Closing the Circle

Wonder Woman #17

Here we’ve got the conclusion of the storyline for “The Circle,” with a flashback to the night of Diana’s birth, when Queen Hippolyta’s honor guard decided that they had to kill Diana to save the Amazons from, um, something or other. Obviously, they failed, and were imprisoned for the attempt. Meanwhile, back in the present, a very pissed-off Wonder Woman delivers a serious beat-down on the Nazis who’ve invaded Paradise Island and shot Hippolyta, and she gives the whole bunch of them a boot off the island. After that, it’s Wondy vs. the Amazon members of the Circle, who attack her with magical, god-made weapons. She still manages to beat them, and the leader, Alkyone, apparently throws herself to her death, though everyone knows she’ll come back later.

Verdict: Generally, thumbs up. There’s a lot of story packed into a fairly small space, and the story all seems to be good. I’ve got some quibbles, of course. Why does the Circle give Wondy time to recover when they’ve got her on the ropes? We’re still getting no real idea what it means that Wondy’s serving gods other than the Greek ones now. And I have no idea when the modern version of Etta Candy went from being an adversary in Diana’s intelligence agency to being one of her best friends. Still, the story is pretty good. Writer Gail Simone’s doing good work.