WONDER WOMAN #224
Marathon: Part Two

February 2006

Written by Greg Rucka

Pencils by Cliff Richards

Inks by Ray Snyder

Cover by J. G. Jones

Synopsis

Athena and the other Goddesses watch as the OMACs battle with the Amazons, but they will not interfere; Themyscira is on its own.  Meanwhile, the machine Io has built is finished and Artemis takes it out onto the battlefield.  Meanwhile, the shields that protected the Amazons at Agora have fallen.  Io finds Wonder Woman and with Phillipus they fly to Agora.  Artemis reaches the battlefield and unleashes the weapon:  a death ray that kills all of the OMACs.  Diana cries out in anguish, telling Artemis that the OMACs were innocent people inside the OMAC shells; they were victims, not villains.  For a moment the skies are clear, but then more OMACs arrive.  Diana tries to talk to Brother Eye, but the computer tells her all amazons are killers and Brother Eye will see the destruction of Themyscira.  Diana returns to her sisters and tells them they must leave the patriarch world.  Reluctantly, the amazons withdraw and leave Wonder Woman all alone.

Review

I honestly did not think DC would willingly wipe out all of the amazons or destroy Themyscira, but I also had the feeling that the Wonder Woman for the past 20 years in the DCU will be changed after Infinite Crisis is over.  I have speculated that Wonder Woman will be part post-crisis and part pre-crisis and with the withdrawal of the amazons, this will allow Diana to develop a secret identity like Diana Prince but still retain her unique heritage.  (Whether the new Diana will reflect whatever Joss Whedon has written for the potential movie in 2007 or not is another question.)  Plus, there is the caveat that they could return (“it will be a long time before we return to this world.”) so the Amazons are not completely gone.

This was a very good issue.  Rucka is still hammering home the point of Diana’s mission and how well or badly she actually fulfilled that mission.  Part of Diana’s reasoning to have the amazons withdraw is because even if they win the battle, they will only confirm what patriarch’s world already suspects:  the amazons are warriors.  It has always been the dichotomy of Diana’s message of trying to find peace, but still acting like a warrior.  And even at the end, Rucka is still carrying this forth and I have to commend him for sticking to this plot thread even when it is obvious his run (and Diana’s) will be over in the next two issues.-- MRB