J. Michael Straczynski and Phil Hester (writers), Don Kramer & Eduardo Pansica (pencils), Wayne Faucher & Eber Ferreira (inks), Alex Sinclair (colors), Travis Lanham (letters)
The Story: The Morrigan make the final push to force Diana to become one of them. Not everyone survives the battle, and as her friends begin to fall all around her, Wonder Woman is given a terrifying look into one of her possible futures–and at what might happen if she is unable to resist the Morrigan.
The Review: I’m breaking with WCBR’s traditional What’s Good/Not So Good review format for this one. My feelings about this issue are a bit complicated, and I’m having trouble compartmentalizing them even after a few days reflection. (Admittedly, these feelings are more than a little informed by DC’s big re-launch announcement, but more on that later.)
Wonder Woman’s “Odyssey” continues, much as it has for the last few issues: good-but-not-great. With this being the penultimate issue of a huge (and ostensibly very important) storyline, I had hoped to finally get a big revelation about the nature of what has happened to Diana—or at least a few solid pieces of information. Instead what we’re given is more of the same—more (very good) battle sequences, more big set pieces and events…and more mystery. Given the fact that very little (if any) of what happens to Diana in this storyline will matter once the DCU resets to issue #1, I can’t help but feel that a great deal of what made this storyline interesting has been lost. The whole point of the arc was to take a different sort of Diana in an alternate (?) history, and watch her grow, change and mature into the paragon of honor, compassion and virtue that we all know and love. Isn’t that the reasoning behind the arc’s title—to make an analogy to a character that was lost at sea, and had to find their way back home? The reboot announcement denies readers the satisfaction of the all-important homecoming. Or more accurately, it renders all of the character growth, and even that homecoming moment itself, moot by negating its occurrence.
I know that publishing and announcement schedules must be nearly impossible to synchronize, but I can’t help feeling like the reboot has taken what wind Phil Hester had managed to create out of Wonder Woman’s sails. I’m still interested in how the story ends of course, and as I’ve said before, I think this arc will read much better as a collection in a trade than it does off the shelf. Right now though, I think that, personal opinion of the reboot as a whole aside (I actually rather like the idea), it’s a disastrous thing for Wonder Woman specifically. She has been re-imagined and re-designed so many times that I feel like I barely get to know and like one version before she’s irrevocably changed or retconned away, and I have to start at square one again, getting to know a brand new incarnation. Let’s hope the new Wonder Woman will stay the course long enough for her to build up a consistent status quo that all of her fans can get behind.
Conclusion: Hester continues his strong work on the series, but there just aren’t enough plot reveals for the second to last chapter of a yearlong story arc. The art, while serviceable, still suffers from the inconsistency to be expected with multiple inkers and pencilers. While I look forward to seeing how the final issue plays out, a great deal of my excitement for the conclusion has been quashed by the knowledge that any character changes generated by this storyline will be negated in September, and that I’ll need to get to know not only a new incarnation of my favorite character, but a brand new creative team as well.
Grade: B-
-SoldierHawk
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Conclusion