Serpent Tea Party and Word Association
Written By: Greg Rucka
Art By: Liam Sharp, Laura Martin, Jodi Wynne
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: February 22, 2017
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
So Wonder Woman's a nut job and the rest of our heroes like Etta Candy, Steve Trevor and Barbara Minerva are on the run from Veronica Cale and her Godwatch......... Yeah, that about brings everyone up to speed with what's going on right now. Oh........ Oh, we also have Ferdinand the Chef jumping back into the pages of Wonder Woman here because in the previous "Truth" story, we saw Etta needing friends anywhere she could find them and it seems that Ferdinand....... who should really be calling himself Ferdinand the Hobo is the only one she can trust in a world that's out to take anyone down who's close to Wonder Woman. While all of this is going on though, our hero is sitting in a padded room having conversations with a snake that lives in her arm that's talking in circles and driving me nuts. Let's jump into this issue and see if we can get some clarity on what's going on with our hero and what Godwatch will do to get to her and in turn, get to Themyscira. Let's check it out.
Explain It!:
Our issue begins with Castalia bringing a little hope to the Amazons of Themyscira because as we saw in the last "Truth" issue, the black tree has sprouted on the paradise island again and our Amazons believe that it can only be a warning of doom. The way she brings the hope is by taking an axe and striking the tree and for whatever reason, when the axe shatters, it seems that it lays Hippolyta's thoughts of Diana dying to rest. So yeah........ hope.......... I don't quite understand it all, but hope nonetheless.
Back on Man's World, Diana is crazy as hell and having herself a tea party with the snake that lives inside her arm, while it tells her how she's had many different titles over the years before everything ends in what seems like a word association exercise that turns the snake into a skeleton before reverting back to its normal state and politely excusing itself........ Good times. Etta, Steve and Ferdinand don't seem to be having any better of a time either because Colonel Poison's brigade have found them and are laying down some heavy fire all so that Veronica Cale can blackmail Barbara Minerva into accepting the chance to become Cheetah again.......... which she does when it looks like there's no other recourse for her friends survival.
In the end, Cheetah is reborn and Etta decides that they need their big guns back so the the three of them head over to where Diana's been drooling all over her self and once Ferdinand hands Wonder Woman her clothes and her lasso, it seems that she's alright again and I'm left wondering what the hell the purpose of the asylum was........ but maybe I should just be patient and wait for an explanation.
That's it for this issue of Wonder Woman and while I loved the art in this issue....... really, I love just about anything that Liam Sharp gives us, I have to say that the convoluted way that this story is being told is really starting to get to me. I mean, we've spent two issues of this story with our hero being a loony and talking to a snake that lives inside of her arm and so far I really haven't gleamed the meaning or the purpose of it all. Yeah, I'm a bit thick when compared to most people, but I would think that through everything we've read so far from this series that I'd be able to have a pretty basic understanding about what's going on here........... but I really don't. The most interesting things going on in this issue is what Veronica Cale is up to with her Godwatch and that's only because we got her origin in the last issue of the Year One story and right now that's the only piece of information I can really grab hold of and run with because it was straight forward and wasn't trying to fuck with me by showing a snake that lives inside someone's arm. Yeah, I'm getting a bit bitter, but overall, I like aspects to this story, just not anything dealing with Wonder Woman at this moment and like I said previously, I really love the art in this book.
Bits and Pieces:
While I love the art and our supporting cast in this issue, I can't say the same about our hero because goddamn is Greg Rucka really extending the crazy angle to this book to the point where it's driving me nuts. There's some cool moments and reveals in this issue, but the secrecy of the whole thing is wearing on me a bit.
6.4/10
I agree that the storytelling is progressing very slowly and is somewhat frustrating. But it is good to see Cheetah become a villain again. Barbara Minerva is to WW like Two-Face is to Batman. My primary concern at this point in Rucka's narrative is that I do not really see why we are supposed to care where the story is going.
ReplyDeleteFor example, who cares if Veronica Cale finds out where Themyscira is? Or Ares? All Cale would do is probably attack it thinking that it consists of Gods, but she would be easily defeated. As for Ares, his reasons for wanting to find Themyscira have not been made clear (or if it has then I missed it in my readings). What would Ares gain by destroying Paradise Island? Maybe he wants to see more Amazons, other than WW, kneel before him? My point is that I do not see there being any consequence to humanity. I don't care about Paradise Island and I have not been given any reason by Rucka to care. If Cale finds Themycira and destroys it, so what? Ditto for Ares. I hope that at some point it is revealed that more is at stake other than WW regaining her memory. Rucka continues to think small (so far).
The Amazons have went from being very bad ass under Azarello to picture perfect under Rucka. WW has gone from being bad ass to being a snowflake that can't handle the truth. And it id somewhat disconcerting that WW's pre-Flashpoint chef, Ferdinand is the one whose presence jarred her memory. ALSO....
Where in the hell is the Justice League? Good Lord, Diana is in hiding and not a single member of the Justice League seems to give a shit? And Steve Trevor and Etta don't even bother to ask the JL for help? Since when does (the pre-Flashpoint character) Ferdinand- the-Minotaur-Chef have more impact on WW's mind than Batman? or Superman? or virtually ANY other DC character? It is obvious that Rucka has an affinity for Ferdinand (from his previous run on WW)but I hope we are, (as the reviewer, Eric Shea suggested)given a detailed reason as to how and why Ferdinand had such power and influence over Diana.
This story is intriguing despite my concerns and I remain looking forward to see how it will be resolved.
I don't think this snake in the arm thing is going to matter one bit in the long run. Nonsense! And I also didn't get why the axe shattering on the tree was supposed to mean hope. I think that Rucka is just writing his internal dialogue without letting us know what he was thinking about in the first place. Like we're getting half of a phone conversation. I'm starting to get annoyed with this title that had such a strong start.
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