Rucka's Wonder Woman run

[tony2074]

could someone please advise me on order of the trades and if his run is actually worth my hard earned wedge? what are his stories about?
much appreciated

[tony2074]

wow, that good, eh.

[Mister Intensity]

The problem with Rucka's Wonder Woman run is that he doesn't know how to write super powered characters. There were several instances where Diana was "powered down" for the sake of Rucka's story. Also, not a lot happens in his stories. It takes him twelve issues to cover even one issue worth of plot. All that plus, the whole thing was a set-up for Infinite Crisis.

Draw your own conclusions from that.

Mister Intensity

[tony2074]

thanks, think i'll give it a miss, then.

[Viking Bastard]

I think it's great, myself.

It's a really great take on WW. Lot of politics. Lot of mythology. Less old-school superheroics. It is slow to start, but a lot of the small seemingly-unimportant details that are introduced early in the series have big consequences later on.

[tony2074]

hmmmm, a sampling i think. first trade, i'll buy, then if i think its pants i can always not buy the rest.

[titanfan]

I don't know which trades came out, but I remember his run starting very very slow. A lot of set-up stuff. I almost dropped it. Then once everything was set up, it got very good.

[Captain Jim]

A lot of people have sung the praises of this run; don't know where they all went to. Wasn't Shadow one of them?

[bert]

I'm not who Capt. Jim was talking about, but Rucka's run easily is my favorite run of the book. . . ever.


yeah. .it takes forever to set up, but it's not that "deconstructive storytelling" style that seems to be all the rage at the "Marvelous Competion" (where nothing happens for 7 out of 8 issues).

It's more along the lines of a LOT of things happening, but most of them not involving Wonder Woman, and most of them not clearly tying to Diana or Wonder Woman.

but once the stage is set, and all the characters are introduced. . . wow. ..Rucka knocks it outta the park.

Ferdinand is simply the best addition to the cast since. . . well, since Stever Trevor (who is almost completely MIA in Rucka's run). The staff of the consulate. . . what happens when Medousa attacks, the Cheetah story, Dr. Psycho/Veronica Cale/Silver Swan, the Civil War in Olympus! . . good stuff.

a very slow build up, but once this sucker starts to sizzle?. . it's consistently one of the better books DC is publishing.

I'd go for the first couple of trades. . . give the puzzle pieces time to start fitting together.

[Christopher O]

My favorite Wonder Woman run of all time. It was slow to start, but, like others have stated, once it got going, it was just excellent. The mix of politics and mythology really set it apart from most mainstream super-hero work. Rucka also honed in on Wonder Woman's personality and ideology, truly making her more than just the female Superman--which many writers tend to do, and it's something I felt Jiminez did.

[The Shadow]

Wasn't Shadow one of them?
HOLY MISSED THREAD BATMAN!

I TOTALLY didn't see this!

It's been amazing from start to finish. Rucka's run was a slow build, but that's an essential ingredient to his storytelling. All those subtle things sprinkled throughout that seems meaningless payed off BIG TIME. Everything came to a head just before Sacrifice and Rucka laid down some future sub plots to intrigue everyone.

Wonder Woman NEEDS strong villains... and Rucka has done some good with Dr Psycho, Cheetah, Medusa, Ares (is he REALLY a villain??) and a few others. (Phil Jiminez revamped some of her villains to good effect as well. I liked his Clea and Trinity, and he used Dr. Poison well.)

I've been reading Wonder Woman since issue #1 in 1987. There have been some great "UP's" like the Perez stuff, the Deodato stuff and some loooooooooow's... like a lot in between... but the Rucka issues have been among my favorite issues in the 220+ issue series.

Oh, the Adam Hughes covers alone are worth the price of admission. ;)
http://www.universohq.com/quadrinhos/images/ww150.jpg

Wonder Woman is one of the best DC books on the stands (along with Birds of Prey, JSA and Batgirl) and I wouldn't miss it... mainly due to Greg Rucka!

[Clear]

If you're unsure, start with the Eyes of the Gorgon trade. That's where things really picked up and readership started to double.

[Patient Boy]

I am enjoying Rucka's Wonder Woman and it actually segues nicely into Infinite Crisis, but at the same time I get the feeling that he had to sacrifice a few subplots for it to do so. The Veronica Cale storyline seems to have faded due to the events of the past few months, for example.

[Sir Tim Drake]

The first issue of the run (#196, I think) was one of the best Wonder Woman stories I've ever read. It led me to hope that Rucka's run would be a milestone for the character, comparable to the George Perez run and... well, not much else.

