Wonder Woman #58 - The Just War, Pt. 1 (Spoilers)

[Vordan]

Pretty solid first issue. Hopefully Wilson can make me care about Ares. Nord’s art was really rough here, not a fan at all.

[SiegePerilous02]

Good call on the possibility that Ares has actually possessed Steve.

Eh, theres really no similarity to the golden age Mars that I can see. This ones slender and chisled. The golden age one was beefy and bulky. This one is blond, the golden age one and the one for the first five pages of this issue is dark haired. This one has glorious magnificent armor thats blatantly based on Wonder Womans while the original wore a golden/bronze armor with twin snakes amblazoned across it.




Im really liking the theory that this is a posessed Steve because the similarity is quite striking. Especially if comparing to earlier this issue where even the hair style is identical.

If that is the case, it has some really fascinating implications down the road for how other Wonder Womans more mundane rogues may be utilized.

I just read through this again with this idea in mind, and Ares definitely looks like Steve at the end there. Particularly when he first takes his helmet off. Plus Steve is MIA and them Area suddenly turns up as the new leader of the insurgents. Curious to see how long this will last in the run, and what Ares's design will be when this is over.

Also, why does Grail seem so upset in the beginning?

[Koriand'r]

I just read through this again with this idea in mind, and Ares definitely looks like Steve at the end there. Particularly when he first takes his helmet off. Plus Steve is MIA and them Area suddenly turns up as the new leader of the insurgents. Curious to see how long this will last in the run, and what Ares's design will be when this is over.

Also, why does Grail seem so upset in the beginning?

Maybe the island is having an effect on her? She is half Amazon.

I think this is going to be an interesting take on Wonder Woman. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

I just read through this again with this idea in mind, and Ares definitely looks like Steve at the end there. Particularly when he first takes his helmet off. Plus Steve is MIA and them Area suddenly turns up as the new leader of the insurgents. Curious to see how long this will last in the run, and what Ares's design will be when this is over.

Also, why does Grail seem so upset in the beginning?

I think Grail might be upset because looking at the effect of that last panel, the island itself was vanishing and she was panicking because I doubt any of those there beyond Ares had a clue what could come of them if the island they were on was to vanish. Which is certainly cause to be upset

[Pallas71]

Is she jumping or flying up? Why wouldn't Etta offer her a hand in?
And how does that explain how she got there (seemingly) without the invisible plane, or why she is flying into the soldiers about to shoot the kid?

I think you're reading too much into this. Fans are constantly worried she will stop flying in the main comics, but it has yet to actually happen. Wilson is being pretty consistent with everything else we've seen in the Rebirth volume so far, why would this be the one thing she changes for no reason?

I hope your right

[Jackalope89]

I wonder; was Ares' prison (and Grail's by extension) the anchor keeping Themyscira locked away from the rest of the world? Hence why when Grail struck Ares, the island lurched (for lack of a better term)?

[MarquisAsh]

I wonder; was Ares' prison (and Grail's by extension) the anchor keeping Themyscira locked away from the rest of the world? Hence why when Grail struck Ares, the island lurched (for lack of a better term)?

I think it was mentioned in Rucka’s run that his prison was the bridge between Themyscira and man’s world.

[kjn]

Plot-wise, this was pretty much an introductory issue, but it does seem to set up an interesting situation, with this new take on Ares and the misplaced mythological creatures. And I like that Wilson seems to have found a way to bring Themyscira back to Diana's life in a way that feels organic to a larger story.

I'm not really sure about the characterisation. Grail and Ares bantering was fun while at the same time giving a sense of profound boredom. Diana's and Steve's interaction felt true. But I didn't get a strong feel for Diana in Durovnia, it felt more like she was going through the motions, reacting to stuff. Now, this is just a first issue, and a short one at that, but I hope Diana will be presented as smarter and more proactive in future issues. Here she feels powerful, brash, and not very competent.

And then we have Etta Candy. I don't like Steve as a special operations soldier, and that goes double for Etta. This dour and rules-abiding woman feels like she has more in common with Amanda Waller than Etta Candy.

