Eric Luke Run (1998-2000) Discussion Thread

[John Venus]

What are your thoughts on the Eric Luke run that ran from #139-159 in Wonder Woman Vol 2?

I feel like this run barely gets mentioned. He went hard on the mythological aspects and used more than just the Greek pantheon in his run. He also revived Dr Poison for the modern as a mad scientist experimenting on divine beings and introduced Devastation as the dark mirror villain for WW. He also introduced Rama Chandra; one of the few universally beloved love interests for Diana.

But why has his run become more obscure in recent years?

Is it because there wasn't any of particularly stand out moments like the Taco Whiz issue? Were the godly stuff too out there for your liking? Is it because there was no profound change to the status quo like Hippolyta or Artemis deaths in the Jimnez and Messner Loebs runs respectively? Or a huge turning point like Diana killing Maxwell Lord like in Rucka's run? Or because it wasn't part of a reboot like Vol 3, Vol 4 or Vol 5 were? Or because Luke wasn't a big name like Tom King?

What did you like and what did you not like about his run? Share your thoughts in thread.

[WonderScott]

By far the most influential thing to come out of Luke’s run for me was Doctor Poison. An absolutely terrifying revamp/reintroduction of them. An instant classic and the bar for me when using the character, like Perez’s Ares, Barbara Minerva and Circe or Jimenez’s Angle Man.

Just a really satisfying interpretation that should be used by everyone and be completely unsettling to Diana.

[DisneyBoy]

Definitely a solid run that gets overlooked. I thought bringing Cronus back was clever. Rama and Dr Poison were cool too.

The art was in flux at the time but never bad. There were some awesome Hughes covers.

The Wonder Dome (did he come up with that?) was a bit odd.

Devastation was cool but had almost limitless powers so that made her a bit vague as a character.

And the Godwave storyline felt, to me anyway, like a bit of a redo of the War of the Gods.

[WonderScott]

Definitely a solid run that gets overlooked. I thought bringing Cronus back was clever. Rama and Dr Poison were cool too.

The art was in flux at the time but never bad. There were some awesome Hughes covers.

The Wonder Dome (did he come up with that?) was a bit odd.

Devastation was cool but had almost limitless powers so that made her a bit vague as a character.

And the Godwave storyline felt, to me anyway, like a bit of a redo of the War of the Gods.

I *think* the Wonder Dome was Byrne, but I might be wrong.

[Sebastianne]

Every Wonder Woman author is like a new president taking office and wanting to undo what the previous one did LOL: Luke begins by undoing what Byrne did, Diana is no longer a Goddess, boom like that from one number to another.
He has the merit of having been the first to call DC's Big 3 Trinity. And I like that story in particular, taking the invisible plane technology into an ominent being and creating her own Fortress of Solitude.
I don't know if Diana needs that, it ends up being a copy of that Fortress and the Batcave, just because the others have it, but I did find it interesting that the Wonderdome is full of mythological beings and perhaps an interesting supporting cast that was not used. Of course I hate the implication that Diana has feelings for Superman, something that had already been masterfully settled by George Perez, he's not enough for her, period.
Luke's Diana voice is much deeper than Byrne's and that's a nice change, and handles Cassie's character and her relationship with Artemis much better.
He wanted to create a new GREAT villain: Devastation in a story that is good but that never really amazed me personally. I can live without Devastation.
Ah, in that story he brings the golden armor to the canon: the Crying Chicken, which I like.
As for the mythological part, I like when they mix Diana with other pantheons, and I think Rama was the best love candidate for Diana at that time.
That story about Cronus and his children is also interesting, but there were already too many issues about the same thing (personally I don't like long stories that develop around the same villain-themes).
I love his Dra. Poison, a story and character totally wasted to return to Devastacion, which at that point bores me quite a bit.
In general I think it is a good run, repetitive and much less dynamic than Byrne's, but deeper, or at least he tries.
I think he never uses Hippolyta, and in the middle Doselle Young brings back Nubia and he doesn't know how to take advantage of that important event (Well, neither him, nor DC, nor the following writers for the next 20 years, lol)

[Psy-lock]

I think the fact that it's still not collected is a big reason why it's obscure. Literally every other Post-Crisis run has been collected in some form except for Luke's. It's also the shortest run in vol 2.

Things I liked:
- Rama
- Dr Poison
- The Godwar arc

Things I didn't like:
- Diana questioning her humanity
- SuperWonder shipping
- No classic rogues except for Poison and Ares

Things I'm ambivalent about:
- Devastation
- The Wonder Dome

[Sebastianne]

Oh and speaking of canon, in the annual he creates a younger sister of Mindy Mayer who never existed and who becomes a romantic interest of Ed Indelicato that we never see again, not that we need to see it, but I remember it bothered me quite a bit .
I would also have liked Mindy to be a ghost who occasionally accompanies Diana, a sort of Deadwoman.

[Gaius]

Don't think anything from this has been collected or reprinted is probably the biggest reason it's overlooked, unless you want track down singles or buy them individually digitally. Which is kind of strange given this is where Adam Hughes first becomes associated with Wonder Woman.

[Koriand'r]

I *think* the Wonder Dome was Byrne, but I might be wrong.

No it was Luke, he caused the invisible tech to fall in love with Diana. Then it went rogue, causing major destruction, and eventually formed itself into the Wonder Dome to give her a place to stay and say it was sorry. It was a good story, I quite enjoyed his run.

Besides the Wonder Dome my favorite part was Devestation. Despite all her powers and ability to match Wonder Woman, she pulled out a gun and casually shot her. That was shocking and a super cool mustache twirling move. The designs for Cronus and his children were awesome too.

