Wonder Woman #20

I wonder when Wonder Woman is going to be about Wonder Woman?

I'm enjoying this comic book a lot but let's not fool ourselves. This comic book is barely about Wonder Woman. It's possible that's why it works. Wonder Woman has been made interesting within the contexts of her decisions during this crisis of the gods. We see her belief in justice as she protects Zola's baby. We see her strength and determination as she battles god after god. We see her compassion and love as she encounters others caught up in this mess that at first seem to be against her but she approaches with kindness and dignity. And we see her kick major ass when kicking major ass is the only option left. And apparently the main reason to kick ass is when a guy keeps hitting on you when you've told him you don't date arrogant, misogynistic sons of ruthless cosmic dictators.

And the best part of this comic book? No Narration Boxing! The reader stays completely out of Wonder Woman's head and it's up to the reader to interpret Wonder Woman's actions rather than having the author hand feed us her reasons behind all of her actions through the lazy ass Narration Box. Sure, they have their place and can help tell a fun story. But they're like nitroglycerine. They're very volatile if not handled correctly and they tend to blow up in most writers' faces. Although they're probably not as bad as in the Silver Age when a Narration Box would say, "Distracted, Lois Lane drove off of a cliff!" while the art showed Lois Lane driving off a cliff and Lois Lane's thought bubble said, "Oh no! I became distracted and suddenly drove off this cliff!" I get it! You don't have to smash me over the head with the point of the panel! Lois has ADHD!

Currently on Olympus, Apollo is fretting over the prophecy. If only gods didn't take prophecies so seriously, the prophecies would stop needing to be taken seriously! They're always self-fulfilling! None of them would ever come to pass if some manipulative oracle didn't spout the prophecy in the first place. Perhaps gods look at it a different way. If a god didn't take any action, the prophecy would happen a different way. But since a prophecy is a prophecy is a prophecy, it simply doesn't matter what happens because it will come true. So the god takes action in a futile attempt to change the future. And he changes the future but he only manages to make the prophecy come about in a different way. I think that's how I'm supposed to view the whole prophecy bullshit. But it just seems like the gods are manipulated by these things into making them actually happen. And Apollo is trying his best to figure out how to keep the prophecy from coming true. How about trying to do nothing? No? Not an option?

Ugh. I think the pool on Olympus could use a little more chlorine.

Back in London, Artemis has arrived to kill Zeke. She'd rather have Wonder Woman do it since Wonder Woman promised but she doesn't exactly bring the best evidence that Zeke is actually the child of the prophecy. Her evidence is that a few people hanging about the pool on Olympus sort of came to a conclusion that Zeke was the problem. Wonder Woman decides she's going to need to see some more proof and tackles Moon out of the window. I'm sure this fight won't last too long before The First Born steps in and everybody needs to work together to defeat him.

Moon makes a comment that Wonder Woman's bracelets suppress her power. That's interesting and makes sense if Diana wants to live among people and not accidentally crush babies when holding them or rip off Steve Trevor's dick in the throes of passion. So does she keep her bracelets on while having sex like an old man and his socks? They probably turn invisible, right? Or, more likely, I'm simply misinterpreting what Artemis just said.

If I remember correctly, Lennox tried to leave the group last issue. But he's come back to protect Zeke in the chaos and destruction brought about by Artemis attacking Wonder Woman. He leads the humans (including Hera now! Ha ha!) to safety into the London Underground. War remains behind to watch the battle and finish his lager.

The fight doesn't last very long.

War stops Diana from killing Artemis. He takes Moon back to Olympus while Wonder Woman rushes off to find Zeke and the girls before The First Born does. Although Wonder Woman doesn't know about the First Born. Nobody does except Poseidon, really. Which is why Poseidon is on Olympus. He's letting everybody know that the baby is the least of their worries.

Wonder Woman fails at finding Zeke first.

I believe Cassandra is the last of Wonder Woman's 20th century half-siblings. The others are Lennox, Wesley Willis, and Sirocca. I think there may have been a couple others but they've been killed. Unless Cassandra was one of those that Lennox thought was dead since it appears he tried very hard to kill her. I don't know what her power is but if she's named Cassandra, it probably has something to do with seeing the future. Or maybe people just never listen to her.

Apparently she could command people to do whatever she wanted with her "voice of god" power. Lennox tore out her throat and she lost the power. I guess people just don't take your voice commands seriously when you sound like an old Apple II voice digitizer. Lennox decides it's a good idea to fight the First Born because fighting is pretty much his only tactic. I imagine he's going to get his ass killed before Wonder Woman can arrive to save the rest of them. That would be too bad for Wonder Girl (who must have been named after her aunt) since she's not met her real father yet.

Wonder Woman #20 Rating: +1 Ranking. I wonder if Zeus will be able to transform from a baby into a man instantaneously? He's probably just waiting around as Zeke until somebody else takes care of the First Born problem. Then he'll come back, smack Apollo around a little bit before kicking him out of Olympus, and give his wife back her immortality. And then maybe Wonder Woman will go on a few dates or something. Maybe hit up a taco truck and just relax.