Written by: Joelle Jones
Art by: Jason Howard, Cary Nord, Daniel Bayliss
Colors by: Tamra Bonvillain, Daniel Bayliss
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Jorge Corona, Sarah Stern (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: December 10, 2025
First Impressions
The opening pages hit with a bewildering mix of absurdist humor and supposedly epic battle competition. A fake medication ad for "Tranquessa" with side effects including "scrotal implosion and death" sets the tone immediately, signaling that this issue intends to be a parody before it settles into what should be serious tournament combat. The contrast between the tournament framing, which establishes that "the only hope for survival is to forge a champion," and the relentless slapstick violence creates immediate cognitive dissonance that never resolves.
Plot Analysis
Wonder Woman and Lobo enter the third round of a cosmic tournament where the winner will become "King Omega," a champion powerful enough to stand against Darkseid and save reality from destruction. The fighters are introduced to a crowd as announcer-style figures hype their accomplishments, with Lobo boasting about his immortality and inability to die, while Wonder Woman centers herself for what she perceives as honorable combat. The two competitors engage in a best-two-out-of-three match format where Lobo's opening attacks are scored as "too low" and "too high" by Wonder Woman, immediately establishing her tactical precision against his crude brawling.
In Round Two, fighters choose their preferred battle forms to fight "as if you were Darkseid himself," and Wonder Woman manifests alongside warrior sisters from her homeland, adding tactical advantage and mythological weight to her presence. Lobo mocks her for needing backup while simultaneously transforming himself, and their clash continues with increasingly violent exchanges that swing between genuine combat and crude humor, with Lobo's dialogue veering constantly into sexual innuendo and vulgar threats. Wonder Woman's armor withstands his assault, but Lobo manages to lose his arm, which he then retrieves and reattaches in an act that treats amputation as comedic interruption.
Round Three becomes a series of absurdist "classic contests" including a galactic slap match, chess-boxing, shin-kicking championship, and capoeira invitational, none of which receive substantive narrative treatment or meaningful progression toward victory. Throughout the contests, Lobo makes repeated sexual advances toward Wonder Woman and his opponents, reducing the conflict to crude comedy that actively distracts from what should be existential stakes. The final gladiatorial combat concludes when Lobo attempts to disembowel Wonder Woman with his hook, but the entity known as "the Almighty" intervenes, terminating Lobo's immortality deal due to him using his nickname "in vain," and Lobo is killed midway through his monologue. Wonder Woman advances to the next round as Booster Gold hosts a darker subplot where he sacrifices himself to contain Darkseid's influence.
Writing
The writing fundamentally fails to sustain narrative coherence between its comedic aspirations and the tournament's apocalyptic stakes. Joëlle Jones establishes a clear premise: reality is under threat, and champions must be forged in combat. Then the issue abandons this entirely to spend thirty pages on a fight that treats grievous bodily harm as punchlines. Lobo's dialogue is relentlessly crude, defaulting to the same tired characterization of a space bounty hunter who speaks only in profanity, crude sexual propositions, and variations of "I'm the main man." Wonder Woman's responses occasionally show wit, but her character exists primarily to be talked at rather than to develop agency within the conflict. The pacing accelerates recklessly once Round Three begins, abandoning the structured violence of Rounds One and Two for a rapid-fire montage of random "classic contests" that have no thematic connection to Darkseid, the tournament stakes, or combat prowess. The ending employs divine intervention as a narrative solution, introducing "the Almighty" character with zero setup or context, which reads as a desperate attempt to conclude a fight that had run out of ideas.
Art
The artwork alternates between three artists across thirty pages, creating inconsistent visual storytelling that fragments the fight's impact. Jason Howard's opening pages provide dynamic action panels with clear compositional focus, but the transitions between fighters and impact moments lack impact due to heavy reliance on cartoon-styled exaggeration. Cary Nord's middle sections introduce more detailed anatomy and environmental context, but his pages feel overloaded with background elements that distract from combat clarity. The color work by Tamra Bonvillain uses vibrant, comic-book palette choices appropriate for a summer event book, but the color consistency shifts noticeably when different artists take over, suggesting rushed production. The overall visual tone communicates "Saturday morning cartoon violence" rather than the mythic weight appropriate for a tournament that literally saves reality. When Lobo loses his arm, the artwork treats it as a comedic beat with Lobo's surprised reaction as the focal point rather than emphasizing the violation of such a violent moment.
