Comic Book Review: Blackest Night Wonder Woman #3 (of 3)

Book Information

Written by Greg Rucka

Art by Nicola Scott

Plot

Partnered with Carol Ferris, Wonder Woman starts the charge on the massive Black Lantern attack as a newly inducted Star Sapphire.  The emotion of love has always been Diana’s strong point, but it has never been manifested to this degree.  Wonder Woman is now faced with the Black Lanterns who want nothing more than to rip out her heart and consume the light within, and attempt to calm down the wife of the risen zombie Lantern, Mera.  Will Diana succeed, or will she die at the hands of her friend?

My Thoughts

I was actually quite shocked when I discovered Wonder Woman was chosen to be a Star Sapphire, I didn’t see the connection as well as DC did I suppose.  But after this issue, I think I get it.  Wonder Woman has always shown the greatest amount of love towards people more than most of her comrades do.  This aspect of Wonder Woman was brought to light best by Gail Simone when she took over her monthly title, and Greg Rucka is doing an excellent job at continuing that Simone trademark.

The explanations that are given in this book as to why Wonder Woman and Carol Ferris were chosen as Star Sapphires helped clear up some confusion with me.  Those explanations (coming from the dialog between Carol and Dianan) imply that a ring, from any corps, chooses someone not for how much love they have, will they portray, or how much hope they have necessarily; it chooses someone based on how much of that specific emotion an individual has the potential in showing, but also based on how much the individual needs the ring to amplify that aspect of their lives.  Carol Ferris, who’s felt an enormous hole inside her since Hal Jordan never reciprocated her feelings, was brought into the corps for her love and for the lack of love by another human being.  It is a creative and interesting take on the “choosing” of someone when inducted into a specific corps.

Now, readers who don’t actually know the history between Wonder Woman and Mera, or Mera’s questionable past may feel a little lost when the confrontation between these two comes to a close.  But don’t allow that to throw you off this book, I think the entire Blackest Night series has been smart in bringing back the dead and all it’s baggage without being too confusing.  Let’s be honest, how many people who are reading Blackest Night currently starting reading comics only one or two years ago right?  Johns, and the rest of the writers included in this Charlton Heston type of “end of the world” story have done a superb job at bringing the past back to light and allowing it to dictate the direction of the stories.  When you read it, all you need to know is that Mera did something questionable, and take it for what it is and move on to next months issue of Blackest Night.

Nicola Scott is incredible, there is no stiffness in her characters and the color schemes are outstanding.  Granted, this is not one of her better works of art, but that does not mean this isn’t outstanding.  The violet dominance on every page is a lot more striking and powerful than one would expect.  Of course, who could complain about that cover art by the great Greg Horn?  I’m surprised that cover isn’t the variant one, but of course the variant covers are usually a disappointment for me.

Overall

A decent issue, a lot of fun and helps to explain a few things in the Lantern Corps mythos.  However, it’s not particularly a standout issue.  Greg Rucka did wonders with what he was given and I think it was a much needed addition to the Blackest night series.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars