Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 Review!

The official prequel comic book to the animated series has made its debut in Your Friendly Neighbood Spider-Man #1! The upcoming animated show is going to debut with two episodes on Disney+ on January 29th. Hudson Thames is reprising the role from the “What If… Zombies?!” (2021) episode of the first season. Grace Song plays Nico Minoru. The character was part of the group who made their first appearance in Runaways #1 (2003). She was played by Lyrica Okano in the Runaways television program. This is set in a universe slightly different than the MCU. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 sports a spectacular cover by Leonardo Romero that looks like a classic cover. 

It has a Spider-Man in his modified costume web swinging in spider pose. The classic Spider-Man is in the bright yellow background with his back turned. Christos Gage is the writer who has also written the Spider-Man/Fantastic Four (2010) limited series. There was a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man series that began in 2005. The art is by Eric Gapstur who contributed the art for the Spider-Gwen story in the special, Web of Spider-Man #1 (2024). There is a closeup of Spider-Man upside down. His narration brings up the question of how he got there. We see him lifted up and then held over the railing of a building. His tormentor is a man in a black suit. 

Spider-Man has a blue shirt with the spider symbol on his chest, long sleeves of a red shirt underneath, track pants, and shoes. He notes that he is giving his origin story. A splash page has him helplessly flung over the building with ropes dangling from his web shooters! We have the credits page that looks like a notebook page used in school. Then, a flashback to the beginning with Peter’s first day at Midtown High School. He mentions some “craziness” which might be in the first episode. We see shattered entrance to the school and also a gaping hole in the front. Outside of it with other students, Peter first meets Nico Minoru. She has the dark jacket, black outfit, and boots. It is also when he got the spider bite! Then, he passes out in the street. 

Aunt May has seen him passing out and rushes over to him as Nico calls over a paramedic. He checks Peter and then says he should go to the e.r. Peter says he can’t go to the e.r. with the co-pay and suspects he was taken by all of the disturbance and the spider bite. Aunt May still wants Peter to go to the hosptial. She is an adult woman, not elderly, with long hair, orange shirt, and jeans. They help him up and she says Uncle Ben would have worried if he didn’t go to the e.r. Then, an explosion goes off at the high school. The paramedic notes that everyone was evacuated, but goes to check on any wounded. Aunt May throws her hands up and wants to get Peter home. Nico shakes Peter’s hand and he wonders where they will go to school. 

At Delmar’s Deli Grocery, Aunt May has a stack of frozen meals, Peter is petting a cat, and then suddenly a worker, Jerry, bumps into a pile of boxes. Peter, in a closeup, suddenly gets a tingle from his new Spider-Sense and then pulls the cat free from the crashing box of tomato cans! I really like Peter’s first act of heroism is saving the cat. Aunt May again rushes over to her nephew. Jerry is impressed an wants to put the security camera tape online. Mr. Delmar tells his cousin to mop up the mess. At their home, Aunt May asks what Peter wants for dinner when they hear the doorbell. It is Susan O’Hara, the foster mom for Nico, who has borught food. Also, Nico who is embarrassed. Peter invites them in. May and Susan are washing the dishes after the meal when Nico goes to Peter’s room. 

He shows her his stereo-microscope used by his uncle. Nico just needs someone to talk to after the high school explosion. She explains that she had left L.A. Peter, we see sitting in silhouette, explains that he was ignored until Uncle Ben died. Peter says they will be going to a “comparable institution” which is a problem for Nico who thinks they won’t get into a good college. Nico shows him her phone telling Peter that a real estate business was looking to buy the school’s land. He says they should check out the damage to the school and she agrees to meet at midnight when they sneak out of their homes. Peter is watching the school as Nico tries to surprise him. 

Still, he can’t be caught unaware, and Nico is startled by him. She sees he is wearing his bright blue jacket and Peter says he didn’t want to wear his black suit. He has brought the flashlights and they get past the police tape. A lab is ruined and Peter explains it was damaged in the attack. This is detailed in the first episode. Then, he says the explosion came later. Peter has discovered that the fire was set with a book of matches to the burners. Nico has researched the real estate conglomerate and shows Peter the photo of the boss, Silvio Manfredi. This is the name of the villain known as Silvermane introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #73 (1969). Then, they hear a crunch outside!  

