Wonder Woman #45 - Discussion & Spoilers

[Nyssane]

So after the preview pages, Darkseid reveals his plan to Diana about wanting a new army. Jason meanwhile goes to Themyscira and almost immediately find Hippolyta (who is fighting Grail). After Grail is briefly incapacitated, there is the most generic dialogue between Jason and Hippolyta I've ever seen, even from Robinson.

Darkseid once again tells Diana that he couldn't be defeated without the Justice League so what chance does she have alone? This should be a drinking game at this point the amount of times he's repeated this. Just when things seem hopeless, Steve tells Diana he loves her and this prompts a new plan for WW: try to connect to her lost half-siblings through Darkseid. This of course ends up working, with even Zeus popping out to say he's proud of Diana (*and* her brother). This use of love "destroys" Darkseid.

With Grail defeated, Hippolyta tells Jason how much she loves him and blah blah blah. She gives him a spear designed by Artemis and crafted by Hephaestus. She says nothing about Diana (ugh, really?). Steve says he could go in the portal to save Jason (uh, wait... what? I thought the whole point was that any person who stepped foot on Themyscira couldn't return, and Steve most certainly did in Year One). At the last minute of course Jason pops out and tells Diana what had happened. Just like Hippolyta, Diana show any sort of emotion about how she misses her mother.

Meanwhile, Grail wakes up in a mysterious room chained up. Out steps Ares, who plans to "show her the error of her transgressions." (the one good moment was where Grail assumes Ares wants to sleep with her and he's like "uh I've bedded Aphrodite, why the fug would I want you?"). Elsewhere, still on Earth, a young man (obviously Darkseid) wakes up naked on a beach and doesn't know who or where he is.

As for other characters: The Oddfellows are all still alive, naturally. Stompa and Bernadeth were "captured" (ugh) while the other Furies escaped (let's hope other writers ignore this arc completely in terms of the Furies). The Paramazons became docile after Darkseid's "death" and Diana hopes to find a cure for them one day.

I'm just glad this arc is over. I don't have many kind things to say about it. I guess I like the resolution of the Paramazons, and I truly didn't see the Grail/Ares twist coming, so that was nice. I really think this story was editorial mandated to get Darkseid to the point where he can join the Justice League or whatever.

[Korath]

Welp, it was dull. If the point was to bring Darkseid to the Justice League, Darkseid War offered a far better premise. No need to have him become all buffed up to then revert to a blank state. He could have simply aged very quickly without knowing who he was after DW. Instead, Grail's character was damaged and now seems to be shelved indefinitively.

[Nyssane]

Welp, it was dull. If the point was to bring Darkseid to the Justice League, Darkseid War offered a far better premise. No need to have him become all buffed up to then revert to a blank state. He cold have simply aged very quickly without knowing who he was after DW. Instead, Grail's character was damaged and now seems to be shelved indefinitively.

That's very true, they could've just avoided using Darkseid at all and then brought him back post-Darkseid War in the Justice League series he's supposed to star in.

Oye.

I do appreciate Robinson at least attempting to show Diana winning with Love, but it just didn't work for me. It seemed a little too campy (and I love me some camp) and I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough for Diana to be able to talk to her half-siblings or Zeus. It was just so hammy that I couldn't help but roll my eyes. But like I said, appreciate the attempt. Robinson has some good ideas in his run but just very, very poor execution.

[theoneandonly]

I almost thought that she was going to draw them inside her and get transformed into the Greek equivalent of the forever man to out the fear of gods into darkseid but it was all sugar spice and everything nice.

[vasir12]

Maybe this climax would have had more impact if Diana was shown to have any connection wahtsoever to her half'siblings and Zues.

[Rakzo]

Can't believe that a writer can use the idea of "The power of love saves the day!" seriously these days.

These was an underwhelming ending for an underwhelming and forced storyline that mostly wastes issues and people's time since Darkseid's new status quo could have easily happened in the upcoming Justice League Odyssey that seems far more promising than anything that happened here so far.

Good art at least.

[WonderScott]

Nyssane, I so appreciate your reviews and insight and commentary, but now I'm afraid to read the issue.

[Mel Dyer]

What KILLS me about this issue is, when James presents this monumental opportunity to use the Magic Lasso in an epic way, exorcising the Olympians out of Darkseid...and doesn't do it?!

