Wonder Woman 37 - SPOILERS

[Gaelforce]

Chat about the full issue here

[Rakzo]

As I already mentioned, this one didn't work really well. I had expectations due to Robinson's classic use of obscure characters and mythos but this story barely achieved anything. In fact, its only purpose was to return Darkseid to his former-self and barely offered anything beyond that. Not even Jason's introduction was that relevant.

Art was good at least. Aside from that, this is yet another editorially mandated bore.

[jwatson]

As i was saying in the previous thread to someone who said Rucka's issues went no where. which i kind of get the point but the story was moving in individual issues.

It may be going somewhere but imo unlike the Rucka issues which felt like a seasoned writer wrote them this dialogue and set up reads very amateur. Like it was written by a high school student. "my father is gone..." "Our father..." Or "I knew i could beat him, this time would be different." which was said after just getting trounced. It was a mess. Then the hug? She's mad at the justice league for showing up but let me hold my brother who i don't know and is actually responsible for all this. It was just head scratching.

I'm seriously contemplating dropping this. I just don't like when after i read a book i'm left feeling surprised for all the wrong reasons.

The art was good though.

[jwatson]

I mean she couldn't even do much against Grail without Jason there to distract her, yet this time would be different. If that doesn't warrant a "Guurrrrl Byeeee." I don't know what does.

[Nyssane]

....Sigh.

I really enjoyed the art, at least.

It's just... so bad. Why did Zeus only choose to save Diana and not any of his other kids? We all knew Zeus was going to die so Darkseid would be re-empowered. Jason turning on Grail so quickly was just bizarre. And Diana really didn't get to do anything but watch things unfold in her own series.

Robinson said he thought Grail would make a great archnemesis for Wonder Woman. What the heck has she literally done this entire time?

The only positive to come from this is that with Zeus dead we won't have to worry about him overshadowing Diana/Hippolyta (again, at least).

[Dr. Poison]

....Sigh.

I really enjoyed the art, at least.

It's just... so bad. Why did Zeus only choose to save Diana and not any of his other kids? We all knew Zeus was going to die so Darkseid would be re-empowered. Jason turning on Grail so quickly was just bizarre. And Diana really didn't get to do anything but watch things unfold in her own series.

Robinson said he thought Grail would make a great archnemesis for Wonder Woman. What the heck has she literally done this entire time?

The only positive to come from this is that with Zeus dead we won't have to worry about him overshadowing Diana/Hippolyta (again, at least).

Agreed on the last part. Hopefully Darkseid and Grail killed all of the other Olympians off-page so we don't have to worry about any of these hand-me-down characters from public domain overshadowing Diana or any other DC-only characters again.

[Jackalope89]

So, Zeus does NOT in fact, save the day, the League does not save the day, Diana and Jason aren't close, and even Zeus is no longer in the picture...

[Sacred Knight]

You know, this was actually the best entry in the arc, and a pretty decent ending to said arc. But man, this issue delivered the most in Robinson's penchant for weird-ass dialogue. Its so weird with him. It comes and goes. Sometimes its subtle, not too big a deal. Sometimes its just out there completely, like watching Attack of the Clones. This was the latter. Trying to ignore that though, the action was good, the art was good, the stakes were felt, and although I still think it was rushed, I like that the "angry brother" thing is over quickly. I wouldn't have done it at all, but it is what it is. I didn't feel Diana was minimized at all though, which was great. She recovered her strength on her own as the Gods fought, and Darkseid even made the move to transfer the fight to a more populated place specifically so he wouldn't have to face her as she'd be preoccupied with protecting innocent lives. Its clearly setting up a one-on-one fight between them eventually, which I'm excited for.

I'm still pretty sure that, at the very least, Zeus and Hercules will be back. Probably after said climactic battle with Darkseid.

[WonderScott]

So is Darkseid going to be hunting Diana to recharge himself of electrolytes (or electrodarks), like Gatorade, from now on? Or the other gods?

I'm not enjoying how this plot is setting up Diana or the ongoing mythology of the Olympians and New Gods. (Not that I imagine this plot/story will ever get picked up outside of Wonder Woman - which is sad in and of itself in how Diana's prominence should be in the DCU.)

