You’re mine, Yara. Finally, all mine. Sigh. Much like the Legion of Super-Heroes trade, this one is also tinged with regret for the title as a whole. Unlike the Legion, where we regret what was lost, with Wonder Girl, we wonder what might have been.
I fell in love with the character of the Yara Flor/Wonder Girl at first sight. It was Issue #3 of the series (9-16-21) where we first met. I actively searched out for more with Issue #2 of Wonder Woman: Future State (11-11-21) and Issue #4 (11-12-21). These are collected in this volume. Later, I got an issue of Trial of the Amazons (5-24-22), which is not included here. I could have gotten more issues that were in this volume, but I’d actually passed on a couple of issues when I noticed they weren’t drawn by Yara’s creator, Joelle Jones.
I embarrassingly don’t remember why I thought to look for a Wonder Girl trade. It had never occurred to me before that there would be one. The character seems to have been sort of discarded at the moment. As soon as I saw this was available, I definitively made up my mind what to do with an Amazon gift card without further consideration.
I won’t pretend I know the exact origin of this character. From some Wiki-research, Yara was been created for a CW TV show, but the show fell through. (I seem to vaguely remember a different Amazon DC superhero show did nearly make it on TV, but the pilot failed horribly. I can’t find it.) While the TV project was viable, Yara was rushed out and highly promoted. When it was gone, she faded into relative obscurity just as fast.
Why not do a new Wonder Woman TV show? She’s a movie star now. (Also, they tried that and it didn’t get past the pilot.) What about the other two Wonder Girls? Okay, Donna Troy’s backstory and history is likely not useful as is. (And there’d be the amusing comparisons with the Debra Winger/Wonder Girl from the 70’s Wonder Woman show.) Cassie Sandmark, I think, might be a great choice with her background, but not if you were making the show as part of the Agenda. You’d want to replace the blonde, blue-eyed White girl with someone ethnic and non-American.
Funny thing, nobody apparently told Joelle not to make Yara beautiful and charming, which she did. Yara is based on a real Brazilian Indian model. From looking at the pictures, I can only tell you that Yara is the most idealized-looking version of this woman imaginable. (Model? Really?) I think the impetus to create this character was to piss off comic book fans. They weren’t supposed to like her, but it was awfully hard not to. This might have been the downfall of the character with the company. When they found out that fans liked the character, she had to be scuttled in favor of Nubia, an angry black Amazon, or that precious trans-Amazon character.
This volume isn’t the entire corpus of Yara Flor in comic book literature, but it’s likely most of it where she was the starring character. I was very intrigued by what I originally bought, if kind of confused by the story. I thought getting the rest of the Wonder Girl series and the other issue of Future State would explain things. No, it was made worse. As well as the character was designed and as fully formed as her personality was, the story is there, but just not well developed. Yara’s story has the appearance of being rushed out. Either that, or Joelle isn’t much of a writer.
From Issue #1, Yara is very much a normal girl, but with an exotic background. Yara’s Amazon mother was executed in front of her by unidentified supernatural entities. Sent away to the US, Yara was determined to return, but only as a tourist. Her foster relatives are introduced and dismissed without any further mention. Yara’s American upbringing does give her a pretty good sense of humor and an independent attitude.
Meanwhile, the other Amazon tribes and the gods on Mount Olympus sense Yara’s return and are disturbed by it. Indeed, many other superheroes sense something important is about to happen. Yara is blissfully unaware of all of it. She befriends her tour bus driver, who is obviously smitten with her (like the readers). I’m sure Joao is modeled after somebody, but I don’t know who. Recap stops for a moment. This whole thing bit with the eyes of the world (and beyond) on Yara doesn’t pay off and is not explained. Lower your expectations.
At a tour destination, Yara is pulled underwater and encounters a river goddess, who gifts her a magical bolo. Aren’t there pictures beautiful? I don’t think I’ve ever seen an underwater scene so well drawn. Also in Issue #2, Artemis and Cassie Sandsmark are sent to find Yara by their respective Amazon tribes. Yara is attacked while on an airliner by a couple of Amazon assassins, which brings the plane down into a crash landing.
Issue #3 I reviewed before without understanding what was going on. I’m still kind of clueless. A Brazilian crocodile goddess, who’s not explained until the annual issue later, tries to seduce Yara into her service, but Greek god Eros, is the one who ends up claiming her by stabbing her with one of his love arrows. Meanwhile, Cassie and Artemis meet and reluctantly work together. It’s a fairly amusing contrast in personalities. In Issue #4, Yara is trained as a warrior on Olympus and meets her Pegasus. Hera then offers her immortality.