#YourFriendlyNeighborhoodSpiderMan, #ChristosGage, #EricGapstur, #HudsonThames, #GraceSong, #PeterParker, #NicoMinoru, #MayParker, #SusanOHara, #SilvioManfredi, #Paulie, #Vinnie

Re:tro Re:view - The Wild Robot!

The Wild Robot is a special movie, a gift, bringing in themes of family, bullying, and the specialness of being different which makes the animated film for everyone! The story is based on the illustrated book series by Peter Brown with his trilogy, The Wild Robot (2016), The Wild Robot Escapes (2018), and The Wild Robot Protects (2023). The movie is written and directed by Chris Sanders. He previously co-wrote and co-directed The Croods (2013). We move through the angry storm clouds as lightning ripples from it and rain falls! It suddenly moves to a shore after the storm with blocks of beach stone. This landscape is seen in a wide, curved lens which made it perfect for theaters! Otters begins to skitter as the lens retracts, the eye of an unmoving robot turned on her side!, this is Rozzum-134 named by Brown after Rossum’s Universal Robots (1920), the play by Karel Čapek that first used the name “robot.” 

The otters move over to a shattered container that contains the robot. The nose of one otter accidentally pushes the button that activates the robot. It sends the otters plunging into the sea water as it spins! The robot has a distorted voice that resolves to Lupita N`yongo’s friendly voice! She gives her greeting to the otters, “Hello, bon jour, guten tag, jambo, hola!” The fourth greeting is Swahili, nice! N`yongo was also in A Quiet Place: Day One (2024). She had voiced Asha in a 2023 episode of the Big Mouth cartoon series. There are celebrity actors voicing parts over voice actors, but I can’t see anyone else besides N `yongo with Roz’s enthusiasm, compassion, and humor. The design of the film’s Roz has a rounded head, telescoping limbs, and a round body. Versitile and friendly. The original Chris Brown drawings had the typical, blocky robot. 

She ends with “a Rozzum always completes it’s task just ask.” A wave spins Roz away and tosses her to some cliff rocks. Some crabs crawl away. We see with Roz Vision, the threat of the coming wave! Her warm blue lights that ring around her head and body are replaced by red warning lights! The blue light reminds me of the living alien spaceships like toys in batteries not included (1987). Roz begins to climb the cliff, the wave is about to roll in, and then Roz sees a blue crab slowly work its way up sideways. She duplicates its moves and escapes the deadly wave. I really like the technological robot learning from an animal which is one of the themes of the film. Roz lifts up the crab, we see customer in Roz vision, but then a seagull snatches it away! She finds herself facing the lush pastel greens of the forest. 

The designs of the movie has a soft, watercolor feel that is beautiful, the book has blocky artwork like paper cut-outs. Beautiful CGi artwork to make it look like paint. Roz joyfully enters the forest as we see the top of pine trees and some birds. Roz happily gives her introduction to customers, the animals watch as she awkwardly makes her way through the trees, she chases a badger saying she can help. A squirrel slips into its tree and Roz sees a diagram of a home and knocks on the tree. She gets a nut thrown at her, but takes the squirrel’s picture to give it a sticker! The sticker has the manufacturer, Universal Dynamics, but the squirrel tears it up. A beaver swims in a stream to fetch a twig, Roz sees him, and runs to help. She tosses his collection of wood and gets a  tail slap of water in return! 

Paddler becomes important later. The names of the animals is what makes Brown’s book enduring and you will get more of the animals reading the novel. Another sticker floats away and one is on a turtle. No customers for Roz and they all reject her. Loneliness and being ignored is another theme. A butterfly gets her attention and Roz follows it to a rock wall exposed by butterflies fluttering away, a beautiful image! She picks up a skunk, and realizes that she can’t understand its chirps. Roz gets a burst of the skunk’s musk in return. She expels the musk and then pops out her chip to activate her learning mode. Roz folds into a sitting position and the languages of all of the animals is seen in bubbles around her. Time passes in a montage as days pass and slowly words are understood. This lasts until the “Translation Complete” range is met. This is a clever way for her to speak animal languages. 

