Wonder Woman #210

Stoned: Conclusion

Greg Rucka Script
Drew Johnson Pencils
Ray Snyder Inks
Richard & Tanya Horie Colors
Todd Klein Letters
Ivan Cohen Editor
Special thanks to Ron Randall
Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston

Our cover by JG Jones shows Wonder Woman battling Medusa (or Medousa as she's referred to in this issue). If you look closely at her helmet, you'll see Wonder Woman has shielded her eyes from Medousa's gaze. This exact scene happens in the comic, and I appreciate that. And I do enjoy Jones' painted style as a change of pace every now and then. I am, however, a bit distracted by the advertisement right behind Wonder Woman that simply says "Hiss." A little on the nose, don't you think?

Our story begins with Ares setting up a death battle between Wonder Woman and Medousa at Yankee Stadium. He has used his powers to broadcast this fight on every television in the world, as well as keep everyone out of the stadium until the fight is complete. So in the buildup to the fight, Wonder Woman's friends — the JLA, JSA and Teen Titans — can only nervously sit around and wait.

And then the bulk of this issue is devoted to this big fight. Wonder Woman enters wearing that helmet protecting her eyes so she doesn't turn to stone by looking at Medousa. But Medousa eventually knocks off Wonder Woman's helmet. Luckily, Wonder Woman was wearing another blindfold underneath the helmet just in case. However, Medousa is able to remove that blindfold as well. So Wonder Woman grabs one of Medousa's severed snake heads and pours its venom into her eyes to blind herself. And then Wonder Woman brutally decapitates Medousa in front of the entire world.



I'm not sure why Wonder Woman couldn't simply keep her eyes closed — putting venom in her eyes seemed unnecessarily dramatic. But I'm sure Wonder Woman fans at the time were pleased with this extended fight sequence. For me personally, I'm sad that this is a comic with both Wonder Girl and Ares, but they don't interact with each other. Oh well. This isn't their story.

Next time, we'll go back to the future with Teen Titans #18.