Advance Review: ‘Tales Of Wonder’ #3 Gives Its Heroes Their Origin Stories
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
This limited series takes a turn in its middle issue to tell several characters’ backstories. It’s necessary, but it’s a lot. Instead of spreading the origins out, they are clumped together, putting the rest of the narrative on hold. It feels like there’s a better way to tell their stories.
Overall
8/10Sometimes you need to go backwards before you can go forwards.
Tales of Wonder #3 does just that, giving readers a largely backwards-looking view of a world in which a superhero team called America’s Freedom Force helped to win World War II before disappearing. It’s largely needed after spending much of the first two issues of the limited series on the decades-long disagreement between comic book creators Stu and Jake (thinly veiled stand-ins for the real worlds Stan Lee and Jack Kirby).
Writer and illustrator Steve Skroce gives us Dragovexia, a nun who falls in love with a demon prince and learns to cast spells. The Ugly American is a twisted version of Captain America, who takes a pill to realize his full potential, but it also leaves him grotesque. And then there’s Fly-Boy and Man-Bear, who get caught up in an accident that Jeff Goldblum and David Cronenberg can relate to.
Skroce integrates the flashbacks seamlessly into his story, in which evil wizard Atum Black changes reality to give each of the heroes an idealized life to keep them off his scent. But presenting all these origins, one after the other, feels too much for a single issue. It would have made for a better read to spread them out a bit more, so we’re not buried in exposition, as entertaining as it is.
Skroce’s illustrations remain uniquely Skroce. It’s raw, evocative, and tells the story he’s trying to tell — in a way that is distinct.
Now that the series has pivoted from its fictional retelling of the Lee-Kirby snit to a superhero tale, we’ll see how well the narrative holds up. At least we won’t have deal with many more flashbacks.
Tales of Wonder #3 — written and illustrated by Steve Skroce, colored by Ian Herring, and lettered by Pat Brosseau — will be available on Wednesday in comic book stores and on digital platforms from Image Comics.
