Review: Wonder Woman v2 #156-159

            After a break in the writing of Wonder Woman, Eric Luke returned to the title to complete his run with four final issues that saw the return of his character Devastation and a battle between Wonder Woman and her protégée Wonder Girl.

            “Devastation Returns” is a three-part adventure wherein Wonder Woman is pitted against Wonder Girl as part of Devastation’s twisted machinations. As is usual for the beginning of a Wonder Woman story written by Luke, the Amazing Amazon spends part of her time reflecting on her life. By now, her constant assertions that she is lonely have become tedious and unnecessary. His handling of Wonder Woman seems to have become shakier and Devastation is written more comically this time around, making her more of a parody than a menacing villain. Likewise, his Wonder Girl grows increasingly more irritating with each panel she’s present in. There is promise in the premise here - unable to best Wonder Woman directly, Devastation tricks Wonder Girl into fighting Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough of a set-up present to properly establish the conflict between Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl. As such, the arc feels terribly rushed and like very little thought went into it. There should have been more effort spent into showing Devastation's manipulation of Cassie and of making the reader aware of these intentions. Similarly, its ending is forced through the deus ex machina that is Wonder Woman's Dome. It's a bit eye-roll worthy. Following this, Luke’s run concludes with a one-off issue that sees Wonder Woman deciding to return to living among mortals after living above them in an alien satellite for several issues. She establishes an embassy where she promises to interact more fully with the people she is sworn to protect. It's a decent story but it focuses far too much on Wonder Woman's Dome technology that she acquired from aliens a few years back. The issue just tries to do too much, too soon.

            Once more, Matthew Clark teamed up with Luke for his concluding run as the artist responsible for drawing the Amazing Amazon. While he had been making an improvement with previous issues, Clark’s pencils here are messy and busy. His attempt to capture detail is murky and none of the women he draws look particularly attractive in this arc. Sergio Cariello is a guest-penciller in issue #158 and provides much more captivating imagery. His figures are lithe and athletic. He also draws beautiful, expressive faces. Unfortunately, Wonder Woman is spilling out of her top, distracting the reader from the fact that Cariello has talent as an artist.

            These issues are an abrupt and disappointing conclusion to an otherwise interesting run on Wonder Woman. Luke had been hitting his stride with previous issues but stumbled with these four. The story showed promise but there wasn’t enough time spent nursing the narrative in order for it to grow.

Grade: D+