Divine Plans and Unholy Agendas: Wonder Woman #49

The following is my review of Wonder Woman #49, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

There are a number of common themes in ancient mythology and not all of them involve gods hooking up with mortal women/boys/animals/etc. These themes are often built around the consequences of mortals attempting to defy the will of the gods. It serves as the basis of most major cultural and religious traditions, minus those inspired by George Lucas. Eventually, within the context of these themes, the will of the gods tends to overwhelm the ambitions of mortals.

When Brian Azzarello kick-started Wonder Woman after the Flashpoint reboot, he built Wonder Wonder Woman's story around these themes, having her navigate the agendas of numerous gods and the mortals they manipulated. He tied Wonder Woman's story closer to Greek Mythology and less towards mid-20th century feminism. It helped create a more compelling narrative while proving that there's just no getting around the centuries-old appeal of gods impregnating mortals.

Wonder Woman's ties to the gods weren't just built around her being the daughter of Zeus. She ended up becoming the new God of War while saving Olympus from the wrath of her father's first of many, many obscene infidelities. She's had to manage this role on top of being a member of the Justice League, an icon to women all over the world, and Superman's lover. If it's true that no woman can truly have it all, then a case could be made that Wonder Woman come closest.

However, the themes of petty gods and the mortals they torment starts to catch up with Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman #49. The plot once again revolves around Zeke and Zola, who were the catalyst to all these holy/unholy upheavals during Brian Azzarello's run. Meredith Finch's plot focuses more on the unholy aspects of those upheavals and for once, it doesn't involve an unplanned pregnancy.

It starts with a mysterious illness. Something or someone, and sometimes that line is blurred when godly forces are at work, has caused Zeke to fall ill. It's up to Wonder Woman to help him. Zeke is, after all, the reborn incarnation of Zeus, her father. That means she's essentially babysitting her father. It's the kind of unholy upheaval that makes the Kardashians look dull and yet it feels oddly appropriate in a mythology where a woman with snakes for hair isn't even the tenth greatest oddity.

In attempting to help Zeke, Wonder Woman has to confront some of the less holy virtues that are uncomfortably common with gods. As nearly every mortal in the Odyssey learned, the gods tend to exercise a level of moral flexibility that even the most amoral televangelist would find disgusting. They will do and say whatever they must in order to maintain their power and authority. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, betraying those who see them as allies.

This creates a powerful sense of drama in Wonder Woman #49, which is by far the greatest strength of the story. Since the latter half of Brian Azzarello's run, Wonder Woman has considered Hera a friend and ally in her ascent to her godly roles. In terms of the larger narrative, she's someone who was easy to root for. She was, after all, married to a god who treated infidelity as an Olympic sport. Her gaining a greater role on Olympus in his absence felt like obscenely late karma. Now, she's in a position to screw Wonder Woman over in a way that might not leave her pregnant, but it will break her heart.

Wonder Woman has to entertain the uncomfortable possibility that Hera might be the one causing Zeke's illness. It's a possibility that Hecate, the Goddess of Magic and Witchcraft, presents to her and it's not one Wonder Woman can just casually discount. She's already learned that gods are annoyingly adept at keeping secrets. She can't, given her experience with other gods and the illegitimate offspring they bear, blindly trust that Hera is above plotting against her.

As uncomfortable a possibility it might be, Wonder Woman doesn't let this distract her from helping Zeke and Zola. It's another common theme that Meredith Finch carried over from Brian Azzarello and it works perfectly well within the context of the narrative. Like Azzarello, Finch has Wonder Woman carry out tasks that feel like they came right out of the director's cut of Greek Mythology. For that same reason, it makes that same narrative feel limited.

There's a lot of drama and uncertainty in Wonder Woman #49. While this helps create a plot with plenty of tension, it does little to add much excitement. There's no Trojan War in this story. It's mostly Wonder Woman having to navigate a world of gods who may or may not be plotting against her. The only bit of action involves a cyclops and even that unfolded off-panel. If it were the director's cut of any movie, then it would still be missing some key scenes.

