By Cat Wyatt

After the Wonder Woman Annual it’s hard not to get hyped about the Dark Gods plot that’s been started in Wonder Woman. This issue picks up where the last left off, only of course first we have to learn what happened on Earth once Diana was swept away.

So in Wonder Woman #47, Diana was grabbed by two Star Sapphires and taken away. They didn’t take the time to check the status of earth or the battle she was in, as they were too preoccupied with their own war. Thanks to the annual, we know exactly what that entailed, but poor Jason was left out of the loop. This issue starts with him seeing her get taken, but otherwise he’s pretty clueless about what’s going on.

And what’s worse is he’s been left facing off against four of these Dark Gods all on his own. Now thanks to his suit, which grants him the power of the gods one at a time, he was able to channel Athena’s wisdom and therefore accurately identify each god and their powers. That probably didn’t do much to boost his confidence, since he also knew exactly what he was up against.

Still a guy has got to try, right? The first god on the list is the one without a name; he’s basically the god of doubt. Second is the Mob god, goddess of chaos. Technically she’s the order inside the disorder, but that’s really semantics at this point. The third god is Savage Fire, goddess of war, and presumably fire as well, because, you know. The fourth doesn’t wake with the rest, so he’s presumably waiting on something, either for the others to clear the path or for bigger enemies to show up…no offense Jason.

Jason actually does a pretty good job of facing off against these three, but a lot of it was luck and timing. The gods didn’t really bum rush him all at once like they could have, which was a huge advantage to our overwhelmed demi god.

The goddess of war sends fire demons after him. The Mob god enchants civilians and sends them on suicidal runs, effectively breaking up his focus. The nameless god sends green bolts that rot the humans around, and who knows what would have Jason had he managed to land a hit on him.

It’s here that the goddess of war gets a leg up on Jason, and she may well have won this battle had reinforcements not arrived at that exact moment. Thankfully Supergirl is none too happy about being possessed earlier, and she’s spoiling for some revenge. Still a good hit to a god is still a lot, even for the likes of Supergirl, and she can only do that so many times before she finds herself weakened – having just gotten out of a fight against Wonder Woman probably doesn’t help either.

While our two heroes were distracted the three wakened gods vacated the area – but not out of fear. They’re moving to other parts of the earth, to sow their chaos and fear. Hopefully the respective heroes for each of those areas will step off and do their best to fend them off until Jason (and hopefully Diana) is ready to help out.

Meanwhile there’s still a sleeping god floating above, and he’s likely the biggest threat. So it’s no wonder that the Justice League chose this spot to meet up and start their defense. All of our favorites, minus Diana and Superman, are here and ready to help out. Jason is clearly going to have to step in for Diana, and Supergirl for Superman. This should be interesting.

Jason’s borrowed knowledge from Athena confirms that the sleeping god is the leader – he doesn’t know much beyond that, other than that he’s waiting for something. Unfortunately it turns out that the something he was waiting for were the bigger players, as in the Justice League. It’s unclear what he did to them, but suddenly Jason is all alone again. One can only hope that the others, wherever they are, are okay.

Sadly that leaves Jason once again, up against a god much stronger than himself. Jason was barely holding his own against the three weaker gods, so how is he to handle a fight against their leader? Not that he really has a choice – he can’t let this god destroy the city like he clearly intends to. Steve is desperately trying to send backup, but even if they get here in time one has to wonder how much good human weapons will be against a Dark God such as this.

Thankfully we might not have to find out, as timing worked out pretty perfectly in the end. Like any true hero Diana arrived just in the nick of time, barely getting there in time to save Jason from grievous wounds.

The Dark Gods plot has been pretty interesting so far. We were promised that we’d see the after effects of the Dark Metal plot, and they kept true to their word. So far this has been the most interesting side effect, but we’ll likely see more with time. It’d be nice to know where the Justice League went, as well as the rest of the Dark Gods. Hopefully Diana dealing with the leader will resolve more than one issue.

Score: 4/5

Wonder Woman #48
DC Comics