Review: Wonder Woman Vol. 8- The Dark Gods

Quick Summary

Pros: The narrative here is intense and full of action. The characters are written well, with Jason working out better than before. The artwork is mostly positive.

Cons: The high stakes and over-the-top intensity of this comic pairs poorly with the fact that it only has a moment of setup in previous volumes.

Overall: This is a comic packed with intensity but missing some justification behind this intensity. The volume tells a high stakes story about Dark Gods threatening the safety of the universe. However, the lack of development for this narrative makes it feel like the finale to a storyline that doesn’t exist. Readers interested in a high intensity Wonder Woman story may want to consider this one, as long as they aren’t concerned by the lack of setup behind it.

Story

Wonder Woman Vol. 8: The Dark Gods, by James Robinson, is alright but feels like it should have been much better. The story that plays out here centers around a high stakes battle between extremely powerful forces. The action and drama are intense and the characters are well-written the entire time. However, the storyline is so grandiose and dramatic that it feels weird in the context of this series. It feels like jumping straight into Return of the Jedi before watching a single other Star Wars movie. This prevents the comic from reading quite as well as it could have otherwise.

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The Dark Gods quickly establishes and maintains a high level of suspense and action throughout the entire run. From the beginning, it feels like the world is falling apart and that Earth’s heroes have very little they can do in response to the Dark Gods’ arrival. Then, the fighting starts as Wonder Woman is whisked away for an epic space battle before all-out war erupts on Earth. As a finale, Wonder Woman is then forced to fight her brother who, in a great twist, is simply pretending to be working for the Dark Gods in order to turn on them. The entire narrative is as tense and action-packed as could be.

In addition, I felt like the characters were written better here than they have been for the past few volumes. Wonder Woman’s valiant display with the Star Sapphires was great and suits her character. Meanwhile, Jason’s greater command of his powers and his well-executed plan against the Dark Gods finally turned him from an uninteresting intrusion to a worthwhile supporting character.

However, the big problem in The Dark Gods comes from the lack of setup for a story arc with such high stakes. This comic’s previous story arc detailed the slow return of Darkseid and the eventual execution of his plans. It was a narrative years in the making and was told over the course of two full volumes. This story arc launches a conflict with similar stakes yet has only a few pages of setup prior. Throughout reading this volume, it constantly felt like this arc could have been a large-scale crossover event but that it was shoved into a few regular comic issues instead.

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Art

The artwork in The Dark Gods is solid all the way through. The majority of the volume contains work from Stephen Segovia and Jesús Merino. Both artists have a dynamic and energetic style that suits the high-octane nature of this volume particularly well. Their work is also detailed, laid out well, and consistent, all of which adds to its appeal. Plus, The Dark Gods contains some awesome visual variety in its Annual chapter, where the artwork takes on an otherworldly quality to perfectly match certain scenes. All in all, the artwork in this volume does not disappoint.

Continuity

Wonder Woman Vol. 8: The Dark Gods continues the story from Wonder Woman Vol. 7: Amazons Attacked (Review).

The story here continues in Wonder Woman Vol. 9: The Enemy of Both Sides (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Wishes made by Wonder Woman (Reading Order) and other members of the Justice League (Reading Order) are mentioned. These wishes were made at the conclusion of the Dark Nights: Metal (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• Wonder Woman served as a Star Sapphire during the Blackest Night event.