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A review by roxcollector
Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Lies by Greg Rucka
4.0
Synopsis: Wonder Woman's memory of her origins keeps changing from the New 52 origin of being the daughter of Zeus and her original origin story of having been made out of a clay. She also does not remember how to get to Themyscira so she enlists the help of Cheetah in Bwunda. Steve Trevor and his men are on a mission in Bwunda to take down a warlord named Cadulo, who has taken all the daughters from a village. The jungle where Diana and Cheetah are is crawling with these hyena humanoid things, who Cheetah insists are not her worshippers. Steve and his men seemingly also enter the same forest, which one of the men remarks was not on the map.
Steve and his men are quickly captured by Cadulo, who reveals that the girls will be the wives of a super male deity called Urzkartaga and that Steve will be his "vessel of becoming." Back in the US, Etta Candy reports to a woman named Sasha and voices her concern over the loss of contact with Steve's team and how odd it is that both Diana and Steve are in the same place without meaning to be. When Etta leaves, this weird blue ball talks to Sasha, saying that Steve and Etta are about to deliver Wonder Woman to "them." The hyena dudes have stopped chasing Cheetah and Diana because they have reached Urzkartaga's lair.
Diana frees Steve's men and the women and has Steve's men lead the women away while she looks for Steve. Cheetah explains to Diana that the Cheetah is the bridge of Urzkartaga, but when she was turned, he was mad because she wasn't a virgin so he cursed her. Cheetah and the remaining captured girls use the Lasso of Truth to bind Urzkartaga, which turns Cheetah back into Barbara Ann.
Steve gives Urzkartaga to Sasha as he is now a potted plant, while Diana and Etta take Barbara Ann shopping. Veronica Cale is shown to be the person Sasha was talking to earlier. A woman named Adrianna updates Cale on the status of Barbara Ann and the fact that Diana cannot find her way back to Themyscira. Steve and Diana become a couple again.
Barbara Ann gives Diana and Steve an idea about where to find Themyscira. Meanwhile, Etta becomes suspicious of Sasha and finds out that Sasha is in fact a robot when she confronts Veronica Cale. Cale then sends her two dogs after Etta. When Diana and Steve arrive on the island, it seems that they have found Themyscira since they encounter the Amazons, but Steve notes that none of the faces or architecture looks the same. Diana's wrist is bleeding and on a walk, Steve removes one of her gauntlets, revealing a wound that looks like a snake bite. The Lasso begins to glow and Diana realizes that she has never actually been back to Themyscira - it's been a lie the whole time.
Review: Man, Greg Rucka is the shit. His Wonder Woman run is ridiculously good and I'm so excited to read it again. I think one of the things that's so great about this first volume is the feminist arc with Urzkartaga and Cheetah without it being overtly preachy or in your face.
The second thing I like about this volume is how it does address the differences in origins with Wonder Woman. Diana isn't the only character with a different origin in the New 52 (Superman being the other most obvious example), but it's nice that there is acknowledgement of that here. Granted, it's not resolved here, but it's a great jumping off point for the story. And I love the inclusion of Diana forgetting where Themyscira is and the reveal that she's never actually been home.
Now, I did think this was slightly confusing. I'm not sure if this means she's never been home, like, EVER in the history of comics or if it's just including stuff from the New 52. I suppose, though, it's probably just the New 52 since Diana doesn't have this huge revelation of all these adventures she's had that no one else remembers. Still, I think it makes sense that she's never been home because when she left they told her she would never be able to return. It always confused me why she's always going back to Themyscira if she supposedly couldn't go back. I'm not sure if there's something about that is the character's history, but this was the first time I've ever seen a writer address it.
I was super excited to see Cheetah in this, too. I think Cheetah is a difficult character to get right, but I thought Rucka nailed it. The art for Cheetah was awesome as well. I hate it when comic artists make Cheetah look like a sexy furry or something, but here, she looks more animalistic and muscular as fuck. Like yeah, she's got tits, but I wasn't like, "oh my god she's so hot." And if you thought she was hot, hey, if that's your bag, baby. But I thought it was a more realistic than what she's usually presented as.
The relationship between Diana and Barbara Ann really took the forefront in this volume as well. I haven't always been into Wonder Woman, but once I read more about her and her rogues gallery, I was intrigued by the relationship between her and Cheetah/Barbara Ann. Rucka does a great job exploring the complicity of their relationship here.
What I did think was kind of silly was the whole thing with Sasha. I didn't really understand what that blue techno ball she was talking to was about. I mean, I guess it was just a communication thing with Veronica Cale. I thought the fact that Sasha was a robot was a bit ridiculous, too. Granted, this came at the end of the volume so I wasn't expecting answers. I was also kind of thinking that there may have been something romantic with Etta and Sasha, but if Sasha was a robot, or whatever, I guess that's down the drain.
I didn't care for the stuff between Diana and Steve, either. I remember when I read this volume for the first time, I thought it was cute and all that - now, not so much. It's fine. I mean, if you like Diana and Steve as a couple, then you'll probably enjoy that aspect more than me. It's not even that I don't like them as a couple, I just think I like them more when they aren't together than when they are. I liked them in the New 52 run of Justice League because they weren't together and there was so much angst that came with it, but there's none of that here. All well, it's a nitpick and doesn't really have that much weight over the story, honestly.