Character Development
Wonder Woman's character consistency wavers significantly throughout the issue. She enters as a focused warrior prepared for honorable combat, then accepts Lobo's constant sexual harassment with responses ranging from deadpan to exasperated without ever establishing clear boundaries or consequences for his behavior. Her motivation remains abstract, defined only by tournament advancement and some vague desire to test herself. Lobo presents zero character development, existing as a one-note caricature who speaks in constant variations of "I'm unkillable and I'm here to hurt things." He makes no meaningful choices or demonstrates growth of any kind, and his immortality deal with "the Almighty" is never mentioned before the issue's final pages, making its termination feel arbitrary rather than consequential. Neither fighter develops relatability within the narrative structure because both are stripped of any internal struggle or genuine stakes that would make readers invested in their success or failure.
Originality & Concept Execution
The concept of a cosmic tournament to create a champion capable of fighting Darkseid carries inherent merit and connects to legitimate DC Comics mythology. However, this specific installment abandons the concept entirely by treating the fight as an opportunity for crude humor rather than demonstrating why these two characters specifically matter in the larger apocalyptic narrative. The "classic contests" in Round Three (galactic slap match, chess-boxing) feel like padding designed to fill pages rather than meaningful tests of combat capability. The issue sacrifices freshness by defaulting to tired characterizations, particularly Lobo's relentless vulgarity and sexual harassment, which reads as lazy writing rather than clever subversion. The ending's introduction of "the Almighty" as a plot device rather than a character feels unearned and undercuts the fight's conclusion with arbitrary divine intervention.
Positives
The technical execution of the opening pages demonstrates competent action sequencing, with Howard's art clearly communicating the initial clash between Wonder Woman and Lobo's fighting styles. Wonder Woman's tactical assessment of her opponent ("Too low. Too high. Too slow.") establishes her character as a precision fighter with strategic thinking, which represents the best character work in the issue. The concept of Lobo's immortal deal being vulnerable to divine judgment, though poorly executed, shows an attempt at integrating larger DC Comics mythology into the fight's resolution. The Booster Gold subplot concluding the issue provides brief respite from the relentless vulgarity and hints at legitimate stakes existing elsewhere in the tournament, suggesting other issues in this event may prioritize narrative coherence over crude comedy.
Negatives
This issue suffers from a fundamental identity crisis that actively diminishes its value to readers. Lobo's constant sexual harassment of Wonder Woman and her warrior sisters creates a deeply uncomfortable dynamic that the narrative frames as comedic banter rather than addressing as inappropriate combat behavior. His dialogue defaults so consistently to profanity ("frag," "fraggin'," repeated crude references) that reading thirty pages feels like punishment rather than entertainment. The tonal inconsistency between the tournament's apocalyptic stakes and the absurdist, slapstick violence undermines every dramatic moment. Three different artists on a thirty-page issue creates visual fragmentation that prevents the fight from building momentum, and the rapid-fire montage of arbitrary contests in Round Three abandons any sense of combat logic or narrative progression. The ending's divine intervention solves the fight's narrative problems through contrivance, introducing an unnamed entity with zero prior context simply to terminate Lobo's immortality and end a confrontation that had clearly exhausted its creative resources.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TwitterThe Scorecard
Writing Quality (Clarity & Pacing): [1.5/4]Art Quality (Execution & Synergy): [1.5/4]
Value (Originality & Entertainment): [0/2]
Final Verdict
DC K.O.: Wonder Woman vs. Lobo #1 represents a profound misalignment between its established stakes and its comedic execution. The tournament exists to forge a champion who can save reality from destruction, yet this installment treats the match as an extended punchline, abandoning character development and genuine conflict for crude humor and slapstick violence. Wonder Woman deserves better than a fight where her opponent spends thirty pages making sexual advances, and readers deserve better than paying for a tournament match that resolves through divine plot intervention. The multiple artists, relentless vulgarity, and tonal whiplash between apocalyptic stakes and cartoon comedy combine to create an issue that actively works against the event's larger narrative.
3/10
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