Love and War

Wonder Woman #18

Lotsa stuff happening in this one. The extremely warlike Khund Empire comes to Earth just to throw all their military might at Wonder Woman for a few minutes before surrendering, proclaiming that it was all in tribute to her warrior power, and inviting her and Etta Candy to the Khund homeworld to take care of an invader that’s stomping their civilization to death.

Of course, what everyone’s talking about is the fact that Wondy has decided to, in her words, court Agent Tom Tresser, AKA Nemesis. So, I guess they’re dating, in some weird combo of Amazonian and American dating rituals. I have no idea what to think of this. On one hand, every other superhero in the DCU gets a romantic interest, so why not Wonder Woman? And the idea of Tresser being subjected to whatever warrior-ethos courting rituals the Amazons prefer sounds like it could lead to some nicely humorous comics. On the other hand… Tom Tresser? Really? That’s the best Wondy could come up with? Sure, Nemesis was a certified badass a decade or two ago, but the way he’s written now, he’s pretty much just a garden-variety dork. He might be considered decent boyfriend-fodder for some characters, but he just seems way too lightweight for Wonder Woman…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Gail Simone’s writing is just grand fun, particularly during the courtship sequence. And I also enjoyed the culture clash of the war-loving Khunds, who think calling Wondy “Destroyer” and “Avatar of Havoc” and building giant, ugly statues of her are great compliments. The characterization of the Khund advisor’s daughter, who combines complete enthusiasm for war with pseudo-hip MTV lingo, is also entirely diggable. My sole quibble is really the idea that Wonder Woman thinks an unrelenting dork like Tresser is court-worthy.