This was the third* issue for new series regular artist Mike Deodato, Jr. He brought the series solidly into the Copper Age, with all the hyper-muscled men, broken-backed women, and Image-style hatching your 90s-loving heart could desire. This page has all three! Brian Bolland provided spectacular covers for this run. I happened to already own his preliminary cover for this very issue, so when an interior page became available, I knew I should pick it up.

In this story written by William Messner-Loebs, an Amazonian contest will determine whether Diana retains the title of Wonder Woman. Her rival Artemis is coming on strong as a contender for the job. This was a common story feature at both Marvel and DC in this era, which saw many characters temporarily replaced by less heroic impostors.

On this page, Diana (seen in the first panel with the cool fragmenting effect) has another unexpected flashback to the time that Herakles subjugated the Amazons. In this version of the story, Hippolyta was a willing collaborator, betraying her people for the love of a demi-god who has now chained her to a pillar. Her sister Antiope takes the beating here.

The brazier hanging on the wall has a nice lighting effect. Herakles wears a fanged medallion. It's incorrectly colored flesh-toned in the large central panel but is more obvious when properly colored on the following panel. The last panel uses manga-style action lines, blurring the background to indicate Antiope's rapid movement. The next page shows Hippolyta standing and no longer chained to the pillar, though there's no time for break in the action.

The word balloons are pasted on, as is the hand holding the Changeling Mask in panel three; apparently the editor wanted it shown since the dialogue mentions it. Thus his hand appears to be coming from outside the panel border.

The dress worn by chained Hippolyta is also a paste-up; Deodato did not originally intend her to be clothed. The same is true of Hippolyta in the previous issue, Wonder Woman #0 page 21. Compare to the color guide in the "additional images" section. You can also see that the color guide had light orange in places (the smoke, the brazier light, the Mask) that the published page had yellow.

*Deodato’s first issue was #90, and confusingly the second issue was #0, and then came #91. Diana's first flashback to Herakles was in issue #0. Deodato also provided pencils but not inks on #85 as a fill-in artist.

Social/Sharing