Love Will Find A Way
Written By: Greg Rucka
Art By: Liam Sharp, Hi-Fi, Jodi Wynne
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: May 24, 2017
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
The Truth is coming to an end here and all we have left is one more Godwatch story and an epilogue to tie everything together......... and for what we've been given so far, I really hope that's enough to make sense of the year of Wonder Woman that we've been given that seems to have retconned the New 52. In our previous issue to The Truth story, we saw Veronica Cale and Wonder Woman find their way to the gateway to Themyscira.......... and the dog versions of Phobos and Deimos, which I'm sure won't go and bite our hero in the ass or anything, but the kicker was, Instead of finding her way home finally, Diana came face to face with Ares. Let's jump into this issue and see how everything comes together here and see if Wonder Woman can finally find the truth that she's been searching for. Let's check it out.
Explain It!:
Our issue begins with Ares giving us a little information about what he's been up to and as it turns out, he hasn't been up to much. A long ass time ago it was decreed that war only leads to madness and the god of war was feeling it pretty hardcore, which led his love Aphrodite to bind him and keep him from mortals and their war-ful ways. To make sure that Ares was not disturbed and kept from the madness that overtook him previously, the Amazons were created to guard his prison. That's right, Themyscira is the prison for Ares and apparently the snake bite that Ares gave Wonder Woman previously was a gift so that she would have access to his cell if she should ever return. Pretty much, that's why no one who leaves Themyscira could ever return because the gods knew it was too dangerous for that kind of knowledge to ever get out and about and gave her false memories of returning home all those times to keep the secret safe.
On Themyscira itself, Phobos and Deimos have arrived to take their father's power, but the Amazons are ready to give them a fight as they were created for, but the might of the warrior women just isn't enough to kill two gods. Thankfully, now that Wonder Woman knows the truth about who and what she is, she knows exactly what she needs to do as Ares' jailer and that's to confront the two gods with something they've never experienced before. Truth and love. It's pretty anti-climactic actually, but with the gods bound by the Perfect, it's time for Wonder Woman to return to Man's World and continue her good work.
In the end, we find out that for everything that Veronica Cale went through to get her daughter Izzy back, she isn't able to leave without becoming the faceless shell that she previously was. So she can either live out her days in Ares' cell, who's kept her safe and protected all these years or become an Amazon and live forever on Paradise Island. Yeah, it's a no-brainer, but it's a real buzz kill for Veronica Cale who has to say goodbye to her daughter and as they say goodbye to one another, so do Diana and Hippolyta, who lets our hero know that she's still proud of her.
That's it for this issue of Wonder Woman and to my surprise, I'm pretty happy with the reveal of the truth here and how it essentially retcons Wonder Woman's New 52 adventures.......... at least when it comes to her visiting Themyscira. I'm usually pissed at such things, but I found this development pretty cool and actually dig that the Amazons were created to keep Ares safe and keep the madness of war away from all those who would try to use it. Yeah, the ending with Phobos and Deimos was kind of anti-climactic, but even with that, I found the heartbreaking scene between Veronica and Izzy more than made up for it and was a decent conclusion to their story. For the art, Liam Sharp is one of my favorite artists at DC Comics right now, but lately, some of his pages seem rushed and lacking all the detail that makes him so unique and perfect for this book, but even with that, when he's on point, it's a hell of a sight to be seen.
Bits and Pieces:
While the ending battle was a little lackluster for everything this story was built up to be, overall I have to say that I'm pretty happy with what we got here for the ending of The Truth. The art was decent to great at times and even though the conclusion to this story kind of changes Wonder Woman's history, I don't find myself minding and look forward to see what's next for our Amazon hero.
8/10
I just gotta say, for me, this is not worth it. I've had it. I take back what i said before about rucka being a good writer. For me he's not. This arc is long (could have been finished maybe with 3-4 issues), dragging, boring, overrated and such a complete nonsense. For the whole year, rucka just made 4 arcs, where the other bi monthly comics' stories are already far from where they left since rebirth. Isadore becomes an amazon, wonder woman says she loves phobos and deimos that makes no sense, and liam sharp does not make good fight scenes but his art is good. That's just my opinion. Year one is amazing, the lies is mediocre but some people like it maybe because it was the hype of rebirth back then or whatever the reason is. I feel like the ending is lacking and could have been more improved. No offense eric, it's just what i think about the whole wonder woman this year. Still a big fan of you guys especially your podcasts. Rock on!!
ReplyDeleteThis is just my own opinion by the way. And i think that what rucka's doing with the alternating storylines is not very friendly and i think he should have just gone with one story at a time. Every arc is almost 5-6 issues long, although it shouldnt have been that long, i guess.