Lynda Carter was exorcising Skrill out of teenagers with it, way back in 1977, but, Diana can't slip it around Darkseid, at the climax of a ten-plus issue story arc...it could have been so EPIC!!! It could have been the scene that made up for the drudgery and mundanity of the last nine or so issues, and, somehow, ..it eludes him. Instead, JR has the Olympians literally spill out of Darkseid, for seemingly no reason, at all, ..or, at the very least, by means that aren't made clear on the page or in the narrative.

Was Diana's grip, stopping Darkeid's fist in mid-strike, powerful enough to compel spirits out of the body of Darkseid, ..a New God? Is that a NEW super-power of hers - TACTILE EXORCISM?! There's no dramatic dialogue from Diana to cue this or set this up - no commands given, like, "The Lasso of Truth compels you to RELEASE their SOULS!" or "OLYMPIANS be FREE!" Instead, she's spouting something about loving siblings, whom she barely knew, and the Greek gods, by means we don't understand, ..just spill out, like so much baby diarrhea...

The end.

I've decided to ignore what I saw on the page and mentally plug Wonder Woman ending this torturously long and eventful story arc by binding Darkseid in the Golden Lasso and compelling the Olympians to leave the decaying cosmic ash-heap that is his body. I've already mentally blocked out what I read, re-wrote it, and finished it, with the kind of ending he gave stories in his brilliant run on JSA ..or to Golden Age, back in 1993. This could have been that kind of story. It had the promise to be. I am deeply disappointed by the resolution of this arc, which shrank from its prospective greatness to deliver an ending, which might have been better suited for a Saturday morning cartoon ..or a children's coloring book.

This was the sequel and conclusion of the Darkseid War. It deserved better. What ..happened?

We're left, sifting through the rubble of that wasted promise, with the narrative equivalent of an action figure...the JASON! James Robinson assured us that he would not be a 'male Wonder Woman', and he kept that promise, at least. Basically, this Wonder-man is a male Storm, ..without the style, pathos and charisma. He's Captain Marvel Lite in an over-designed costume. In spite of all of that, ..I like Jason..like the idea of him! In that idea, like Supergirl and Huntress before him, there is great promise. He's a little boy's bonus prize for picking up a comic...watching a TV show ..that everyone said had nothing for him, and that much endures "Amazons Attacked".

For all the boys, young and younger, who imagined suiting up in magical armaments, blessed by the classical Greek gods, and leaping into the co-pilot's chair of an Invisible Jet, beside the most amazing woman, who ever lived, ..Jason is no more or less, than the fulfillment of that promise. I won't dismiss the significance of that. I won't condemn all of us, who have dreamed of that. Geoff Johns and James Robinson deserve praise for that much. Jason is not Andros or Orion, but, he is a good thing ..and deserves the same chance we gave Donna Troy, Batgirl and the rest. While I'm not crazy about how he was introduced, that the very good (though not as good as Golden Age) Darkseid War was hi-jacked to bring him to us, ..I'm unapologetically glad that Jason is here, for however long we get to have him.

Now, get those bloody auto parts off your shoulders, Jason! Give Robin his belt, back.

That said, Wonder Woman #45 was not undone, by one less than spectacular scene. Like the entire James Robinson run, it's an okay narrative thing that could have been a great and almost definitive one. The reunion scene, between Jason and Hippolyta was rushed and underwhelming, ..but, touching. All the pieces of the Jason story are stitched up, very neatly and nicely, with little nuance or anything you will likely think of, as memorable.

[Sacred Knight]

Honestly the coolest thing that comes out of this is Grail being imprisoned with Ares. Could he help her be redeemed? Could it all come crashing down when Ares inevitably becomes a villain again and she his protégé? Could she betray him and take the mantle of God of War herself and become the "new" Ares? Or could she become a legitimate redeemed ally of WW who's crushed when Ares eventually goes bad again? Lots of potential here.

The rest though, it sounds like every potential huge moment underwhelmed via poor interactions, and a weird deus ex machina, when a built in solution existed (the lasso to extract the souls).

At the very least, the inevitable Diana/Hippolyta reunion still has a chance to be good as it will certainly be done elsewhere, either in Trinity or, hopefully, her own book at a later date by the new team.

