WONDER WOMAN #23

Ends Of The Earth, Finale

October 2008

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by Aaron Lopresti

Inks by Matt Ryan

Cover by Aaron Lopresti

Synopsis

In Washington DC, Wonder Woman battles D’Garth.  At World’s End, the Claw wants to kill Stalker for his betrayal, but Beowulf stops him, sensing that Stalker knows more.  He reveals he had been working with Oracle, the White Witch.  Meanwhile, Wonder Woman continues to battle D’Garth, who offers Diana ultimate power.  She turns him down.  Elsewhere, Donna Troy convinces Tom Tresser (aka Nemesis) that Wonder Woman was part of a conspiracy of Amazons trying to infiltrate the government.  Meanwhile, Wonder Woman defeats D’Garth.  Later, with the help of Stalker, Beowulf, and Claw, perform a ritual to once and for all kill the beast.  At the Department of Metahuman Affairs, Sarge Steel decides that Tom Tresser is acting with the Amazons as part of the conspiracy. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I have never really gotten into this story, so I suppose it should be no surprise that the ending did very little for me, other than to hope that Simone can get this title back into gear.  It is not that has been a bad story; indeed, there are parts that I like and some of the ideas that Simone tackles are interesting.  I think my main problem with the story has been Simone’s ragged, haphazard narrative; it just never seems to come together as a cohesive whole.  The story has been difficult to follow and this issue is no exception.  There is a moment when Stalker introduces Oracle (whose name and look is too reminiscent of Barbara Gordon, making it a bit more confusing than it should’ve been) and it is supposed to be some big point on how she helped him betray Wonder Woman.  But it falls flat because the characters and the situation were not defined enough for me.  Later, Simone informs the reader Oracle is looking for revenge, but I still don’t know why.  Maybe I missed something, I don’t know.  It could just be me. 

The entire section with Tom Tresser and Donna Troy had me scratching my head, if only because it seems to stretch the line of secret identity a little too thin.  Essentially, Tom is told Diana Prince might be a Themyscira secret agent.  He breaks into her apartment, finds talking apes, and Wonder Woman’s sister, Donna.  How difficult would it be to put those pieces of the puzzle together?  Stranger still, Tom and Donna start talking about Diana Prince being an Amazon spook and then somehow started to talk about his relationship with Wonder Woman.  But do they talk about Diana Prince, human, having talking apes in her apartment?  One of the apes even says, “He meant the princess harm?”  Who else could he be talking about?  As I said, it strains credibility just too much to be comfortable. 

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