Superman Homepage
Buy Now!

Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Wonder Woman #219

Wonder Woman #219

Scheduled to arrive in stores: July 27, 2005

Cover date: September 2005

Writer: Greg Rucka
Penciller: Rags Morales, David Lopez, Tom Derenick, Georges Jeanty, and Karl Kerschl
Inker: Mark Propst, Bit, Dexter Vines, Bob Petrecca, and Nelson

"Sacrifice" - Part Four of Four

Reviewed by: Nick Newman

Click to enlarge


Max Lord stands triumphant as Superman holds Diana down on her knees. Max tries to use his powers on Diana, to control her as well, but Diana's god-given powers protect her. Diana tries to convince Kal to fight off Max's power, but Superman believes what Max wants him to see, and right now he is seeing Doomsday kill his wife. Diana tells Max to give her a chance, but he tells her no and turns Superman on her.

Deflecting his heat vision, Diana has no chance before Superman grabs her by the throat and soars out of the building. Taking off into space, Kal intends to throw her into the sun. He burns a line across her face before Diana can cover his eyes. As they approach the sun, she breaks free and opens the box containing Batman's Kryptonite. She dives at him with the stone, but Superman punches her hard and she drops the K. Hurtling back towards Earth, Diana shoots through the atmosphere and impacts right in the middle of a crowded highway.

Back in his headquarters, Max explains to Brother I that if he could control Superman, someone else could too. Sooner or later the heroes will kill them all, unless Max kills them first.

Diana struggles up but Superman hits her with a burst of ice. He lifts a boulder up to crush her, but when he turns back she is gone. Diana knows she can turn his strengths into weaknesses. As he shifts into super hearing, Diana approaches from behind him and crushes both bracelets down onto his ears. The concussion hurts her ears, and Kal falls to the ground clutching his head, blood dripping from his ears.

The two trade blows as Diana attempts to lasso him, but he is too fast. He finally catches her by the wrist, and applies pressure until the bone snaps. Leaping up, Diana's kick sends him flying into the ground. Diana summons birds to swirl around superman to annoy him, just to slow him down. Diana returns to Max and grabs him in the lasso, commanding him to stop it. Superman soars in, but Diana hurls her tiara at him, slicing through the front of his neck. Shocked by the pain, Clark momentarily wakes up and realizes what he is doing.

Max tells Diana that he'll never let Superman go. The only way to free him from his control is to kill Max.

Staring into Max's eyes, Diana grabs his head and quickly twists it around, snapping his neck. Superman can only look on in shock.

5Story - 5: Wow. A full on, no-holds-barred fight between Superman and Wonder Woman, finally told as it really should be. Superman actually fought brutally. It may have taken mind control to get him there, but at least we got to see it. I read Wonder Woman monthly, and almost always enjoy Rucka's take on Diana, but this was by far a high point. The dialogue was spot on perfect and even Max felt in character, something that hasn't always been the case since his shift to the dark side.

As good as this issue was, I am far more excited about the continued build-up to Infinite Crisis. Diana is, and always should be, a warrior at heart, so it was nice to see her make the logical decision and kill Max. Whenever this issue comes up in comics I'm torn at how to look at it. Obviously Batman should just kill the Joker and get it over with. But just as obvious, they can't do this, because they are heroes. They are held to a higher standard, or at least they should be. So now the world is going to distrust Diana (although I'm not sure how they are going to find out), and Brother I and the OMACs are free from any human control. Beyond that, it will be interesting to see where they take Clark and Bruce's relationship after this. I think a beating will definitely drive Batman into contingency plan overdrive.

After the past year of Adventures, and now OMAC and Sacrifice, I'm just very glad to have Greg Rucka writing at DC. I think the whole company is better because of it.

4Art - 4: It started out a little rough, and I do need to knock the issue for having no less than five pencillers working on it, but overall the art in this book was pretty solid. The meat of this issue was, of course, the fight scene, and it was beautifully done. The pages by Rags (at least I think they are) when Diana hits his ears and turns the fight against him were absolutely fantastic. The whole fight was extremely well done, and I thought it really made the battle real. It looks like Kal really is trying to kill her, and it looks like Diana is fighting for her life. Like I said though, a few pages were a little poor, and there is no excuse for five pencillers on a regular-sized issue, but that's the only reason this doesn't get a five.

5Cover Art - 5: I've liked all of the Sacrifice covers, with a slight exception for the Darkseid one as it was just a little off. But this is by far the best of the four. The painting of course always helps, but the whole image works very well. Diana looks pissed off, and as I've previously stated, Batman lying in the background is a great touch.


Other recent reviews:

Mild Mannered Reviews

2005

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2005

February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005

Back to the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.

Check out the Comic Index Lists for the complete list of Superman-related comics published in 2005.

DISCLAIMER: SUPERMAN and all related elements are the property of DC Comics. TM & © 2024

This Superman Homepage is Copyright © Steven Younis 1994-2024
All Rights Reserved

Dedicated to Andrew J Gould - the original keeper of the Superman Homepage!

Since May 2001, the address is www.SupermanHomepage.com

Our Privacy Policy.