Ricky Church reviews Wonder Woman #23…
“The Truth” part five! The conclusion to Diana’s search for the truth takes her on a journey into darkness. But the price of understanding may be one sacrifice too many for Wonder Woman…
With Wonder Woman #23 comes the conclusion to ‘The Truth’, edging us that much closer to Greg Rucka’s finale of his run. The issue wasn’t quite as action packed as I thought it might have been, but that actually works in its favour. Rucka subverts expectations by having the conflict boil down to a much more quiet affair between Wonder, Ares and his sons. It was also racked with emotion as some characters said farewell and Diana discovered the full extent of the deception on her.
The conversation between Wonder Woman, Veronica and Ares shed a lot of light on Rucka’s run. It was well written and the answers to Diana and Veronica’s questions came easily. Rucka also wrote a very good, yet different, interpretation of Ares. This was a God of War who was humbled and even charming, resigned to spend his life in a prison so he would not be driven mad once again and keen to help Diana accomplish her goal.
His revelation that the gods themselves were the ones who deceived Wonder Woman throughout her life was a bit of a shock as well. It will be interesting to see more of Diana’s reaction to this news and if she speaks to her patrons, but the revelation also put a light on one of her main characteristics: Diana’s strength of will. The fact that gods deceived her because she had the actual drive to find Themyscira on her own and succeed, thereby leading others to Ares’ prison, was a reveal that did ring true.
The issue really did cut to the core of who each of the characters were: Veronica as a mother trying to save her daughter, Ares as a powerful, uncontrollable entity and Diana always preferring peace to violence. The way she defeated Ares’ sons, Phobos and Deimos, was perfectly and beautifully in character. Telling the two gods, in spite of everything they’ve done, she loved them as much as she loved everyone, was a great payoff to the conflict and spoke to everything Wonder Woman represents.
Though there wasn’t much fighting present in Wonder Woman #23, the parts that were looked great with their detail and colours. Liam Sharp made Phobos and Deimos’ demonic forms terrifying, particularly the close-ups of their decaying jackal skulls. The brief panels depicting the Amazons fighting them were visually stunning too; each warrior looked amazing in their rich detail on their armours, swords and shields.
One of the real standouts of Sharp’s art, though was with the opening pages of Ares in all his deadly madness as carnage surrounded him. It’s a bit of a shame we didn’t get to see more of this version of Ares in either this issue or throughout the run since this is one of the best makeovers Ares has ever received.
Artist Hi-Fi did the colours this week and though his work isn’t quite as strong combined with Sharp’s as Laura Martin’s, it’s still visually impressive. Hi-Fi uses a balanced mix of lights and darks to depict Ares’ prison and the battle raging above, but his colours stand out even more in the final pages as Wonder Woman deals with the wayward sons and the characters say farewell. They pop off the page and look unlike what came before in the issue and allow Diana’s radiance to truly shine.
Wonder Woman #23 serves as a very good conclusion to ‘The Truth’, striking the core of Wonder Woman’s character. The art in it is gorgeous, from the brief look of battle to even the way the character converse with each other, while the story packs plenty of emotion into it. It will definitely be bittersweet to see Rucka and Sharp leave the title next month.
Rating: 9/10
Ricky Church
Originally published May 26, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