All-in-all, a maddening run as the pieces were in place for this to be absolutely epic, and worse, there's documented evidence Robinson can do these sorts of things exceedingly well. And unfortunately for the most part, outside of some good moments, we got more the bad Robinson, instead of the Starman/Earth-2 examples.

[HandofPrometheus]

This sounds like Geoff Johns should've wrote this story or at least Snyder since it's a lead up to JL: Odyssey.

[Mel Dyer]

Did Diana get a star moment in this issue? I can't find one. Not one!

Did ten issues focusing on Jason, make up for the absence of Etta, Ferdinand and Doc Julia or I Ching...or the Anti-life Equation, which is Grail's entire reason for living? Nor for me.

[Jackalope89]

Honestly the coolest thing that comes out of this is Grail being imprisoned with Ares. Could he help her be redeemed? Could it all come crashing down when Ares inevitably becomes a villain again and she his protégé? Could she betray him and take the mantle of God of War herself and become the "new" Ares? Or could she become a legitimate redeemed ally of WW who's crushed when Ares eventually goes bad again? Lots of potential here.

The rest though, it sounds like every potential huge moment underwhelmed via poor interactions, and a weird deus ex machina, when a built in solution existed (the lasso to extract the souls).

At the very least, the inevitable Diana/Hippolyta reunion still has a chance to be good as it will certainly be done elsewhere, either in Trinity or, hopefully, her own book at a later date by the new team.

All-in-all, a maddening run as the pieces were in place for this to be absolutely epic, and worse, there's documented evidence Robinson can do these sorts of things exceedingly well. And unfortunately for the most part, outside of some good moments, we got more the bad Robinson, instead of the Starman/Earth-2 examples.

Trinity also seems to be over, with them helping Warlord prevail over Deimos and return Steve (among others) back to human.

[numberthirty]

With Grail defeated, Hippolyta tells Jason how much she loves him and blah blah blah. She gives him a spear designed by Artemis and crafted by Hephaestus. She says nothing about Diana (ugh, really?). Steve says he could go in the portal to save Jason (uh, wait... what? I thought the whole point was that any person who stepped foot on Themyscira couldn't return, and Steve most certainly did in Year One). At the last minute of course Jason pops out and tells Diana what had happened. Just like Hippolyta, Diana show any sort of emotion about how she misses her mother.

Wait, seriously?

No doubt about it, Jason is actually her son right out of her mouth?

This just keeps getting more and more murky.

[Mel Dyer]

Grail's foremost motivation is the end of all free will in the universe. ALL of it. Ever find yourself mulling over having steak and eggs or the Big Tex-Mex Steak Omelet, at Mel's Diner? Ha! Not, if Ms. Grail has anything to say about it!

That, my fellow Kangaliers, is what the Anti-life Equation is all about - giving the entire sentient universe a big, ole LOBOTOMY - and unleashing that on all of us is what gets her up in the morning! That's also Darkseid's motivation, you know. Did you see that mentioned, anywhere in the last nine or ten issues of WW? That can be pretty scary, when you stick something in a story that reminds us of that.

Imagine the contextual significance of such a person becoming a prisoner of the Amazons, in WW #45. So what...right? What possible interest could an immortal Amazon, whose sisters died fighting for their freedom in ancient Greece, have in someone, like her? I just don't get what Geoff Johns thought he was doing, pitting her against Wonder Woman, in the first place.

Maybe, there's a context to justify Grail becoming the natural archenemy of Wonder Woman's that James Robinson seems to imagine she already is. After TEN-plus issues, with her skulking around, killing up Wonder Woman's Olympian cousins and siblings, you'd think that context would be apparent, somewhere in the WW comic. By now, I think you probably should. You'd never know, reading WW #45, which, I think...is also the conclusion of The Darkseid War?

I want to see Wonder Woman get really crazy angry at what Grail is, at her core. Grail is the living antithesis of everything she stands for, and I think that should have been in WW #45.

Jason has a SHINY costume, though. Nice smile, too.

[Gaelforce]

This whole Darkseid storyline just seems like an editorial mandate to set him up to join the Justice League on his search to figure out who he is.

I get the feeling the writer of JL Odyssey wanted to use him, but editorial had to get Darkseid into a place where this would be possible, so we got this mandated story that ends with an amnesiac Darkseid wandering the world.