Anyone who has spent more than five minutes around a horse knows that they have personalities—proud, stubborn, hungry for delicious, delicious human fingers—but in comic books these traits tend to be heightened. None more so than Wonder Woman and Valkyrie’s newly introduced equine friends.
Before Wonder Woman had her flying plane, she had a Pegasus—a magical, winged horse she tamed and rode. DC's new Wonder Woman, Yara Flor, seems to be following in Diana's footsteps. In her debut comic, Future State: Wonder Woman, Yara leaps into action with an assist from her own winged steed, oddly named Jerry. Unfortunately for her, Jerry isn’t exactly the most reliable of horses, with a personality that seems to be more Mr. Ed than Trigger the Wonder Horse.
Jane Foster is heading straight toward the dangerous heart of a celestial being’s corpse in Marvel’s newest King in Black comic Return of the Valkyries #1. Her job of ferrying the dead—in this case, Robert Reynolds aka Sentry—to Valhalla has gotten just a bit more complicated with the angry souls that are clawing their way out of the severed stump of the creature. Helping her in her task of bringing Sentry to the afterlife is a flying horse.
Her attempt to complete her job is interrupted, however, by the appearance of an unnamed Valkyrie warrior fighting a battle of her own. While the remains of the celestial corpse attacks Jane, she orders the horse to take Sentry and escape. The horse replies “Not without ye, lass!” As she fights from the outside and the unnamed Valkyrie fights from within, the horse continues to backchat and balk at being called “Mr. Horse”.
It’s certainly amusing to watch both of these mighty women take down big monsters with ease but struggle with controlling their horses. Wonder Woman’s horse, Jerry, doesn’t come when called and prefers instead to graze at the edge of a serene pond, while Jane’s flying steed is uppity and argumentative. Their addition is one that harkens back to the days of cowboys and their favorite horses, but with the fun and always welcome twist of female superheroes coming to take down the big bad.
It’s hard to pick a favorite between Wonder Woman’s Jerry and Valkyrie’s Pegasus of “good Vanir stock.” While Jerry doesn’t have a voice, he certainly has a personality, doing as he pleases and neighing his way through the fight. But there’s something so enjoyable about the personal pride that Valkyrie’s horse expresses. Who doesn’t love a character with a bit of ego? Future State: Wonder Woman by Joëlle Jones hits shelves January 5, 2021, and King in Black: Return of the Valkyries by Torunn Grønbekk, Jason Aaron and Nina Vakueva hits shelves January 6.