That's not to say that the lack of action derails the story. The story in Wonder Woman #49 isn't built around the kind of conflict that would require epic, CGI-rendered battlefields on the level of a Peter Jackson movie. It's built as a personal drama where Wonder Woman is trying to help a friend while being mindful of the gods' tendency to act in very ungodly ways at times. It's a story that has many strengths, but the reliance on this drama does cause it to drag at times.

Even if the story doesn't get anyone's heart racing, it does generate plenty of intrigue. Meredith Finch does a good job of generating the same intrigue that made Brian Azzarello's run on the series so engaging. It might not result in another mortal woman being impregnated by a god, which would make it an novelty in Greek Mythology, but it does adhere to the same powerful themes that has helped certain mythologies stand the test of time.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

Meddling Progress: Wonder Woman #43

The following is my review of Wonder Woman #43, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

If there’s one thing that the success of HGTV has taught us, it’s that society has a weakness for reclamation projects. In the same way certain women can’t help but fall for the bad boys in hope of saving them, there’s a kind of broken character that draws us in. Like Pamela Anderson at a hair band reunion tour, we can’t help but embrace these characters. As it stands, Donna Troy is the comic book equivalent of a burned out 80s rock star that just got out of rehab.

Her introduction to the post-Flashpoint era might as well have come with a bad handicap and adamantium shackles. She entered the world as a pawn, which is somehow worse than being another illegitimate offspring of Zeus. Her first act was the textbook definition of a war crime. Even the ancient Mongols would’ve raised an eyebrow at slaughtering an entire population of men that happened to be brothers of the Amazons. While she wasn’t completely control of her faculties at the time, she still has to live with that burden the same way Hallie Berry has to live with her role in the Catwoman movie.

The aftermath of this atrocity has served as the foundation of a new era for Wonder Woman. She’s now the acting God of War, Queen of the Amazons, and an active member of the Justice League. Even Hillary Clinton would call her an overachiever at this point. But while she’s trying to shoulder the burden of all these responsibilities, she still hasn’t come up with a way to deal with Donna Troy. It’s a story that has been set up and teased. Now, in Wonder Woman #43, that story finally starts to unfold.

It’s a story that follows many of the same themes that Wonder Woman has been exploring since the New 52 reboot. It has mischievous gods whose idea of entertainment is tormenting mortals and frustrating Wonder Woman. It has colorful characters with god-like powers who are essentially parodies of classic mythology, but not in the Weird Al tradition. And Wonder Woman is expected to manage this chaos while fighting the injustices of a patriarchal world. The demands on her couldn’t be more unreasonable without asking her to coach the Oakland Raiders.

Yet for all her power and responsibilities, Wonder Woman is largely powerless to help Donna Troy in this story. While Wonder Woman spends most of her time just looking for her, Donna’s story is an ongoing tragedy. However, that’s still an upgrade over being the catalyst for an outright war crime. What makes that tragedy compelling is that she understands the scope and scale of her crimes. She doesn’t try to hide from it. She doesn’t try to justify it. She actually tries to deal with it, which is more than most war criminals ever try to do. And none of these criminals can claim they were being controlled by black magic, except for maybe Kim Jong Ill.

It’s here where we’re also reminded that in addition to being guilty of an atrocity, Donna Troy is still a child. She’s basically an infant in a teenage girl’s body. She has no life experiences, let alone emotional maturity. A teenage mind is barely equipped to cope with calculus exams. This girl has to cope with being guilty of a war crime. It might be the first time a teenage girl’s melodramatic lamentation is completely warranted.

And being so emotionally immature, Donna’s first inclination is to seek an immature solution. She tries to end her life. Being an Amazon, she can’t exactly use Kurt Cobain’s approach. So she seeks out the mythological Sisters of Fate. However, they claim they can’t give her what she wants and not because suicidal teenagers have a tendency to not think things through. Despite being god-like beings, they can’t end her life because her fate isn’t set.

In some respects, it’s an appropriate metaphor for any teenager not guilty of war crimes. They may think that their life will always be defined by one bad day at high school, one day at work, or one bad relationship. That’s not how life works. The universe’s attention span isn’t as big as we make it out to be, especially for those whose experiences are so limited. And for Donna, her experiences couldn’t possibly be more limited without having been born in the lower decks of the Titanic.