Like some other here, I'm having a hard time with the art. I liked the first B&W previews, but taken together there are too many facial and bodily contortions, and the sense of brash power comes through much more in the art than in the writing. Both the Dodsons' and Frison's covers give a much more strong sense of power, in one case playful, in the other restrained.

That said, this is just a prologue, and Wilson has set up an interesting and relevant premise, and the interviews points to that she has thought long and hard about it.

[Natamaxxx]

And then we have Etta Candy. I don't like Steve as a special operations soldier, and that goes double for Etta. This dour and rules-abiding woman feels like she has more in common with Amanda Waller than Etta Candy.

I agree - In fact while reading this, I thought to myself "This isn't Etta, it's Amanda Waller lite". Not that GWW is to blame, of course. This is the "Etta" we got in rebirth, when she really could (or should) have been a brand new character. Whoever she is, I hope Etta is used as more than just Diana's Jiminy Cricket during this run.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

So far, so good. Would prefer to see Etta with freckles, but that’s a minor quibble

[Dr. Poison]

I bought this yesterday but haven't read it yet. From looking at the gorgeous Dodson cover and then flipping through the book, the interior art is jarring. The interior art is very inconsistent and minimalistic. Diana looks too skinny and her hair looks thin and greasy yet choppy. Why couldn't DC get Dodson to do the interiors as well?

[kjn]

I don't mind the characters looking different from artist to artist. But here it feels like the characters look different from page to page! If you compare pages 7–10 (Diana at home) with pages 16–20 (Diana jumping out from the helicopter), I can barely think it's the same artist.

Given that there is an 8-page "preview" of Aquaman in this issue, I have the horrible feeling that the art team had to drastically shorten this issue from ~26 pages to the ones we got in a rush. If that's the case, it really feels like poor priorities from DC editorial, since this was a widely anticipated new creative team that should be given the opportunity to shine from the start.

And I don't want to go to crazy-ass conspiracy town.

[SiegePerilous02]

I think Grail might be upset because looking at the effect of that last panel, the island itself was vanishing and she was panicking because I doubt any of those there beyond Ares had a clue what could come of them if the island they were on was to vanish. Which is certainly cause to be upset

I think her final reaction definitely makes sense when it comes to the island, but she seems remorseful when she kills Ares, which seemed a bit odd.

I hope your right

I do too. I don't mind Diana being without flight in some versions, at least not having it right away. In this continuity though, it wouldn't make any sense at all for her to suddenly lose it. She definitively got it in Year One. It'd be beyond annoying for them to suddenly screw up the details.

I agree - In fact while reading this, I thought to myself "This isn't Etta, it's Amanda Waller lite". Not that GWW is to blame, of course. This is the "Etta" we got in rebirth, when she really could (or should) have been a brand new character. Whoever she is, I hope Etta is used as more than just Diana's Jiminy Cricket during this run.

Yeah, I wish Rucka had taken the opportunity with Rebirth to make Etta more in line with her classic self, though even he was going along with precedent established by the New 52, Perez and the Bronze Age. Etta in this position is always kind of bland, so I don't blame GWW too much, because this is what she has to work with.

Earth One and LoWW Etta blow Rebirth Etta out of the water.

[OBrianTallent]

I don't mind the characters looking different from artist to artist. But here it feels like the characters look different from page to page! If you compare pages 7–10 (Diana at home) with pages 16–20 (Diana jumping out from the helicopter), I can barely think it's the same artist.

Given that there is an 8-page "preview" of Aquaman in this issue, I have the horrible feeling that the art team had to drastically shorten this issue from ~26 pages to the ones we got in a rush. If that's the case, it really feels like poor priorities from DC editorial, since this was a widely anticipated new creative team that should be given the opportunity to shine from the start.

And I don't want to go to crazy-ass conspiracy town.

The main story is regular length for a DC comic. The Aquaman preview was extra pages added to the book, not pages taken from the main story.

[Nyssane]

I don't think those are the actual mythological figures attached to those names, I think it's more that they just share the names. Like Artemis the Amazon vs. Artemis the goddess

Ah, that would make sense! That always bugged me (and confused me when I wasn't overly familiar with the WW mythos); everyone associates these names to the mythological figures, so just adding characters with those names instead of brand new ones can be very confusing.