DC Comics reviews 4/25/23 – Green Arrow #1, Action Comics #1054

Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods #4

Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods’ finale ended in such dramatically unspectacular fashion it felt like this whole “event” was a waste of time that could have been three issues and told a stronger story. Instead, this mini-series and Wonder Woman crossover was all build up leading to a flat and lackluster finish.

Wonder Woman’s big face off with Hera essentially started and ended with Wonder Woman crashing into Hera empowered by the unity with her allies. G. Willow Wilson wrote the opening chapter of this mini-series and kicked it off on a very encouraging note. Every subsequent issue of the series has been less rewarding a read as it felt like the characters were just running in place to an uninspired final battle that was so underwhelming it should have been done months ago.

For some reason Wilson and Josie Campbell, who wrote the Mary Marvel story, seemed united in making Shazam/Billy Batson look like a doofus. All in service of the most boring and predictable reason in modern writing — to prop up a woman character. Mary Marvel has been a great character for decades and doesn’t need to be presented like she’s so special by all the characters, including Billy stating how “She’s better at this than I am” or how “Mary Marvel stands in no man’s shadow.” Does this mean that Darla, their black sister, should stand in a man’s shadow and somehow isn’t as good at being a hero as Billy? Also, not even when she was under the mind thrall of Desaad would she call Billy “my idiot brother.”

Of the three stories, the best was the much-beleaguered Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan wrapping the Queen Nubia and the Amazons subplot where they take on Hades’ minions. The art from Alitha Martinez was terrific thanks to her impressive level of detail on hair and the Amazonian armor.

Like way too many Wonder Woman stories since Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott departed the title, Wonder Woman has lacked consistency with the creative teams and suffered through one middling event after another. Maybe Tom King can get this flagship character back on track to a meaningful level again as Revenge of the Gods was another forgettable non-moment in a series filled with them.

Rating: 4 out of 10