Wonder Woman (1987) #15-19

Wonder Woman #15-19

Originally released in 1988

Written by George Perez (#15-19) and Len Wein (#15-16)

Art by George Perez

I had mentioned earlier about wanting to learn more about Circe, and conveniently, the next few issues of George Perez's run introduce the character.  Ares, Cheetah, and Circe are three of the main Wonder Woman villains that I know about (Ares from the Injustice games, Circe from DC Universe Online, and Cheetah from cartoons, in addition to the film appearances of Cheetah and Ares), and I'm pretty sure that Dr. Psycho and Giganta (who haven't been introduced yet) are Wonder Woman villains.  However, this set of issues also introduces a Wonder Woman villain that I wasn't familiar with: the Silver Swan.

Valerie Beaudry was once full of life and joy, until she married Henry Armbruster, who proceeded to abuse her physically, verbally, and psychologically.  He used her as a puppet, making her dress up in a garish costume that grants her superpowers in order to steal things for his benefit.

Despite all of this, she remains completely devoted to him, believing that any mistakes are entirely her fault.  In these issues, Wonder Woman feels like she's developing a crush on Superman, so it makes for an interesting contrast between Wonder Woman's blossoming but uncertain romantic feelings and Silver Swan serving as a martyr for love.

Unfortunately, Wonder Woman never finds out about Valerie's past or Armbruster's treatment of her; I was looking forward to Armbruster getting his comeuppance.  As for the crush on Superman, apparently there was an issue in another series where Wonder Woman and Superman teamed up to save the Gods of Olympus from Darkseid.  Wonder Woman seemingly kissed Superman at some point during this crossover, but apparently, nothing came of it and the plot point was dropped.

Perez does a great job with the art here - everything is crisp and clean, and the facial expressions (especially Diana's) are all well done, with the reader clearly being able to tell how the characters are feeling.  Wonder Woman's joy while flying, or her sadness from reading a letter from her mother, are infectious.  She's also characterized well, remaining open-minded and compassionate towards everyone.

Circe is also introduced here - she's a bigger threat to Wonder Woman than the Silver Swan was, though I felt like the Silver Swan was a better foil to Wonder Woman.  Circe gained immortality from trading her soul with the witch Hecate, who vowed that someone with Hecate's name would take the soul back.  One name that Hecate goes by throughout history is Diana, so Circe believes that Wonder Woman is part of Hecate's prophecy and that Wonder Woman will end her immortality.

Circe comes across as being incredibly paranoid, given that Diana doesn't want to kill anyone.  Her mission from Hecate is the opposite of Diana's mission (Circe tries to drive people apart from each other while Diana wants to bring them together in the pursuit of peace), and she was responsible for the death of Diana's aunt who stayed in the outside world and married the Greek hero Theseus, but I didn't find her as compelling as I did with the Silver Swan.

Perez seems to be a big fan of Greece, as Wonder Woman takes a trip there in the lead-up to meeting Circe, and the landmarks are lovingly described.  We also get a glimpse into DC's version of Greek mythology; there's a subplot where, in the aftermath of Darkseid's attack, the three main gods of Olympus (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) make a pact with each other, though the details of that aren't revealed yet.

After the ordeal with Circe, Diana and the Kapatelis family return home to discover that Diana's publicist, Myndi Mayer, has been killed.  The next few issues will deal with the fallout from that, I'm sure, but the end of the Circe story arc felt like a natural stopping point for today.  I'm looking forward to learning about more of Diana's rogues gallery beyond the five characters that I was familiar with beforehand; they don't seem to be utilized as well as Batman's, Superman's, or the Flash's villains, but the Silver Swan had a strong introduction and I'm hoping that other villains have equally strong openings.