Blackest Night Wonder Woman 1/3: Out for Vengeance
Only one mortal has the esteemed honor of forcing Wonder Woman in a position where its kill or be killed. He is Maxwell Lord, former JLA financier and Checkmate head who was 86-ed during the Checkmate/O.M.A.C. saga prior to Infinite Crisis. So course, if you've read any of the Blackest Night issues, you know where this is going. It's re-match time.
The purpose of Black Lanterns' attack is to gain a psychological edge in the person they attack. In the most recent Blackest Night Titans spin-off, it effectively conveys the point with Hawk and Dove. With this issue, there is no re-visiting of Maxwell Lord's evil or even the participants of that dark event. Basically, Max created a path of blood for Diana to follow from the soldiers lining the Washington Monument to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Greg Rucka (Queen and Country, Detective Comics) who was the man that wrote Maxwell Lord's end writes a compelling battle scene complete with Nicola Scott's clean pencils (the cover by Greg Horn is wicked). Again, it reads like just a battle scene where there is nothing on the table to risk. The original Unknown Soldier pops up as a Lantern and Diana takes care of him with almost comedic ease. In the end, we discover that Amazon magic of the Gods proves mightier than the the ring but did I feel any peril for Wonder Woman? Not 1% of battery capacity.
Rating: Borrow it. The art is worth checking out and its very entertaining but is there any depth to what should be an awesome spectacle between two hated adversaries? Nope!
