Reviews

Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Lies by Greg Rucka

cosbrarian's review

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2.0

Ack. One would think that jumping into volume 1 of a new story arc wouldn't leave one feeling totally lost, but I was definitely flummoxed for most of this book. I also didn't love the artwork -it felt a little old fashioned to me, but I think it's not a question of talent to me as it is taste. I like more stylistic stuff. I did like reading about Cheetah though, and I liked that she wasn't just a bitchy villain.

I run into this continuity problem a lot when I pick up Wonder Woman, because she's been around so long. So I tend to enjoy supplemental/stand alone storylines like the Sensational comics and DC Bombshells. Oh well, it will all get changed in a year or so anyway.

thetarantulalounge's review

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2.0

In volume one of Rucka’s newest Wonder Woman run, something is very wrong. Our protagonist doesn’t trust her memory – everything from her birth onward is shrouded in mystery. Was she created by clay and a prayer? Is Zeus her father? How did she come to leave her home and enter our world? Is she the god of war? Wonder Woman doesn’t know. Rucka’s decision to make the powerful protagonist such an unreliable narrator is a good one. If Wonder Woman isn’t in control of herself, who is, and what are the consequences?

Wonder Woman’s desire to find the truth sends her on a mission into what seems to be a tropical rainforest from a 1980s fantasy book (2000 AD’s Liam Sharp illustrated the book). She tracks down Cheetah for help. Along the way, she has to fight a bunch of werewolf-looking bad guys. Steve also shows up in the book at some point. He is quippy and says things like, “You’ve got some toxic ideas about masculinity, dude!”

I won’t give the rest of the plot away because I can’t – I didn’t understand it. Most of the central characters were new to me. I didn’t understand their relation to or history with Wonder Woman. This was frustrating to me since the book says things like “Rebirth” and “Volume 1” on the cover. I assumed I would be able to jump right in. I’m as confused as Wonder Woman herself about what is going on.

While I’m generally a Rucka fan, I did not enjoy this book. Sharp’s fantasy art was awesome for villains and machinery, and less awesome for humans. There’s a certain aesthetic to the books that looks more like 1990s comics than the gorgeous art we’re more used to from most Image and Marvel titles.

I don’t recommend this book. Pre-order the movie instead.

gretchen3's review

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3.0

My real first foray into comics/graphic novels outside of Tumblr posts. It is an adjustment in how to read and absorb what is happening, but not terrible. I will say I honestly picked it up because of the talk about how Greg Rucka wrote Wonder Woman as queer. That hasn't come up yet, but I plan to continue reading the series.

glitterandtwang's review

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3.0

I love Greg Rucka; I really like Wonder Woman... but for some reason I just couldn't really get into this. The final pages are where I really started to get invested, but that's not a great sign. Not sure whether I will pick up volume two.

stevenk's review

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3.0

Collecting: Wonder Woman, Rebirth #1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11. Nothing is as it seems when Wonder Woman starts trying to find out her actual place in the world, this book struggles to reboot Diana without rebooting her, all the new 52 stuff may or may not have happened and she is trying to figure it out, how I'm not really sure. Wonder Woman can't find paradise island and she seeks out Cheetah to help her find it, which takes her to Africa so that she can cross paths with Steve Trevor again, and when she thinks she has found Themyscira it's not real but what is real, in the end we don't know. The artwork is very detailed, almost to the point of busy, and kind of inconsistent, but at the same time really does a good job of conveying the mood of the scenes, particularly the lush, dark jungle and mysterious Themyscira. I'd rate this book 2.5 stars if Goodreads allowed half stars.

leah_reads's review

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3.0

3.5*

s_mack_'s review

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4.0

This was my first graphic novel to read (a Christmas gift from Andrew). It was fun, but left me with far more questions than answers.

42andyjo's review against another edition

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4.0

A good story but there seemed be more that I needed to know to understand what was going on.

redmoon's review against another edition

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I didn't find the plot interesting.

adrianwelsh's review against another edition

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2.0

I have not seen the Wonder Woman movie yet (I will, just haven’t had the time). I hear great things about it and this new graphic novel is up for an award with Goodreads. So, I decided to check it out.

I feel like I either missed a huge series of volumes of graphic novels or I just simply did not get what was happening. Some of the book was enjoyable but most of it had a feel of, “what the hell is happening here?”.