Wonder Woman #50 – James Robinson, Writer; Stephen Segovia, Artist; Jesus Merino, Emanuela Lupacchino, Pencillers; Andy Owens, Ray McCarthy, Inkers; Romulo Fajardo Jr., Chris Sotomayor, Colorists
Ray – 3/10
Ray: When an extended run on a popular comic book comes to the end of the road and the writer departs, that final issue is often a massive event, a tribute to the entire run. Wonder Woman #50, though…is not one of those occasions. To say the James Robinson run on Wonder Woman has not been received well would be putting it lightly, between the overwhelming presence of Wonder Woman’s bland gary stu of a brother, Jason; the constant barrage of generic original villains like the Dark Gods; and false notes for classic Wonder Woman characters like turning Vanessa Kapetalis into a sadistic monster. This final issue does one thing right – it slams the door on the whole run in such a way that it can mostly be ignored forever. From the opening pages, which take place after the final battle, it’s clear that Robinson has put Jason on a bus, probably permanently. Wonder Woman is grieving him as she and Steve Trevor discuss the previous events before he deploys on a mission after re-enlisting in the Navy. From there, the story flashes back to the last battle with the Dark Gods, who we last saw seemingly possessing Jason and turning him against Diana again.
Jason’s hamminess as a villain makes a bit more sense once we find out that he’s faking as a way to protect Diana from the Dark Gods, so they can secretly plot how to overthrow them. Once in a while, you almost see Jason as likable, but overall the bad introduction where he tried to kill Diana and the hard-sell that he’s gotten over the course of the entire run has soured most people on the characters. I don’t think he’s actually the biggest problem with the issue, though – that would definitely be the Dark Gods themselves. Although they come from the Dark Multiverse, they have little in common with the twisted, horrific characters we saw coming out of there in Dark Nights: Metal. Instead, they’re highly generic monsters that seem like they’re about twenty years too late to come packaged in a toy line based on a Saturday Morning Cartoon. Jason’s ultimate decision to sacrifice himself to the Dark Gods, allowing himself to be absorbed so they’ll leave this realm, slams the door on his character likely for good, and thankfully Diana’s mourning is cut short by the end of this arc. Next up, Steve Orlando, whose run here will be very welcome as we hopefully get back on track with Wonder Woman stories.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
I have no desire to read this story arc, but I would pay good money for a collection of the Jenny Frison variant covers.