Roz rises now, covered in leaves that fall away, the animals regard her in fear and wariness. Paddler, voiced by Matt Berry, says, “Look!, that’s the thing that destroyed my dam!” Funny. Berry is known as Laszlo Cravensworth in What We Do in the Shadows. He voices Shlub in the Krapoplis animated show. Paddler is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver in the book. The animals are all gathered around Roz as she makes her presentation with multi-colored lights streaming out of her two projectors from her shoulders. Then, she is rammed by a moose! This has Roz splattered on the forest floor. She rises up with arms out like Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein, nice touch! The animals panic at the monster and scatter. Alone, she wonders who ordered her. Then, a storm starts to drop rain and we find Roz at the top of a cliff looking around the island. 

Roz registers, “Delivery unsuccessful. Return to factory” which we see in Roz Vision. Her return transmitter pops from her head and begins lighting up. Then a lighting bolt hits her and she falls. Sad in a way, but also funny! Roz falls in a heap under the trees. She is shut down until there are warnings that her panels are opening! Her parts have been scavenged by raccoons! Roz has to pull back her wires and her left hand crawls back to her body with her missing eye! More raccoons are crawling inside her so Roz spins until they slam into trees. She activates her transmitter, but the light draws the raccoons! They swarm after Roz as she climbs a tree. A raccoon plucks out the transmitter and the other raccoons are tossed into the sea next to the otters. The raccoon scampers into a cave where there is a growl, he runs away, and Roz reaches in the cave to get the transmitter. 

It is a bear that roars and slashes her chest! When he is more calm, Thorn speaks, and is voiced by Mark Hamill. The actor is not only known for Corvette Summer (1978), but voiced Granduncle in The Boy and The Heron (2023). The bear's roar would actually be translated. In the book, Thorn is the son of Mother Bear, and he makes trouble with his sister, Nettle. It is a harrowing chase through the forest with Roz using her eyes like searchlights. Roz falls, crashing down a cliffside, and slams into an edge! Her systems are damaged so she can’t activate the transmitter. Then, she notices a feather, Roz stands up, and then sees a wing of the goose she accidentally crushed. This along with some of the action may be intense for young ones. Roz uncovers an eggshell and with a thermal scan finds inside a gosling! There is almost emotion in the data scrolling across Roz’s eyes.

In the morning when Roz picks up the egg, looks to her transmitter, and then finds the egg is gone in her hand! A fox has taken the egg and is able to hide in a log. A buzzsaw slices through it and Roz has him by the tail, until the fox, Fink (Pedro Pascal), drops it! Pascal starred as General Acacius in Gladiator II (2024). He voiced Claude in a 2023 episode of HouseBroken. Fink is self absorbed in a funny way, but slowly finds himself helping Roz and the other animals. He was a minor character in the book. Fink manages to snatch away the egg and Roz again plunges off a cliff into the fog. Then Roz’s hand has telescoped from her fall to grab a fallen log. She leaps up and corners Fink to the edge of the log until he drops the egg. Then, we hear what the fox says, but he again steals the egg until he is finally stopped! Roz helps Fink and he angrily heads out.    

  

The egg begins to hatch and out comes the baby gosling (Boone Storm), not named Ryan, but he sees Roz surrounded by golden light. Closeups of Roz’s face and the lil’ gosling, Brightbill. He is named in the book by the leader of the geese, Loudwing (Bill Nighy). Also, in 2024, Nighy was in the bio drama, Joy, and voiced Conrad in the animated movie, Gracie and Pedro: Pets to the Rescue. He presses his head against Roz, she has pink lighting, and golden glow. She plucks Brightbill down and her greeting surprises him with the photo and sticker. Roz asks him about his customer satisfaction, takes it as a 10, and then tries to activate her transmitter. Brightbill peeps and follows Roz. She gives him a pamphlet on Florida. This is interesting because there is no specific setting for the book and we see that this is a future for the United States. The gosling snuggles up to Roz and shatters her transmitter. 

A mother oppossum, Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara) is walking along with her back covered by her children! O’Hara starred in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) and also in the Pixar film, Elemental (2023). Roz tries to place the Brightbeak on Pinktail’s back, but the other oppossums fall away from him. She suddenly appears so the opposums play dead, funny! Pinktail explains that the gosling imprinted on her, Roz is her mother even though she says she doesn’t have the programming, the mother opposum says no one has the programming. It is such a powerful theme about raising a child. Pinktail says it is her task to raise Brightbill which instantly returns Roz to service robot mode. She explains that the gosling has to eat, swim, and fly before the winter. This does happen in the book, but putting it as three tasks sets a good sequence for the movie. 

