Ricky Church reviews Wonder Woman #3…
“THE LIES” Chapter Two: Wonder Woman must team up with one of her greatest enemies to solve a growing mystery about Themyscira as “The Lies” continues!
Out of all of DC’s Rebirth titles so far, Greg Rucka’s Wonder Woman continues to be one of the best as its third issue returns to the heroine’s present timeline. Where Wonder Woman #3 really stands out is in its characterization of Diana and the Cheetah, giving the longtime foes a complicated relationship that verges more on ‘frenemies’. Wonder Woman #1 focused a fair bit on her warrior side, but this issue went into a great amount of depth regarding her compassion, showing how much she cared for her fallen friend. Wonder Woman definitely had some great characterization here.
The great characterization extended to Cheetah as well as Rucka painted her in a tragic and sympathetic light, alternating between hating and respecting Diana. Rucka really humanized her with his writing, but it succeeded in large part due to Liam Sharp’s great artwork. His facial work on Cheetah was a standout feature as he managed to make her look like a cheetah-human hybrid rather than going one way or the other as so many other artists have done. One panel is particularly stirring as she faces away from Wonder Woman and Sharp manages to perfectly illustrate the sorrow within her.
Laura Martin’s colours really pop in this issue, especially as she plays with dark shadows and silhouettes. Between Sharp’s lines and Martin’s colours, Wonder Woman and Cheetah have never looked better. Even the ‘real’ portions of the book that focused on Steve Trevor and his soldiers were well done, though by the looks of it his story will get a bit more fantastic as his and Diana’s paths are set to cross as their storylines are now connecting.
With Wonder Woman’s mainstream popularity on the rise, now is the best time to read Rucka’s Wonder Woman. His characterizations are spot on, the art is fantastic and the story is proving to be an intriguing insight into Wonder Woman and the people in her life, whether ally or foe. Between this and the ‘Year One’ story in Wonder Woman’s even numbered issues, it certainly is a good time to be a Wonder Woman fan.
Rating: 9/10
Ricky Church
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Originally published July 31, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
