Ricky Church reviews Wonder Woman #2…
“WONDER WOMAN YEAR ONE” Chapter One: Running parallel to Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp’s “The Lies,” Rucka and artist Nicola Scott weave the definitive and shocking tale of Diana’s first year as Earth’s protector.
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Wonder Woman #2
Greg Rucka takes a break from Wonder Woman’s main story, ‘The Lies’, to go back to Diana’s beginnings in ‘Year One’ and, if Wonder Woman #2 is any indication, this storyline might just be better than ‘The Lies’. There is just so much to enjoy about this issue, from its light-hearted feel, the characterization to Nicola Scott’s artwork.
Wonder Woman #2 transitions between a young Diana and Steve Trevor as they both undergo various training. The parallels between the two are quite clear through the story and artwork, showing enough similarities in their personalities to see how these two would eventually fall for each other. The young Diana, though, is the real show stealer here. She’s incredibly charismatic with such a vibrant outlook on life that is hard not to enjoy. Her youth and compassion is one of the best aspects of this issue and its easy to see how this young woman becomes one of the greatest warriors and heroes the world has ever known.
Rucka succeeds not only with Diana’s characterization, but with Steve Trevor, Hippolyta and the other residents of Paradise Island. Though the other young women don’t get much time to shine, its evident they all care for each other and most of them, Kasia especially, are given their own distinctive voices. Steve’s character is also nicely contrasted with his personality in the previous issue and The New 52. He’s idealistic, hopeful and outgoing, though seems like he still has trouble connecting to others aside from his friend Nick and Nick’s wife. His journey to the cynic he becomes will be just as interesting as Diana’s will be to becoming Wonder Woman.
It would be a crime to talk about this issue and not go more in depth about Nicola Scott’s art. Simply put, this issue is gorgeous with its character work and colours. Scott’s facial work in particular is really great. Just as Rucka makes the characters sound different, so too does Scott make each one look truly distinctive with different hair styles, freckles and builds. One of the most significant things about Scott’s work is just how radiant Diana’s smile is. She really makes Diana’s youth stand out in the visuals and combined with Romulo Fajardo Jr.’s colours, this is arguably the most eye-popping and beautiful book DC has put out in recent weeks.
Wonder Woman #2 is an outstanding book from both a storytelling and visual standpoint. The juxtaposition between the past and present in this run is very intriguing, but ‘Year One’ is already looking to be the better of the two stories. With this story and her upcoming movie, this is certainly a great time to be a Wonder Woman fan.
Rating: 9/10
Ricky Church
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Originally published July 15, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