Roz’s attempts to help the gosling is awkward at best and this gets the help of Fink, who says he’s the “local goose expert.” He uses Roz to find food, her power core is damaged, andhe has Roz build a safe place, the Nest which was made by Mr. Beaver in the book. Brightbill gets older, then voiced by Kit Connor, he is too small for a goose, and begins to speak like his mother. The Wild Robot is about a robot mother and her goose son, but is a very human story about family, bullying, and finding your wings, beautifully animated, and a great voice cast with Lupita N`yongo, Pedro Pascal, and many others! 

Five+ Return Transmitters out of Five! 

#TheWildRobot, #ChrisSanders, #LupitaNyongo, #PedroPascal, #KitConnor, #PedroPascal, #CatherineOHara, #BillNighy, #VingRhames, #MattBerry, #MarkHamill, #RandyThom, #StephanieHsu  

Wolf Man Review!

Wolf Man prowls screens with some brilliant scenes, tepid scares (there is some blood), with a family caught in the struggle with the lycanthorpe! The film is the second reboot for writer and director, Leigh Whannel, who also wrote and directed The Invisible Man (2020).  The co-writer is Corbett Tuck, her first film as writer, she was an actress in Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015). The classic horror film, The Wolf Man (1941), had a more supernatural curse. It was also remade with The Wolfman (2010), directed Joe Johnston, which followed the original movie. There is a thrumming noise as a we get an extreme closeup of a wasp being swarmed by ants. 

The text tells us that it is early in 1995 in the hills of Oregon. A hiker was lost in what is called “Hills Fever.” We are also told of the Indigenous tribes call ma’iingan odengwaan, the “Face of the Wolf.” A sleeping boy, Blake (Zac Chandler), suddenly wakes up in his bed. He later has breakfast in the cabin kitchen when his father, Grady Lovell (Sam Jaeger) reminds me to be ready at 0700. Jaeger starred in The Handmaid’s Tale series as Mark Tuello. We can see that Grady is ex-military and still in that mode. He takes Blake out with hunting rifles to overlook a valley. Grady says, “This view never gets old.” They walk into the forest and Blake almost picks up a mushroom. 

He is warned by his father that they are death cap mushrooms. Grady is angry at his son and reminds him that the place is dangerous. He turns to see a deer and slowly takes out his rifle. Blake runs away. The argeting scope of Blake’s rifle finds a dark form moving and he starts to retreat. There is some interesting perspectives used by the camera in the film. The cinematography is by Stefan Duscio who also worked on The Invisible Man. Grady finds his son who says he was trying to move to get a shot at the deer. His father tells him to get to the deer blind, a wooden platform with a ladder. Grady follows his son keeping hidden behind the blind and with his rifle pointed to the door. 

We can hear the growl of a beast and most of the tension is from the sounds. The sound designer is P.K. Hooker who also worked on Insidious: The Red Door (2023). Steps are heard up the ladder and then we see a breath puffing above the blind! The blind’s door is slamemd and something is knocked down. The danger has passed and Grady finds a deer carcass. There is some movement and he fires at it! A howl is heard. Later, at the cabin, Blake finds his father talking in the basement. He is on a radio contacting Dan about hunting the “Face of the Wolf” to protect their sons. Grady tells him, “Dan, it’s real.” The focus is really on the Lovell family and while the tribes may know about the “Face of the Wolf”, not one member is in the picture. 

It is "30 Years Later", the older Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) is walking with his daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth) on the streets of San Francisco. Abbott was in the horror movie, It Comes at Night (2017). Firth was in the sci fi movie, Subservience (2024). She pleads for ice cream and then steps on some barrels. Blake worries about her and she falls. A homeless man screams at her. Then Blake yells, “Why did you not get down!” He apologizes for getting angry at her. Blake's lashing out at his daughter out of concern for her is one of the sophisticated parts of the movie. They have a routine about mind reading. Blake asks his daughter what he is thinking. Ginger puts her hand on his forehead and says, “I love my little girl.” 

