It’s rare that a ‘proper’ author dips a toe into the literary ghetto of the comic book, but bestselling writer Jodi Picoult has done just that. Her first outing for DC Comics is an attempt to reframe one of the most iconic heroes in the DC pantheon: Wonder Woman.

Female writers are still a comparative rarity in mainstream comics, and the Amazon princess has been written by men for almost all of her 66 year history. Unfortunately Picoult does not start with a clean slate, with the stories in this collection being required to slot into current DC continuity. That rather compromises the opening section of the book, which requires a rather talky few pages to get into its stride. In fairness, the dialogue works well, with some of the most natural-sounding flirtatious banter ever seen in the pages of a comic book. The writer is not served especially well by her art team either, while the original covers show a curvaceous but athletic woman, the main art style depicts the superheroine as a skinny, insubstantial looking girl who doesn’t look altogether capable of the feats of strength on show.

Love and Murder is by no means a complete failure: Once the slow early scene-setting is finally complete the story builds convincingly to an involving climax and the supporting characters are people in their own right rather than scenery, but the abrupt ending rather deflates the reader making the entire affair feel like a missed opportunity. The fact that DC have printed Jodi Picoult’s name quite so boldly on the cover, larger indeed than the title character’s, suggests that they might be hoping for crossover sales from mainstream Jodi Picoult fans as well as the regular Wonder Woman fanbase. On this outing both demographics will probably be a little disappointed.

Titan Books, 25 January 2008 Hardback £16.99 200pp

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