Wonder Woman #779 Review

 

Living the Lasso Life

Writer: Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad

Artist: Travis Moore

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: September 14, 2021

I have not been enjoying this run on Wonder Woman, but every new issue is a chance to jump onto the trolley, and I am convinced that once we get Diana back with the living, that may happen.  Of course, we aren't there yet, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  With that said, I still have my head in the here and now and am hoping for a good ending to a very long opening stanza by Cloonan and Conrad.  Do we get that here?  Let's find out...

The issue opens where we left off the last issue, with Deadman dead(er) and Janus crowing up a storm.  Since Diana has been chiefly a couple of steps (or worlds) behind Janus this whole time, there hasn't been much time or page space for Cloonan and Conrad to develop the character much beyond the "I hate you just because" type of villainy, and that doesn't stop here.  In fact, They throw a swerve in this issue out of nowhere.

Before we get to that, though, Diana has to deal with Deadman.  Well, it seems like death isn't something a lasso can't take care of, and I am not a fan.  This sort of thing has happened before; Shea Fontana had Wonder Woman use the Lasso of Truth to change a person's DNA because it wasn't their Truth.  I rolled my eyes then and now.

That is only the beginning of a forced ending, though.  It seems Diana, Boston, and Janus are stuck in the in-between space that Diana kept going to when she died earlier in the arc, but there is no way out...until Deadman says he was lying about that and goes to get help.  Sigfried and Ratatosk make a late appearance so that they can keep Janus busy for a bit and then the big bad of the story reveals she isn't all that bad, and it was the other half of her (the past part) that is the real villain of the story.  You know, the guy we left behind and haven't seen more than a handful of panels this entire story.

To make things more convoluted, we get the Norns yelling about threads and fates out of nowhere  Luckily, then a gaggle of gods shows up with the other Janus to make things right, but not before Diana begs everyone to spare their lives and stitches them back together again.  Alright...

With that taken care of, Wonder Woman uses the Godscraper to make a portal out of herself and disappears.  What what?!?  Thankfully, Cloonan and Conrad give us a quick walk down memory lane to try to convince us that Diana's journey was worthwhile, but I beg to differ.  This was a mess of a story that usually looked good but rarely was as clever as the writers must have thought it was.

Well, this overlong arc is done, and it looks like we will finally get Diana back on Earth-0 coming up.  I wish that the story had something more to do with that, but Diana's journey was hardly the Odyssey I was looking for it to be.

Bits and Pieces:

Wonder Woman #779 is a disappointing end to a disappointing (and overlong) story.  I'm sure that some will argue that this story was about the journey, not the destination, but if that's the case, I sit here doubly upset.  I hope Cloonan and Conrad can pull something better together for their next arc because Diana and her fans deserve much better!

3.5/10