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Wonder Woman: Black & Gold 2026 Special (2026-) #1
Witness thrilling tales starring the Amazon Princess—embellished in the color of her famous lasso. This round, the Eisner Award-winning team of Tom King and Mitch Gerads (Mister Miracle, One Bad Day) reunites, Steve Orlando has Diana search for the truth in a land of lies, Alyssa Wong brings Wonder Woman to the Spirit World, and the team behind Wonder The Adventures of Young Diana is back for more!
Kindle Edition
Published January 14, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 19, 2026
Actual rating: 2.2 stars
What I liked: The artwork
Art & Coloring: Another picture book, I enjoyed the artwork each of the 4 stories offered.
Writing: Non existent. It was bad.
What I didn't like: Each story had a horrible plot.
Final thoughts: I feel scammed.
Continuing?: No
What I liked: The artwork
Art & Coloring: Another picture book, I enjoyed the artwork each of the 4 stories offered.
Writing: Non existent. It was bad.
What I didn't like: Each story had a horrible plot.
Final thoughts: I feel scammed.
Continuing?: No
February 13, 2026
Honestly this felt like a collection of half baked ideas. All of the art was top tier and understood the black and gold color assignment, but I was left wanting more multiple times…and with a story comprising of 4 stories…that’s at least half, lol. The one that arguably has the least substance was the first one as we find a museum celebrating Wonder Woman day, with Diana herself set to make a special appearance and meet the little girl who won the art contest and who claims Diana will be her next best friend. Unfortunately whether it be crimson centipede, the paper man, terrorists, or even a cat stuck in a tree…Diana was continually delayed until the museum shutdown. Fortunately the docent for the museum is really nice and stayed behind with the little girl, who was adamant about waiting for Wonder Woman. Eventually it got so late that the girl was ready to give up, only for Wonder Woman to appear behind her and apologize for making her wait so long. It’s a sweet moment, but she was really diverted by a cat in a tree…really? They couldn’t call sideways or something for that, lol.
The next issue is such a cool team up and makes me want to read spirit world, (as I haven’t don’t that YET, I swear I will) as Wonder Woman teams up with Xanthe in an attempt to personally deliver an offering to Steve beyond the grave. He made a promise to Diana he would find his way back and if there is a chance to help him she wants to take it, and Xanthe is not one to deny a request from Wonder Woman herself. Xanthe opened a portal to the spirit world, warning Diana about the residents who are prone to steal life force. But Diana handles herself like a champ here, walking in like she owns the place and seeing past all lies and tricks immediately. While exploring, Diana noticed the image of Steve down an alley. Xanthe and Diana gave chase only to find Steve waiting in an area unknown to Xanthe. Diana walked up, and immediately saw it for the trick it was. An evil fox like spirit took his form to lure Wonder Woman in, but she put that thing down so fast using the lasso that it barely mattered. Unfortunately the offering meant for Steve, a paper airplane, was destroyed by the spirit in the fight and it ultimately didn’t know where he was either as it only ripped his image out of her head, alongside a bunch of other nasty thoughts and deep fears that Diana keeps which it relayed back to her and she fought through. They were unsuccessful, and the pair left spirit world, but Diana still has faith that Steve will fulfill his promise even without her direct help.
The next one unfortunately feels half complete but with really solid ideas I wish they had more time to explore. In this story Diana infiltrates a new cult which has taken up residency on an island in Lake Superior. The leader has promised everyone that if they devote their lives to him then they can live without worry. The concept of a religious leader taking away all of your worries and fears by taking it upon himself is the epitome of ignorance being blissful and a dangerous weapon. Immediately upon arriving to the island and hearing the leader speak, Diana wasted no time on wrapping the lasso around him and taking him within the ring of truth so he can admit that all he speaks are lies. But here’s the real kicker, even in a world where he must say the truth…he states the exact same thing..his delusion has become his truth, he has even convinced himself of it. The concept of a world within the lasso called the golden perfect is very new to me, is this a new thing? Somehow within this world, the cult leader is able to weaponize his words into shadow monsters which Diana fights past while dropping these absolute banger lines:
“But you speak only your truth-not the truth. The world cannot be abandoned. We cannot turn away from it. Manipulation is not liberation. Subservience is not freedom. Choice is no shackle at all. And you are not a savior…you are just a man.”