Later in the family apartment, Ginger puts on lipstick on her father, and then he has recieved an envelope and finds keys to the cabin. Charlotte (Julia Garner), his wife, enters. Garner was in Apartment 7A (2024), a horror film, playing Terry Gionoffrio. She is busy talking on her phone to her editor and ignores Blake trying to talk to her. Charlotte is wrok obsessed to the point of ignoring her family. He tries to explain about the news that his father is dead. Blake admits, “He always made me afraid of him.” The next day, Charlotte is meeting with reporter colleagues, and then sees Blake at the steps of the news building. He says he wants to pack up his father’s stuff and tries to convince Charlotte to go with him.  

Blake says she can work remotely, they can spend springtime with their daughter, and Charlotte can finally work on her book. Charlotte admits that she doesn’t have the same relationship with Ginger. They drive in Oregon with Ginger in the back seat who plays the  “What do I see?” game. Blake, driving, finds that the road is blocked to the cabin. There is no cell service on their phones. Ginger sees a man (Benedict Hardie) in the deer blind. He walks towards them with his rifle. Blake is not worried as the man reaches his door. He is Derek, who was the son of Dan, the person who was speaking to his father on the radio. Derek offers to show them another way to the cabin. They drive on the dark road and suddenly Blake veers the truck when he sees a hairy figure! 

A great perspective from the driver's seat as the truck rolls and then finds itself turned sideways on a tree! Derek is hanging from the truck door, but then falls! Blake has Ginger climb out of the window to the top of the truck. Charlotte follows her. Blake is watching them, when there is a roar, and a hairy arm crashes through the window and slashes him! He looks down to see Derek dragged away. Blake scrambles out of the truck and catches his family at the forest floor. They go  through the forest and finally Blake sees the cabin. They hear a roar and start to run for the cabin. Blake checks on Ginger and Charlotte before going to the basement to turn on the generator. 

Four Keys out of Five! 

#WolfMan, #LeighWhannel, #ChristopherAbbott, #StefanDuscio, #JuliaGarner, #MatildaFirth, #BenedictHardie, #ZacChandler, #SamJaeger  

A Complete Unknown Costume Exhibit at ASU FIDM!

A Complete Unknown, the film by James Mangold, has an extensive exhibit that is currently at the ASU FIDM Museum! A Complete Unknown: Design Behind The Scenes features the work of the movie’s costume designer, Arianne Phillips. It runs to January 18th, this Sunday, open to the public and free, don’t miss it! The exhibit is devoted to this film and I’m usually attending the Academy Awards exhibit of several movies from the year. This was more fascinating since there were backdrops and music that really transported me into the time. It begins with the Holland Tunnel signs that lead to the Greenwich Village backdrop.

 

The costumes of Bob Dylan (Timothee Chalamet) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) with the Monterey Folk Festival backdrop, ASU FIDM Museum, photo by the author. 

The costume of traveling Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) is seen with jacket, scarf, cap in hand with gloves, at his side is his guitar. Against the back wall is artwork of the costumes which looks like snapshots of the movie. This moves to Dylan standing in front of a club backdrop with red curtains. He is dressed in vest, his harmonica holder, pants, guitar case and guitar. Next to him, seated, is Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), in striped black and purple dress over a black, long sleeve shirt. In the center of the room is the orange sweater and jeans of Bob when he was recording music complete with microphone stand. The props are also from the film featuring the work of production designer, François Audouy. 

Next to the club is the Gas Light Cafe backdrop with Bob seated with his wool lined jacket, jeans, and guitar. Lastly, is the backdrop of Pete Seegar’s home. The outfit of Pete Seegar (Edward Norton) includes his brown jacket, wool sweater, and jeans next to his banjo. Next to him, is his wife, Toshi (Eriko Hatsune), who was dressed in sweater, jeans, and boots. They are casual and dressed for the outdoors. Their children are together; Danny (Riley Hashimoto), Mika (Maya Feldman), and Tinya (Eloise Peyrot). On the other side is the home of Joan Baez where she has a black sweater, tan slacks while Bob is sitting with striped shirt and black slacks. There is interesting props of records, beer bottles, and a type writer. 

Pastiche of the The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album with Bob Dylan (Chalamet) and Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), author’s photo. 

