Thursday, July 16, 2015

Justice League: Gods and Monsters - Wonder Woman #3 Review

Written by: J.M. DeMatteis and Bruce Timm
Art by: Rick Leonardi
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: July 9, 2015

Try and Love One Another Right Now


If you've been reading my reviews of all the Gods and Monsters books, you'll know that I am a big fan.  It's been a lot of fun seeing these alternate origins of the Trinity as they make their way from humble beginnings to the Justice League.  For Wonder Woman, J.M. DeMatteis has given us a trek through time with Bekka, a New God, in search of herself in a world she is still trying to understand. Along the way, she has met some good people and some villains (including Doctor Pyscho last issue) and I've enjoyed seeing it all.  Now we are here at the finale of Wonder Woman's origin story and then it's off to the main book.  Is it another great issue or just a speed bump on the road to the formation of the Justice League?  Let's find out...



The issue picks up with Bekka under the influence of Doctor Psycho.  She thinks she is on a combination of Apokolips and New Genesis with all the people she loves and hates all there for the party.  Of course, she is still on that hippie commune and she's about to go all Anakin  on the hippie Padawans...until Suzie steps in.

Good old Suzie Sunshine shed some light on the situation and Bekka broke down and then got out of Dodge.  She formed her own community, but couldn't put an end to Doctor Psycho's experiments.  In fact, she inadvertently helped him.  Psycho's monsters attack and while it's the only real action in the book, it's pretty good cartoony horror goodness.  I really thought Bekka was going to go off and kill these people/monsters, but DeMatteis does the right thing and let's her figure things out.  It's a combination of hippie culture and holistic healing (are they the same thing?!?) involving Mother Box tech and a loving heart.  It's a little hokey, but it fits the story.

The book ends with Bekka saying goodbye to her hippie friends and heading off into the sky looking so happy and content.  I don't think that's going to last long!

This issue suffers the same problem as the Batman origin story.  After two great issues, this last one kind of fizzled at the end.  It wasn't bad, it just wraps things up too quick and neat in order to get to the important matters at hand.



I have enjoyed Rick Leonardi's art this whole origin story and this issue doesn't change that.  It is really good and even takes a dark turn before it heads to the brightest it has been yet.

Bits and Pieces:

While this is the weakest of the three Wonder Woman issues, it is still a nice way to wrap up her story before moving on to the main Justice League title.  Bekka is full of hope and love and after the dark stories of Batman and Superman, it is a really nice contrast.  While the story wraps up a bit too tidy, I am really looking forward to seeing Bekka in the Justice League books.

7.5/10


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