What's Your Verdict... Rucka's 2nd Run!

[Nyssane]

Rucka's final issue is out today, so I feel it's a good time for voting on everyone's overall thoughts on his second run. How does it compare to previous runs? What are some things you feel should have been different? What changes did he bring to the character and her mythos that you loved and didn't love?

My verdict... absolutely loved it. Probably my favorite run of the main book thus far (sans Marston, of course). My overall breakdown:

Pros:
– Bringing Cheetah into the forefront of his series elevated her standing as a character and as a villain. It's what so many of us have been clamoring about, and Rucka's done it.
– The Amazons have returned. The New 52's depiction of the Amazons was one of the biggest slaps in the faces to longtime Wonder Woman fans. They've been reverted to the versions Perez created, and now Diana comes from a place of love and peace rather than anger and loneliness. While on the topic of the Amazons, he also brought back Philippus, which is something I wanted the most.
– Deimos and Phobos as major villains. Their foppish designs and personalities fit the characters well, and I really enjoyed that they were the overall big bads rather than the predictable Ares. Not to mention Diana's defeat of the brothers was marvelous.
– Godwatch, basically a modernized Villainy Inc. Rucka put time in bringing back classic rogues like Doctor Poison and Doctor Cyber, while also putting more effort in making Veronica Cale an interesting and formidable enemy, far more than she was originally in his first run.
– Steve Trevor back as Diana's primary love interest!
– Lots of feminism spread throughout the series. Wonder Woman is THE feminist icon, and there should *always* be themes of feminism throughout her series. Seeing Diana interact with all these female characters was fantastic.
– Ares not being the "big bad" he was set up to be. I never felt Ares was this big monstrous villain that everyone seems to think he is. I love that he is just perfectly content with loving submission.
– Stunning art throughout. Nicola Scott was my absolute favorite, followed closely by Bilquis Evely (one of my new favorite artists). Liam Sharp did magnificent work but I felt that his work was a bit less consistent than the two ladies. Mirka Andolfo provided my least favorite art by far.

Cons:
– Not a huge fan of Rucka's portrayal of Etta Candy. She lacks her fun "woo woo!" personality, and just seems way too serious for the character.
– The Gods appearing as patron animals was sort of bland compared to Azzarello's otherworldly designs.
– While I didn't mind it at the time, Wonder Woman did spend a lot of time incapacitated. This led to her supporting cast and villains getting the spotlights, but looking back there were probably better ways to do this.
– Rucka does love his pet characters, which I'm not a huge fan of. He brought back Ferdinand (which felt completely random in the scheme of the comics, since he's never referred to again), Veronica Cale, Io, and Sasha Bordeaux (who I couldn't care less about). He could have brought back other characters that writers have used in the past like Mala, the Kapatelises, or Mike Schorr, but nope.
– The conclusion to the run wasn't very satisfactory.

[Outside_85]

Copied from the #25 discussion.

So with this being the last Rucka issue, it's perhaps time to tally up whats lost, gained and changed:
-Lost: The Amazons, not just the New 52 ones, but the Rebirth Amazons are sealed off from Diana for the time being.
-Changed: The Gods, going from fairly unique interpretations to something rather more bland and mostly silent when not perplexingly irritating.
-Lost: Zola, Milan, Siracca... since Zola was last seen on the New 52 Themyscira you may wonder if she vanished with it. I don't expect the others to be revisited.
-Gained: Steve, Etta, Ferdinand and i guess Sasha. Etta and Steve were great, Sasha might as well have been fanservice, and Ferdinand had a history that wasn't touched.
-Gained: Lots of old villains, Cheetah and Cyber were a hit, Cale was 'eh', Circe and Poison were 'bah'.
-Lost: along with the Gods it appears Strife has vanished as well... since this would be the sort of thing she'd have loved to poke around with.
-Changed: Diana's time on Themyscira now reverted to a more classical version.

Overall I give the run a score of B+ for being competent, pretty to look at, but not very exciting and an end that didn't really resolve the big mystery it opened with.

[Dr. Poison]

I voted for 5 stars but it was more like a 4.5 to me. Still, there was much more good than bad. This run was a return to Diana's classic roots but with a modern twist and some new elements added in to enhance the freshness of this take. Here's what I liked and disliked about the run:


Likes

Diana is friendly, confident, powerful, helpful, and optimistic. We haven't seen this version of Diana in her own book in around 10 years. Finally a return to form for her as an iconic, respectable, powerhouse in the DC universe instead of a cynical, bi-polar, sword-slashing harpy.

