Darkseid’s plans come to fruition despite the efforts of Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor and ARGUS.
Wonder Woman 44
Written by James Robinson
Pencils by Emanuela Lupacchino
Inks by Ray McCarthy
Colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
The thing I find amazing about Darkseid’s plans and how he goes about achieving them is how stretched out this whole thing has been. It started in the New 52 era, in the pages of Justice League, where Darkseid was turned into a baby. Parts of the story moved to a two-parter in the pages of Superman, which showed the people of Apokalips looking for a new leader now that Darkseid had been deposed. And now, Wonder Woman takes point on things, as Darkseid is back to full power and ready to reclaim his throne.
While I would assume the sniveling sycophants on Apokolips would just bow if he returned to take over, Darkseid apparently feels he needs an army to bring his former minions to heel, and that’s where Wonder Woman comes in. Darkseid, his daughter Grail and the Female Furies gather up the needed equipment to send Grail to Themyscira (where she was born) and convert the hidden Amazons into Parademons to serve at Darkseid’s behest.
Since Wonder Woman has been barred from visiting her island home through some convoluted means, seeing old friends and allies turned into mindless drones probably isn’t going to sit well with her.
The stakes have been pretty high for Robinson’s time on Wonder Woman, but the story hasn’t felt important until this issue, the penultimate part of this story. Too much time spent on Diana’s brother, Jason, and his history with Darkseid’s daughter. He’ll surely play a big part in the finale next issue, but I can’t imagine him sticking around very long.