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Wonder Woman #219, OMAC Project #4 Book Released: 27 July 2005 Review posted: 07 August 2005 Writer: Greg Rucka Artist: Rags Morales (Wonder Woman) Jesus Saiz (OMAC) Publisher: DC Comics  1.00 out of 5 Stars Reviewed by Adam White

[WARNING: Contains Spoilers]

Greg Rucka’s Wonder Woman #219 has the distinction of being one of three crucial tie-ins to DC’s stand-alone OMAC Project series, and tells the story that should be in OMAC but isn’t. Rucka pens both books since he’s one of the anchor writers for DC’s whole Infinite Crisis debacle, which should make them more seamlessly tie together though it does not. WW #219 involves a major death, and OMAC #4 supposedly contains the repercussions to that, according to DC. With both these books having been hyped by DC and the comic book media for almost two weeks now, I had to see if they lived up to the brouhaha.

They don’t.

I actually first became a fan of Greg Rucka when I read his early novels, and then I’ve followed his comic career steadily ever since. However, in the last year or two Rucka has developed Bendis Syndrome — an ailment where outstanding writers immerse themselves in mega-company crossovers and lose sight of their talent, thereby replacing it with stale, rudderless storytelling. As such, Rucka follows form here detailing the final showdown with Maxwell Lord, who has taken over Superman’s mind and forced him to nearly murder Batman (for those not in the know, Lord is behind OMAC and callously murdered Blue Beetle back in Countdown). It’s interesting that Lord actually meets his end in the pages of Wonder Woman, since he was the driving force in OMAC. It means that readers leave OMAC #3 with Lord in control and then pick up issue four with him already dead, which makes it hard to claim that the series is “stand-alone.”

In fact, Wonder Woman #219 and the Superman titles that act as tie-ins really contain the bulk of the real story, while the issues of OMAC just haphazardly hit on what everyone in the DCU is doing. OMAC #4 reads like a collection of revelation-type endings glued together in an attempt to make it dramatic, but it just makes the book flat and uninteresting. Batman is here; Martian Manhunter’s there; Red Rocket Seven’s in peril — oh my! OMAC plays like a movie trailer advertising what’s going on in the main DCU titles, while Wonder Woman plays out the full-length version that’s not much more exciting.

WW #219 is just one big brawl between Diana and the

WW #219 is just one big brawl between Diana and the possessed Superman, which is hardly a novel idea.

possessed Superman, which is hardly a novel idea. Rucka tries to play up who could win, when really we all know no one will and it’ll all get stopped before anyone achieves victory (which it does). The only real twist is that the only way Lord will give up control of Superman is if Diana kills him — so she does. Just snaps his neck right in front of the conveniently, momentarily sane Superman, who is shocked that she “crossed that line.” I say good riddance (I was a Beetle fan). Rucka lets the “shocking” ending hang there, and then picks it up in OMAC #4. Unfortunately, Superman’s shock is gone, and he and Diana split up to help tackle other disasters elsewhere. Huh? Where’s the real Diana/Kal showdown? The battle of ideals? Rucka set up what could have been the first meaningful confrontation between these two icons in the modern age, perhaps ever, and then drops it in favor of the mish-mashed sewage that overflows from the pages of OMAC. Which makes their battle and Diana’s killing Max Lord in the pages of Wonder Woman even more superfluous, and the opportunity missed even more disappointing.

The art in Wonder Woman is the only thing that earned this review the one star it has — Rags Morales really has a handle on Wonder Woman. Morales could be the definitive WW artist of this era if given better stories to illustrate. Diana looks statuesque (as she should), but Morales never reduces the work to T&A shots like so many others have, do and would. He follows the

DC’s “Infinite Crisis” is a continuity-bungling, jumbled mess that’s all hype and no substance.

action and tells the story with good, solid art throughout. OMAC #4 is a different story; Jesus Saiz’s overly-lined art leaves much to be desired. Granted, they story is poor, and it jumps all over the place, but Saiz’s art seems grainy and makes it even harder to follow. OMAC #4 also loosely centers around an unrecognizable Sasha Bordeaux and her accomplice (whose identity I never ascertained), which further complicates things because Saiz draws the two women virtually identically — I honestly never had any clue which was which. The rest of the art is just there — it doesn’t have anything of note to even mention.

DC’s “Infinite Crisis” is a continuity-bungling, jumbled mess that’s all hype and no substance. After reading the shameful, needless killing of Blue Beetle in Countdown I honestly hadn’t picked up a single DCU book until these two I’m reviewing, and now I guarantee I won’t pick up any more at all, maybe even after this mess is finished. I’ve determined that “Infinite Crisis” refers not to the happenings within the DCU but instead to an editorial crisis, one that proves that editors who gain too much power within their companies will ultimately end up dictating all continuity and run their characters into the ground. It’s happened at Marvel several times (and is even going on there again right now), but usually DC had managed to use those times to creatively reinvent themselves. This time, however, they led the way, and the hordes of fanboy sheep (those who don’t even read the books they buy anymore) have come out in force to help them justify this horrendous affair. So until the readers step up and demand meaningful stories about interesting characters, I predict that this crisis will indeed be infinite, continuing into the foreseeable future.