Rucka's First Run vs. His Second Run

[Gaius]

I've re-read through both of these rather recently and since both seem to be mostly well-liked, so I'd thought I'd ask which of the two do you prefer?

Think I'd give my vote to the first, at least up to the end of the Land of the Dead arc, since it's not concerned with building a new status quo/continuity it got to do more interesting stories. The main negatives I guess I have against it is it's legs getting cutoff because of Sacrifice /Infinite Crisis and not a fan of some of the art. The main positives I'd give the second run over the first would be better artist game overall, the new continuity building meant he got to do more interesting revamps of most of the villains (Cheetah, Circe, Cale, Dr. Cyber), and even though it ends with stuff unresolved it can be read better as whole run.

Sadly, I just can't pretend they both fit together.

[SiegePerilous02]

It's close, but I'd have to go with his first run. It's overall better because it's just telling stories without being part of the reboot. The Medusa arc and the Hikiteia are both the highlights, but the whole thing aside from one element (at least up until the Land of the Dead like you say- that's pretty much the end for me) is excellent.

The one element the second run does better is Cheetah. She sucked in the first, but his new take on her is the MVP of his second run. Like you say, the Lies/the Truth being stuck with the continuity stuff drags it down outside of the Liam Sharp's art. It's still better than most stuff we've had on the title in recent years though. Year One and Godwatch are A++ arcs though. I'd have preferred a straight reboot that builds up a new foundation without worrying about any prior versions. Just telling her origin story and doing character work on the villains was more effective because like his first run, they were just great stories. Cale became a favorite of mine thanks to the new run (and I had a newfound appreciation for her first version), and tying her into Cheetah and the re-imagined Dr. Cyber was great. If only we got more villains like Psycho and Giganta in his second run.

[Perseus]

Its a hard decision because both his runs have a lot great qualities that I like. I'd end up going for the first just out of how much reread value I have from it. Eyes of the Gorgon was also the first WW comic I bought. His character work is fantastic and your really feel for a lot of his characters. I felt so attached to Diana's embassy team that I was actually upset that they are no longer a part of continuity. The dynamic between Diana and the gods was also fun to read. Olympian politics are spicy, who knew. The stakes her high 90% of the time and Rucka took full advantage of not only the Wonder mythos but also the Greek mythos. Ares was fun, Cale was fun, Circe was fun, and Diana had such a great voice that I still remember her lines to this day.

I'll just post what I said before in a previous thread...

Rucka's second run just didn't really have the action/adventure angle that I look for in a Wonder Woman story. He gets her character, her personality right, I never complain about his dialogue. Cheetah, Cale, Cyber, all good reimaginings. But, Diana didn't seem powerful to me and she spent some time in a mental hospital, which you'd think that Steve and/or Etta would want to keep Diana close to them, not put her into what amounts to a nicer Arkham. In terms of her powers, I mean she didn't seem that impressive, I'm not expecting her to toss planets in her first run in the new status quo universe (though that would be pretty cool) but come on, toss me a bone you know. She fought "Ares" which was a cool moment till the twist.

[SiegePerilous02]

Its a hard decision because both his runs have a lot great qualities that I like. I'd end up going for the first just out of how much reread value I have from it. Eyes of the Gorgon was also the first WW comic I bought. His character work is fantastic and your really feel for a lot of his characters. I felt so attached to Diana's embassy team that I was actually upset that they are no longer a part of continuity. The dynamic between Diana and the gods was also fun to read. Olympian politics are spicy, who knew. The stakes her high 90% of the time and Rucka took full advantage of not only the Wonder mythos but also the Greek mythos. Ares was fun, Cale was fun, Circe was fun, and Diana had such a great voice that I still remember her lines to this day.

I'll just post what I said before in a previous thread...

Rucka's second run just didn't really have the action/adventure angle that I look for in a Wonder Woman story. He gets her character, her personality right, I never complain about his dialogue. Cheetah, Cale, Cyber, all good reimaginings. But, Diana didn't seem powerful to me and she spent some time in a mental hospital, which you'd think that Steve and/or Etta would want to keep Diana close to them, not put her into what amounts to a nicer Arkham. In terms of her powers, I mean she didn't seem that impressive, I'm not expecting her to toss planets in her first run in the new status quo universe (though that would be pretty cool) but come on, toss me a bone you know. She fought "Ares" which was a cool moment till the twist.

There is that awesome bit in the second run where she solos the Shaggy Man, usually a threat for the entire JL.

[Largo161]

There were many feats of strength included in Rucka’s second run. They didn’t often involve hitting people though, so I think they get overlooked. I voted for the second run— it had Steve, Etta, a great modernization of the origin and focus on her classic rogues.

[Dr. Poison]

I liked Rucka's 2nd run far better than this first. His portrayal of Cheetah vastly improved in his 2nd run and the stories seemed more intricate and fleshed out. The art by Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp was also superior to the art from his first run by Drew Johnson.

