DiDio misunderstands this cover.
Wonder Woman #88
DC Comics (July, 1998)
“Dead…Again” WRITER: Christopher Priest PENCILER: John Ross INKER: Ray Kryssing COLORIST: Patricia Mulvihill LETTERER: John Costanza EDITOR: Paul Kupperberg “WONDER WOMAN” CREATOR: William Moulton Morston
Diana has been having nightmares where her mother is trying to reach her but she’s supposed to be dead along with Themyscira. (Yes, again.) Their conversation is interrupted by Doctor Fate, who shows Diana that Themyscira isn’t dead but may be caught in a four-second time loop. However, it’s not really Inza but someone else thought dead…Circe!
Now don’t get me wrong here. The lack of a “got right” category doesn’t mean this issue was horrible. At best it was passable. The problem is that the mistakes overshadow everything else. Superman’s appearance is unnecessary except to establish this was taking place after Metropolis was taken down by Luthor during the “Fall Of Metropolis” storyline. It wasn’t necessary.
My second problem is that, unless this is building off something else he wrote, why is a plot this important to Wonder Woman’s life being written by a guest writer, which is how Christopher Priest is credited? Now I have my issues with Priest, mostly because of how he screwed up Steel so badly. That said, I just don’t feel like I’m reading a Wonder Woman comic here.
Lastly there’s this.
That’s the opening splash page. The art gets slightly better as it goes on but not by enough. DC’s bad 90’s art has always been different from Marvel’s bad 90’s art. That doesn’t make it any less bad art. It’s tough to look at. The penciler is also credited as a guest artist, which I guess is good news to the regular readers.
Recommendation: Unless this story turns out to be that important (which again shouldn’t be left to a guest writer) there’s nothing about this comic to recommend. The story sets up an arc, the art is terrible, and Superman, despite being on the cover, is only there for five pages for Diana to give us exposition that could easily have been given to not-Doctor Fate. Just avoid this issue unless later issues need this.
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