Wonder Woman #37 – James Robinson, Writer; Carlo Pagulayan, Stephen Segovia, Pencillers; Jason Paz, Art Thibert, Raul Fernandez, Inkers; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 5/10
Corrina: Diana Sidelined Again
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Ray: This run has a lot of problems, but one of the biggest is that it makes what should be spectacular feel small and boring. That’s never clearer than with this issue, which features the return of two of the biggest figures in the DCU. Darkseid, arguably DC’s most powerful villain, is finally back to adulthood and ready to reclaim his power – but the only one standing in his way is the newly returned Zeus, who has secretly been guiding his daughter through her journeys. To start with, this has the negative effect of once again demoting Diana to supporting character in her own drama – she’s mainly here to keep the damage from the fight between her father and the dark God from killing innocents, and to narrate her feelings. The issue does a good job of showing the sheer scale a fight like this would be played on, but that only works when the story has been set up to make us care about the players involved.
As it is, this is just a series of explosions and super-powered punches, where Zeus and Darkseid destroy the scenery (and chew it). Diana and Jason are mainly cringing in the background, while Jason regrets his past actions. Darkseid eventually tricks Zeus, draining him of his powers and killing him and becoming the Darkseid of old again. Diana’s about to fight him, when the Justice League shows up to help and Darkseid decides to head back to Apokalips and fight another day. Diana’s comments about resenting their help ring very false for her character. Her seeming forgiveness of Jason is more in character, but it would have been a lot more inspiring if Jason had developed any sense of character that would make us root for him.
As it is, Ancient Greek Kylo Ren is a rather boring character who needs to be removed from this title ASAP.
Corrina: So Zeus comes back to battle Darkseid only to get punked by the New God? That was disappointing and a waste of space, since it only served to delay Diana’s confrontation with Darkseid. Wait, I correct myself: Diana and Jason’s confrontation with Darkseid. Because I’m sure whiny bro Jason will be instrumental in somehow helping Diana or in defeating Grail or, heck, maybe he’ll die heroically so Diana can be sad.
Me, I’m rooting for this arc to be over.
Disclaimer: DC received this comic for review purposes.
