Release: April 2026 | Writer: Gerry Duggan | Artist: Mark Buckingham, Stefano Raffaele & Aure Jimenez | Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg | Letterer: Joe Caramagna
A body was found in the river. But Wonder Man goes to bat for Randolph Chancellor. Who steps in their way on their road to discovering the truth?
*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!*
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
Wonder Man and Hellcat meet up outside the LAPD police department. It’s revealed that Randolph Chancellor came in and spoke to the police on his own, without a lawyer present, after the body of his manager, Beth, was found in Wonder Man's car, which he recently had.
Hellcat asks about what Randolph's story is all about. Wonder Man goes on about how Randolph was captured by raiders while looking for a statue of Fortuna, the Goddess of Luck. When she was found, the raiders tried to shoot him, but the bullet ricocheted off her statue and killed them both. Fortuna then grants him a mix of good and bad fortune.
Hellcat thinks this is ridiculous, of course, but Wonder Man has been through weirder, so he has no reason to judge.
Randolph begs Wonder Man that he DIDN'T do this. Because why would he kill the woman he was sleeping with? Wonder Man is obviously upset that Randolph was sleeping with their manager. Now the police are REALLY going to think he killed her. After wondering where Grim Reaper is, we see him lying on a couch for his therapy session, trying to figure out why he wanted Wanda so bad in the past.
Following Grim Reaper meeting up with them and almost fighting two mascots on the side of the street, we see Spot sipping on his drink at a bar before receiving a call for some assistance, and leaves without paying.
Thanks to the West Coast Avengers, Killerwatt welcomes Wonder Man's crew to their HQ, allowing them to hold a meeting there. Not just that, but Killerwatt is helping Wonder Man with a new audition tape for the Darkhawk movie! As long as nothing catastrophic happens that requires The West Coast Avenger's help, of course.
With Randolph having been almost murdered last time, Wonder Man feels like he should leave the country for now to stay safe. But the entire team in this meeting decides that it's best for Randolph to stay and not flee the country in order to not to draw any sort of suspicion. Leaving a lot more time in the day for Wonder Man to film his audition with Killerwatt in the sky.
Wonder Man is contacted by Hellcat and he shows up with flowers, mistaking this meeting for a chance at a date with her. They go to the jail to meet up with the man who tried to assassinate Randolph last issue in order to get some answers.
But those answers don't come.
Right as he begins talking, Spot arrives and grabs the man by the neck. When Hellcat tries to use her whip to stop him, he creates a spot to have the whip sent into the groin of Wonder Man.
After kicking away Hellcat, Spot snaps the neck of the assassin, killing him in his jail cell. The police give Wonder Man a hard time leaving, but he does anyways as Spot returns to the apartment of a man reading a paper. Who is this? We will have to wait and see!
CONCLUSION
The story is progressing along very well. Seeing Wonder Man's audition tape was pretty funny and reminds you of Simon's first goal of being an actor in a book where he’s primarily doing some detective work. The budding romance with Hellcat is interesting to see. Simon knows he's kind of a plague when it comes to dating coworkers, but something may be different about being with her. Time will only tell.
Outside of that, Grim Reaper's therapy session is actually a really well-done example of a villain who is healing and trying to turn their life around. The world being built throughout this story is really well done. And I know this isn't a long-term book, but I wish it were.
Spot, though!
Very cool to see him show up in this, and what an insane appearance. Snapping necks after stealing dinner from a bar. He was still somehow cracking jokes while literally cracking a man's neck with his bare hands. He is presented as a dangerous and cold-hearted villain in this, which really surprised me. Like a lot of people, my first introduction to him was in the Spider-Verse movies. I haven't really read anything that Spot has been in before, so it was nice to read something involving him for the first time. I'm genuinely at a loss of where the murder will lead, which is a good thing that'll keep me reading for sure!
At the end of the day, this is a very solid book with a lot of creativity and an intriguing story direction that’s paired with phenomenal world-building. This is what Wonder Man is all about!