Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods #1 // Review
Diana is being offered godhood. She’s already been blessed with the wisdom of Athena, so she knows enough to turn it down. (Particularly as there is a lifeless god face down on the floor not far from where the offer is being made.) The offer rests at the center of Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods #1. Writer G. Willow Wilson launches Wonder Woman and company into the forefront of a dangerous conflict that is summoned to the page by artist Cian Tormey. Depth and energy resonate off the page courtesy of colorist Jordie Bellaire. The Lazarus Planet mega-crossover hits one of its most provocative moments courtesy of Wilson’s wit.
Even all of the wisdom of the gods is limited when it is paired with the judgment of a mortal. (And…honestly…even the gods have exercised some EXTREMELY bad judgment. It’s kind of…what they do.) Part of that bad judgment comes in the form of an array of gifts being given to a host of random passersby. Diana didn’t want to have to confront the gods, but her friends suggested that she talk to them on humanity’s behalf. Now, she’s in real danger of becoming one of them.
Wilson frames a really interesting conflict for any hero of any kind. The fact that it’s Wonder Woman who is being formally offered godhood makes the conflict all the more intense. More so than any other superhero of the Golden Age, her most consistent superpower is her altruism. Due to this, Wilson’s specific tackling of Diana’s decision is not quite given the weight, intricacy, and complexity it could’ve had if she had allowed herself just a little bit more time for a conversation in the presence of the fallen god. That being said, this particular conflict is one of the more provocative to make it onto the comics rack so far this year.
Tormey gives Diana’s inner conflicts vivid life in a beautifully heroic gaze. The madness of the gods is granted incredible power in a few remarkable establishing shots. Bellaire’s colors sharply frame moods and atmospheres in a variety of different settings as Wilson’s narrative flits from scene to scene in dramatically different locations. Tormey may not be given a whole lot of room in which to render Tokyo, Iceland, Philadelphia, or Mount Olympus, but Bellaire gives each setting a strikingly different feel that keeps the narrative well-grounded from page to page.
The main story is followed up by a quick, little jaunt to Themyscira courtesy of writers Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad. An internet video star makes a trip to try to discover the nature of the island of the Amazons and gets a bit more than he bargained for in a piece that gets exquisitely dark before the back cover. It’s an event that could be foreshadowing a darkness, which could explain the state of things that will dominate Tom King’s run on the new Wonder Woman that starts this coming September.