If you've never read any Wonder Woman, I think this would be a great jumping on point. I don't think you necessarily have to read anything from New 52 to understand this volume. Honestly, if you've seen the movie, you don't need to know that much more going in. Awesome start to Greg Rucka's run.
Steve and his men are quickly captured by Cadulo, who reveals that the girls will be the wives of a super male deity called Urzkartaga and that Steve will be his "vessel of becoming." Back in the US, Etta Candy reports to a woman named Sasha and voices her concern over the loss of contact with Steve's team and how odd it is that both Diana and Steve are in the same place without meaning to be. When Etta leaves, this weird blue ball talks to Sasha, saying that Steve and Etta are about to deliver Wonder Woman to "them." The hyena dudes have stopped chasing Cheetah and Diana because they have reached Urzkartaga's lair.
Diana frees Steve's men and the women and has Steve's men lead the women away while she looks for Steve. Cheetah explains to Diana that the Cheetah is the bridge of Urzkartaga, but when she was turned, he was mad because she wasn't a virgin so he cursed her. Cheetah and the remaining captured girls use the Lasso of Truth to bind Urzkartaga, which turns Cheetah back into Barbara Ann.
Steve gives Urzkartaga to Sasha as he is now a potted plant, while Diana and Etta take Barbara Ann shopping. Veronica Cale is shown to be the person Sasha was talking to earlier. A woman named Adrianna updates Cale on the status of Barbara Ann and the fact that Diana cannot find her way back to Themyscira. Steve and Diana become a couple again.
Barbara Ann gives Diana and Steve an idea about where to find Themyscira. Meanwhile, Etta becomes suspicious of Sasha and finds out that Sasha is in fact a robot when she confronts Veronica Cale. Cale then sends her two dogs after Etta. When Diana and Steve arrive on the island, it seems that they have found Themyscira since they encounter the Amazons, but Steve notes that none of the faces or architecture looks the same. Diana's wrist is bleeding and on a walk, Steve removes one of her gauntlets, revealing a wound that looks like a snake bite. The Lasso begins to glow and Diana realizes that she has never actually been back to Themyscira - it's been a lie the whole time.
Review: Man, Greg Rucka is the shit. His Wonder Woman run is ridiculously good and I'm so excited to read it again. I think one of the things that's so great about this first volume is the feminist arc with Urzkartaga and Cheetah without it being overtly preachy or in your face.
The second thing I like about this volume is how it does address the differences in origins with Wonder Woman. Diana isn't the only character with a different origin in the New 52 (Superman being the other most obvious example), but it's nice that there is acknowledgement of that here. Granted, it's not resolved here, but it's a great jumping off point for the story. And I love the inclusion of Diana forgetting where Themyscira is and the reveal that she's never actually been home.
Now, I did think this was slightly confusing. I'm not sure if this means she's never been home, like, EVER in the history of comics or if it's just including stuff from the New 52. I suppose, though, it's probably just the New 52 since Diana doesn't have this huge revelation of all these adventures she's had that no one else remembers. Still, I think it makes sense that she's never been home because when she left they told her she would never be able to return. It always confused me why she's always going back to Themyscira if she supposedly couldn't go back. I'm not sure if there's something about that is the character's history, but this was the first time I've ever seen a writer address it.
I was super excited to see Cheetah in this, too. I think Cheetah is a difficult character to get right, but I thought Rucka nailed it. The art for Cheetah was awesome as well. I hate it when comic artists make Cheetah look like a sexy furry or something, but here, she looks more animalistic and muscular as fuck. Like yeah, she's got tits, but I wasn't like, "oh my god she's so hot." And if you thought she was hot, hey, if that's your bag, baby. But I thought it was a more realistic than what she's usually presented as.
The relationship between Diana and Barbara Ann really took the forefront in this volume as well. I haven't always been into Wonder Woman, but once I read more about her and her rogues gallery, I was intrigued by the relationship between her and Cheetah/Barbara Ann. Rucka does a great job exploring the complicity of their relationship here.
What I did think was kind of silly was the whole thing with Sasha. I didn't really understand what that blue techno ball she was talking to was about. I mean, I guess it was just a communication thing with Veronica Cale. I thought the fact that Sasha was a robot was a bit ridiculous, too. Granted, this came at the end of the volume so I wasn't expecting answers. I was also kind of thinking that there may have been something romantic with Etta and Sasha, but if Sasha was a robot, or whatever, I guess that's down the drain.
I didn't care for the stuff between Diana and Steve, either. I remember when I read this volume for the first time, I thought it was cute and all that - now, not so much. It's fine. I mean, if you like Diana and Steve as a couple, then you'll probably enjoy that aspect more than me. It's not even that I don't like them as a couple, I just think I like them more when they aren't together than when they are. I liked them in the New 52 run of Justice League because they weren't together and there was so much angst that came with it, but there's none of that here. All well, it's a nitpick and doesn't really have that much weight over the story, honestly.
If you've never read any Wonder Woman, I think this would be a great jumping on point. I don't think you necessarily have to read anything from New 52 to understand this volume. Honestly, if you've seen the movie, you don't need to know that much more going in. Awesome start to Greg Rucka's run.