WONDER WOMAN #26

Rise Of The Olympian, Part One:  Plague and Pestilence

January 2009

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by Aaron Lopresti

Inks by Matt Ryan

Cover by Aaron Lopresti

Synopsis

On Themyscira, Queen Hippolyta senses the return of the Gods, who find the island in ruins, desecrated, and empty.  In Washington DC, Diana Prince (aka Wonder Woman) is assembling her team for a mission, when Director Steele arrives to take Tom Tresser (aka Nemesis) away for a special mission.  In Gotham City, Dr. Morrow is concerned at the force the Society has unleashed.  Dr. Minerva (aka Cheetah) tells him it is too late.  At the Twin Rivers Market, Diana’s team finds the place utterly destroyed.  Diana sends her team to investigate while she disappears to turn into Wonder Woman.  Elsewhere, Director Steele has taken Nemesis into custody as a traitor for associating with the Amazons.  However, Nemesis is able to escape.  Meanwhile, Wonder Woman encounters Genocide inside the market.  The two fight, but Wonder Woman is losing.  On Themyscria, Athena senses her champion is about to fall; there is no reason for her to go on.  She is dying.  When Genocide kills an innocent bystander, Wonder Woman becomes filled with hate and rage.  She soon realizes that those feelings are being used against her, allowing Genocide to defeat her, taking the golden lasso as it leaves Wonder Woman battered and bruised. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was an enjoyable, if not a wholly predictable issue.  And I don’t mean predictable in the sense that I accurately predict the plot, but in the sense that the structure and form would almost be by the numbers.  This is the beginning of a new, big storyline in which Wonder Woman will be challenged by a male version of a champion of the Gods.  So, this issue would set the stage, bring back the Gods and then have Wonder Woman get mauled, providing Zeus et al. with the impetus to believe they need someone else championing their cause.  So, I was not surprised to see Diana get her ass kicked by the end of the issue.  I think Simone did a credible job setting up the story and I am curious to see where it leads to next. 

I do have one quibble, which is the method in which Genocide is introduced.  As Morrow and Minerva discuss Genocide, it falls into the tell method of storytelling.  We are being told what Genocide is about.  We don’t get to see it (nor do we see Genocide steal the lasso or crucify Diana).  Granted, given what they say about Genocide, I am not sure DC is at the point where we could see it, but it still feels like an easy way to let the readers know about a character rather than just showing us. 

The scene with Director Steele struck me as a little odd and out of place.  Why the hell is the DMA still so interested in thinking Wonder Woman is a threat to the United States?  Simone has not done a good enough job to make this position credible.  In fact, it is a plot point that was dropped awhile ago and I had mostly forgotten about it until it came up here.  So, it felt strange, at first but I think Simone is using this for something else down the road.  I get the sense that if the Gods are going to choose new champions (as I think this storyline is heading towards) then perhaps the DMA will endorse these new heroes, putting Wonder Woman in an even dire place (and setting up her redemption down the road). 

The scene with Mercury and Zeus discussing Athena was a little strange to me.  Mercury announces that Athena sense her champion is about to fail, so she has given up.  This is fine, except for the fact that Diana thought the Gods had abandoned her, so she sought out another God to be his champion.  So, does Athena really have a champion?  Or is Diana’s decision to worship another part of what Athena was failing?  If so, it is not clear.  It looks as if the scene is connected to Diana’s thumping; as Diana is getting killed, Athena starts to give up. 

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