Unfortunately, Rucka's subsequent issues didn't live up to the promise of his first issue. Not enough happened and not enough was done with the interesting Diana-as-ambassador angle.

I would recommend that you buy some of the back issues from early in the run, and see whether you like them.

[Mia]

I tried the first trade and was really put off by it. Never mind the left wing politicking. Diana was hardly in it at all. it was just downright boring.


The problem with Rucka is that at times he doesn’t know how to get out of his own way. It’s clear that he’s an educated man who’s read a lot. But he doesn’t know how to put that stuff aside.

I’ve looked at subsequent trades and have been tempted to pick them up. But always end up putting it back down on the shelf. The portions with Diana seem interesting. But the other stuff about the embassy staff and the gods and Veronica Cale is way too much and interferes with the story.

Speaking of Veronica Cale. Her purpose and her hatred of Diana has really been written poorly. I know women like Cale and frankly they don’t care about anything unless it interferes in her life directly. Trust me unless Diana slighted her somehow (ie. slept with her man) or interfered with her career. She really wouldn’t give Wonder woman the time of day. There are more important things to worry about.

Even with the trades selling at US cover price I can’t bring myself to buy it. I just keep thinking I’m going to regret it.

[matewan1990]

I thought it would be great having Greg Rucka and Rags Morales together on WW. But, after only a few issues of complete Morales art, it became Morales doing four or five pages and several other artists doing the rest. And that caused me to almost drop the book. I didn't like the current issue because the art is just bad.
Right now, I think Rucka's storytelling is okay and the art is terrible. If Rags were doing the book on a regular basis, it would be great. But, the art is so bad, it hurts Rucka's stories because the artists haven't done a whole lot to move the story along.

[The Shadow]

I thought it would be great having Greg Rucka and Rags Morales together on WW. But, after only a few issues of complete Morales art, it became Morales doing four or five pages and several other artists doing the rest. And that caused me to almost drop the book. I didn't like the current issue because the art is just bad.
Right now, I think Rucka's storytelling is okay and the art is terrible. If Rags were doing the book on a regular basis, it would be great. But, the art is so bad, it hurts Rucka's stories because the artists haven't done a whole lot to move the story along.
Actually I'm not a Rags fan... at all.

I would rather see Yannick Paquette, Drew Johnson or *praying to God above* Adam Hughes doing the art!

[Lex]

A lot of people have sung the praises of this run; don't know where they all went to. Wasn't Shadow one of them?I'm one of the people who was singing the praises of this book at the beginning. I thought it was a brilliant take on Diana and I found myself excited about Wonder Woman's book for the first time.

Starting with the original graphic novel, Wonder Woman: the Hiketeia, you really got a feel for Rucka's interpretation of Diana as a mix of ambassador, warrior and her strong connection to mythology. It was a great, emotional story.

In the ongoing series, the first ten issues were gold. Rucka took a lot of steps to define Diana's beliefs and personaltity and explored what makes her different than Superman and Batman. He populated the book with interesting supporting characters (my favorite was the chef who was a minotaur) and a great villain in Veronica Cale.

I loved the first storyline and how Cale were went to war with Diana through ideology. She was very resourceful in her attacks. True, it wasn't a action-oriented superhero vs. supervillain fight, but that didn't make it any less interesting.

The second storyline followed up on the first and, while still not very action oriented, it turned up the heat.

I forget where the Olympus subplots started, but that was another very interesting part of the book. Full of intrigue and fun interpretations of the gods. Good stuff, I thought. I was particularly facinated with this version of Ares.

After those first 10 issues, the stories were still pretty decent, but they started to lose the high quality it had before. The Stoned arc was good and while it shook up the status quo something fearce, it was still enjoyable. Then there was a boring JLA issue, but then the book really got into the interesting Olympus subplot. I think it was around this point where you could tell Rucka was making some changes to gear up for his Infinite Crisis stuff (specifically the Jonah stuff).

Now all that goodness from the first year has been thrown away. This book is nothing more than an Infinite Crisis shill book now. All the wonderful plotlines and development has been discarded in favor of setting things up for other books (OMAC Project and Infinite Crisis). This is one of the DC books that have completely stopped telling their own unique stories and instead have drowned in the flood of Infinite Crisis tie-ins. Most notably was, out of the blue, revealing that one of the supporting cast (who the reader was supposed to identify with from the first issue of Rucka's run) turns out to be a spy for the OMAC Project, Rucka's other book. I thought that served no purpose and completely went against what this book started out as. The second notable change was the abandonment of the Veronica Cale subplots. Another interesting part of the book sacrificed for Infinite Crisis.