Issue #5 was not drawn by Joelle, though Adriana Melo does a very good job. I probably shouldn’t have just turned up my nose at buying this. Melo does draw Yara pretty thick, though. Storywise, Yara refuses Hera’s offer and has to fight her way out of Olympus. I’d like to explain all of the complicated motivations here, but there aren’t any. Yara just doesn’t want to work for Hera, who likely should have worked out that deal before having her trained.
Cassie meets Potira of Brazilian Amazon tribe and is taken to the tribe’s home for a visit and they find Donna Troy already there. The Brazilians plan on getting Yara back and marching on Themyscira, as they feel that tribe has abandoned their duties.
Cassie is kind of ditzy in this series. Not dumb, but a bit silly. This was not experience with her in the Teen Titans. She was anything but that. (Annoyingly, I never reviewed the trades or issues I had of that version of the team led by the Tim Drake/Robin with Connor Kent/Superboy, but trust me, bro.) On the other hand, she was kind of spacey in an origin recap issue (5-9-24), so I’m not sure which is the real thing.
This panel made me laugh. There’s a couple of women at work that are obsessed with capybaras, a giant, gentle rodent. They have a bunch of stuffed ones (stuffed animals, not actual rodents) at their desks.
In Issue #6, Yara ends up in Greek Heck. Her and Eros have a heart-to-heart. He’s hurt that she refused to stay with him, but she didn’t want to be used by Hera. She escapes and makes it to the Gates of Olympus. On the other side, the Brazilians are ready to storm the gates. Yara’s mother’s killers arrive to confront her. Leila Del Duca does a good job on the art here and the next issue. (It’s still not Joelle.)
In the last issue, The Amazons storm the gate and a large fight ensues. Yara unmasks one of the killers and it’s Eros. In their talk, Eros declares his love. He says he was ordered kill her mom and seems to imply that he’s also her dad. I think they walk, if not run, away from this revelation in a future issue. It’s problematical to say the least. Zeus intervenes and attacks, but Cassie talks him into letting Yara go. Eros, for his part, releases Yara from his love spell.
Umm. . . the end? Okay, all that for this. I don’t know if this was the planned end of the series or if they cut it off here, which is what it looks like.
Next is an annual. The crocodile goddess comes back and steals Yara’s boyfriend, Joao. The Brazilian Amazon’s home is also under attack at the same time. Yara defeats her. The end. The art is still not by Joelle and only okay.
Future State actually came out before the Wonder Girl series, which is very confusing. Yara Flor is shown as the future Wonder Woman, before her origin story. Like I said, this felt rushed. DC wanted this character to be seen as legit as soon as possible. These two issues are drawn by Joelle.
Yara is trying to get into Hades to rescue her lost friend, Potira. She gains an impish guide in Caipora. The imp takes her the entrance, which looks like an airport terminal.
Yara ends up having to fight it out with a Sumo wrestler to get the fee to give to Charon to carry her over. The first issue is basically filler. The second issue is the bulk of the story that I’d read and been impressed with before. Yara makes a deal with Hades and is able to find Potira, but isn’t able to bring her out. It’s a very brave attempt, though, and heartbreaking for her.
The other issue I have, which isn’t in this trade, is the issue of Trial of the Amazons starring Yara. It’s written and drawn by Joelle and sets up a good murder mystery, but it’s mostly with Cassie doing the work. Yara is just sort of in it. I’m kind of sorry I don’t have any other issues of this, though. It looks interesting. As far as I know, Yara is just a guest star character in other comics after this. She’s basically been discarded.
Sigh. Given how much I like Dani Moonstar, it’s obvious I have a thing for pretty girls with long, dark hair, who ride a Pegasus. Suddenly, I wonder if Joelle likes Moonstar, too. Dani is Cheyenne and Yara is Amazonian, but they are both American Indian. Dani’s Pegasus is named Brightwind, while Yara’s is named after me.
Do I recommend this? Yeah. Even with the questionable story, even though Joelle doesn’t do most of the art, even though the character has no future, it’s still stunning, if not hypnotic, for the artwork. Wonder Woman does not need replacing. There were already two Wonder Girls. But, this was an original and interesting premise with a charismatic new character. What might have been . . .
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