By Cat Wyatt

Wonder Woman #45 brings the conclusion to the Amazons Attacked plot, as well as wrapping up a few other running plots. Last we saw Darkseid had successfully brought his plan to fruition, using artifacts to rip open a portal to Themyscira. Grail then popped through the portal and started turning Amazons into a form of Parademons and sending them back through the portal. It’s a total mess, and things are not looking good for Wonder Woman and her allies.

And that is where this issue starts out. Wonder Woman, Jason, Steve and his team have their hands full, between fighting Darkseid, the Amazon Parademons, and the Furies, plus whomever else Darkseid managed to con into helping him. While they can’t see what’s happening on the other side of the portal, they can only assume things are not going well, since Parademons keep coming through their end.

To make matters worse, the loophole that allowed Grail through the portal will not allow Diana through, as she has stepped foot on Themyscira and willingly left it. Though to be honest I’m not sure Diana would have followed Grail through even if she could have – leaving Steve and his team behind would mean leaving them to fight the Amazon Parademons on their own, which are not good odds, considering these ones seem to be even more deadly than the normal crew (which I feel like is saying something).

The truth of the matter is the whole team, Diana, Jason, and Steve plus his crew, will have to split off and focus on specific threats if they want to make it through this. While Diana desperately doesn’t want to leave the Parademons and Furies to Steve’s crew, the fact of the matter is she’s the only one that can take on Darkseid and stand a chance. So she’ll have to trust the men to do their jobs and stay alive.

Meanwhile Jason realized the loophole that worked for Grail will work for him as well. He’s finally going to get to go home, but not in the way he ever imagined, I’m sure. While his sister battles Darkseid on her own, Jason can go through the portal and help his mother protect the Amazons. While I’m sure he would have preferred to visit at a better time, it’s pretty cool to think that he was able to arrive as a hero like that.

Jason arrives in time to see his mother and Grail going all out in their fight against each other. It actually looks like Queen Hippolyta is doing a pretty decent job of holding her own, if I may say so. I think she would have won that fight regardless – though Jason distracting Grail certainly made things go quite a bit faster.

This leaves mother and son a few moments for their reunion. One they both needed, I believe. I’m sure deep down Jason knew his mother never wanted to give him up, but he needed to hear her say it. He needed to hear her say she loved him. And likewise she probably needed to see her son grown and healthy, and probably wanted to tell him more than anything how much she loved him.

Meanwhile the fight between Diana and Darkseid isn’t going too well, all things considered. She’s still alive, but she doesn’t know how to beat him. For a moment her will cracks, which is where Steve stepped up and did what he’s best at; he gave Diana a pep talk and got her back on her feet. His inspiring speech (which is cut short) jumpstarted an idea in Diana’s head, one that might help her bring down Darkseid. Maybe not forever (nothing they’ve tried seems to have done the trick so far, so it isn’t safe to assume it’ll happen this time), but at least for now.

Diana doesn’t approach Darkseid with hatred; but rather she approaches the souls he’s absorbed – the souls of her brothers and sisters – with love. That love should be able to reach them and draw them out of Darkseid. That means that Darkseid actually made himself vulnerable to Diana in an attempt to make himself more powerful. I suppose next time Darkseid wants to get big and strong nice and fast he’ll drink his milk instead of devouring the souls of Diana’s family.

This was a pretty decent conclusion to this long plot, all things considered. I still have some questions, of course. Such as what will happen to the Amazons turned Parademons. Does their leaving Themyscira under a spell such as that count as them leaving? And if so, does that mean we’ll have more Amazons on earth? That would certainly be interesting. Of course, first they have to be cured, but I’m sure that’ll happen. What about Jason? Will we be seeing him around still, or now that this plot is wrapped up will he move on and find his own thing?

The artwork for this issue was fantastic. If I had to pick a favorite panel for this issue I’d have to say the one on page 12 was absolutely striking; with all of Diana’s siblings being shown in a more ethereal form.

Score: 4/5

Wonder Woman #45
DC Comics