Steve Trevor was front and center in this run. His absence in this capacity for the last 30 years never stuck well with me(or many other readers from what I can tell). I also like that he was presented as mature, capable, and compassionate instead of simply being someone who is constantly in destress in need of Diana to save him.

Several of Diana's non-public domain rogues were reinvented for the current age with class. Cheetah and Dr. Cyber were my two favorites of this group. I also grew to like Veronica Cale for the first time ever. Circe was kind of "meh" and Dr. Poison needs much more development but not a bad apple in the cart.

Hippolyta and the Amazons are benevolent, enlightened, and inspiring. This is a huge plus from their New 52 selves.

Nicola Scott's and Liam Sharp's art were both amazing but in different ways. My only quip was that Sharp refused to draw stars on Diana's costume. His Cheetah was a masterpiece that more than made up for it.

The Invisible Jet was created by the Amazons and it's use makes a lot of sense.




Dislikes

Etta Candy was a bit too serious for my taste. I like the more fun version from the Golden Age, The Legend of Wonder Woman, and the current movie.

The fact that Diana can not go home is disappointing. I don't want to see Themyscira in every issue but once or twice a year would be nice.

[borntohula]

Wasn't my favorite. Didn't feel very inspired or inspiring, nor not much fun. Feels like Rucka was brought in to fix Geoff Johns' portrayal of Diana, in the lines of the recent "3 Jokers" and so on stories.

I wish he'd gone with the multiversity route. For example the way Tom King has done with his Batman, or Grant Morrison's Superman and Batman stories.

[gwangung]

Hmmm....as usual, what I like will be what others dislike and what I dislike, others will like....

The Gods: Very mixed for me. I kinda like Zeus as father, and the familial infighting. I'm going to miss Discord as a frenemy and some of the demi-god siblings. But I also like the more enigmatic portrayal of the gods. Gods in comics come off as higher powered humans, which make them seem a lot less special and divine.

Steve Trevor: Better, but still not where he should be. Still an appendage to Diana and not much of a character in his own right. I've written at length where I think his personal journey should be part and parcel of the theme in the book and a mirror and antithesis to Diana. He has to earn that relationship with Diana, and he hasn't yet.

Etta Candy: Yeah. Way too serious. Should be a lot more joy to her, whether nor not she's in a relationship or not. Make her love her work (not blood thirsty, but extremely satisfied with getting a job done).

The Lie: Meh. There's an explanation there, but too much digging to extract.

Villains: Cheetah: Yey! Dr. Cyber: Yay! Circe: Good. Cale: OK. Dr. Poison: Meh. Ares: If Diana's not god level herself, then, yeah...take him off the playing board. He's out of her weight class.

The Amazons: Like that they're way less bloodthirsy. Still not clear on why they're on Themyscira and why they have to be cut off from humanity---but that's a storyline for a future writer.

[Super-Wonder]

Gave it a 3.
There was a lot of ambition and promise in the beginning that was never met.

Wonder Woman's best fight was with a character called Shaggy Man (really?). . . . . every other encounter was sub-par, lacking in creativity and accounting for threat level, Cheetah was chumped.
What happened to the "fake" island? Is she god or clay brought to life? What did happen and what didn't . . . . if we're to believe events in the Titans annual Donna was still made from the clay of Fake Hyppolyta.

What I liked in this run was the threading of all of the featured villians of Diana's through Cale. If Cale is dismissed after this run as she was after Rucka's last run, this would be a great disappointment as there is a ton of potential for the future that should be explored through this character.
I also super enjoyed Steve Trevor. He's such a great character in all of this with many of qualities that I like to see in Diana.

[Miles To Go]

Four. Splendid read throughout...though the only problem I have is how pointless the Barbera Anne face turn was. She did'nt do a hell of a lot after she was cured other than sacrifice her humanity again. Cale's whole journey was great and I too hope this is not the last we see of her. She oozes ice-cold foil in so many perfect ways.

[Sacred Knight]

I'd say 2 and a half but for the sake of the poll I rounded up. Nothing really stands out as great. It was mediocre and serviceable. Sounds like a backhanded compliment but its really not meant to be a compliment or a shot. It was just okay.

[Joao]

Four stars for me. More like three towards the end.

I love what Rucka did with her villains, all of them, and the overall feeling that this is not a usual superhero comic regarding themes and characters. I'm dying to see more of Circe and Veronica and Cyber and CHEETAH.