Her frustration and self-hatred is the greatest strength of this story. It helps make her character endearing, notwithstanding the war crimes she’s still quite guilty of. The problem is her story is somewhat truncated. Another critical part of this story involves Wonder Woman searching for Donna. This leads to a few ambiguous twists involving someone attacking the Sisters of Fate and a surprise attack by Aegeus. It’s presented as a mystery, but ambiguity makes it come off as bland movie trailer.

Beyond the conflict, Wonder Woman doesn’t give the impression she has a plan for Donna. She doesn’t even indicate she can help her in any way other than bringing her back to Olympus, a place where gods torment mortals whenever they get bored. She still talks about helping Donna forgive herself and accept the weight of her crimes. That’s all well and good from a Dr. Phil perspective, but it’s insufficient for a character whose only life experiences involve being a pawn to war atrocities.

There is still some intrigue to this mystery, but its lacking in substance. It makes the overall narrative in Wonder Woman #43 uneven. It’s worth following to see the story of Donna Troy evolve beyond the grim circumstances of her creation. Beyond that, it’s mostly a generic conflict among gods with too much power, too much free time, and no Netflix.

There is still hope for Donna Troy as a character. Her journey is one that has the potential to be something unique and intriguing. She just has to find out how to circumvent self-hatred and meddling gods. If she can do that, she can be an inspiration for melodramatic teenagers everywhere. And in this day and age, there can never be too many of those.

Final Score: 6 out of 10

Hollow Redemption: Wonder Woman Annual #1

The following is my review of Wonder Woman Annual #1, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

Having the moral high ground is a lot like having Monopoly money. It's value is mostly symbolic and rarely, if ever, pragmatic in a meaningful way. For many years, the Amazons could claim without question that they had the moral high ground. They were warriors that embodied the highest values. They fought in the name of love, compassion, and justice. They're the kinds of values that only tyrants and internet trolls could oppose. Even if those values were symbolic, it made them more noble.

That nobility helped mask the fine print of the Amazons' principles for many years. That fine print contains clauses like the provisions in an Apple user agreement that specifies how all the love and compassion is not applicable to men. They'll love and cherish one another as sisters. They'll fight the good fight against aliens, gods, and Lex Luthor. But when it comes to the male population as a whole, they come off as more petty than young Madonna.

That caveat was easy to overlook in some respects because the history of the Amazons was tied to the atrocities they suffered in the past. What gave them the moral high ground in the first place was their ability to rise above these atrocities as a society. Then, the New 52 brought about some inglorious details that highlighted other parts of that fine print.

They already lost a big part of the moral high ground when it was revealed how they slaughtered men after seducing them to produce more Amazons. They did manage to keep a sliver of it when they chose not to go full-on Spartan with discarding male babies. But with the creation of Donna Troy, the Amazons let it get even more inglorious. And if there's any moral high ground left to retain, it has to be salvaged in Wonder Woman Annual #1. In the end, however, they only managed to salvage a portion.

The culmination of the conflict between Wonder Woman and Donna Troy had been hyped up like a title fight over the course of multiple issues. And Wonder Woman had to go into this fight somewhat handicapped because she had been dealing with another conflict that unfolded from the fallout of her battle with the First Born. Both of these conflicts were pretty disconnected, so much so that Wonder Woman is essentially a victim of circumstance. And no matter how powerful a man or woman might be, circumstance will find a way to screw them over.

Wonder Woman really couldn't do anything about Donna Troy because she was caught up in something else. It comes off as underhanded in some respects, her having to be distracted for this conflict within the Amazons to manifest. It's like Wonder Woman is being punished for trying to do too much. However, the conflict involving the fallout from the First Born actually establishes something important for the struggle against Donna Troy. Even if she is trying to do too much, Wonder Woman's heart is always in the right place. Not many people since the death of Mr. Rogers can say that.

By resolving the conflict with the trapped aliens who had been awakened by the First Born's defeat, Wonder Woman made an important statement. First, she showed the value of not resorting to the Dick Cheney approach to dealing with problems, finding a peaceful resolution first. Second, she maintained her claim on the moral high ground. That made her battle against Donna Troy more meaningful because it makes clear that she's the only remaining Amazon who can claim the moral high ground. And unlike Mr. Rogers, she's willing to fight to maintain that claim.

