The observant among you will have noticed that there was no Weekly Wonder Woman last week. That wasn’t because our Wondy wasn’t in any comics – quite the contrary, in fact – but simply because of the time I had available, I had to choose between WWW and WHYBW, and tele won. Sorry, Di.
I didn’t get any complaint letters, though. I don’t know why. I’m assuming it’s because you were too busy crying to be able to put fingers to keyboard.
Don’t worry, though. Brush those tears away. WWW is back. And given that there was only one new issue with Diana in last week, it’s not exactly a Herculean task to do two weeks in one go.
So after the jump, we’ll be looking at the latest issues of the Big Four: Wonder Woman, Superman-Wonder Woman, Justice League and Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman. Only one of them has a bad joke from an old episode of Doctor Who in it.
Still no Diana in DC Bombshells again, though. This is tantamount to false advertising, now.
Wonder Woman #45
Plot
Aegeus has arrived on Olympus and although he’s had a power-up, the reluctant goddess of war isn’t willing to do much warring on him, except through the medium of chat.
Fortunately, Strife is willing to cut to the quick and put us out of our misery…
…except unfortunately, Aegeus’ mysterious benefactor rescues him. Who can it be? No spoilers (yet), but it’ll be absolutely the last person you think of. Promise.
Meanwhile, Donna Troy and her new pal are exploring London together, particularly the tourist sites.
Unfortunately, back at her pal’s house, all goes very badly when her boyfriend/pimp turns up – surprisingly for the UK, with a gun.
Poor pal. Just as Donna’s about to kill the boyfriend, Diana arrives and stops her.
Except Donna decides bad men = bad and that it’s her job as an Amazon to stop bad man. Stupid Diana. Oh well.
Except then Aegeus turns up and thinking he’s trying to help for a change, shoots Donna with a god-killing arrow, turning her back to clay. Why the change of heart? He claims he thinks his benefactor is a bit cray-cray.
Who is it? Can you guess? Can you? Who is it who has been waging war on the goddess of war?
Did you get it right?
Is it any good?
It’s not bad, better than some issues of late, but there’s a distinct element of WTF to it all. For starters, for a female writer, Meredith Finch doesn’t half enjoy having Diana beaten up every issue – usually without her do much fighting back. Which is a bit concerning.
Secondly, WTF? Eirene? Goddess of peace waging war of the goddess of war? Does that make the slightest bit of sense?
Probably not, but that’s probably the point of such a cliffhanger.
And it could be interesting this. After all, the last time we saw Eirene, nearly a year ago, she was being killed off in Futures End, with Diana deciding to quit being the goddess of war in favour of being goddess of peace herself.
And certainly, since becoming goddess of war in the nu52, Diana hasn’t been exactly warlike, let alone goddess of war-like, and has promised to make it more peaceful. Perhaps there’s a certain ying-yang thing going on here, with Eirene becoming more warlike to balance Diana’s more peaceful nature. Given that she’s hoping to kill off Diana, it might even be the case that Eirene can’t exist without a proper god of war to balance things out.
So maybe we’ll get to see Diana become goddess of peace or maybe she’ll just have to become more warlike. Until then, WTF?
Lastly, we’ve either just seen Donna killed off (to cries of almost no dismay from old school fans) or the beginning of an odd gambit by Aegeus and Eirene.
Artwork’s pretty good, even if London looks a little sparser than usual and the bits involving ‘the underclass’ look like they were set in 1950, but generally good.
Rating: 4/7 (artwork: 5/7)
Superman/Wonder Woman #22
Plot
Well, the moment’s been foreshadowed and unless this title is going to be retitled Superman/Wonder Woman: Awkward Pauses for the Justice League, it’s not going to last very long, but Clark and Diana are breaking up! Oh noes!
Of course, Clark’s having power problems, has been dealing with Wraith and Parasite, et al, but given that Wondy’s just tried flying a spaceship into the sun to save him, what a dick move. It gets even dickier, though.
So he doesn’t know if he loves her anymore, because she used the Lasso of Truth consensually on his friends to help them and him. But maybe he does but not right now, because he’s busy. But maybe he will later. Hey, though, let’s just be friends!
What a dick. I don’t know – the superheroes of today, hey?
Then they go off together and capture Parasite, mostly thanks to Diana keeping some soldiers in line.
Is it any good?
It is what it is – a general plot-driven piece with some fighting, presumably designed to make us dislike Clark Kent/Superman intently. Again, let me reiterate – what a dick. I wonder what his (late) parents think of him?
I’m assuming it’s deliberate, since the great mid-issue reveal – they’re breaking up – isn’t crushing or even sad, so much as forehead-slapping, and given it was trailed months ago, not even suprising. So surely there must be more to this than meets the eye. If not, what terrible writing.
Nice that Wondy’s so strong and balanced about it all, but on the subject of “since becoming goddess of war in the nu52, Diana hasn’t been exactly warlike, let alone goddess of war-like”, one wonders why she had to be quite so hack and slash with the soldiers, rather than simply controlling them with her goddess of war powers.
No one else from DC got the memo on that one, not even the guy currently writing the title in which that was introduced? You do surprise me. To be fair, there is a slight hint of it, but it equally it could be a bunch of soldiers realising they don’t stand much of a chance.
On the whole then, just an average issue of Superman/Wonder Woman, with nothing special to write home about it.
Rating: 3/7 (artwork: 3/7)
Justice League #45
Plot
Although the cover suggests otherwise, not a lot of Wonder Woman, let alone Wonder Woman carrying two axes, in the latest Justice League, which is more interested in spinning off some limited edition storylines in other comics, with the other members of the Justice League being transformed by the death of Darkseid into New Gods. The Flash, of course, is the god of death now, Batman the god of knowledge, Superman the god of strength, while Shazam is the god of gods. Whatever that means, beyond the fact he’s a New God with the powers of other gods.
Wonder Woman is already a goddess, of course, which is probably why nothing exciting gets to happen to her, particularly not any new storylines or comics.
Rating: 2/7 (artwork: 4/7)
Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #50-51
Plot
Turns out that a certain George Herbert was responsible for the experiments on the human-animals on the island.
Unfortunately, his experiments to help people aren’t going very well and Lex Luthor’s funding is about to dry up.
His lab self-destructs, leaving Wondy with the problem of how to help Cheetah.
Eventually, Wondy finds the cave that was the source of the Cheetah’s powers.
Cheetah becomes stronger than ever, but when she shows compassion to the cat she nearly kills, the goddess’ power wears off.
Back on the mainland, Barbara is healed, as is Molly. Wondy has a theory that by showing compassion, that ended the goddess’ powers over her. Seems plausible, doesn’t it? Or maybe something else happened…
Is it any good?
It’s quite a fun, jaunty little thing, full of fluffy wuffy animals. There are actually touching little moments, such as when Molly nearly dies or when George Herbert’s pet dog turned enforcer dies with his master.
It’s not going to change the world, but as with all the best of the Sensation Comics, it’s just some fun. It is what it is, but in a good way.
And yes, that is an obvious reference to The Island of Doctor Moreau. Or is it to Timelash? Watch from the 17 minute mark, if you dare.
Rating: 6/7 (artwork: 4/7)
Disclaimer: Owing to the small fortune it would take to buy every single DC comic each week, this is not a guaranteed rundown of all the comics that feature Wonder Woman. If you know of any I’ve missed, email me or leave a comment below and I’ll cover them the following week