This leads to the iconic album cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963). It has Bob with his tan jacket, blue t-shirt, and jeans next to Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) with her green coat and black shirt. Then, there is the red, Triumph motorcycle, in front of the Monterey Folk Festival, 1963. Bob is there with his tan jacket, black shirt, jeans and has his hand at his side. Next to him is Joan’s black dress with beaded necklace and her guitar. It has a vine pattern on the neck of the guitar. The other room has Bob with his black leather jacket, orange shirt, and electric guitar when he was playing at the Newport Folk Festival, next to him is the orange patterned dress and coat of Joan. 

The backdrop has the festival stage and some of the crowd. Behind them is the blue dress of Sylvie with her handbag ready to leave the festival. Against the wall is the backdrop of the Viking Motel with the grey suit of agent, Albert Grossman (Dan Fogler). Then, Bob’s long sleeve green shirt with white polka dots and black pants. I really liked that there were three displays of Bob’s different hair styles as wigs. The hair for the film was by Jaime Leigh McIntosh. On the other side of Bob and Joan at the festival is the black vest, white shirt, and black pants of Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) with his guitar.  At the back wall are four outfits worn by Bob including the industry party with his formal black suit. There are no cards providing information about the costumes and characters. Still, the music is playing and it really feels like being at the Gas Light Cafe and Monterey Folk Festival! Highly recommended!, don’t miss this exhibit, especially if you need a little music and movies to your day! 

#ACompleteUnknown, #DesignBehindTheScenes, #ASUFIDMMuseum, #AriannePhillips, #FrancoisAudouy, #JaimeLeighMcIntosh, #BobDylan, #TimotheeChalamet, #JoanBaez, #MonicaBarbaro, #PeteSeeger, #EdwardNorton, #ToshiSeeger, #ErikoHatsune, #DannySeeger, #RileyHashimoto, #MikaSeeger, #MayaFeldman, #TinyaSeeger, #EloisePeyrot, #SylvieRusso, #ElleFanning, #AlbertGrossman, #DanFogler, #JohnnyCash, BoydHolbrook  

Absolute Wonder Woman #3 Review!

Absolute Wonder Woman #3 has the beginning of Wonder Woman's first battle with the demonic Tetracide and flashes back to show what she will sacrifice! In the second issue, Wonder Woman has emerged from exile in hell to win the first battle of Gateway against the Harbinger Prime demon! She reunites with Steve Trevor whom she rescued on the Wild Isle in hell. Now a massive, Tetracide, shambles onto the shore of Gateway City, Diana tells Steve that it is “Death, personified.”! It is a beast, grey like the cloudsm a wide, almost insectoid head, long, crab-like legs, and a mass of tentacles in its center! She tells that she will buy Commander Cole some time to evacuate the city. The cover by Hayden Sherman has glowing white eyes while in the background is a red symbol and behind it the shadowy form of the Tetracide. 

At the Natural History Museum, there are banners of Greek helmets in front of it, the museum personnel is watching the news. One man asks about Barbara, I’m assuming it is Barbara Minerva, Cheetah and we see in another circular panel, a closeup of Barbara, glasses, red hair in pony tail, staring at the screen with her coffee. The reporter just can’t properly describe the scene. She says, “Wonder Woman”, before running out of the room. The Boardwalk, Wonder Woman flies into the city to draw in the Tetracide. Before her is the sign of a restaurant or pub, The Kraken, kinda clever. At the command center, Wonder Woman explains she used magic to try to slow the Tetracide. She debriefs the room about how the Tetracide kills so they can fight it after she dies! 

Wonder Woman tells them that it means, “The Four-Killer”, and kills by death of fear, mind, body, and soul! One soldiers says fear is not bad and she corrects him that it is the “greatest ” with the population of the city. We see then patterns on a Greek vase of the Tetracide, incredible designs, she says the demon will remove fear of it. The Tetracide will create a sound, like a mythological Siren?, that will everyone to its jaws! The mind death is being unable to feel, paralyzing the victims, so then there is the death of the body. It digests the victims! She ends the debriefing telling everyone to leave and to run if they can! Steve tries to get Diana’s attention, she wants him to help with the evacuation before the sound. Wonder Woman walks to the beach to see Pegasus. 

