Wonder Woman, Vol. 4: Revenge of the Gods

The biggest problem with this collection is the disjointed nature of the narrative. It starts with the second issue in the story arc (the first being included at the end of the previous volume) and from then on, continues in much the same manner, including only the even-numbered parts of the narrative. The other sections - parts 3, 5, and 7 - were in a different series, so we don't get them here, with the result that we're only getting half the story, leaping over events and resulting in, at best, confusion. Did this story work for somebody who was reading all the issues in the alternating series? I dunno... maybe, but it's no way to put together a collection and while it's unlikely to be Cloonan's fault, it's all one giant mess.

Who at DC thought this was a good idea?

In fact, you might wonder why I'm even giving it three stars and, if all we were getting was the first four parts, I wouldn't have. Fortunately, the final two sections (issues #799 and #800 of the original) are quite a bit better, and just about nudge the overall collection up to “middling”. They're kind of disjointed too, but for a reason, since they consist of a number of dream sequences as Diana experiences how her friends see her and how she touches their lives. The artwork is variable, with the framing device in the waking world having the weakest, but it's a valiant effort to produce a celebration of the character, with a mixture of humour, action, and heart.

Whether it's worth putting up with the repeatedly interrupted half-narrative of the first two-thirds of the collection is, however, a matter of taste. A veritable plethora of variant covers round it out.

The biggest problem with this collection is the disjointed nature of the narrative. It starts with the second issue in the story arc (the first being included at the end of the previous volume) and from then on, continues in much the same manner, including only the even-numbered parts of the narrative. The other sections - parts 3, 5, and 7 - were in a different series, so we don't get them here, with the result that we're only getting half the story, leaping over events and resulting in, at best, confusion. Did this story work for somebody who was reading all the issues in the alternating series? I dunno... maybe, but it's no way to put together a collection and while it's unlikely to be Cloonan's fault, it's all one giant mess.

Who at DC thought this was a good idea?

In fact, you might wonder why I'm even giving it three stars and, if all we were getting was the first four parts, I wouldn't have. Fortunately, the final two sections (issues #799 and #800 of the original) are quite a bit better, and just about nudge the overall collection up to “middling”. They're kind of disjointed too, but for a reason, since they consist of a number of dream sequences as Diana experiences how her friends see her and how she touches their lives. The artwork is variable, with the framing device in the waking world having the weakest, but it's a valiant effort to produce a celebration of the character, with a mixture of humour, action, and heart.

Whether it's worth putting up with the repeatedly interrupted half-narrative of the first two-thirds of the collection is, however, a matter of taste. A veritable plethora of variant covers round it out.