Ricky Church reviews Wonder Woman #22…
“Godwatch” part four! Veronica Cale will do anything to save her daughter. If that means destroying the Amazing Amazon, it’s a small price to pay.
SEE ALSO: Check out a review of Wonder Woman #22 here
Wonder Woman #22 depicts the first meeting between Diana and her nemesis Veronica Cale in an intriguing issue. This isn’t the typical kind of first meeting between a hero and a villain, but almost a fun playdate as both Diana and Veronica attempt to read the other’s mind and predict their moves.
Compared to a lot of the recent issues, this story was actually smaller in scale. Diana wasn’t fighting some other gods, monster or sorceress and Veronica wasn’t scheming against her or a pair of gods. The smaller scale was a great way to focus on how these two characters met and get a sense of their adversarial relationship. There even seems to be the potential of an actual friendship there if Veronica weren’t so hell bent on Wonder Woman’s defeat.
Though Veronica created an elaborate cover story, Rucka revealed that Diana isn’t as easily fooled as others may think. Wonder Woman is known to be quite trusting and believing in the best of people, but I was initially worried she would be a little too naïve in meeting Veronica. It was a pleasant surprise to see her reveal she knew much more about Veronica during their dinner and especially at the end.
Mirka Andolfo took over art duties for this issue and utilizes a very animated style on Wonder Woman, Veronica and everyone else. Her facial work is pretty good, particularly during the dinner scene as Diana and Veronica size each other up. The brief fight scene towards the end is choreographed very well, and it’s also cool to see Wonder Woman doing her thing in regular clothes than her normal Amazonian garb. One small thing I noticed though was that Diana and Veronica looked much younger than they should be in parts of the story, looking more like teenagers than adults.
Another nicely drawn piece was their meeting at the end of the issue, a very fun nod to Superman and Lex Luthor in Superman: The Animated Series. Combined with Romulo Fajardo Jr.’s colours, which pop off the page utilizes lights and darks nicely, this is visually a pretty issue.
As we get close to the end of Rucka’s run on Wonder Woman, its great to see that character development is still taking priority over big actions scenes. Wonder woman #22 delivered a good first meeting between Diana and Veronica that highlighted both their differences and similarities. Andolfo’s art and Fajardo’s colours make the art standout as one of the best issues of Rucka’s Wonder Woman so far.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
Originally published May 15, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
