Who's Got Answers?
Written By: Greg RuckaArt By: Liam Sharp, Laura Martin, Jodi Wynne
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: June 22, 2016
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
As we all saw in the Rebirth issue of Wonder Woman, things might not be as cut and dry as we believed them to be from her origin to her even being the God of War. Yeah, it's a little confusing right now for us and Wonder Woman apparently, but hopefully now that our Queen of the Amazons is out and about and trying to hunt down answers for herself, we'll get to find out what the hell we've been reading about for the past five years. I'm all for having new ideas for a character, I just hope that when everything is said and done that this wasn't all a St. Elsewhere, where all of Wonder Woman's exploits were actually in the mind of a young autistic boy staring at a snow globe....... Does anyone still remember St. Elsewhere? Anyway, let's jump into this issue and see where Wonder Woman's hunt for answers takes her now that nothing seems to make sense in her own recollection of events. Let's check it out.
Explain It!:
Our issue begins with Wonder Woman showing up in the Banakane Rainforest looking for those answers that she wants so much...... but her quest for those answers are really odd because our hero spends the majority of this issue talking to herself as she goes through the jungle about how she's the type of person to give three warnings to someone before going all Amazon on them........ The reason I say majority of this issue and not all is because we also have Steve Trevor and Etta Candy making an appearance and while Steve's location is within proximity to Wonder Woman's quest, at this point their stories don't intersect.
It's odd that the Rebirth issue and this #1 all seem to be about showing things from Wonder Woman's past, like with her talking about her true origin previously and also showing Aries' helmet that for some reason has become nothing more than a replica and for this issue it seems that we're exploring Steve's love for Diana and showing us some of the Hyena-Men who served under the First Born. During her walkabout the jungle, Diana is constantly seeing these Hyena-Men as she searches for her real target.......... who at the end turns out to be Cheetah...... and even with that it seems that we're still kind of showcasing people from Wonder Woman's past. While Wonder Woman is on the hunt for Cheetah so that she can get her help in finding Themyscira, which has apparently become lost to her, Steve Trevor is with a team in the area on a secret mission to take down a warlord named Cadulo, who has terrorized the area and as we find out, has evaded Steve's team and taken all of the daughters of a village as his captors. Of course news like this doesn't please Etta Candy, especially after she realizes that Wonder Woman is in the area because she comes to believe that Steve Trevor let something leak to his ex, which opened up the flood gates for information to get out and led to Cadulo evading capture........ or execution........ or whatever Steve's plan was.
In the end, Wonder Woman continues talking to herself, as if she knows that Cheetah is listening...... which she probably is and eventually after coming up to a gross ass effigy of something made out of human and animal bones, shit gets real as the Hyena-Men finally pounce, but we don't really get to see any of the fight as this story is interwoven with scenes of what Steve is up to, but eventually we get Diana confronted by Cheetah and our hero asking her for help.
That's it for this issue of Wonder Woman and while this series might go down as the great deconstruction of Wonder Woman's character and actually giving her the Rebirth/meat and potatoes that DC is looking for, this issue just didn't have a lot going on for it. Just Wonder Woman walking through the jungle as Steve fails at his mission. Yeah, we're setting up what will be going on for the next issues going forward and we may be pulling a Ghost of Christmas Past with Wonder Woman's villains........ but there still wasn't too much to this issue. It's a really fast read, where not a lot goes down and if the art wasn't as strong as it was.......... and believe me it's strong as hell. It's downright beautiful even, but if it wasn't for that, I might have gotten a little bored here. I still look forward to this series and what it's going to do in moving forward with this story, while delving deep into Wonder Woman Year One, I just hope that it picks up the pace a bit and doesn't rely on being esoteric throughout.
Bits and Pieces:
While Wonder Woman begins her journey into finding out who she really is....... and what her true origins actually are, this issue doesn't really do much to grab you and make sure that you keep reading throughout this run. There just isn't a whole lot to sink your teeth into, but I remain optimistic that this series will end up wowing the hell out of us........ especially if the art remains as strong as it is in this issue because goddamn this was something to look at.
6.5/10
I actually loved this issue MUCH better than the Rebirth issue. I would have reversed the scores you guys gave the 2 books. The Rebirth issue bored me, while this one engaged me. Glad you guys are still loving the Rebirth stuff though, and thanks for the hours and hours of entertainment ya'll give too.
ReplyDeletei reviewed the Rebirth issue and loved it...I also liked this alot more than Eric.
DeleteHahah, ok, I thought this was leaps and bounds above the Rebirth. I remember making the comment that it was one of the Rebirth books I was REALLY looking forward to and felt it was the weakest for that week. We of course had differing opinions on that one :P This is what I think I was expecting out of the Rebirth issue. I gave Wonder Woman Rebirth an 8, this was a definate 9 or 9.5 for me.
DeleteI'm also in the opposite category, I loved this issue!
DeletePersonally, I don't want to see the Azzarello/Chiang origin change, I think it gave new and solid legitimacy to Diana's power and status, and perfectly balanced the DC trinity (god, man, and alien).
That said, under Rucka's pen, Diana is once again infused with more personality in the few words she speaks than in any other mainstream incarnation in the past 12months. Her "three warnings" genuinely set the tone of her character, balancing power and mercy equally.
As much as I enjoyed the writing, the art was exquisite! There's something to be said about any comic you can just look at without reading the text and still be enthralled by the story.
And the fact that we get another issue in 2 weeks in just icing on the cake!
Solid 9/10 for me
Peace,
-Ascent
I am reviewing the zero year issues and can't wait...but with June being a 5 week month, we have to wait 3 weeks for the next issue
DeleteArgh! You're right. I didn't realize.
DeleteWell with Rucka on it I'm sure it will be worth the wait.
There's a panel about the past in this one that I think they may springboard off of into that zero year tale. or at least i hope they will. It would be nice to see connections made throughout.
My one regret about this new design though, is that Diana no longer has the amazing Hephaestus gauntlets with the god-swords. That was the best character upgrade I've seen in a while.
-Ascent (formerly known as Fall)
they didn't use them enough
DeleteI didn't get this issue at all! If they were Cheetah people would it have spoiled the ending??
ReplyDeleteseemed more like she was fighting through the hyena men of the New 52 to get to Cheetah
Delete