Wonder Woman Dead Earth Book One Review

Story and Art by: Daniel Warren Johnson

Color by: Mike Spicer

Lettering by: Rus Wooton

Published by: DC Black Label

For the past few months I have been reviewing most of the DC Black Label books and have been having a joy doing so. Wonder Woman Dead Earth is the first entry into this label staring DC’s last trinity member. And what a debut. 

Written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson, Dead Earth sees Wonder Woman wake up years in the future in a post apocalyptic wasteland where she must confront the fact that everything she knows appears to be dead and gone and she has to come to terms on her new situation. 

The story is framed around Wonder Woman being accidentally found by a group of scavengers led by a woman named Dee. Through a series of events, Dee believes that returning Diana to her home, Camp New Hope, and offering her up to Theyden, the leader and protector of the encampment will be all she needs to get extra rations. Things obviously don’t go as planned, and Wonder Woman not only befriends Dee, but also comes into contact with a person from her past while at Camp New Hope. 

The storyline itself is not breaking much new ground in the first issue, as it sticks very closely to the post apocalyptic theme of survival and scarcity of food and rations. Where this new series excels though is the brilliant artwork by Johnson throughout. 

Johnson’s style is very detailed, very expressive, and with the combination of Spicer’s colors, very reminiscent of European style comics and the very best of Independent comics on the shelves today. My favorite part of it all however are the sound effects spread throughout the issue. I’m always a sucker for sound effects that tell you what the action that is being taken is, and you get that throughout the issue. The best is that Spicer makes sure that they all “jump” off of the page as he runs the gamut of colors for these sound effects. Really well done. 

This is a strong debut issue for Johnson’s take on Wonder Woman and I can’t wait to read the second issue. DC Black Label continues to be a really fun alternative to most mainstream DC books on the shelves and diversify the company’s selection more and more with each new release.