WONDER WOMAN #31

Rise Of The Olympian, Part 6:  Uprising

June 2009

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by Bernard Chang

Inks by Bernard Chang

Cover by Aaron Lopresti

Synopsis

On Themyscira, Alkyone, former guard of the Queen, makes a deal with Ares to free the other members of the guard.  Elsewhere, Wonder Woman maintains her vigil over Etta Candy.  At the United Nations, the Olympians tell the world they have failed to deliver peace.  From this point forward, they will remake the world.  At the hospital, Wonder Woman receives a message for Athena, who explains the origin of Genocide and to warn her that the Olympians, in trying to create peace, will start Earth’s final war.  In Russia, the Olympians are ransacking a weapons cache when Wonder Woman attacks them.  She tells them they have no idea of the war they are starting.  They tell her they are trying to destroy the weapons.  However, someone has released a nuclear missile.  Wonder Woman follows the missile, detonating it in space.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I have come to the conclusion that everything that Simone has been doing with this recent storyline has been absolutely fantastic, except for Genocide.  The character and the plot have done absolutely nothing for me and have failed to generate any type of interest for me.  This is partially due to the fact that Genocide wasn’t really a character.  Genocide is more of a plot point, created solely to provide the ultimate battle for Wonder Woman.  While this issue provides some background for Genocide and there is nothing in the origin that makes the character any better.  Frankly, I am not quite sure how a future version of Wonder Woman turning into Genocide is supposed to be dramatic; I am missing something and I know I a missing something, but I am not sure what it is.  Feel free to drop me an e-mail and explain it to me.  Anyway, the rest of the issue is pretty good.  We are learning more of the threat to Themyscira and Wonder Woman and for the first time Wonder Woman confronts the Olympians.  The way things stand, this story is starting to shape up.  If only Simone could jettison Genocide, then I think we might have something good. 

Having said that, this particular issue does give me slight pause.  With the addition of Alkyone and Ares, the cast of characters is suddenly getting crowded.  My guess is that Simone is building towards the next storyarc, but as it stands now, there are so many characters that development of the story and plot might be shortchanged in order to fit everything in 22 pages.  I applaud Simone for trying to write an epic Wonder Woman story, but trying to a BIG story does not mean more characters.  Too much can really be too much. 

This comic features one of those moments that make you realize that it is difficult to write a large scale story within the DC universe.  That moment is when Achilles rides the elephant into the United Nations.  It is not such much the ludicrous visual, but the realization that none of the other superheroes responded to Achilles, either to his invasion of the United Nations or to the meaning behind his words.  Even with Superman off planet, wouldn’t it stand to reason the Justice Society of America, who are located in New York City, would respond in some way?  The same could be said for the attack in Russia.  I understand that the Olympians are supposed to be Diana’s opponents, but when the plot reaches a scale as it does here, it stands to reason other heroes would help out in some manner. 

I am not entirely certain an atomic bomb works like what was show, but frankly I don’t really know enough about to nuclear bombs to know that it doesn’t, so I am willing to roll with it.  Regardless, Diana was real close to it when it exploded.  Wouldn’t she then be blasted as well?  Even with her powers and strength, I am not sure she can withstand a nuclear blast at such close distance.

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