[Gaius]

It's close, but I'd have to go with his first run. It's overall better because it's just telling stories without being part of the reboot. The Medusa arc and the Hikiteia are both the highlights, but the whole thing aside from one element (at least up until the Land of the Dead like you say- that's pretty much the end for me) is excellent.

The one element the second run does better is Cheetah. She sucked in the first, but his new take on her is the MVP of his second run. Like you say, the Lies/the Truth being stuck with the continuity stuff drags it down outside of the Liam Sharp's art. It's still better than most stuff we've had on the title in recent years though. Year One and Godwatch are A++ arcs though. I'd have preferred a straight reboot that builds up a new foundation without worrying about any prior versions. Just telling her origin story and doing character work on the villains was more effective because like his first run, they were just great stories. Cale became a favorite of mine thanks to the new run (and I had a newfound appreciation for her first version), and tying her into Cheetah and the re-imagined Dr. Cyber was great. If only we got more villains like Psycho and Giganta in his second run.

Yeah, Cheetah had some moments in his first run but feels by that point she was really suffering that not many since Perez had done to build up her relationship with Diana but of the villains who he re-used in the second run she, next to Cale, was much better done in Rebirth whereas the others I enjoyed about as much as I did previously.

Being able to revamp the origin entirely which he couldn't in his first definitely helped.

There were many feats of strength included in Rucka’s second run. They didn’t often involve hitting people though, so I think they get overlooked. I voted for the second run— it had Steve, Etta, a great modernization of the origin and focus on her classic rogues.

Forgot to mention this but yes on Steve and Etta being brought back to their primary supporting character statuses is also a plus in the second run's favor. Though like Cheetah earlier, being able to rebuild from the ground up definitely helped in there.

I liked Rucka's 2nd run far better than this first. His portrayal of Cheetah vastly improved in his 2nd run and the stories seemed more intricate and fleshed out. The art by Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp was also superior to the art from his first run by Drew Johnson.

Yeah, re-reading through the first run there's some art I had to raise an eyebrow at and wonder how that got approved by a major comic publishing company.

[Frontier]

I think both runs have their good and bad points.

Year One and Godwatch are the best parts of the second run in my opinion and I appreciate Rucka bringing Steve and Etta back into the fold (how Rucka characterized Etta is another story).

On the other hand the second run didn't have Diana crazy in an insane asylum and having to make sense of continuity so it has a better present-day Wonder Woman story. Plus we actually got to see Wonder Girl in a Wonder Woman book, which was nice.

[Sacred Knight]

The first run I saw as decent. Not great but decent, and the second I didn't care for at all. The origin parts were readable but The Lies portion and what came after was pretty bad. I've never viewed Rucka as the definitive WW writer others do though. I just agree to disagree on that though because I know he has a lot of fans, and cheers to that.

[SiegePerilous02]

What sucks is he wanted to stay on longer didn't he? But he couldn't do the bi-monthly schedule?

With the Lies out of the way, I would have liked to see what he could do just telling a good story. They could have kept the alternating titles, just another writer could do the trade offs. Either somebody new, or I'd love if they had tried giving Jimenez a call to at least do writing duties.

Also, Bloodlines makes me wish Giganta was involved with Godwatch.

[Gaius]

What sucks is he wanted to stay on longer didn't he? But he couldn't do the bi-monthly schedule?

With the Lies out of the way, I would have liked to see what he could do just telling a good story. They could have kept the alternating titles, just another writer could do the trade offs. Either somebody new, or I'd love if they had tried giving Jimenez a call to at least do writing duties.

Also, Bloodlines makes me wish Giganta was involved with Godwatch.

Especially since I think Superwoman was cancelled around the time, so would have been available soon

[Frontier]

Also, Bloodlines makes me wish Giganta was involved with Godwatch.

It is kind of weird that a team made up of female doctors didn't include the evil female scientist who is probably the most recognizable Wonder Woman villain after Cheetah.

[Gaius]

It is kind of weird that a team made up of female doctors didn't include the evil female scientist who is probably the most recognizable Wonder Woman villain after Cheetah.

I felt one of the only villain missteps was making Poison a mercenary, so would have worked to have Giganta be the muscle of the group instead of Poison.

[Frontier]

I felt one of the only villain missteps was making Poison a mercenary, so would have worked to have Giganta be the muscle of the group instead of Poison.

Yeah, I think Giganta would've been a better muscle. I think he toned Poison down a little too much with the mercenary stuff.

[Psy-lock]

First run by far. Better stories, better gods, better characters (Cheetah sucked though). In Rebirth I don't like how he treated the villains, making Cale the most important entity in the Wonderverse, responsible for Cheetah's and Cyber's origins. Cyber is especially insulting, from criminal mastermind to secretary, what a downgrade! Poison was also reduced to some mercenary henching for Cale, and Ares was essentially removed from Diana's Rogues Gallery. The origin story was good, but the present day stuff was mostly about retconning the New 52 run (and not in a good way if you ask me) then actually telling a good story.