Review: Wonder Woman #47

Wonder Woman #47 came out this week, the only book on the shelf this month to feature Supergirl as we await her 'bold new direction' in August. So even though Kara is out of her mind in the issue, I have to be happy she is somewhere.

I have been collecting Wonder Woman since the Rebirth reboot. I found the Rucka run to be good enough, especially the early issues resolving some of the New 52 snags. Recently James Robinson has come on board and his time has been a bit more hit or miss. At times Diana seems like an after thought in her own book.

This issue seems to underscore that a bit. The first half is a fight with Supergirl in which we get some good insight into Diana and some wonderful art by Stephen Segovia. But this fight, in the end, is sort of meaningless and ends with a whimper. The second half is dedicated to Diana's long lost brother Jason, a character who has dominated the book a bit too much. I don't read the book for him; I read it for Wonder Woman.

The overall story here is about Dark Gods coming to Earth which seems a bit badly timed given that we also have Omega Titans coming in No Justice. I thought this was a tie-in to that book but it turns out the Dark Gods are their own entities.

I'll stress again that Segovia really crushes it this issue. His visual storytelling is superb. On to the book.

With the Dark Gods coming, people of all faiths are losing their minds. And Kara, a follower of Rao, isn't immune. The voice of the Dark Gods whisper in Supergirl's mind. They want her to kill Diana because Wonder Woman will stand in their way. And the enraged Supergirl is addled enough to oblige.

Robinson is giving us some hints about the Dark Gods in these rantings but it is hard to figure out what is real and what is insanity. Did Diana summon them? How? And what is their mission? And if the Dark Gods killed Rao shouldn't Supergirl be miffed at them and not Diana?

Nice panel work here.

This is just a bit of a two page spread of the fight as it careens through the city. It is worth finding the whole thing in any of the preview sites. But it really is a solid visual as we see Diana and Kara brawl in a series of poses on the same background giving the sense of how fast they are moving and how powerful they are. Like Flash 'after images', this works well to clue in the reader on how fast all this is going down.

But for me, the best thing about this is Diana's dialogue. She isn't jumping into the fray. She is fighting defensively, trying to both talk Kara down or just subdue her.

No easy task given this is a Kryptonian.

I had to include this panel because it struck me as pure Zach Snyder Man of Steel. I wonder if intentional.

So how do you stop a rampaging Kryptonian? With magic. Using her lasso, Diana binds Supergirl, like breaking a horse.

This was my favorite panel in the issue. You can see the effort Wonder Woman is putting into this, hair whipping, as she strains to pull Supergirl in. And you get a sense of recoil by Supergirl, like a dog running without realizing they are tethered. That slight bend in the back let's you know she is being yanked. And Supergirl's cape splayed like that gives her an almost horse-like (or centaur-like) body shape, enforcing the words. Beautiful.

Meanwhile, in Greece, Jason has a nice lunch with three beautiful young women. It turns out they are the fates of myth. He seems surprised at what they look like.

In a nice little set of rapid panels, we see them take on their other mythological forms, from the Greek weavers to the Witching Hour crones. Segovia seems to be channeling Alex Toth there. Nice.

One of the mysteries in the book is Jason's magic armor. He blacked out for several days and awoke clad in armor which lets him access the powers of the Greek Pantheon, albeit one at a time ... sort of an Ultra Boy Mount Olympus.

We don't know how it ended up on Jason or where he went. But we now learn the armor was meant for Diana, to be used against the Dark Gods. Now that it has grafted to him, it cannot be given away.

So who has motivation to do that? Ares?

But what about the Supergirl fight? Well, in a 'we better wrap this up' moment, we cut to Diana standing over an unconscious Kara. When asked about the Dark Gods, Supergirl 'had a reaction' and passed out.  Hmmm ... a bit too easy. And definitely should have been 'on screen'. So in many ways, the whole thing wasn't needed for the story.

The Dark Gods then arrive. Jason joins Diana in preparation for a fight.

They seem more like stone statues. They shoot beams from their eyes. It all seems sort of 'Source Wall-y' to me making me think once again about where this fits in with No Justice. But that is my problem.

But before we get anywhere, Star Sapphires appear and blip Diana away to help save Zamaron. Now I wonder if Diana's time as a Lantern during Blackest Night will be mentioned. Again, I assumed this was part of No Justice explaining Wonder Woman's presence there. Turns out that Zamaron story is in an Annual.

And that means the big fight next issue will be by Jason alone, harkening back to my complaint that Wonder Woman isn't even the star in her own book.

Okay, I am not the biggest fan of heroes fighting heroes. But I have to say this one was so gorgeous to look at that I didn't mind it. And I liked Diana's attitude during the fight.

I also have to laud Jenny Frison for her variant covers on this run. I have loved them. And this one, with Wonder Woman and Supergirl laughing and having ice cream is spectacular. Both characters have had ice cream moments in mainstream media so this just was joyous.

Overall grade: B