BUT. The end of the run as a whole was disappointing. The stories didn't braid well, some things didn't need be there and some important ones were missing.

I liked it a lot, but I leave with a bittersweet taste about what the run promised and what it actually is. More sweet than bitter, but still.

Godwatch is still one of my favorite WW stories ever, though. I can't imagine a world without Bilquis Evely drawing WW. And Year One is memorable. Not the same can be said about The Lies, which I didn't like for the most part. It's a pity the quality was not that consistent.

[Frontier]

I think it gave us a good starting point and core for a new ongoing Wonder Woman book, one that honors the history and tenets of the character while still moving her forward. It was also, just in general, a very good book.

That being said, I wasn't a fan of all of Rucka's updates or revisions to certain characters, the pacing was very slow at times, and the exact premise of "The Lies" and "The Truth" never really came together all that well in my opinion.

[Scott Taylor]

Well...I enjoyed reading it.

But I felt it peaked early with the splendid issue with Steve and Diana leaving Themescyra. The rest felt discombobulated partly because of the switching back and forth between stories from issue to issue. There wasn't enough interweaving between them to merit that kind of approach.

And finally, Rucka really didn't do anything that puts a flag in the ground and says "this is Diana, and this is how she will be for the next ten years." There is absolutely no reason another writer can't come along and rework everything, and that is a shame.

[WonderScott]

I've enjoyed it, but I think it could have gone further in clearing up the lies versus truth more specifically with the two sets of Amazons. (My head cannon for details will have to suffice.)

I really appreciate having Steve, Etta, and Barbara front and center as her supporting cast and the creation of a new Doctor Cyber as an antagonist for the Amazons and the DCU. Doctor Poison/Poison was a bit of a let down to me, although she made a great antagonist for Steve. (I guess I just really love the Luke version.)

[Stanlos]

I voted 4 stars. I enjoyed the run and there are many things to applaud in it. However I liked the first run better (it felt he was bolder during that run with WW herself--her confidence and swag were omnipresent) and I really liked the evolution of the mythological components (still the best use of the raw matter of the mythos to date for me). Also I suspect that my enjoyment of this current has more to do with my dislike for the Post Flashpoint state of affairs than it should. But time will tell on that one.

[Nyssane]

Where would you all place his second run among the other WW main title writers? For me, it goes:

Marston
Rucka's 2nd
Rucka's 1st
Perez
Jimenez
Luke
Azzarello
Heinberg
Messner-Loebs
Simone
Byrne
JMS/Hester
Kanigher
Finch

(I still have to read the Silver and Bronze Age stuff in completion so I didn't list those writers.)

[SiegePerilous02]

I'm still gathering my thoughts, but I'd say somewhere between 3 and half and 4 stars, so I rounded up to 4.

PROS
- Year One and Godwatch were both the highlights in general
- The real Amazons are back, including old faces like Philippus, Io and Epione. Though honestly Kaisa should have been Mala. Regardless, I'm ecstatic that the New 52 Amazons are gone.
- CHEETAH. Long overdue character focus, and very well done to boot. She's both more tragic and more frightening than she's ever been, and considering how their relationship was the heart of the run, nobody can say she has no connection to Diana anymore with a serious face.
- Ditching the jealousy motivation and giving her a daughter has made Veronica Cale a much better character. Her blaming Diana and the Amazons is not remotely fair to them, but considering what she's gone through and what she's lost, I can understand her mindset. Very much looking forward to hopefully seeing more of her in the future.
- Dr. Cyber was terrific. I wasn't sure about it at first, but the old character wasn't even really a character compared to the tragic/creepy/funny "ghost" of Adrianna.
- What little we saw of Circe was fun.
- Glad to see Steve and Etta firmly established as being her main supporting cast again, and the return of Ferdinand was welcome.

CONS
- While I've accepted what the Lies were and have zero problems with it, I could have done with a better explanation for why the Gods did it other than that passive aggressive non-answer that Athena dished out in the last issue.
- Etta and Dr./Col. Poison were both pretty dull compared to other versions, but nothing unsalvageable.
- I'm not into Etta/Barbara AT ALL. Barbara has so much more chemistry with Diana, and this feels forced. And weird. It's like pairing the Joker or Harvey Dent with Dick Grayson, or Lex Luthor with Jimmy Olsen. No me gusta.
- Not enough Circe!
- In hindsight, I think it would have been better if Rucka had just laid out what the Rebirth changes to the New 52 were in the Rebirth issue and just focused on a good story, because the character work was much more interesting than the continuity hoops.