Sunday, February 12, 2017

Comic Book Review: Wonder Woman #16 Godwatch, Pt.1

By: Jerry Montgomery
February 11, 2017

Wonder Woman #16
“Godwatch, Pt. 1”

Written by: Greg Rucka
Artwork by: Bilquis Evely

By issue #16 of Wonder Woman in this Rebirth universe of DC, she has been away from Themyscira for 6 months. In this short amount of time, she has learned some shocking secrets about her life. I mean life altering secrets, like finding out she has a long-lost twin brother and that some unseen force has been manipulating her life since her birth. She has even had to call into question many details about her past, such as is she really the daughter of Zeus, or fashioned from a lump of clay? The New 52 Wonder Woman is gone….erased, thanks to Dr. Manhattan (You know, Watchmen Dr. Manhattan) for reasons not yet known, as has the rest of the New 52 DC universe. She’s met Steve Trevor, teamed with Cheetah, the now cursed Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva and found out her return to Paradise Island has been nothing more than a cruel illusion, only revealed when her iconic silver wristbands were removed. It’s been a tough 6 months.

“Godwatch, pt.1” begins a new story arc for Wonder Woman. Publicly,  she’s rescued stranded refugees, foiled a white supremist plot, hung out with a troop of girl scouts, appeared on a talk show and lastly, battled a mythic chimera. She has spread the message, perhaps naively, that man must love each other in order to save themselves and the world. Could it be that simple? Now, the twin Gods, Deimos and Phobos plot to find the hidden island of Themyscira. Unable to wrest the information from Wonder Woman herself, they now seek other methods and accomplices to get it. Enter Drs. Arianna Cale and Ronnie Anderson of Empire Industries, creators and head researchers of the R&D cyber program there. What could a pair of gods hope to gain from a pair of mere mortals? As Deimos and Phobos throw their plan into motion, Wonder Woman is called back into action.

The Verdict: If you haven’t been following Wonder Woman , now is a good time to get on board with the beginning of this new storyline in one of DC’s best selling comics. The Godwatch storyline looks to be an interesting read for sure. With her much anticipated upcoming stand alone movie, Wonder Woman is bound to generate a lot more excitement in many mediums.  Writer Greg Rucker has really woven together a solid retelling of Diana of Themyscira’s origin and discovery of who she really is. Bilquis Evely puts out some solid artwork that does justice to the fine writing. I would recommend this title to both first time readers and long time fans of Wonder Woman.


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