This story, with these players, should have been HUGE with lots of ramifications for the DCU.

[Koriand'r]

That was the quickest read ever and just as unsatisfying. It was terrible. Grail beat Hercules with ease, so how are we supposed to believe the novice he trained a few times had any chance against her? The League showed up and did absolutely nothing but provide an excuse for Darkseid to get away. Diana was ineffectual and useless, yet uncharacteristically talked about what she could have done instead of doing it. The one time she could have used a sword she was empty handed, and where was her lasso?

I'm almost angry DC put out a product so awful. Why would they think Wonder Woman fans would enjoy this? Many a message board poster could write a better story. On multiple platforms we discuss what we'd like to see, yet DC gives us the exact opposite. It's like they want the book to fail.

[Sacred Knight]

I don't think the book asked us to believe a novice could take on Grail. He did absolutely nothing to her. She was kicking his ass every time they showed them. He was basically a willfull punching bag just to keep her pre-occupied. And Diana was far from ineffectual and useless. She saved tons of lives. She didn't get in the main fight because it was a concentrated move on the villain's part to distract her in said fashion. She talked about what she could have done instead of doing it because she had to save the innocents first. It just wasn't a question. Its not like she was just standing around dumbfounded and spectating after she recovered. And I have a sneaking suspicion that if the League's cameo was something more, if they had gotten directly involved, that would have been bashed as well. After all the cries of this being her book and not wanting her put aside for male characters like Jason and Zeus, its perplexing to me why its now a problem that her six-to-one male teammates didn't get involved. That seems rather contradictory. Them showing up just for the purpose of being a means to put off her and Darkseid fighting worked fine.

[Fenix]

This issue even said that Darkseid was destroying stuff because he knew Diana would pick saving lives over trying to attack him.

....Sigh.

Jason turning on Grail so quickly was just bizarre. And Diana really didn't get to do anything but watch things unfold in her own series.

Jason turning on Diana was also bizarre since he didn't really show any hatred to her in his own book. It's just cheap family drama that was obviously not going to stick.

[Sacred Knight]

Yeah, the Jason-betrayal part of the arc was a mistake and should have been either completely omitted, or played out as a bigger deception on Grail's part having her pretending to be doing something positive on behalf of the Amazons to lure Diana in. I mean either that or actually give him some reason to be angry. But there was nothing in his backstory to support any anger on his part and its totally out of place.

[Dextersinister]

So is Darkseid going to be hunting Diana to recharge himself of electrolytes (or electrodarks), like Gatorade, from now on? Or the other gods?

Nope, it was a plot device to rush Darkseid from baby to adult and will never come up again.

Remember Grail had control of Darkseid as an adult through the anti-life equation and was the one who decided to make him a child so he could be good. We where given no reason why she went complete 180.

[Koriand'r]

I don't think the book asked us to believe a novice could take on Grail. He did absolutely nothing to her. She was kicking his ass every time they showed them. He was basically a willfull punching bag just to keep her pre-occupied. And Diana was far from ineffectual and useless. She saved tons of lives. She didn't get in the main fight because it was a concentrated move on the villain's part to distract her in said fashion. She talked about what she could have done instead of doing it because she had to save the innocents first. It just wasn't a question. Its not like she was just standing around dumbfounded and spectating after she recovered. And I have a sneaking suspicion that if the League's cameo was something more, if they had gotten directly involved, that would have been bashed as well. After all the cries of this being her book and not wanting her put aside for male characters like Jason and Zeus, its perplexing to me why its now a problem that her six-to-one male teammates didn't get involved. That seems rather contradictory. Them showing up just for the purpose of being a means to put off her and Darkseid fighting worked fine.

I don't care, all I saw was a weak issue that could have been epic. Not only did it end with Darkseid completely unscathed, he got an upgrade. Once again the Wonder Woman mythos were made a fool of to prop up the New Gods. It's Byrne killing off half of Themyscira, Amazons Attack and it's aftermath's desecration of Olympus all over again.