With a final blow, the golden truth fades from around them as the truth is revealed to the cult leads as he admits to all of them he is not a savior…just a liar and a man. But the people of his flock are furious, they have devoted so much and it must be a final test or the Wonder Woman has made him day it. They don’t trust Diana and they don’t believe their leader, the lie has pulled them down even deeper than their leader can pull them out. But Diana still sees hope, and the story ends with Diana sitting down and spreading the truth, as nothing is stronger. I really like the ideas of this issue, very relevant, but I feel like it misses the mark at the end by not spending a bit more time convincing the people instead of just fighting the leader. Ignorance and the hate that spreads within lies is still the root of the issue, you cut off one head and two more will grow back until you can truly reach people and this story just doesn’t get the time it needs to deliver on that point.
The final story is definitely the cutest and most fun. We go back to paradise island during Diana’s youth as she sits by her mother’s side as the Queen opened a new forum to listen to and attempt to help her people. Diana becomes particularly interested in Lynn’s problem. She runs the farming for the island and it is glowing peach season, yet she has no glowing peaches to show for it. They have a peach thief on their hands and Diana promises to be the one to stop it. They head to the valley of fruit and to the large peach tree where Diana takes note of how high the peaches and notices some oddly familiar footprints nearby. Diana decides to host a stakeout to catch the thief herself and spends the night writing in her journal about the origin of the golden peaches. Turns out that when Persephone was taken by Hades, it wounded her mother, Selene the Goddess of the moon, and as she mother she wept and her tears fell on the last fruit of the harvest season…peaches. They were made gold with her tears which is why they shine bright under moonlight. Suddenly a peace falls down on Diana’s head and pulls her from the journal…and then two more hit her. Diana yells out to the thief, suddenly seeing a fast shake through the night jump around the tree, until it finally passed in front of the tree to reveal that it was jumpa all along! Diana couldn’t save all the golden peaches but she protected the tree and the peaches which fell to the ground until morning the Lynn could retrieve them. Obviously no one can be mad at jumpa, lol, and they celebrate a successful mystery solved by indulging in golden peach cobbler.
The next issue is such a cool team up and makes me want to read spirit world, (as I haven’t don’t that YET, I swear I will) as Wonder Woman teams up with Xanthe in an attempt to personally deliver an offering to Steve beyond the grave. He made a promise to Diana he would find his way back and if there is a chance to help him she wants to take it, and Xanthe is not one to deny a request from Wonder Woman herself. Xanthe opened a portal to the spirit world, warning Diana about the residents who are prone to steal life force. But Diana handles herself like a champ here, walking in like she owns the place and seeing past all lies and tricks immediately. While exploring, Diana noticed the image of Steve down an alley. Xanthe and Diana gave chase only to find Steve waiting in an area unknown to Xanthe. Diana walked up, and immediately saw it for the trick it was. An evil fox like spirit took his form to lure Wonder Woman in, but she put that thing down so fast using the lasso that it barely mattered. Unfortunately the offering meant for Steve, a paper airplane, was destroyed by the spirit in the fight and it ultimately didn’t know where he was either as it only ripped his image out of her head, alongside a bunch of other nasty thoughts and deep fears that Diana keeps which it relayed back to her and she fought through. They were unsuccessful, and the pair left spirit world, but Diana still has faith that Steve will fulfill his promise even without her direct help.
