Yara Flor finally has entered the Underworld to save her sister, but it won’t be so easy for Wonder Woman once she makes a deal with Hades himself. Spoilers for Future State: Wonder Woman #2 follow.
As soon as it started, Future State is coming to an end. However, just because the event is short-lived, that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been great stories to come out of it. In fact, there have been plenty. Catwoman, Immortal Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Nightwing have all been great and so has Wonder Woman. This two-issue introduction to the character of Yara Flor has been fantastic, not just because of the fun story, but because of the portrayal of Yara herself.
Yara Flor, just in two issues, has proved she is a great successor to the mantle of Wonder Woman and I can’t wait to see more of her as Wonder Girl in the main timeline. She a brash, unbelievable dork that does things that you definitely wouldn’t think a superhero would do and yet she does it with such utter confidence that it’s hard not to love her. I mean, come on, she does the fake thumb removal joke that every dad makes to their two-year old, what’s not to love?
But, when push comes to shove though, we get to see why Yara truly is Wonder Woman. She literally goes through Hell to find her lost sister, which she does, much to Hades’ dismay. However, just as quick as Yara finds her sister, she loses her again. As much as this is a fun story introducing Yara to the world, it’s also a story about failure. It’s very clear that beyond the jokes and fun that Yara has, she is driven by her failures. Just in two issues, 44 pages, she’s become more of a three-dimensional character than some others have in their years of being around.
The art in this issue is once again superb as well. Joëlle Jones and Jordie Bellaire just have killed it over these two issues, with this issue standing out in particular. Jones managed to make wholly unique versions of characters from Greek mythology while also feeling like they are rooted in the DC universe. That’s a hard task to take up and yet, Jones does it beautifully. Her Hades, both character and place, is exceptional and truly feels different, yet still the same, as other iterations.
Combine the excellent work done by Jones with Bellaire’s stellar colors, well, that’s a recipe for a gorgeous book. Bellaire’s colors in this issue really pop even when much of them are almost grayscale. She is able to differentiate the shades incredibly which really draws your eye to what it needs to be drawn to. The colors accentuate and really bring to life everything on the page, undead or otherwise.
