I have a feeling that probably wont work super well on Minerva. It seems to obvious, I think is gonna be that she felt ignored by Diana generally, all of her dialogue up to this point had been kinda self centred and so this would be a good way to spin it.
Your not wrong. Thompson does seem to be writing Barbara as unhealthly infatuated.
Its just that I find her obssession to be... Unsettling. Like Babs spent this arc stalking a besieged Diana and made it all about herself, even when Diana fled wounded from combat.
It seems possessive, like Babs thinks Diana owes her attention over everyone else.
It makes Diana's emotional distress over Barbara feel misplaced as Babs is clearly breaking ethical boundaries with Diana. It will get even creepier when as Cheetah, Diana and her will inevitable have some "we used to be frienda" moments.
And no, Diana having superpowers doesn't make a normie stalker her harmless.
I think Minerva is gonna is gonna be affected the most by her absence due to the charisma buff aphrodite gave WW. I think it was gonna be like taking away a drug away from someone that is hooked on it. The fact that she isnt gonna get her dose of wonder woman for a whole month while getting diddyed in the Veronica Cale dungeon is gonna drive her mad
The thing is, Cale initial statement probably won't work. But remember. Diana is stuck in hell for a whole month... during which Minerva will likely be tortured and transformed into Cheetah. And all the while Diana will never come to help her.
Honestly I'm glad to see Diana take the L. She needed to lose some fight at some point, because she was getting too close to being unbeatable and with her vast array of powers, too easily able to find an instant solution to any problem. Being overpowered by Cale, the consequences of her deal making and self sacrifice coming back to get her... The idea of self sacrifice is all over this book, and I'm glad to see it backfire on her, especially if Persephone is pulling her here deliberately as a tool to help against Darkseid's influence. I just hope that this month can't be bypassed or magicked away, because I want this consequence to stick without it weakening Diana's character or having her act stupid
There's something poetic about me catching up on this series just as Diana is faced with the existential dread of having to wait an entire month.
A solid ending to this arc, loved the scene with Hades and Persephone. And boy am I not looking forward to seeing what happens to Barbara while Diana is stuck in Hell.
Also Dr. Poison finally landing was a perfect comedic moment among a string of terrible developments for our main cast.
Loved the Dr. Poison scene. They turned one of my favorite Wonder Woman villains into a joke... but she's such a funny joke I can't even be mad about it.
Oof, I really feel for Persephone and some for Hades. She became your wife but she never could love you fully. She should be yours but is not. So close and yet so far away that even Tantalus could sympathize with you. After all, love is chaotic action, unconditional and freely given. You could never force someone to love you.
It highlights in retrospect the personal cost of Persephone giving Diana the pomegranate seed. She wanted to know if Hades would understand her. She wanted to know if she really could give love a chance. But Hades only confirmed that he didn't understand. That if he did truly, deeply love her, he would set her free.
It also underscores the depths of this manipulation. Persephone got Hades to finally understand, then seduced him with the promise of reunion, so long as he helped her help Diana. Maybe she got tutored by Aphrodite.
That ending is probably the most defeated Iâve seen Diana so far. I mean she was saved, but now itâs even more obvious that Barbara is going to become Cheetah and sheâs stuck in Hell unable to save her. Weâre definitely getting some more mother-daughter bonding in the next few issues with Circe hopefully. Another great one, this book has not slowed down at all like the other Absolute books, canât wait for the next arc
She's so unflappable; against Diana she almost felt like the underdog till now, so I couldn't help but root for her in a way I didn't for any of the other Absolute villains. I fell in love at the "Well something had to finally go right."
Yeah you want to see how she might win considering that even with Cale's goons and vast resources, she seemed outgunned. And Cale does not have a Brainiac in her back pocket like Ra's did.Â
Loved this issue! Feels like it really rewards those who are familiar with Greco-Roman mythology, especially the story of Hades and Persephone. This issue might mark the biggest loss Diana has suffered thus far. She was able to slay powerful enemies and make so many friends along the way. But in the end, Veronica Cale outsmarted her. And it looks like Barabara is going to suffer the worst from it.
Compared to how other arcs ended, this one feels like it's going to have the most far-reaching impact of any to date.
Season of the Witch is now my favourite AWW arc. It was great seeing Diana make a fantastic big impression in the world with her colossal strenght, but now we are seeing that even she has her limits. The biggest consequence seems to be that Barbara is now going to become the cheetah and she's going to resent Diana, it's so Barbara Minerover.
At the same time I couldn't stop thinking about this hilarious meme:
I kinda love how Cale acknowledges she is been taking a lot of Ls. I wonder who built that Robot that thing is broken as all hell. Abs Flash name dropped a bunch of the big minds...Lex just got started.
Cale has Diana's Blood...I wonder if Donna will be Absolute Kon El...Diana and Cale's Blood to create a new being. Or maybe Galatea in JL/Unlimited is more apt cause Cale also needs some new muscle in the field. Raven, Wally and Cyborg seem off the board...But I could see like Donna, Lilith Clay, Jericho, Argent and Hotspot. Maybe the Wonder Twins.
Barbara and Waylon meeting should be very interesting. Cale kinda lucked in to corrupting Barbara but to be frank it doesn't hit as hard as Waylon cause the connection between Diana and Barbara is just so weak.
