WONDER WOMAN #21

Ends Of The Earth, Part 2 of 4:  The Edge Of Insanity

August 2008

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by Aaron Lopresti

Inks by Matt Ryan

Cover by Aaron Lopresti

Synopsis

At the Department of Metahuman Affairs, Sarge steel suspects Diana Prince and Etta Candy of being Amazons and tasks Agent Tom Tresser (aka Nemesis) to spy on them and find out for sure.  Elsewhere, Wonder Woman and Beowulf are battling for their lives at Mead Hall.  They are able to escape, but encounter The Stalker.  In Washington DC, Nemesis is watching Diana’s apartment when he sees the gorillas inside and suspects Gorilla Grodd.  Meanwhile, the Stalker tells Wonder Woman and Beowulf of his bargain with the Demon than ended in betrayal.  The only way to stop the Demon, the Stalker will need three sword bearers.  Wonder Woman and Beowulf agree to help.  Later, when fighting a new foe, Diana’s hand begins to change.  On Themyscira, Hippolyta encounters the crown created by Alkyone and realizes she is still alive. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

To me, this issue proved something:  Simone has a good idea of what she wants and where she is taking this story, but she is not doing a good job of conveying that to the reader.  I am not quite certain of everything that is going on, but what is going on, I like enough that I am willing to be patient and see if Simone can make sense of everything at the end. 

It is a little disconcerting to realize that I still don’t know where Diana has physically gone.  Is she still on Earth, another dimension, another plane, inside a big library (given the literary references)?  We are also still not given clear ideas why Diana is acting like a warmonger and wants to destroy everything.  I get the sense that this is due to the Stalker’s intervention, which makes some sense, but does that mean Beowulf is acting strangely as well (and we don’t know it because we don’t know hoe he normally acts)?  Yet, despite the confusion of what is going on, Simone’s interaction between Beowulf and Diana is strong; I especially liked his insights to Diana’s switch of allegiance.

Moreover, there were moments of confusion in this issue, especially towards the end.  The Stalker talks about three sword bearers, but so far we have seen two.  We got the quick cut scene to the Conan lookalike, but it was difficult to tell if he was supposed to be foe or the final third of the Stalker’s plan.  When Diana first got to the new land, she fought Beowulf, so it is possible Conan is part of the triumvirate.  But then we don’t really get to find out because of the changing hand thing, which means...well, I am not really sure.  One would think it had something to do with the Stalker, but Diana cries out to her mother, so maybe it has to do with her new gods that she worships.  Or her mother.  I don’t know.  And then there is the ending with the shark.  Is this supposed to suggest that Alkyone had been eaten by the shark, but she managed to fight her way out of the stomach and then to safety.  Or did Alkyone eat the shark for food? 

I have to admit that I did not think Alkyone would be a factor in this book so quickly.  I knew that she was still alive, she is too good of an opportunity for either Simone or another writer to not use again, but I thought she would be forgotten for a little while. 

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