Eric Luke | Fraser Sherman's Blog

I’m curious what was going on behind the scenes during this period. Following his initial Titans War arc, Eric Luke starts a new arc, leaves the book and we get multiple new writers contributing before Phil Jimenez, whose run I absolutely love, takes over as writer/artist in 164.

The new arc starts with Devastation working with Dr. Poison (daughter of the original WW II villain) to create the Pandora virus, something that unleashes the mythic archetypes we carry inside our minds. In #152 Diana thwarts the first manifestation but the virus is still out there.

Then comes a fun Mark Millar story (and I’m not a Millar fan) about Cassie Sandsmark dealing with her role as Wonder Girl, then a much less interesting story by Doselle Young involving the Zoroastrian deities (Ahura Mazda, Ahriman) running loose in Vegas. This arc also gives us Nubia, though this take is not Wonder Woman’s sister.

Then Eric Luke returns but no mention of the Pandora Virus. Instead it’s a plotline in which Devastation schemes to set Wonder Girl to kill Wonder Woman. Doesn’t work but it fits with Devastation’s manipulative nature shown in earlier stories.

Then comes a fun two parter in which Batman’s foe Clayface contrives to suck up some of Diana’s clay body, giving himself Olympian powers. Then comes a two-parter by Benjamin Raab that I can’t even remember.

It reminds me a lot the 1970s and the rapid-fire soft reboots as different writers took over the series. Fortunately Jimenez stuck around for a while — I’m five issues into his run and it holds up as well as I remembered it.

Covers by Adam Hughes. All rights to images remain with current holders.

Following John Byrne’s departure from Wonder Woman, we got three issues written by James Owsley that have completedly vanished from memory. Which may be a good thing — outside of Owsley’s Black Panther run, I can’t remember liking any of his work, including his last Wonder Woman script. Fortunately Eric Luke took over after that.

I don’t recall what I thought of Luke’s work back in 1999. I didn’t pick it up but that may reflect money was tight or that after dropping the book during the Byrne years, I saw no need to start again. My completist tendencies were long dead by 1999.

Reading Luke first year, from 139 to 150, it’s a mixed bag — more interesting than I thought, though flawed. The main arc involves the return of Cronus, father of Zeus, lord of the Titans. He’s decided he wants to resume his standing as god-king of the world and he’s spawned a new crop of Titans to help him do it. Most notable of his allies is Devastation, Wonder Woman’s evil quasi-twin. Taking the same clay that Hippolyta shaped into Diana, Cronus has created Devastation as his own warrior champion, the Amazon’s nemesis.

Not only is Devastation a nasty, cunning piece of work and a vicious fighter, she leaves Diana questioning her actions. If Cronus can create Devastation as an instrument of his evil does Diana have any greater agency? Is she just a puppet for Olympus. This gets resolved at the end when Zeus explains that in George Perez’ reboot origin, Diana has a clay body but a mortal soul, with agency.

The downside is that Luke draws on Byrne’s dreadful Godwave idea. Byrne decided it would be awesome if Jack Kirby, creator of so much comic-book mythology, literally created mythology. The Godwave, the energy from the final clash of Jack Kirby’s Old Gods, echoed out and turned ordinary humans into the deities of Greek and other mythology. Cronus’ plan is to kill pantheons, vacuum up all that Godwave energy, then attack Heaven itself.

Much as I have grown to respect Kirby’s New Gods work, I rate the Olympians much higher than the gods of New Genesis. Kirby creating them (and the Asgardians, the Aztec pantheon, etc.) didn’t work for me (Perez retconned the idea out during his run. Byrne wrote it back in, of course). The assumption that it’s power enough to take down God in heaven doesn’t work for me either.

I have mixed thoughts about bringing in the Hindu pantheon too (with Prince Rama as a possible romance for Wonder Woman). Comic-books invariably treat the Hindu gods as roughly at the same level as the Olympians or the Asgardians, rather than a religion like Christianity or Judaism. Even given that Cronus takes on the Christian deity, Luke still seems to set Kali, Shiva and the rest as more myth than religion (my thoughts at Atomic Junk Shop on the theology of DC and Marvel might be relevant).

Overall, I did enjoy Luke’s first year. I’ll get to his subsequent run soon enough.

#SFWApro. Wonder Woman covers by Adam Hughes, New Gods by Jack Kirby.