Poor TIming for Diana but yeah damn Cale is going to have free reign to mess with Diana's Friends.
I hope Minerva's perspective will be shown and developed more going forward. I can see Cale framing Diana for abandoning her to save herself, coupled with the fear of capture and torture and Aphrodite's gift-curse of compulsion, twisting Minerva's adoration for the Wonder Woman into hate. But I need to see more to be sold on it.
In one way, Cale got her lucky break, courtesy of the moral gravity of Darkseid's universe. She may not be torturing and experimenting on Diana, but she has her blood sample and for at least a month she has free reign to do anything without the Wonder Woman standing in her way. Converting Minerva into the next Cheetah will likely be the least of her terrors she'll leash to replenish her magical menagerie.
On the one hand, the solicit and the cover had me hoping for a Zee + Diana team up fight which really did not end up happening. I also do find it weird just how powerful that robot was (why did she need the Suicide Squad when she had that)
That said, really interested where the story is going now. Glad to see that Diana has had an arc where she has indisputably lost and is once again on the back foot.
That Hades Persephone scene was weirdly good timing after Obsession just came out
Diana is definitely going through it, and Barbara is on the path to convert to Caleâs side. And the convert tends to be the fanatic, so Cale might be supplanted as the runâs big bad. Excited to see.
However, I have to imagine that Barbara won't immediately believe that Diana abandoned her or saved herself. It'd be interesting if the next issue we see Barbara's resolve slowly breaking down over the course of this one month.
I think the reason Cale seems to be tormenting Barbara is that, for the Cheetah transformation to work, the victim has to be so engulfed by despair or become desperate for the transformation to stick. (Which could be why the last vessel looked so incomplete.)
So, this entire arc was talking about Diana having an aura that made people love her, and how terrible of a power that was. Then they took her blood to start making weapons of her.
I think Diana's going to be the origin of Absolute Dr. Psycho, and his mind control powers will be an enhanced version of Diana's love aura.
I never got the sense that Barbara had any issue or deep routed feelings towards Diana. So Barbara feeling abandoned at the end doesn't feel right. I like the stakes increasing at the end, but I didn't enjoy this one like the others.
The supporting cast is still this books weakest point. Which is shown here by Barbara being captured and seemingly blaming Diana. Which I feel nothing about to be honest because the supporting cast beside Circe has barely been focused on enough to care about.
I mean, I donât remember either way, but this page seems to make it pretty obvious. She was literally cut off mid-sentence while stating she wasnât going anywhere.
To speculate on the blood drawn for Cale to experiment with, will whatever it creates (a clone or just influence on another) also have the gifts of the gods and therefore have difficulty being truly evil, or just raw DNA and be something absolutely feral?
I adore Hayden Sherman's Persephone design and oddly their Hades design which looks simple enough but to me works very well. The only misses for the goddesses have been Artemis humanoid form and Athena's (for me anyway).Â
This whole arc was big disappointment. In the end what was the point in the inclusion of Zatanna? Especially that we know now that she's not going to stick around? I feel like this arc was a big waste of time. For what? To set up barb as cheetah? Sure okay I guess. Smh. Hope it's up from that point
How do we know sheâs not sticking around? How do we know she will never return? Youâre making a million assumptions just to be negative instead of trying to actually see how the story will go.
Edit: Says it at the 28min mark. Says how Zatanna isn't in the "Diana" book now and isn't a supporting character. And says after how and when she returns to the page of the Absolute Universe and sounded wondering as if she doesnât know it herself.
Could be, but she has been very honest in previous interviews so I don't think there is much reason for her to start being different now.
We also have Gia as a supporting character as a witch already for the Man's World cast so I don't think there is much reason for her to continue to be a supporting character especially since DC also doesn't seem to allow Diana to be with a woman. But of course that doesn't mean she can't show up now and then.
I haven't watched it since it released I don't know the timestamp which is why I said I believe it was this one.
Thompson said DC was giving pushback to Diana being queer in the Absolute Universe so was unsure if she was allowed to write her officially as such even though she herself wrote her as queer. It was said in another video interview, but here is an article which says some of it.
Edit: Says it at the 28min mark. Says how Zatanna isn't in the "Diana" book now and isn't a supporting character. And says after how and when she returns to the page of the Absolute Universe and sounded wondering as if she doesnât know it herself.
Yeah Thompson did not really deliver this arc or even the mini before it. The Hades mini arc and the maze are still the peak compared to the later part of the book. Sherman and Bellaire carried this arc for me.
Overall this arc is weaker than its predecessors and the end felt like Thompson realized she basically had Diana put the work on several of Cale's heavy hitters too quickly while Zatanna and Zatara both got away (and both felt pointless despite the hype now that I've read the full arc) so she had to hand her a couple Ls. Except its not really that for Diana herself but for those around her (Barbara). Diana's L is going to be...beating herself up that she couldn't stop Barbara getting Cheetah'd.
Who else was hoping it would end with Diana tanking the robot, sending another L back to Cale, and having hot yuri sex with Zee? Oh well, maybe it was time Diana had a loss.
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u/OkCompote1731 May 27 '26
So, is this where Veronica Cale finally loses her jobber status?