When the battle against Wonder Woman and Donna Troy finally unfolds, all the right emotions are in place. The artistic detail provided by David Finch highlights all the visceral details of this title fight between two Amazon heavyweights. And unlike the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight, it's much more satisfying. It's also much cheaper than an overpriced pay-per-view package. But even if it is more satisfying, the aftermath is somewhat mixed.

At the very least, nobody can complain they got ripped off. However, the impact of Wonder Woman's fellow Amazons feels a bit too muted. Under Donna Troy, they committed an atrocity that's as much a war crime in the 21st century as it was in the 1st century. They just stormed a village full of innocent, unarmed men and slaughtered them without mercy or provocation. On top of that, these men were their brothers and they had fought beside them in the battle against the First Born. It's the kind of family treachery that would disgust even Game of Thrones fans.

However, Donna Troy's defeat doesn't really deal with this crime in a satisfying way. Sure, Donna is deposed and the Amazons involved are punished, but the lack of impact on the Amazons as a whole is troubling. They really don't seem to mourn the loss of their Amazon brothers. They react the same way most people react when they find out that they overpaid for a Prius. Wonder Woman is the only one who sheds a tear. Sure, one of her sisters is nice enough to kill the old woman who pulled the strings from behind the scenes. But the rest don't even apologize for doing absolutely squat when they had a chance.

The Amazons haven't just lost the moral high ground. They crumpled it up, threw it on the ground, and spit on it. Now only Wonder Woman still has this symbolic claim. The problem is it really doesn't seem to matter much to her sisters. She can do the right thing all she wants. She can be the paragon of Amazon values until the end of time. Her sisters aren't going to apologize for the glaring inconsistencies in their philosophy. Like debating creationists on a message board, Wonder Woman is dooming herself to frustration by trying to inspire her sisters to be better.

This incomplete resolution makes Wonder Woman Annual #1 feel disheartening in too many ways. The Amazons still come off as thugs more than warriors. Other than Wonder Woman herself, the emotions in this story might as well have come from Kristen Stewart. The Amazons are in need of redemption. But by all accounts, they're a long ways from getting it and their efforts in achieving it are haphazard at best. And for the tribe that birthed Wonder Woman, they deserve better.

Final Score: 6 out of 10

A Royal Struggle: Wonder Woman #38

The following is my review of Wonder Woman #38, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

There's a reason why the royal family is regular fodder for British tabloids. It's the same reason the Kim Kardashians and Donald Trumps of the world are fodder for American tabloids. There's this eerie fascination with high society, be it royal or rich. These people live in a world so different and so detached from reality that, like the wreckage of a derailed freight train, we just can't look away. It's not something most people are proud of, but it's an industry that still has a fertile market.

If Wonder Woman and Themyscira existed in real life, she would certainly have her share of tabloid headlines. These are the same publications that regularly report that aliens have placed chips in the brains of every President since Lincoln. But when real gods and goddesses are involved, it has a special level of intrigue. So much so that the affairs of Wonder Woman's world would probably require its own TV network. If Oprah has one, then Wonder Woman could certainly manage.

It's this world that has become so chaotic and so disorganized that it's several steps beyond a train wreck. And Wonder Woman, the feminine ideal who is supposed to be able to have it all in that classic feminist mentality, has been struggling to manage it. She's the God of War, the Queen of Themyscira, a member of the Justice League, and Superman's lover. That's a lot of responsibilities to juggle, even for a demigod. And in Wonder Woman #38, even the embodiment of feminine strength struggles with it.

The core of this part of Wonder Woman's story isn't built around one major struggle. It's a series of smaller struggles that are overwhelming her. It's death by a thousand paper-cuts rather than death by guillotine. Granted, a smaller struggle by her standard still involves being a god and dealing with infighting on an island of immortal warriors, but these struggles still come off as real and genuine. Her fears and insecurities manifest in a very real, albeit not entirely literal, way that makes her relatable in a way usually reserved for shows that rip-off Dawson's Creek.

