Wonder Woman #80 Review and Discussion (spoilers)

[kjn]

The synopsis for this issue can be written rather simply: Diana goes to confront Cheetah equipped with the anti-Godkiller serum that she got from Veronica Cale. However, Cale seems to be double-crossing Diana, and the serum seems to level up the Godkiller instead. End with cliffhanger.

Merino is on art in this issue, and to me it's a mixed bag. He handles many of the quiet moments well, but to me the action scenes lack fluidity, and also loses some of the emotional resonances in the expressions.

But the real beauty here is in Wilson's ongoing narration for Diana's thoughts. It doesn't follow any metrical or rhyming pattern, but also feels much more like poetry than prose. Take for example:

She is lying.
I hear no accomplices
lying in wait.
See no hidden explosives.

She is alone.
She does not know
Veronica Cale has given me the means
to separate her from her weapon…

There is only a single rhyme (and it can be argued it is a half-rhyme), but note how the two stanzas sort of mirror each other in content, where Cheetah being alone is referenced in the first verse, and then said right out in the second, and how the hidden weapon is mentioned as first not belonging to Cheetah, and then said to belong to Diana. Every word is carefully selected, both for its semantics and for its sounds. Not often you get a comic in free verse.

[Frank]

This was...pretty straight forward, and while it's not the first writer's run to end on a cliffhanger, it's weird to think that this particular issue is Wilson's last issue. I wonder if this is just what Wilson had written up to when she was offered The Dreaming or if this was coordinated with Orlando.

I don't mind that Diana didn't expect Cale to betray her, and I particularly like that Cale seems anguished at having made that choice. I think there's more to this particular story than Cheetah's simplified version.

I don't quite understand this "you denied me my rightful place in Themiscyra" thing. I remember that Minerva was looking for a gateway to the island in Rucka's run, but where did this particular attitude of hers come from? I've likely forgotten something, unless Wilson is just trying to give Cheetah some kind of motivation out of the blue?

I do like that Diana only semi-processes Steve leaving and is like "I can't just eat ice cream on the sofa and cry about this because life happens." She's not dismissing it, just acknowledging that this isn't something she can immediately fix and she still has to TCB.

I'm sorry to see Wilson go when I think she has greater heights to hit (unlike Robinson, whose exit delighted me) with the title, but I'm not too sad. I think the artist highly uneven artist situation that has plagued her run must have been frustrating. I don't know if Wilson is one of those writers who likes to take the strengths and desires of the artists into consideration when crafting the script - I think she must be - but having to write for a different artist every two weeks or month must have been frustrating.

Anyway, on to Orlando!

[Koriand'r]

Why did Diana even bother with the brown leather combo lasso and sword holder, when she had neither, nor a friend to console her. An eight page chase/fight had one elbow to the back and one kick to the head. That was it, the action on arrival was dead. The poetry in the wording was irrelevant to me, there were full pages that felt like cheats and the content was weak. I wish Wilson much success in the future but this run was a failure. As a whole I liked James Robinson's better. At least with him we got Darkseid, Dr. Psycho and a feeling of completion at it's end. Wilson just ran out of gas and the tank was on fumes for the last six issues that I can't recommend.

[Psy-lock]

It felt pretty uneventful, like something that can be told in one half of a comic. But at least it redeemed Cheetah's poor showing in the previous issue, so I give Wilson some props for that. It's very rare these days for Cheetah to be portrayed as cunning, even though it's been one of her core character traits since her inception.

[Celgress]

2.5 out of 5 stars, or an average issue, IMO. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. It was good for what it was. Bear in mind I'm a harsh critic so others might legitimately rate it higher.

[kjn]

This was...pretty straight forward, and while it's not the first writer's run to end on a cliffhanger, it's weird to think that this particular issue is Wilson's last issue. I wonder if this is just what Wilson had written up to when she was offered The Dreaming or if this was coordinated with Orlando.

Wilson has #81 too (just checked on previewsworld). #82 is the first issue of Orlando's arc, and from solicitations and the interviews of Orlando's it seems he will basically continue the Cheetah and Themyscira storylines for the beginning of his run.

I don't mind that Diana didn't expect Cale to betray her, and I particularly like that Cale seems anguished at having made that choice. I think there's more to this particular story than Cheetah's simplified version.

I don't quite understand this "you denied me my rightful place in Themiscyra" thing. I remember that Minerva was looking for a gateway to the island in Rucka's run, but where did this particular attitude of hers come from? I've likely forgotten something, unless Wilson is just trying to give Cheetah some kind of motivation out of the blue?

Yeah, Cheetah is probably not trustworthy. She most likely tells the truth as she sees it, but that's likely a highly subjective interpretation of events.

Rucka didn't really write Cheetah; he wrote Barbara Ann Minerva's transformation to Cheetah. Cheetah has spent most of that time since in the pages of JLA. So I can understand the shift in focus (even if it happened off-camera), but even Rucka had Barbara Ann Minerva more than a little obsessed with finding Themyscira and the Amazons.

But yes, I think Cheetah came a bit out of the blue in Wilson's run, but I imagine the YotV event really made pacing tricky.

I'm sorry to see Wilson go when I think she has greater heights to hit (unlike Robinson, whose exit delighted me) with the title, but I'm not too sad. I think the artist highly uneven artist situation that has plagued her run must have been frustrating. I don't know if Wilson is one of those writers who likes to take the strengths and desires of the artists into consideration when crafting the script - I think she must be - but having to write for a different artist every two weeks or month must have been frustrating.

I found this tweet from Wilson about working with artists.

[Koriand'r]

It's good to hear the solicitations were wrong (and still are, I checked before making my previous post). At least now she has a chance to leave on a good note.

[Nyssane]

I'm so ready for this bore to be over with. It's such a shame; GWW started off very promising but just fizzled out almost right away.

[NYCER]

I can't wait for Steve Orlando's run to start.

[Celgress]

I can't wait for Steve Orlando's run to start.

I must admit I'm right there with you. This run started off strong but quickly lost steam and became meh (just sort of there without any true direction), IMO.

[SiegePerilous02]

I'm eager for Orlando to start as well.

Though I'm wondering if I should even bother getting invested in it if Diana is just gonna be replaced soon.

[Pinsir]

Well, I hope Wonder Woman necks Cale after this. Maybe we'll get a Maxwell Lord situation again which is why WW has to make an exit.

[Mel Dyer]

I like the 'Cheetah as fallen angel' angle, as a motivation for her villainy, that Willow is playing with in this story. As she sees her, Bar Minerva is an extraordinary being -her daring, her intellect, her etc- doomed by her personal flaws to live, as a monster, ..a premise that has definite parallels with the Lucifer story. It is even more interesting that Minerva sees herself, that way. If Wonder Woman is the ultimate warrior angel, making Cheetah the Satan of her ongoing narrative is a stroke of artistic genius.

In Willow's hands, Cheetah is the Yeats beast, who "slouches toward Bethlehem", ..here, replaced by Paradise Island.

[brettc1]

The last issue of the run ends as it always went - a mediocre story where Wonder Woman achieved little to nothing.

[Bound4olympus]

The last issue of the run ends as it always went - a mediocre story where Wonder Woman achieved little to nothing.

Omg thank you. I thought I was going insane. Like, what kind of last issue was this? lol.