I was kinda happy to hear about this book's cancelation. Now the next Wonder Woman book can start fresh and hopefully reach the level of greatness that Rucka's first ten issues reached.

[estee]

Well to be honest, Lex, all of the DC Books are IC shill books right now, as that is the major event right now.

But it was 219 that brought me on board. I re-couped much of the run since buying it and I really like what Rucka has done with Diana.

Not much a fan of the art though, its not very strong, IMO.

[The Shadow]

Now all that goodness from the first year has been thrown away. This book is nothing more than an Infinite Crisis shill book now. All the wonderful plotlines and development has been discarded in favor of setting things up for other books (OMAC Project and Infinite Crisis). This is one of the DC books that have completely stopped telling their own unique stories and instead have drowned in the flood of Infinite Crisis tie-ins.
Yeah... that's a great point... and you nailed it when the book lost a lot of its steam.

One of the things I hate the most is when giant crossovers interfere with a book. One or two issues I can live with... but it's been IC and OMAC stuff for MONTHS now andLex is right... it threw all the great stuff out the window.

Excellent point in fact!!!

[The Shadow]

all of the DC Books are IC shill books right now
hehehe

Too true!

[Lex]

Well to be honest, Lex, all of the DC Books are IC shill books right now, as that is the major event right now.I agree that's the case and it has led me to drop a whole lot of DC books this year.

But there are some books that are tied into Infinite Crisis, but still manage to tell their own, unique stories. A big example of that is Birds of Prey which is dealing with Calculator but it's a story that is only being told in BoP and not as set-up for IC. A story like that can stand on it's own even if Infinite Crisis wasn't happening.

Books that are telling IC set-up stories that wouldn't be able to stand on their own are what I call shill books. Like Wonder Woman, JSA Classified #1-4 and a few issues of Supergirl are good examples.

[The Shadow]

Books that are telling IC set-up stories that wouldn't be able to stand on their own are what I call shill books. Like Wonder Woman, JSA Classified #1-4 and a few issues of Supergirl are good examples.
Do you think it's odd that all the books you mentioned feature women?

Do you think it's because DC doesn't have faith in those books/characters and does they sex hurt them? Or wasit just a coincidence you mentioned all female books?

[Lex]

Do you think it's odd that all the books you mentioned feature women?

Do you think it's because DC doesn't have faith in those books/characters and does they sex hurt them? Or wasit just a coincidence you mentioned all female books?Coincidence. Those were the first ones that came to mind. Male books like them would probably be Green Arrow, Superman and Robin.

[The Shadow]

Coincidence. Those were the first ones that came to mind. Male books like them would probably be Green Arrow, Superman and Robin.
Ah!

Fair enough!

[Viking Bastard]

I would probably agree with the run's decline with IC, but seeing how all of Rucka's major plot points were dealt with before Sacrifice and that Rucka is leaving the title OYL, I pretty much count the run as done. I don't count the whole WW IC thing as part of the run, as much as IC-Meanwhile issues that just happend to be written by the same guy.

While Rucka's run set up the WW/IC story, it isn't the same story. Rucka's WW opus is over.

[estee]

I would probably agree with the run's decline with IC, but seeing how all of Rucka's major plot points were dealt with before Sacrifice and that Rucka is leaving the title OYL, I pretty much count the run as done. I don't count the whole WW IC thing as part of the run, as much as IC-Meanwhile issues that just happend to be written by the same guy.

While Rucka's run set up the WW/IC story, it isn't the same story. Rucka's WW opus is over.

Rucka isn't doing the re-launch? That sucks.

Any idea who they have in store for the book? Gail Simone...yeah, Gail doesn't have near enough on her plate at the moment...she needs to sink her teeth into Diana. :)

[Yoda]

Rucka isn't doing the re-launch? That sucks.

Any idea who they have in store for the book? Gail Simone...yeah, Gail doesn't have near enough on her plate at the moment...she needs to sink her teeth into Diana. :)

Somewhere, YABS IIRC, she stated that she had asked Didio for the book after it came out that Heindenberg had passed on the relaunch. She was told that someone else had already been assigned, but that she had been the next on the list. So there's probably a pretty good chance we'll get to see her on it in the next couple of years. I agree she'd probably be a great fit.

[Captain Jim]

I don't believe the new writer has been announced yet. DC is changing creative teams on most of their titles OYL.