DeleteI was a huge fan...for a little bit. Now that it's over and rucka is quitting, I'm pissed and think he just came back to make ww his ww again, laughed at all of us and quit like a dick.
DeleteYeah dude, exaclty!! He just made wonder woman his wonder woman. And timed it perfectly by quitting. I think he was fired by dc once. Try to listen to him in some of the podcasts, i recommend the one in wordballoon at the start of the new 52. He was, a bit, so full of himself. I was also a fan of him, at the start where the characters are being build up, but now..... meh.
DeleteAzzarello has reinvented Diana in the best possible way and boosted her ancient Greekness and mythos. Take it or leave it that's the truth! Only if he had the time to write Donna and sort out the layers of mess that encrust her long origin of stinky boots. George Perez understood Donna the best and takes second place for the best WW run and first place for Donna's tale.
ReplyDeleteI love Azzarello's run...just ordered the vol 1 of the New 52 to read over again
DeleteI agree. Azarello reinvented diana's best possible reincarnation in the 1st parts of the new52. I just wished hades didnt looked like a kid with half burnt candles for a face. Hahaha. But still very good read. Might buy the trade too by the way.
DeleteAzzarello did some great things with the gods and creating characters like First-Born, but he turned the Amazons into misanderists and rapists which was unforgivable in my eyes. I also disliked the way he wrote Diana because he made her a passive character. The storyline, supporting characters, and new designs were cool. He did a great job at writing actions and the gods, but he failed to understand what made Wonder Woman so iconic as a character in the first place.
DeleteWas that the big reveal? it is so underwhelming that I think I can ignore it completely
ReplyDeleteI actually liked the ending, because it was NOT a battle. I thought it was a great twist to show that love is more powerful than war. Maybe I'm just a sentimental fool. That being said, while I liked this issue better than the previous few in the Truth arc, I think the arc as a whole had a LOT of filler, and we could have gotten to this point in about four fewer issues.
ReplyDeleteBut 8 sounds about right, Eric. If the art was all up to usual Sharp standards, I could have gone 8.5 or 9; but the art wasn't quite as good as we've seen before.
When I first read this issue, I was pissed that it was so anti-climatic and lacked an actual fight, but now I actually think it was a really powerful moment when she decided to love the gods despite everything they did. Her original creator wrote her character to be a hero who saved the world with love and even had her redeem many of her enemies. The concept sounds lame, but it worked great in anime such as My Hero Academia, Magi, and Nausicca and the Valley of the Wind. Writers of the character need to take notes. I like the way Rucka writes Diana, and gave Veronica a strong emotional background, but I hated the lack of action in the run. Year One was way better than The Lies. The lack of action is shocking considering the fact that Rucka had such a good job between character-emotion-driven storylines and action in Eyes of the Gorgon and Land of the Dead. What happened? I also wish he wrote Etta Candy the way Renae De Liz did. She could have been one of Barbara's students. Missed opportunity. Etta is supposed to be Diana's best friend who is a non-Amazon woman and brings out her light and fun side. De Liz wrote her perfectly in Legend of Wonder Woman, but Rucka just made Etta a watered-down Amanda Waller.
ReplyDeleteAs for Azzarello, he made the gods cooler with new great designs and he created the awesome villain First-Born, and he was good with fun and action but he wasn't good at writing Diana as a character. His Diana was a passive character instead of active and she lacked the core personality traits that make Wonder Woman unique: she's supposed to be vivacious and personable, tough, yet sensitive and empathetic, strong, but compassionate. Wonder Woman is charming, wise, and full of life. She might be a warrior, but she was raised to be a diplomatic leader in a peaceful utopia. She has a strong sense of justice, a lust for life, and a thirst for knowledge. She's not quick to anger or stoic like other superheroes. She also likes to save her villians from herself and she loves all her enemies (except for Circe.) Azzarello didn't understand that. The only writers who get her personality right are George Perez, Joe Kelly, Gail Simone, Greg Rucka, Aaron Lopresi, Phil Jimenez, Trina Robbins, and Marc Andreyko. Azzarello also turned the Amazons into straw-feminists, rapists, and child murders, which is unforgivable through my eyes. The Amazons are supposed to be heroes. I hated the way Azzarello wrote Diana and the Amazons, he was terrible at that, but I loved the way he wrote the gods and supporting characters.
Azzarello can't help himself and always adds stupidly offensive crap to his books. I agrre with you about the character designs and that's one of the few things remaining from the run though they aren't used a whole lot
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