Wonder Woman in the Hyborian Age!? By Crom! Wonder Woman and Conan are chained together in the vast sea. What will they do? Will Wonder Woman Conan #3 sink or swim?
WONDER WOMAN CONAN #3
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Aaron Lopresti
Inker: Matt Ryan
Colorist: Wendy Broome
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Previously in Wonder Woman Conan: Having reconnected with whom he believes to be his first childhood romance, Conan has found himself chained to Wonder Woman – slaves on a ship bound for lands unknown. When pirates attack, the duo find themselves overboard in a sea of sharks.
IT’S WONDER WOMAN AND CONAN
Young Conan certainly has fond memories of Yanna, the girl he believes is the grown up Wonder Woman. Of course the flashback moments Gail Simone presents to the reader suffers from unreliable narrator syndrome as all of the flashbacks have occurred when Conan is either sleeping or unconscious. There is also a weird feeling that the crow sisters are feeding and blocking memories of the title characters for their own amusement, as Lila and Anive reveal themselves and their plan to have the two fight each other yet again.
Long time reader know there is no way Wonder Woman or Conan would allow themselves to be controlled by another, and together the two lay waste to the crow sisters’ army of abominations that sometimes look like your worst nightmare, and sometimes look like the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal. Though this is the middle issue in the series, and is usually a place where the writer slows things down to fill out a five or six issue arc, Simone gives readers a fantastic combination of conversation between our heroes, and a lot of action to keep the pages turning in anticipation of the next reveal.
LOPRESTRI ART
Aaron Lopresti serves up some fantastic art in this issue, as Simone has thrown everything at him – water fights, quiet moments that require constant panel changes, a major battle with monsters, and more than a few characters that need to look consistent throughout the book. If I’m not mistaken, this may be the first time I’ve seen Lopresti draw Conan. While I like the overall presentation, Conan feels “softer” than what I am used to, and it did take me all three issues in order to mentally adjust to his take.
With all the monsters that pop up in the middle of the issue, one might expect colorist Wendy Broome would have used up all her reds and browns, but Loprestri keeps the blood and guts to a minimum, and surprisingly, this issue relies more on blues and purples than anything else.
BOTTOM LINE: WORTH CHECKING OUT
I’m still not sure where the flashbacks are going to lead us in the end, except maybe heartbreak for Conan. I guess that is why they are there – to keep readers riveted to each issue to see how far Conan’s first love memories go, and how Wonder Woman will let him down gently. Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti have served up another wonderful issue that has a surprising amount of action in such a short amount of time. Wonder Woman Conan #3 is a fine read and worth picking up, as I give it a good buy recommendation.
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Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment. You can follow him on Twitter @MajorSpoilers and tell him your darkest secrets...