Wonder Woman #46 - Discussion & Spoilers

[Nyssane]

What a surprise, this wasn't completely awful! But it still suffers from a lot of the same problems the earlier Robinson issues do - poor dialogue and a story that feels like it ultimately goes nowhere. It mainly feels like a "check-in" issue to see what everyone else is up to before the Dark Gods hit.

As we saw in the preview, Dr. Cyber approached Veronica Cale and asked if she wanted to hunt the Cheetah. Dr. Poison experiments on her only to leave her in a coma.

Afterwards, Cheetah awakens and kills those around her. She starts monologuing about the Dark Gods and how they are better than Urzkartaga, though really what she wants to do is kill Cale. As she dangles Cale off the building, Wonder Woman slams into the villain. Diana sees a light in the sky and thinks it's one of Cheetah's tricks. Cheetah, enraged that Cale escaped, leaps off the building while telling Diana she will pay.

At a Kobra Research Base, Jason rescues Glaucus. Really boring subplot.

Steve checks in with Diana and tells her that thousands of people have started swearing off their gods in favor of the "Dark Gods" while committing acts of violence. Steve tries to warn her that there are probably other superpowered beings on shaky terms with their own gods besides Cheetah, when WHAK! Wonder Woman is punched out of the sky by none other than Supergirl.

So yeah, I really didn't find this as bad as Robinson's other issues. The Cheetah stuff is disappointing as I hoped they would save her for a bigger, better storyline (and writer). But nothing that she did here was unsalveagable/unable to be ignored. The Dr. Cyber/Cale reunion was also a bit underwhelming and I wish we got to see Cyber act on her own rather than returning to Cale, at least for a while. And Robinson at least gets some points for doing what we all wanted and returning Dr. Poison to her scientific roots.

[Korath]

Three Stars out of five. the story wasn't incredible, but it wasn't bad either, and I was genuinely surprised by Supergirl's appearance, even if it makes sense. Even Jason felt a lot more balanced than before in this issue. Wait and see, mostly.

[Agent 86]

Wonder Woman v Supergirl? Now you have my attention!

[WonderScott]

Interesting that the Dark Gods are a known factor to people already without really being introduced to us yet.

Nice that they're including Kobra back in the pages of Wonder Woman, just like it was in the Pre-Crisis days. They, along with Saturna and the Crimson Men, might be interesting as a counterpoint to ARGUS if they're developed more.

Thanks for the recap Nyssane.

[Mel Dyer]

Cheetah's the star of this issue, which is unfortunate, ..because Barbara Minerva should be the star. Cheetah's babbling about gods, again, while Greg Rucka left her babbling something that started to sound like a recurring motivation. Diana's aerial reunion with her was brief, but, satisfying, though her tangling with Cheetah didn't resonate with the epic something ..that classic superhero comic enmities typically do. In this regard, James's characterization of her is taking a step backward.

Jason's golden noodle, with the ram's head amulet on it, is still impossibly flapping in the wind. Clearly its power to compel writers to ignore him, for awhile, is on the fritz. Prior to this issue, Glaucus was just on extended vacation - not a captive of Kobra - and required no rescue, by him. Now, it seems he's being used to explain Jason's golden noodle, the Buick fender around his shoulders and the medieval armor. Just the same, it's good to see Kobra...

And I'm looking forward to seeing Steve, ARGUS and, hopefully, ETTA take them on. Where is Etta?! Where is Ferdinand?

[Joao]

Not that bad. Cheetah was very ferocious and the artist did a good job with her, especially on the battle scenes. Cale is not as bad as I would've thought either. Jason is not in every scene which is welcome. Not bad. 3 out of 5.

[Dr. Poison]

Solid set-up for the coming of the Dark Gods. I enjoyed seeing the focus on the Cheetah with cameos by Dr. Poison and Dr. Cyber. With the coming of the Dark Gods affecting DC characters with ties to other gods, I wonder if we'll see Gundra the Vakyrie in this arc?

[Mel Dyer]

I read #46, again, ..and I am really tired of Cheetah and her pot god, Urzkartaga. Tired of hearing about him, as much as I'm tired of the hollow, pointless mediocrity radiating outwards from anywhere she and Diana go at it. Furthermore, I'm especially tired of writers ignoring Barbara Minerva and neglecting to give her any rationale for doing what she does ..or being what she is.