It's jarring in some ways. Wonder Woman isn't supposed to be vulnerable. This is the same woman who can battle the entire Olympian pantheon on Monday and still have enough strength to fight off an invasion by Darkseid on Thursday. However, Wonder Woman really doesn't do much battling in this story. In fact, she does next to none. On paper, that sounds like it shouldn't make for a good Wonder Woman story. But in practice, it's still a story worth telling in the sense that it's probably the easiest story to overlook.

For Wonder Woman and the many characters like her, male and female, there plenty of stories about them fighting epic battles and winning with varying degrees of style. But there aren't quite as many stories about how they manage their lives in between battles. Wonder Woman battles the First Born, becomes both the God of War and Queen of the Amazons in the process, and somehow finds time to be a member of the Justice League in between. How does she cope with that? This story offers some insight into that question. In terms of an answer, at best it leaves room for improvement.

Wonder Woman confides in her insecurities, but she's not crippled by them. She's still Wonder Woman. She's not going to curl up into a fetal position and whine about it. She understands that being the God of War and being the Queen of the Amazons carries with it some heavy responsibilities. To her credit, she attempts to imbue her own values of compassion and understanding to these tasks. But in the same mold as "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," these ideal values clash with the same fodder that keep tabloids in business.

The gods of Olympus still plot against her. The Amazons she's supposed to rule don't care for all these new changes, as kind as they might be. Compassion and understanding just aren't enough in a world where people need to get upset about something and trolling message boards just aren't enough. Wonder Woman can do all the right things for all the right reasons, but it's still a struggle and that's what makes her story so compelling.

But as compelling as it is, the story itself moves along at a painfully slow place. In addition to not doing much fighting, the other ongoing plots surrounding the newly-introduced Donna Troy and the the Justice League don't make much progress. There is some, but it comes off more as a movie trailer at times. It helps that there is still plenty of character depth to compensate for this lack of progress. It's just not as balanced as it could be.

If this part of the story were a tabloid story, then it probably wouldn't get many people worked up. There aren't any scandalous affairs. There are no hookers or drugs involved. There aren't even any embarrassing photos of bad hangovers or botched botox. But there is a power struggle in both Themyscira and among the Olympians. Power struggles may not get the same headlines as scandalous affairs, but they do feed into the public's fascination. Even if the details are mostly teasers, there's still a story worth following in Wonder Woman #38.

Wonder Woman's humanity and vulnerabilities take center stage in this story, but there are still conflicts unfolding all around her. And if the ending is any hint, she'll have to share that stage with Donna Troy. The pressure is building for Wonder Woman. There's only so much that even the world's strongest woman can handle. At some point, she has to confront her limits. That doesn't make her less a feminine ideal. It just makes her someone who can keep fighting, despite tabloid-level scrutiny.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

Evil Defeats Evil: Forever Evil #7

The following is my review of Forever Evil #7, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

Kids are often told that working hard and doing the right thing will get them ahead in life. By the time they're teenagers, they suspect this was a big lie. By the time they become adults, they know for certain that it's a lie and they're often pretty bitter about it. Anyone who isn't in the top income bracket eventually learns that getting ahead rarely involves working the hardest or being the strongest. It involves working smarter, having resources, and utilizing ruthless cunning to get things done. It's practically a commandment for every lobbyist, politician, and business mogul. Even Steve Jobs understood that being too nice meant being left behind, but Steve Jobs was no Lex Luthor. And Lex Luthor's ambitions are much greater than inventing a better way to listen to music.

Working smart, exploiting resources, and ruthless cunning are not defining traits of a hero. They can be, but most heroes aren't ruthless enough. Batman won't kill. Superman has strict morals. Wonder Woman follows a strict warrior code. There's no question that they're smart, but they will never be as ruthless as Lex Luthor. And in Forever Evil #7, that ruthlessness is the key to defeating the Crime Syndicate. Despite being delayed to the point where the ending was spoiled in books that came out a week earlier, it still sends the same powerful message.

