a strong connection with Wonder Woman as they were both coming up as superheroes. Establishing that connection so quickly allowed the emotional impact of Socialite in her older age to hit the way it needed. You understood that it was not easy for Wonder Woman to say goodbye to a dear friend. At the same time you also understood how Anna on her death bed would be satisfied with all she did that she could rest in peace. That fits the character that Palmiotti and Conner built her to have in the earlier pages.
Palmiotti and Conner also did a nice job carrying the impact of Anna’s death into Wonder Woman’s battle with Scarecrow’s fear toxin. Wonder Woman was still dealing with the grief of her dear friend’s death. That made it even easier for Scarecrow to make Wonder Woman succumb to the influence of his fear toxin. But at the same, believing in the good of people like Anna, gave Wonder Woman the strength to see past the fear toxin’s effects. It all plays into how Wonder Woman is someone that will always try to see the good in humanity. It is part of why she her role as an Amazon ambassador is so important. She sees that even when others, including her mother, don’t.
On that note it was good to see that even though Wonder Woman has a long lifespan thanks to being a Demigod she is not above questioning her own mortality. Anna’s death was an example to Wonder Woman that she needs to make every moment count. This introspective take about her own mortality is a good springboard for future stories that explore Wonder Woman being this almost immortal being.
The sub-plot with some of the villains in the DC Universe getting fed up about always losing is one with a lot of potential. As bad guys who are constantly defeated by superheroes Penguin, Cheetah, Two-Face and others should not be satisfied with that. They should be looking for ways to either team-up or switch the dynamic in order to gain the advantage. This is a story that could be tapped into for greater stories in future issues of this series.
Since coming on to Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace with the second issue Daniel Sampere’s artwork has only gotten stronger. Sampere has shown he has a strong understanding of how to best draw DC Comics characters and make them all fit in the same world. Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #4 is a great example of that with both the villains meeting and the flashback to Wonder Woman and Socialite’s team-up. Both scenes had different tones and looks that all fit well within the overall story presented by Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #4.
The Bad: The one place that Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #4 fell apart is the same villain meeting that has a lot of potential in the future. The execution of this scene ends up falling flat due to how random Penguin’s plan turns out to be when uniting the villains. His speech up to the point of drawing names out of a hat was great. But as soon as he had all the villains pull superhero names out of the hat the story got lost. This decision by the villains makes them look even more foolish and just reminds the reader why they constantly get beat because they do stupid things like this.
If we are to believe the villains in the DC Universe can be viable antagonists for superheroes like Wonder Woman we should see more thought put into their plans. With characters like Cheetah, Two-Face, and Captain Cold especially it has been shown they can come up with intricate plans. But you would not know that by the decision they all make to agree with Penguin’s “pull a name out of the hat” plan. There is still a lot of potential in villains going after different superheroes that they normally go up against. It just needs to be executed better in the future.
Overall: Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #4 delivered a emotionally impactful issue. Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner did a great job quickly introducing Socialite as a new hero and what kind of impact they had on Wonder Woman. That combined with Daniel Sampere’s consistent artwork this was another very good issue of a series that is quickly rising up to be among DC Comics most enjoyable comic books.
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