WW SHOT 2.jpg

V CRONUS.jpg

[DisneyBoy]

Isn't it called the "Screaming Chicken"?

[marhawkman]

I have to say the bit about Deva shooting Diana was pretty cool. Deva's said to be able to kill anything that's actually alive. So, if anyone could shoot WW and have it actually HURt... it's Deva.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Personally for me...

Pros-

Wonder Dome was a fascinating idea. Introducing it initially as a weapon used against Wonder Woman to destroy Gateway City and dragging her into a psychic mindscape was a fascinating approach to have.

The supporting cast of this run was memorable, even if most of them were rather useless bit players. Sphinx, Pegasus, Chimera, Ladon Dragon....With Chiron and Rama being stand outs. Even if Chiron just popped up without introduction and was just instantly Wonder Womans alfred tending to her wounds and dispensing sage advice. Just...She gets the Wonder Dome one issue and then the following issue it cuts to Diana some unspecified amount of time later giving a tour of the place to Cassie, and her new supporting cast which are treated more like attractions than people.

Devastation was an excellent villain. Gave her a very random grab bag of powers that really make little sense given her origin of 'born from the same clay as Diana', but she makes for an amazing villain with the ability to alter memories, affect the mind, change her appearance to match 'What her opponent finds most attractive'...Can create earthquakes??? Her attacking Wonder Woman indirectly by going after innocent people to turn them against her and driving hate groups and neo nazis across America to activate their cells and began terrorist attacking across America, wiping out whole cities in their wake was an inspired choice.
Oh and ending the run with Devastation going after Cassie and turning her against Diana. Loved that.

And of course, Doctor Poison. The second to last story was this amazing two parter with the new Doctor Poison whose established to use mythology to poison society. She was made amazingly creepy and horrifying.

Cons-

The contents of the Wonder Dome itself are rather...Iffy. Putting aside the supporting cast, its contents are big empty halls and statues, with the whole place being large enough that you need a transport just to get from one end to the other in under ten minutes. On top of that the whole place is supposed to be based on Wonder Womans mind which would be a great opportunity to use visual representation to tell us who Wonder Woman is as a person. Instead its 'statues of Superman because superhorny', and 'lots of space because head empty'.

Devastations 'change based on what people sexually want' lust power is...Pretty gross. Particularly since this translates to her turning into a teen or preteen most every time. Also for all that the child version that Diana interacts with is probably supposed to be the actual and real Devastation, the fact that 99% of her appearances has her in that teenager form...Make for some unsettling possible implications.

The story revolves around Chronus wanting revenge, popping back up and having somehow birthed five new children from his very rage, plots to kill every pantheon in order to rise to power. Giving us new villains Oblivion, Titan, Harrier, Arch, Disdain, and Slaughter. Oblivion and Titan got issues dedicated to them and set them up as a big deal. (Oblivion can erase memories. Titan can possess one hundred people at a time.) The others though....Basically exist as dull window dressing and only exist to fill out Chronus' ranks and be established to have given Devastation powers.

Further his scheme is just...Questionable. He rolls in and slaughters the Greek pantheon, then he wipes out an existing religion, then he goes after christian heaven...And were told the reason he is able to do this is because the gods and religion are powered by faith and lose their power....With us being informed that people killing eachother and a few hundred neo nazis on murder sprees across America equate to him being more powerful than Hinduism. Why? I mean I know this is not a new dumb choice writers make, but why do they keep going to the well of 'if the gods are good then they are powered specifically through worship and nothing else. But if their bad then they are powered by people making war or being bigots because their the anthropomorphic personification of those forces' And that just takes me out of the story.

Further, and I just want to emphasize this, I find it really really questionable that a key element of the story is that Chronos murders Hinduism. Slaughters the entire pantheon without any effort. Just...Lays waste to an existing religion that is followed by over a billion people in the present day.
Then he takes his fight to Christianity and...Gets his ass handed to him. We don't see him even running into actual figures from that mythology such as Gabriel, Satin, or Jesus. Instead his crew mow down a few nameless angels then he goes to confront Christian god and...EXPLODES the moment he sets eyes on the dude because hes so much greater than Chronos.

[Dr. Poison]

I enjoyed it for the most part. Luke's creation of Dr. Poison II was my absolute favorite part of his run. He made her a horrific, unhinged sadist which added a nice slice of variety to Diana's rogues. I liked Rama too(although not as a love interest). I felt that Luke spent a little too much time on Devastation and Cronos' group but overall it wasn't a bad run.

[Koriand'r]

The contents of the Wonder Dome itself are rather...Iffy. Putting aside the supporting cast, its contents are big empty halls and statues, with the whole place being large enough that you need a transport just to get from one end to the other in under ten minutes. On top of that the whole place is supposed to be based on Wonder Womans mind which would be a great opportunity to use visual representation to tell us who Wonder Woman is as a person. Instead its 'statues of Superman because superhorny', and 'lots of space because head empty'.

It wasn't empty...

WW WONDERDOME 3.jpg

WW WONDER DOME 7.jpg

WW WONDER DOME 5.jpg

The Post Crisis Superman teases like this provided the build up for Clark and Diana's full blown relationship in the New 52. That was extremely satisfying to me because it had been hinted at for so long.

[Primal Slayer]

I enjoyed it for the most part. Diana having to lose her god-hood was a bit annoying but the cast was nice and tight. Artemis/Cassie with their B/C storylines that also help bleed into WWs storyline was fun and I miss those days where sidekicks are properly developed....a brand new villain is introduced whose supposed to be a major threat to WW (what so many people arent happy about now...)

But it is one of those things where a new writer does come in and wants to shake up the status quo to a degree which has always been WWs issue.