Does she want a bigger color TV? More money? A better sex life? Unlimited access to gourmet ice cream? Blood running in the streets? What is it that she wants that's SO terrible, that we need a Wonder Woman to stop her from accomplishing it? Like, if Wonder Woman is drunk or has projectile diarrhea, and Cheetah is on the loose, ..what is it that the rest of us should be so afraid of? What would we call out the National Guard or alert Homeland Security and ARGUS for? What is she doing in WW #46, that she doesn't do in EVERY OTHER story, ..besides running around, arbitrarily scratching people, mumbling about being a monster...?

Boring as hell.

Why can't Barbara Minerva be a female Doom or Luthor who wants to rule over everyone, ..but, who uses her were-cheetah thing, as a weapon to accomplish her primary goal? I really don't care about the Cheetah, griping about her kitty litter rash and her marijuana god, Urzpotarga. There's NO story, there...none! Why can't some writer figure that out and focus on what Barbara wants, for a change? Sick to DEATH of the Cheetah, over here, and while I hoped, otherwise...

WW #46 didn't change that.

[hkgkindaichi]

Well at least the art is pretty good
Fighting screen is quit awesome

[VonHammersmark]

Cheetah does need a motivation and she also needs a better game if she's to be a threat not just to Wonder Woman but to everyone in the DC Universe. The WW fans don't think Cheetah "needs" to be very fast though much to my surprise, Superman "needs" it more I guess, after all Cheetah is only a Wonder Woman villain and gone are the days when Wonder Woman was "stronger than Hercules, swifter than Mercury, as wise as Athena". Now it's "not as strong as Superman, slower than kryptonians, not wise at all"

[hkgkindaichi]

So jason is reunited with glaucus
Hope they will have an wonderful life and dont ever come back any more

[Jackalope89]

So jason is reunited with glaucus
Hope they will have an wonderful life and dont ever come back any more

Or, this could be a chance to improve Jason as a character, without overshadowing Diana.

[Joao]

Agreed that Cheetah needs better motivation to be a bigger threat in the DCU, but this version has too many personal conflicts. I can't see her wanting to rule the world or anything like that.

I thought about it and maybe she would turn her archaeology passion into hatred. Her curiousity for the gods and ancient civilizations turned her into a blood-thirsty monster. So she could turn that into a reason to try to destroy everything traditional. Museums and temples and artifacts.

But idk, even that seems out of character to me. I can't see a way out, guys, and I'd honestly prefer her to be WW's personal threat, not the big "super hero saves the city from the villain" one. Keep that to Ares, Cale, Silver Swan, Psycho, Poison etc.

[Mel Dyer]

Or, this could be a chance to improve Jason as a character, without overshadowing Diana.

Jason and Glaucus could set up shop in Herc's woodland cottage, in the American NW.

[WonderScott]

Maybe it's part of her journey, but for someone who just got done with one god, Urzkartaga, Cheetah seems awfully eager to hook up with the new Dark Gods. (I get that everyone is being affected by the Dark Gods, so it may be beyond her control.)

I think it's also part of her journey to get the revenge on Cale over with so she can get on with her life and hopefully more motivation for...what exactly? If Cheetah is going to stand alongside Joker and Lex and Circe and Darkseid and Brainiac and Ares and Ra's al Ghul as an archenemy (I'm not a one-for-one only archnemesis kind of guy), she's going to need some work and a plan. As always with Barbara Minerva, I want world domination and the assemblage of personal power. Bring on the evil Indiana Jones who's the foremost archeologist and leading mind behind the mystical, magical, and godly artifacts in the DCU. I want to see her as much at odds with Luthor as she is with Diana.

Enough with Cheetah being beholden to gods as well (we got enough with that Grail and Darkseid and now apparently Grail and Ares), regardless of if it's Urzkartaga or the Dark Gods. Time for Ms. Minerva to be in control of her destiny.

I kind of wish that Jason and Glaucus were out of the book so more time could be spent with Steve, Diana, Doctor Poison, Cale, Doctor Cyber, and Cheetah, but it's not going to be pretty when the Godwatch gang gets back together again.