This is probably not the comic you’re expecting to have Wonder Woman’s name on it. But maybe it should be.

I’ve never read a Wonder Woman comic, so I only have a passing, vicarious familiarity with what has gone before, but this place feels fairly right: a mythic hero in every sense, standing between mortals and a particular corner of the supernatural. She therefore complements well the places occupied by DC’s other flagship characters: Batman’s gritty crime, Superman’s magnificent sci-fi, Green Lantern’s cosmic battles. The question is just how far it will go.

I could not entirely avoid thinking about the Endless when I first met Strife. Her look reminds a bit of Desire, and her name, being a concept (even if it doesn’t start with the letter D) fits sort of the same mold. Even the godly chit-chat smacks a little of such stories. And I love SANDMAN, I do, but for that reason I don’t want WONDER WOMAN to try being it. I mean, she’s not even part of those scenes. Actually, come to think of it, I still barely “know” Diana yet – if Wonder Woman were a brand new character for this series, I’d probably be having a hard time figuring out how she was anything but a stoic hero type.

And the art: just to explain my rating, I dunno. Chiang’s art is good and things, but stylistically I don’t think it’s quite for me. It feels a little too…flat, maybe. But I don’t dislike it, by any means.

While I thought that this issue felt a little more slight than the first, it’s not to an extreme degree. I’m still not sold on the series as a whole, maybe, though more because there’s so many other really excellent titles in the New 52. That said, I’m probably along for issue #3 to give it a chance to ensnare me completely.