She tells him to stay away from the demon and try to use his hellfire. Closeup as she places her forehead to his head as Diana tells Pegasus that once the Tetracide tentacle touches him, Zeus will not resurrect him. Wonder Woman flies towards the demon with her blazing, red Nemesis lasso and massive Athena Blade. She is tiny next to the roar of the Cthulhu beast. Closeup of Diana’s eyes turning red. She throws her sword tied to the lasso that cuts into the Tetracide’s hide. She weaves the Nemesis around the demon to contain it, but it bellows its screech! Above the demon, Pegasus gives it a blast of hellfire as Wonder Woman continues to fly around it. A valiant effort, but this demon is on the Cthulhu level. 

The Tetracide uses a tentacle to pluck out the Athena Blade and tosses it into the water. The lasso unravels with the lost blade. Diana lets out a curse and then takes out an axe to slice the demon tentacles! Still a tentacle binds her right hand! Then, we get the two page credit page! We return to the Wild Isle as Diana is wrapped up in the tentacles of the Hydra. Steve is running up with the same axe used by Wonder Woman. He slices a tentacle and they both run as the five headed, crimson beast screeches at them. Daina holds open the jaws of one mouth telling it that she respects the monster, but gives her word for it to let Steve go. At a campfire, Steve asks Diana if the Hydra could understand her. She says most creatures can understand her, but says the Hydra knows strength. 

He wonders that hell is harsh and painful, and yet Circe and Diana made a home. She tells him "Love is transformative." I really like the sentiment. Steve tells her about Gateway City, how the sunset reminds me of his mother. At the home, Diana closes a book, she has Steve collect some firewood and tells her mother that she found the spell to send Steve home. Extreme closeup of the spellbook's page at the word, "A sacrifice." Circe tries to her warn her daughter about the sacrifice. Then, Steve enters with the firewood. At night, Circe wakes up to see Diana kneeling in a hooded robe. Steve is asleep. A closeup of the hood with part of Diana's face, she says if she is a great warrior like her mother told her, she has to succeed in her first mission. 

Diana tells Circe that Steve is a test. She says she is to be the "great warrior", then Diana has sacrificed her "dominant arm"! It rests next to the fire! This shocked me so much that I didn’t realize what I was seeing, the severed arm! The narrative shifts to Circe as she works with her daughter next to a blaze of a green fire on the beach. Steve is walking up as they chant the spell. Circe narrates that she underestimated Diana, “Her capacity for love.” Steve’s hand starts to fade. Circe adds, pain, sacrifice, then Steve is back on the Gateway City beach, and lastly, honor. She adds, “This child would change the world.” On the Wild Isle beach, Circe says she is sorry Diana did not say goodbye, but her daughter says she will see him again. 

The Gateway City battle, Wonder Woman’s right arm, the one she had lost is trapped in the Tetracide tentacle. She closes her eyes casting a spell. Then, he arm is freed and she falls in a sequence of panels, until she flies with the axe! She walks into the command center and a soldiers is startled that she lost her arm. Wonder Woman explains that she lost the magic arm, she made with her mother. She reminds Jacoby that the soldiers have to evacuate. She starts assembling pipes and mechanisms to her arm as Steve watches. A cyborg arm! This character can’t be cooler; sorceress, warrior, and now cyborg! Steve says he has realized what Diana sacrificed to return him. We don’t really know what condemned him to hell. She yells at the crowded room for the soldiers to leave or they will be running towards the Tetracide. 

Steve tells Diana he doesn’t want to leave her alone, but she says he was worthy of saving and has to go. Barbara is running and slams into the cyborg arm of Wonder Woman! Diana has caught her and tells her to go into the Kraken to tell Steve Trevor to help her escape. Barbara calls out, “Wonder Woman!” Diana pauses to turn to Barbara who says that is the name of the champion of the Amazons. Barbara says she has studied the Amazons. Julia Kapatelis was a historian and ally of Wonder Woman introduced by George Perez in Wonder Woman #3 (1987). It looks like Barbara shares the interest of Julia. Diana wants to know more from Barbara who introduces herself as Barbara Minerva. The Tetracide lets out another call! Wonder Woman flies into battle. Absolute Wonder Woman #3 continues the epic battle with the Tetracide, we understand a little of its nature and threat, while getting more about Diana’s sacrifice and bringing in Barbara Minerva! 

Five Athena Blades out of Five! 

#AbsoluteWonderWoman, #TheLastAmazon, #KellyThompson, #HaydenSherman, #WonderWoman, #SteveTrevor, #Circe, #BarbaraMinerva, #Jacoby