The Crime Syndicate being defeated is only a secondary theme to this story. Nobody is going to be shocked that this sadistic incarnation of the Justice League didn't win the day. However, they aren't defeated by the heroic efforts of the Justice League and their allies. That would make too much sense and feed directly into that lie about working hard and doing the right thing that only kids believe. It's Lex Luthor who defeats the Crime Syndicate. This man, who embodies many of the worst qualities in man, is able to defeat a team that is immensely powerful and exceedingly ruthless. On the surface, his genius doesn't seem like an advantage. But when Lex Luthor adds it to his own ruthless cunning, it might as well be a cheat codes in a video game.

It's a striking case of fighting fire with fire, evil with evil, and ego with ego. Unlike Superman, Lex Luthor doesn't fight for truth, justice, and the American way. He fights for deceit, selfishness, and getting his way. These don't seem like the kind of qualities that would directly motivate him into stopping the Crime Syndicate and saving the world. But over the course of Forever Evil, these anti-Superman qualities provide a kind of indirect motivation that helps make him the most formidable foe in the DC Universe.

The Crime Syndicate made it so that in order for Lex Luthor to get what he wanted, he had to be the hero. He also had to convince other villains who share his very unheroic values to help him and he succeeded. And a big part of that success was playing into the egos of his fellow villains. He understood that letting the Crime Syndicate win would be like Donald Trump letting a competitor drive a nicer car than him. The thought alone disgusts them so much that they're willing to be heroes so that they can protect their precious ego.

This is what gives Forever Evil its devious theme. The heroes couldn't save the world from the Crime Syndicate. It took the ruthless cunning of someone like Lex Luthor to defeat them. It's a narrative that has unfolded before. A villain will play the part of a hero, but only so they can keep being villains. They'll do it begrudgingly, but immediately go back to their sinister ways as soon as the dust settles. That isn't the case with Forever Evil. Lex Luthor is willing to go even further, even if his fellow villains are not. He sees in the aftermath of defeating the Crime Syndicate how he can serve his own selfish ends by continuing to play hero. He's like a ruthless CEO or Walls Street banker who creates charities not because they believe in the cause, but because appearing charitable increases their influence and bumps up their stock price.

As the title itself suggests, Lex Luthor will never be a hero. In the aftermath of the Crime Syndicate's defeat, he may carry himself as such. He may even genuinely desire being labeled a hero, but he doesn't do it because it's the right thing to do. He does it because it serves his own selfish interests. He takes Ayan Rand's philosophy to the extreme and by being good, he can be more evil than ever. He by no means fits the criteria for an anti-hero. Even anti-heroes have a certain code of conduct that keeps them tied to their humanity. Lex Luthor gladly casts that aside like an old pair of socks because trivial things like codes and humanity only hold him back.

So much of Forever Evil #7 is dominated by Lex Luthor serving his ego that a number of smaller details get glossed over. He goes from defeating the Crime Syndicate to being the world's greatest hero in the eyes of the public. The rest of the Justice League, now free, don't really get a chance to react or even confront Luthor. The only one who really acknowledges what he did is Batman, but he did so in the least begrudging way possible. There were plenty of loose ends, but some were left unresolved on purpose, if only to make way for the next story. But by lacking some of the smaller details, the conclusion of Forever Evil feels incomplete.

Even without these details, the core of the story is strong. From the beginning, Lex Luthor set out to further his agenda by whatever means possible. In Forever Evil #7, he succeeded. The way in which he achieved this success and the way he exploited it to the utmost is what gives the story its strength. Nobody is going to be rooting for Lex Luthor or think he's a genuine hero. Yet in the same way hippies will begrudgingly shop at Wal-Mart, readers cannot deny what Lex Luthor has achieved. It's a disturbing thought, yet it affords plenty of intrigue for everyone not named Clark Kent.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

Frustrations Boil Over: Justice League of America #7

The following is my review of Justice League of America #7, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

In every great mystery, there are a certain number of dead ends and red herrings. Like trying to navigate Lower Manhattan blindfolded, the heroes will inevitably butt heads with people who stumble into the crossfire and the villain will grow bolder and probably get a few laughs out of it along the way. Add escalating tensions between two superhero teams to the mix and the final product is akin to Sherlock Holmes meets Wrestlemania. That is the backdrop for DC’s Trinity War and in Justice League of America #7, those tensions become more volatile than the Hulk in a traffic jam.

