Wonder Woman #123 & 124

I skipped ahead in my reading of Wonder Woman to get to the section where Artemis shows up for the first time since her resurrection.

OLD SPOILERS AHEAD


#123

Artemis was seen in one panel in Underworld Unleashed where Diana felt horrified when she saw Artemis in hell. Which didn't make sense to me for a lot of reasons including her wearing the outfit she wore when she first met Diana. This led to Diana looking for her in Artemis' mini series and this is supposed to take place afterwards.

Diana, Cassie and her mom are hanging out with Jason Blood. Artemis attacks since she's part of a demon hunting team (who never show up) and Jason Blood transforms into the Demon. The news stations record the showdown, Hippolyta sees it and freaks out since she set Artemis up to die. Having her back can't be a good sign. Cassie recently asked Zeus for powers instead of using the sandals of Hermes and the gauntlets of Atlas. She gets involved in the fight but discovers she can't use her powers when her mom holds her back. Neron arrives to take them all to hell with him.


Overall: Artemis does toss Diana around at first and stabs Etrigan. But she does get pushed around to a humiliating degree by Cassie. Yes Artemis is a normal Amazon in this canon compared to her Rebirth self. (Excluding her abilities from her mini which are barely mentioned further on.) But Cassie is an amateur that effortlessly pulls Artemis back with her hair. It's actually painful to look at and seems to be present just to make Cassie look good at her expense. I have heard Artemis is better later on which I hope is true. She just doesn't look good in this issue.

Why doesn't the world already know Artemis is alive? I have to reread her mini but I'm pretty sure she revealed she was alive on tv. Artemis proudly proclaimed she resurrected herself. Even if she didn't would Diana not tell anyone this? Even her mother who set Artemis up to die in her place?


#124

Donna arrives to go after everyone who have been captured by Neron. It only just occurs to Hippolyta that she was never certain if the spell she had placed on Diana to weaken her in order to assure Artemis beat her was removed. After asking for a way to confirm it she leaves before another concern about Diana can be asked. (I think it has to do with Donna?) Neron is a jerk to Helena, Artemis escapes while Diana is powerless and Cassie doesn't know what to do. Hippolyta arrives and Donna joins her.

Merlin tells Cassie she can use her powers and she frees Diana informing her about Artemis having her half of her powers. Everyone arrives to fight Neron, for some reason he's hurt and aims for Donna. Artemis wounds Neron but he still manages to attack Diana proclaiming that he killed her.



Overall: It starts off promising with Donna rushing in and Hippolyta realizing how much she screwed up. I hate this continuity that has Donna only just being introduced to Hippolyta though. Neron shaming Helena Sandsmark for how she dresses and ripping off her clothes then we get a very sudden confrontation with Jason Blood. How she's attracted to him but he lied to her and explaining his background. Yes it was all in her head. It just feels so unnatural/exploitative when you read it and feels like it could have been cut. Why did she scream? What scared her at the end of her talk with "Jason Blood"? No idea but it would have been interesting if we didn't know what she saw and had to fill in the blanks ourselves. It felt gratuitous mixed with a random soap opera.

Artemis being the most level headed one is a welcome change from last issue. It makes sense given her time in the underworld. She's able to bite off her extremely long ponytail to use as a rope and manages to teach Cassie a few things. Since she later becomes a teacher to her it's a hint of things to come. Although Cassie later listens to "Santa" who turns out to be Merlin. Good thing he wasn't lying to her. Artemis' ornamental devil skulls were made of the purest of silver? Good to know those things were there for an actual purpose. Unless I forgot about that in Requiem?

I get the impression everything except Artemis having some experience with the underworld was tossed from her mini. Her codename Requiem was only used once for example. Artemis got to shine more int his one which I appreciate. Hippolyta ironically is to blame for Diana being struck down as Diana was weakened thanks to the spell. Reading ahead we never get any solid reason for Artemis attacking Jason Blood by herself and then everyone instantly shrugs it off. I'm not a fan of what I read in this run and I don't have plans to complete it.


Questions Asked?: Why does Cassie and a random female cop both refer to Artemis as a dame? That word isn't used that causally especially by kids.