As the Dark Gods attack, Diana is taken by the Star Sapphires, leaving Jason on his own. Will he be able to survive their attack? Will anyone care?
WONDER WOMAN #48
The Dark Gods Part 3
Writer: James Robinson
Artist: Jesus Merino
Colors: Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Letters: Saida Temofonte
Cover: Jesus Merino & Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Variant Cover: Jenny Frison
Editors: Dave Wielgosz, Chris Conroy, Jamie S. Rich
What You Need to Know:
The Dark Gods have arrived, summoned unwittingly by Wonder Woman from the Dark Multiverse. Diana herself is whisked away by the Star Sapphires, leaving Jason to face the threat on his own.
What You’ll Find Out:
As Wonder Woman disappears, we’re left with Jason and his magic armor. The Gods in the machine let him know and identify the previously completely unknown adversaries. These gods are the gods of the worst aspects of things — war, chaos, other really bad things. Jason does some fighting and some heroics, some self-doubting and some struggling. We learn he named the spear his mother gave him “Polly” after her (now I know why she REALLY gave him away) and that he…..talks….to….it.
Supergirl flies in to lend some assistance and dialogue, later she and Jason are joined by Steve Trevor and the Justice League. With the big guns assembled, King Best, leader of the Dark Gods (as discussed in Annual #2) enters the arena and starts to kick some major tail. Diana finally returns to her own book just in time to enter the prize fight.
What Just Happened:
Other than introducing the names of the Dark Gods, this issue did almost nothing in the way of advancing the plot. The book continues its focus on Jason and his new-found armor. A bunch of guest stars have joined up in the fight, but the once again Diana is absent for her own book. There was really no reason for this, Annual #2’s story and this issue’s don’t take over that long of a time frame, Diana could have been back in plenty of time.
For whatever reason, this creative team seems to have decided that Jason and not Diana is the star of this show. And he’s just not that interesting even with his fancy new armor and……Polly. Giving him new toys doesn’t change the fact that Jason is quickly becoming the Scrappy Doo of this book. Maybe the appearance of the Justice League means they’ll take him off our hands, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
This could be a good story, but I just have zero interest in reading a book that advertises Wonder Woman, in name, on the cover, and in theory only to bait and switch with someone else for three solid arcs now. Especially since the plot seems to have stalled and outside of being angry at being summoned, there doesn’t seem to be much to these Dark Gods who seemed so promising at first. With Diana’s 50th issue coming up, this arc needs to pick up the pace to come to a satisfying conclusion.
Rating: 5/10
Final Thoughts: This book has all the trappings of a story with some real potential. The Dark Gods are a little on the mustache-twirly side, but still a solid threat with an interesting build up. The guest stars make sense. The art is solid and keeps the story flowing. But this issue was a stall out for an already slow pace. And for whatever reason Robinson refuses to write Diana for more than a couple of pages in her own book. Maybe there is a master plan in here somewhere, but I can’t find it.