Wonder Woman #798 – Becky Cloonan/Michael W. Conrad, Josie Campbell, Writers; Amancay Nahuelpan, Caitlin Yarsky, Artists; Tamra Bonvillain, Jordie Bellaire, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: We’re getting close to the end of this mini-event, as well as of the Cloonan-Conrad run, and this issue follows up on the huge cliffhanger in the third issue of the main series. That would be the reveal that the cloaked man who has been assisting Diana is none other than Ares—her frequent arch-nemesis. Between Cheetah and Hecate, Diana is just winning over former villains left and right—but Ares’ motivation actually makes a lot of sense. He’s reliant on humans waging war, and a world where the Gods are dominant and subjugate humanity would actually take away his power. But there isn’t much time for this new alliance to form—because Hera and her army are here, and the war is about to kick off.
So it’s pretty clear from the start that Diana and her crew are completely outmanned, with even Diana falling before Hera before too long. That leads Mary to make a dramatic sacrifice—giving Diana the power of Shazam to supercharge her, leaving Billy as the only bearer once again. Given the upcoming miniseries, I suppose this was inevitable, but it’s still sort of disappointing to see. The final issue seems to be setting up one big showdown between Diana and Hera, and this entire run has been building to this conflict.
However, the real heart of this issue is in the backup by Josie Campbell and Caitlin Yarsky, which ties up Mary’s storyarc since the Campbell mini last year. Mary’s story has been fairly short, but Campbell has packed a lot of care into it. After Mary loses her powers, she’s taken away from the battle to keep her safe. The newly God-empowered Diana comes to find her and they have a compelling conversation—before Diana gives her a gift that changes the character quite significantly. This is also a fantastic callback to an earlier era of a beloved Wonder Woman character. I did not expect it at all, and I’m hoping this change sticks going forward.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
