In 1991, in honor of her 50th anniversary, DC launched a massive crossover event featuring Wonder Woman at its center. It also marked the culmination of George Pérez’s long run with the Mighty Amazon. Now, for the first time ever, ‘War of the Gods’ is collected together. Pérez delivers a swan song of sorts that’s one part bittersweet and many parts incoherent.
Written by George Pérez
Illustrated by George Pérez, Jill Thompson, Cynthia Martin, Russell Braun, & Romeo TanghalWhen Zeus and his fellow Gods of Olympus go to war with other deities from across the heavens (and beyond), the heroes of the DC Universe are stuck in the middle. Teaming with Superman, Captain Marvel and others, Wonder Woman must stop a battle that could destroy the galaxy, and discover who is pulling the strings behind the scenes! Collects WAR OF THE GODS #1-4 and WONDER WOMAN #58-62!
In order to understand what’s going on in “War of the Gods”, it’s probably necessary to look back at its creation. George Pérez had relaunched Wonder Woman after “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, re-embraced a lot of her Greek roots, and 86ed a ton of the extraneous work people like Robert Kanigher and Mike Sekowsky had subjected her. (Things like having her giving up her powers to stay in Man’s World and basically relegating her to a secretary for the Justice League.) Over the course of sixty-odd issues, there’s no doubt he produced one of the definitive runs on the character and his love and admiration for her shines throughout this whole thing. With this series, Pérez wanted to go big, extravagant. He wanted to tell a story worthy of the Princess of Themiscryia. Unfortunately for him, DC didn’t see it the same way.
Despite all the characters and talent involved, DC was also prepping for another event: ‘Armageddon 2001’ (an crossover I literally had never heard of until doing background research on this book). Editorial constantly shuffled characters around, withheld ones promised to Pérez, and tossed him others at the last minute. Some of the books in the crossover didn’t even bear the ‘War of the Gods’ banner, and that frustration Pérez must have felt at DC comes through in the script. Reading this, you can practically feel Pérez in the background, willing himself to see the story through.
This edition of “War of the Gods” features only the stuff Wonder Woman herself is directly involved in. We have all four issues of “War of the Gods” (which are like, 40 pages each) and “Wonder Woman” #58-62. While a nine-issue collection isn’t anything to scoff at, remember, this event crossed over through 25 different titles, so it feels sporadic, only a snippet of the actual story. Although, I’m not sure if knowing what happened in those other issues would have helped this story make any more sense.
Okay, so, one day, the Greek and Roman gods just up and start fighting each other. And then the other gods — Egyptian, Norse, African, etc. — start appearing around the world as well, hoping to revert the earth back to the time where they were the ones primarily worshipping. In a storyline previous to this one, the Amazons had been framed for a series of heists and murders after they revealed their existence to the wider world, and public perception has turned against them. Some of them have been arrested, while Steve Trevor and Etta Candy (looking like she just stepped out of a “Love & Rockets” book) face court martial from a particularly evil general. The rest of the Amazons are in hiding and Wonder Woman herself in on the run.
Actually, that might be the most unbelievable element in this whole book: everyone convinced Diana is guilty of some heinous act. They think Wonder Woman committed some unnamed crimes (I assume they were brought up in the previous arcs) and they lost trust in her. At one point, Hawkgirl threatens to wring Wonder Woman’s neck if she ever catches her. Even Batman is like, “I really should bring you in.” Batman.
It turns out Circe is behind everything. (Surprise.) She’s pitted the gods against each other and is determined to destroy Mother Gaea for reasons. Her motivations are never exactly clear and it seems like Pérez relies on the fact that she’s a bad guy and this is just what bad guys do. The Justice League and Suicide Squad all get involved and it’s a gigantic clustercuss of mayhem.
Continued belowBut what gorgeous mayhem! Pérez provides layouts for the main series (with Cynthia Martin and Russell Braun turning in the finishes) and his eye for cosmic destruction and visual wonder is as on point here as its ever been. Look at that double page spread when Wonder Woman heads to Olympus. Check out his slew of monsters and strange creatures. The battles he delivers are bombastic and operatic. Even if we don’t fully understand why these characters are constantly punching each other, we’re so swept up in the color and spectacle Pérez and company deliver it’s exhilarating.
The great Jill Thompson turns in the artwork for the interstitial “Wonder Woman” chapters, and it’s some fine Thompson work. She’s not subtle with her drawings: all the expressions are over-exaggerated and dramatic, the poses larger than life, with grandoise lighting and settings, but it fits with the kind of story Pérez is trying to tell.
Too bad the story is such a mess. I understand that this is an early ’90s superhero comic book, and the nature of the beast was completely different than now, but this is a collection overloaded with words. The rhythm is constantly interrupted just so Pérez can make sure you know what’s going on. Caption boxes narrate exactly what’s happening directly on the panel. Information is repeated several times over, just in case you missed it when you read about it a couple pages earlier. He beats us over the head with how much peril the world is in, but it doesn’t feel real to the story. Whole scenes Pérez has been building toward are resolved off-screen and told in conversation. Some of that might be with DC deciding to collect only a fraction of the narrative here. Even when Pérez summarizes what previously occurred — and there are times you wonder if the “War of the Gods” issues were forty pages long so half could be devoted to summary — it still feels like theres a lot we’re missing.
The plot is overwrought, overly complicated, and convoluted. Far too many characters appear, and they only take away Wonder Woman’s agency. Diana bears gestures of motivation and urgency, but with the lack of time and precarious juggling of all the other elements, it never pays off. We root for her mostly because her name is in the title. Circe’s own motivations are unclear; she wants to destroy Gaea because she’s Circe, I guess. She is surrounded by some ridiculously pretty bodyguards though, so that’s a plus.
Many actions are aggrandizing and incomprehensible. For all of Pérez and company’s visual wonders, they don’t bear much weight thanks to the weak narrative. You can sense they want to do more, but aren’t given the opportunity to do so.
For the first Wonder Woman-centered event, “War of the Gods” is completely disappointing. Then again, DC has proven time and time again that they have the worst handling on the character, so I suppose it’s not that surprising. “War of the Gods” might be incomprehensible and nonsensical, but at least it’s not as offensively bad or as insulting as the dreck Meredith and David Finch were allowed to produce. After all, this was created by someone with a clear love and admiration of the character, and even if none of the narrative threads ever come together, that still helps carry this story. With more support from DC and maybe a little more freedom in the story, this could have been one of those huge crossover events everyone still talks about, rather than a frustrated farewell to an iconic legend.
Final Verdict: 5.8 – no less than a chaotic mess.
