Superman Wonder Woman #1

Writer Charles Soule Artist Tony Daniel

Introduction

Superman and Wonder Woman made their relationship official in a random issue of Justice League that fell under the radar. With the massive status quota of Trinity War happening soon after, and the madness ensuing in the context of Superman and Wonder Woman’s solo books nobody has had a chance to explore the couple in broader context. Is this central idea really enough to hold an ongoing? Writer Greg Pak has proven that Batman and Superman together can inspire some great writing month to month, but there is more material to mine when compared to the son of Krypton and the fabled Amazonian. Charles Soule the fan proclaimed “hardest working man in comics” is just the person to set this new title on far with some great writing. The interesting sci-fi inspired art of Tony Daniel is locked to draw the new series. What can these two creators do with incredibly iconic characters under the big continuity umbrella known as the New 52?

Writing

Soule wastes no time setting up conflict in these pages. His dialogue is sparse, but very endearing from the opening scenes. The laid back approach to writing helps the story stay afloat with a good mix of writing and personal drama. A scene with the respective heroes talking to the larger supporting cast painted two interesting background players that will hopefully be around to stay in the larger series. The scene regarding a flower sets up the complicated dynamic with the two characters very well. The moment gives readers the sense of the broad implications that the comic could undergo with time. Just when readers perceive they know where the story is going, boom! This first installment throws one hell of a cliffhanger at the audience. The person confronting the character makes it doubly interesting for the stakes at hand.

Art

Tony Daniel delivers some mostly solid art in this chapter. The only thing that has the potential to be bothersome are the strange amount of splash pages in here. The problem may not be in Daniel’s court, but rather the scripts of Soule. Whoever is at fault is still wasting some valuable interiors that could have been useful. The strong suit of the penciller is definitely not the faces, as they seem to look different from panel to panel. Pages in the beginning have an interesting art experiment for just a panel that sets the tone of the comic, and gives readers context to the rest of the story. This subtle experiment is also easy on the eyes and a change of pace for the usual scripting. The slowed down approach during the quieter scenes, can leave something to be desired from the artist as the style can be hard to follow at times. The interesting sci-fi look of Daniel works for this series, hopefully he can continue to deliver the look in a long term basis for the book.

Conclusion

This is a strong offering by Soule and Daniel that sets the tone of the Wonder Woman and Superman relationship, while introducing some new facets to keep things interesting. Fans of the characters should give this a read.