Comic book reviews for Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1, Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2, and Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3 by Greg Rucka
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1 by Greg Rucka
All I know about the Lanterns is from watching the Justice League cartoon. There John Stewart basically makes big green shapes with his ring. This does not help for the more sophisticated powers and varieties the rings now have.
Rucka’s Wonder Woman is always a delight. (Though I also enjoy Simone’s current Wonder Woman-run as well.) Diana’s strong and thoughtful. I love that her emotion was love, and how she explained that Maxwell Lord does not understand love. Well, yes, psychopaths do not.
The use of the lasso of truth was awesome here. As were the two guards who stood by Diana’s side as part of their duty.
Even though I haven’t been reading the other Blackest Night titles, this was very enjoyable.
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 by Greg Rucka
Several people have already wrote about how horrid this was and how the awfulness of this storyline isn’t Rucka’s or Scott’s faults; in fact, they did a good job considering the material they had. And in rebuttal, others discuss how Wonder Woman and her sexual hang-ups can be the relaunch of the Star Sapphires.
I think I’m rather somewhere in the middle. I do think since all (or almost all) Star Sapphires are women that Wonder Woman as the female DC character gets pigeonholed into the love role. I do think the Star Sapphires need to be turned into something besides those pink sluts. (Granted, be aware that I don’t know a whole lot about the Lanterns.) And from the descriptions of the Star Sapphires on Wikipedia, it seems like for a long time they’ve suffered from the “ooh, powerful women are so scary. Vaginae are scary. Let’s de-power them.” problematic writing. The whole thing kind of hurts my head.
Yes, maybe Wonder Woman would be better suited with blue (hope) or indigo (compassion), but editorial decisions are editorial decisions. Wonder Woman does love the world, and I do believe she loves it more than most other DC characters. She is a bleeding heart character with a lasso of truth. And in many ways, due to her problems with romantic love, Diana does make the perfect female character to give the Star Sapphires some dignity and reclamation of their sexuality.
What I do want to know is who designed the Pink Lantern uniform for Diana? Seriously. When she was a Black Lantern, her uniform looked like her normal, ridiculous, but iconic costume turned into a Black Lantern. Why couldn’t they have done the same for her as a Star Sapphire?
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3 by Greg Rucka
It’s odd to see Diana playing second fiddle. I mean, yes, in the end she breaks through to Mera, but still she’s clearly a second-in-command when it comes to the main fight with the Black Lanterns.
My favorite part is Diana figuring out how much more powerful her lasso is than the ring. Which is really nice considering I wasn’t sold on one of the big three needing to become a Lantern in order to fight off the Black Lanterns. Yes, the ring enhances Diana’s power. But she’s pretty freaking awesome on her own. How many others have broken through to a Red Lantern? I’d bet not even Hal.
And then Hal Jordan shows up to be a giant ass and the winner.