The next one unfortunately feels half complete but with really solid ideas I wish they had more time to explore. In this story Diana infiltrates a new cult which has taken up residency on an island in Lake Superior. The leader has promised everyone that if they devote their lives to him then they can live without worry. The concept of a religious leader taking away all of your worries and fears by taking it upon himself is the epitome of ignorance being blissful and a dangerous weapon. Immediately upon arriving to the island and hearing the leader speak, Diana wasted no time on wrapping the lasso around him and taking him within the ring of truth so he can admit that all he speaks are lies. But here’s the real kicker, even in a world where he must say the truth…he states the exact same thing..his delusion has become his truth, he has even convinced himself of it. The concept of a world within the lasso called the golden perfect is very new to me, is this a new thing? Somehow within this world, the cult leader is able to weaponize his words into shadow monsters which Diana fights past while dropping these absolute banger lines:
“But you speak only your truth-not the truth. The world cannot be abandoned. We cannot turn away from it. Manipulation is not liberation. Subservience is not freedom. Choice is no shackle at all. And you are not a savior…you are just a man.”
With a final blow, the golden truth fades from around them as the truth is revealed to the cult leads as he admits to all of them he is not a savior…just a liar and a man. But the people of his flock are furious, they have devoted so much and it must be a final test or the Wonder Woman has made him day it. They don’t trust Diana and they don’t believe their leader, the lie has pulled them down even deeper than their leader can pull them out. But Diana still sees hope, and the story ends with Diana sitting down and spreading the truth, as nothing is stronger. I really like the ideas of this issue, very relevant, but I feel like it misses the mark at the end by not spending a bit more time convincing the people instead of just fighting the leader. Ignorance and the hate that spreads within lies is still the root of the issue, you cut off one head and two more will grow back until you can truly reach people and this story just doesn’t get the time it needs to deliver on that point.
The final story is definitely the cutest and most fun. We go back to paradise island during Diana’s youth as she sits by her mother’s side as the Queen opened a new forum to listen to and attempt to help her people. Diana becomes particularly interested in Lynn’s problem. She runs the farming for the island and it is glowing peach season, yet she has no glowing peaches to show for it. They have a peach thief on their hands and Diana promises to be the one to stop it. They head to the valley of fruit and to the large peach tree where Diana takes note of how high the peaches and notices some oddly familiar footprints nearby. Diana decides to host a stakeout to catch the thief herself and spends the night writing in her journal about the origin of the golden peaches. Turns out that when Persephone was taken by Hades, it wounded her mother, Selene the Goddess of the moon, and as she mother she wept and her tears fell on the last fruit of the harvest season…peaches. They were made gold with her tears which is why they shine bright under moonlight. Suddenly a peace falls down on Diana’s head and pulls her from the journal…and then two more hit her. Diana yells out to the thief, suddenly seeing a fast shake through the night jump around the tree, until it finally passed in front of the tree to reveal that it was jumpa all along! Diana couldn’t save all the golden peaches but she protected the tree and the peaches which fell to the ground until morning the Lynn could retrieve them. Obviously no one can be mad at jumpa, lol, and they celebrate a successful mystery solved by indulging in golden peach cobbler.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2026
i’m giving this 2.75 stars but i’m not rounding up because it doesn’t deserve to be shown as 3 stars. the four stories in here were mid at best, but the first one written by tom king and the last one written by jordie bellaire were atrocious. tom king didn’t even centralize his story around diana which i’m not surprised about because when has he ever written diana or any female character properly (woman of tomorrow run excluded… but even then kara didn’t feel centralized lol) and bellaire’s peach thief story could’ve been replaced by an actual decent one instead of that kiddie cartoon sequence.
last flight by alyssa wong with karen s. darboe as the artist was the only one i truly enjoyed. the ending of the story fell flat for me because it felt very anticlimactic, but the art was so gorgeous and the story had a bit of substance to it that the others lacked. the truth unreal by steve orlando was boring to me, but i enjoyed rossi gifford’s art.