The first few issues of the Trinity War crossover focused having the Justice League, the Justice League of America, and Justice League Dark converge in a central conflict. Now that conflict is moving in many different directions, so much so that keeping up requires a certain level of multi-tasking. That may be well-suited for typical sales representative at Goldman Sachs, but for a comicbook. Pandora, the one who first set things into motion by confronting Superman with her evil box, has not gone to the opposite end of the spectrum and sought out Lex Luthor for his help. It shows that she’s growing increasingly desperate or has a very flawed definition of insanity.

Pandora’s role is somewhat secondary in this issue because both the Justice League and the JLA are focused on uncovering the truth about Dr. Light’s death. Unlike the unfettered brawl that defined Avengers vs. X-men, both teams managed to contain themselves long enough to agree that there are other forces at work behind this conflict. The very first issue of Trinity War revealed this and now each team is seeking answers from a different source. And both sources end up being a dead end or a red herring. At one point, both leagues seem to be getting frustrated and ongoing mistrust between both teams isn’t helping. At times it feels like Harry Potter trying to work with Lord Voldermort.

One source involves certain members of each league tracking down Dr. Light’s dead soul with the mystical resources provided by Justice League Dark. Yet even though Dr. Light probably was in the best possible position to know the truth, he told them nothing. And they only found this out after spending nearly two pages trying to enter the house in the first place. It was supposed to be comical, but came off as a bit of a waste that didn’t add much to the narrative. And maybe that was the point. It showed that the sinister forces they’re up against is smart enough to make them waste time.

Another group of leaguers follow another lead with Dr. Psycho and while this ends up being a red herring, it’s not a dead end and it actually does provide something more to the story. It also provides some brief but intense action that nicely conveys the desperation and frustration the three Justice Leagues are feeling at this point. The artwork nicely details the corruption Superman is still struggling with as a result of his encounter with Pandora. It also nicely describes Martian Manhunter not holding back when probing Dr. Psycho’s mind. He’s able to surmise that Dr. Psycho was in Kahndaq when the Justice League and JLA clashed. However, he was not the one controlling Superman. And for the first time, the Secret Society is mentioned, finally putting a name on the sinister force that has been tormenting the leagues.

This alone is an important clue to the mystery, but it quickly gets lost by another revelation that seems ill-timed yet not out of place. It has been hinted at before that the JLA has had a spy keeping tabs on the Justice League. Well that spy finally comes clean, also revealing these covert activities were why the JLA knew that the Justice League was in Kahndaq in the first place. It fills in one significant blank, but it has no emotional weight. Some of her teammates are dismayed, but nobody seems all that upset about it. There’s no angry outburst or anything. It lacks the emotional weight that was so apparent in the first few issues when everyone was concerned about Superman. Without that emotional weight, the mystery loses suspense. It’s like Bruce Willis stopping for fast food in the middle of a Die Hard movie.

While this revelation didn’t carry much weight, the momentum of the story remains intact. The Secret Society has been revealed and another group of leaguers has caught up with Pandora. They manage to catch up with her just before she can give Lex Luthor her box. But in the process, Wonder Woman takes it and now she endures the same corruptive force that Superman experienced earlier. In a ways, this reflects the frustrations of the three leagues boiling over. Wonder Woman already knows what the box is capable of because she saw what it did to Superman. But since the Secret Society has been several steps ahead of them and they keep hitting dead ends, they have no choice but to confront the most immediate threat. And in doing so the DC universe now has two of its most powerful figures, Superman and Wonder Woman, corrupted by a force they don’t understand.

The mystery and the desperation of the three Justice Leagues were what made this issue compelling. The tension between each team is still there, but it wasn’t quite as volatile as it was at the beginning of the story. This issue did fill in a few blanks. It just didn’t do so in a way that felt coherent. It was like a dance routine where the song started skipping in the middle of the act. Never-the-less, Justice League of America #7 successfully maintains the momentum that Trinity War has established. The challenge is making sure it doesn’t lead to anymore dead ends.

Final Score: 8 out of 10