DCU Comic Book Reviews

Nothing Finished, Only Abandoned

March 2006

Written by Greg Rucka

Pencils by Cliff Richards

Inks by Ray Snyder

Cover by J. G. Jones

Synopsis

Themyscira (Paradise Island) has vanished.  Wonder Woman is left alone to battle the OMACs.  Watching via a magic pool of water, the Goddess Athena decides to bring Diana to Mount Olympus.  Athena asks why Diana chose to stay behind when the amazons left patriarch’s world.  Diana answers that still has hope, but she fears she has failed her mission, her sisters, and even her gods.  Athena tells her that the failing is the gods, not her.  Athena then tells Diana they Gods are leaving as well and Diana finds herself back at the embassy.  She tells her staff that it is time to go.  They wish to stay with her, but Diana tells them that her mission is all about what they do next and how they carry on her work even when she is not there.  As they leave the embassy, a crowd outside plead for Wonder Woman not to leave them.  Diana asks why they have come.  They answer:  hope.  Diana tells them that hope is a good reason and that come what may, Wonder Woman will not abandon them.  Not now...not ever. 

Review

This was a sad, heartbreaking issue to read.  The narrative by Athena was bristling with sadness and regret and a knowledge that this is indeed the end.  The voice here was similar that of Io’s in the previous issue.  In each case the speaker knew the end was coming and we get to see Wonder Woman through their eyes.  Both Io and Athena display remarkable respect and awe for Diana, for the woman she is and it really illuminates Wonder Woman, not so much that it shows a new side or different side to her, but it shows who she has been for the past 20 years.  Wonder Woman is part of the holy trinity along with Superman and Batman and is really the only character who has remained basically the same since her creation.  As the last line of the issue states:  she endures.

The description of Wonder Woman and all that she has gone through was well written and hit the bull's eye for everything her character has experienced, especially since Rucka took over as writer.  When Diana tells her staff that they must continue her work, that the mission was not about her, but about them and that the level of success is based on what they do next, it resonated with me.  Diana’s mission was never to achieve peace, but to influence others to find it within themselves to achieve peace.  One person cannot affect a massive change, but one person can get others to change, which will set off events that will eventually create that final change.-- MRB