overall, this was such a let down and i was already skeptical of purchasing this comic for ncbd due to diana not being appreciated or properly written by dc for the longest time so i didn’t have high hopes regardless. it’s a nice collectors item to have i guess, but omg diana i am so sorry they nuked you
last flight by alyssa wong with karen s. darboe as the artist was the only one i truly enjoyed. the ending of the story fell flat for me because it felt very anticlimactic, but the art was so gorgeous and the story had a bit of substance to it that the others lacked. the truth unreal by steve orlando was boring to me, but i enjoyed rossi gifford’s art.
overall, this was such a let down and i was already skeptical of purchasing this comic for ncbd due to diana not being appreciated or properly written by dc for the longest time so i didn’t have high hopes regardless. it’s a nice collectors item to have i guess, but omg diana i am so sorry they nuked you
January 17, 2026
2,5☆ average.
Only one story I truly liked, all others felt a bit short and simplistic. The art was the highlight of this comic.
Decent Docent - Tom King ☆☆
This was ... five. Didn't particullarly care for it. It felt symplistic and a bit cliché tbh
Last Flight - Alyssa Wong ☆☆☆☆
The art was so pretty. I loved the designs on the afterlife. I liked how hopeful and full of love this story was.
The Truth Unreal - Steve Orlando ☆☆
The cult story could have been great, but it wasn't. I liked some of it, but all in all it felt incomplete and rushed. I think this could make a great longer story arc, if it got developed a bit more.
Peach Thief - Jordie Bellaire ☆☆,5
Love the art, it's very cute, very different from the other styles in the book. Another symplistic, story, but it's cute and got the art style well. More in line with the Wee Wonder webseries
Only one story I truly liked, all others felt a bit short and simplistic. The art was the highlight of this comic.
Decent Docent - Tom King ☆☆
This was ... five. Didn't particullarly care for it. It felt symplistic and a bit cliché tbh
Last Flight - Alyssa Wong ☆☆☆☆
The art was so pretty. I loved the designs on the afterlife. I liked how hopeful and full of love this story was.
The Truth Unreal - Steve Orlando ☆☆
The cult story could have been great, but it wasn't. I liked some of it, but all in all it felt incomplete and rushed. I think this could make a great longer story arc, if it got developed a bit more.
Peach Thief - Jordie Bellaire ☆☆,5
Love the art, it's very cute, very different from the other styles in the book. Another symplistic, story, but it's cute and got the art style well. More in line with the Wee Wonder webseries
May 5, 2026
Not bad enough to deserve a 1 star, but definitely nowhere good enough to get 3. Every story in this anthology just felt a little underbaked and kinda boring. The art was competent but never wowed me, and the gold as the central color just didn’t work for me. Everything was black and white but for the gold and yellow and it just didn’t pop out enough on the page. I’ve seen this done with red or blue and it’s worked better. All except for one artist really didn’t seem to know how to make the gold POP off the page. And it’s biggest crime? It was just boring 😴
February 7, 2026
every story in here was great. ranging from the cutesy peaches story to the political lying Cult leader story to the beautiful afterlife story all the way to the inspiring in adorable museum story. a wonderful anthology
January 16, 2026
not the best stories but two incredible artists in Gerards and Darboe (similar to sana takeda or peach momoko)
worth having as an art book.
worth having as an art book.
January 18, 2026
Some of the stories felt disjointed, otherwise this was a nice special issue.
January 19, 2026
2.5
Highly disappointing. Most of the stories barely center wonder woman which is absurd for the special. The best thing about this book is the cover by a mile.
Highly disappointing. Most of the stories barely center wonder woman which is absurd for the special. The best thing about this book is the cover by a mile.
January 25, 2026
A real disappointment bar the Steve Orlando story. I hate Tom King on Wonder Woman and his story is only mediocre. I never rate this now but I guess there’s a beginning for all things
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews