Wonder Woman #11

[superfangirl1]

Wonder Woman final confrontation the Sovereign get sideline. Wonder woman gathers magic users for a meeting, so to discuss the Amanda Waller propaganda videos going on in Absolute Power #1

They get attack by a Wonder Woman version of Task Force VII Amazo.

Comments

[nyadnar17]

Not gonna lie.

If the world governments have access to this type of tech then it does kinda seem like humanity in the DCU have out grown the need for superheroes.

[cainofdreaming]

If it took Spectre's powers they've outgrown God.

[deh_tommy]

Or maybe the Spectre’s just useless. It’s not the first time he’s jobbed to show how bad the bad guy is.

[blues32]

Wasn't the last time against Nekron? Nekron basically existed before God said, "Let there be light". If anyone can job the Spectre, it's him.

[deh_tommy]

To be fair, aren’t these robots made in collaboration with Brainiac?

[blues32]

No, I think these are the Amazos Zur En Arr was going to use.

[blues32]

This is just moronic. Stealing the power of the Specter? With a ROBOT? How does that work? This is the literal wrath of God we're talking about!

[shakalooloo]

And doing it faster than the Spectre can just 'pillar of salt' the thing. He was in the process of smiting it!

Why is its speech pattern so messed up?

[jlbarnett]

maybe absorbing all this magic is messing it up?

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Either way, it's an annoying pattern to read over the long term.

[numeronone]

I feel like it's an extremely hamfisted commentary on the way Large Language Models - aka "Generative AI" - tend to just recycle content endlessly rather than creating anything genuinely new.

But of course, this is an extremely poor tactic to play from a book published by DC Comics, during a storyline which is about the government cracking down on superheroes with menacing robots.

[shakalooloo]

That might be neat if they'd had the robots responding with random text relating to what was being said to them, but it just seems plain random.

[numeronone]

Yeah...it's real "aw, he thinks he's people!" energy from this writing, but the people he thinks he is are Alan Moore.

[blues32]

Given that Spectre was in the middle of trying to smite it, I'd say the machine has a soul. That could be causing it to spout things the soul's owner might say. Which appears to be a lot of quotes.

[deh_tommy]

So what’s the deal with the Amazo quoting Charles Dickens?

[tcampbell1000]

Detective Chimp seemed on the verge of figuring that out before the team's defeat, so I'm guessing it's "to be revealed later."

[cainofdreaming]

It tried to absorb Richard Swift and got a bit more than it cared for? The heroes might have a grudging inside man?

[digicom]

I believe they are implying that this Amazo is possessed by the Zur En Arrh of a Victorian Batman, probably Gotham by Gaslight's.

It still doesn't explain the Spectre thing, tho.

[bruinsfan]

I'm sorry, I just don't buy a robot being able to mimic/steal the Spectre's power, regardless of what level he's currently operating at. Or harm a spirit in any meaningful way.

Same for John Constantine's magic, actually. I suppose it could copy his knowledge of occult rituals, but would those work if enacted by something that's not a living being with a soul? Can a recording of a ritual conjure up a demon?

Diana and the Marvels are a bit more of a gray area; their powers are mystical/divine in origin, but they're mostly enhancements to their physical capabilities. I can see robots being able to duplicate those physical changes.

[tcampbell1000]

In the main book, what happens to magicians is explained a bit differently: "If you use magic, you will no longer remember how to conjure it." And Jim Corrigan is specifically shown losing his ability to bring forth the Spectre. (Why these things aren't better coordinated between the books, I have no idea.)

[bruinsfan]

That sounds more reasonable. I might even accept it working on Jim Corrigan before he changes into the Spectre, but after seems very unlikely.

[tcampbell1000]

There's a long, long history of the Spectre not actually living up to that whole "wrath of God" thing, and I have issues with that theological concept anyway. So his defeat here doesn't really bug me much. (Even at his best, I think it's more like he's the formerly-human instrument of the wrath of God, and that's not a guarantee of complete invulnerability any more than being a divine instrument protected Jesus.)

This is actually more believable than what Amazo pulled in the old days, mimicking magic-based powers despite being a creature of science--part of the conceit here is that Waller's brought in mystics and alien technology as well as the repurposed Amazo tech. She's sealed off alternate dimensions, she's got an interplanetary blockade going. She's thought of all the obvious objections, and if it's likely she's overreaching, she's at least not doing it in any easily exploitable way.

I mean, basically, the smart version of this plot--or the least dumb version, if you really must--is that Waller has been quietly planning and scheming and refining these weapons for a long time because she knows that if you're going up against the superhero population you damn well better follow the Powell Doctrine. Yes, that does mean the first few issues of this crossover are going to be on the predictable side, but if the heroes aren't in trouble then the whole thing is pointless.

Plus, I admit I felt something when they got to Detective Chimp.

That said, I do think it's unfortunately hilarious that King has to suspend his whole "Wonder Woman versus the secret masters of America" plot because Waller was like "Actually, ME and MY ASSOCIATES are the secret masters of America, and we're interested in taking out ALL the heroes, not just the one who offends your nationalist misogynist sensibilities the most."