This week’s Wonder Woman #800 marks an anniversary for the DC flagship title and the conclusion of writers Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad’s run on the series. Writer Tom King and artist Daniel Sampere are the next team taking on the book, and #800 offered a mighty tease of their plan: A story set decades in the future of the DC Universe, featuring Wonder Woman’s daughter, Lizzie.
Why Lizzie? Well, it’s short for Elizabeth — Elizabeth Marston Prince, that is. Prince, from long tradition, is Diana’s chosen surname. But which Marston did Diana Prince partner up with to bring Lizzie into the world? That’s for King and Sampere to know, and us to find out when their run begins on Sep. 19.
But here in the real world, Elizabeth Marston just happens to be the name of one of the polyamorous trio who invented Wonder Woman in the first place.
What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Monday Funnies, Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor enjoyed this past week. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. But there will be great comics. (And if you missed the last edition, read this.)
Image: Tom King, Daniel Sampere/DC Comics
Academic researcher and comics writer William Moulton Marston gets the formal credit for creating Wonder Woman. But historians agree, he was at the very least inspired by — and more likely collaborated with — both of his partners, Elizabeth Marston and Olive Byrne. Elizabeth and Olive named their children with William after each other, raised them together, and continued to share their household for nearly 50 years after his death until Olive passed away in 1990.
Which brings us to Lizzie, daughter of Diana. What do we know about her? Not much! King and Sampere’s short story seems to set her up as the bossy little sister Batman and Superman’s sons never asked for, not to mention some ominous stuff about the three Lassos of Fate, an imprisoned king, and “the myth that killed America and birthed a new Wonder.” We’ll have to wait until September’s Wonder Woman #1 for more.
Image: Kelly Thompson, Javier Pina, David Lopez/Marvel Comics
It’s wholly fitting that Kelly Thompson, co-creator of Jeff the Land Shark and writer of his breakout Marvel Unlimited series, would put him in her final issue of Captain Marvel before it, too, gets a new creative team and a new number #1 this fall. It just continues to be very charming that his celebrity status works on the superheroes of the Marvel Universe too.
Image: Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo/DC Comics
Writer Tom Taylor and artist Bruno Redondo are no strangers to putting wild artistic constraints on their Nightwing issues. But reading them is like watching a trick shot compilation — “Why would they try to do tha— Oh my god, they did it.”
This week’s Nightwing is entirely “shot” in first person, making much use of reflective surfaces, drawings of hands, and, perhaps most shockingly, half a dozen pages set in an extremely detailed subway car interior. I hope to god Redondo had that mocked up in a 3D reference program, because the idea of him freehanding it makes me want to faint. And then he goes and produces this splash page of what it looks like to be in the car as a missile hits it. Just dizzying.