Wonder Woman Vol. 4: Godwatch (Rebirth) (Wonder Woman, 2)

Is it a good thing that this is Rucka's last volume of his return to writing Wonder Woman? Well, I DID enjoy the previous volumes, but mostly because they were SJW politics free, but this volume has small hints of that. Plus, I've heard that the woman who took over as writer on this title following Rucka's departure made the book even more SJW as hell! This was pretty good, but it has its flaws. Let's get into it.Story: This is as the description suggests, a story bridging the gap between Year One and the present. By the end of the main story, we find ourselves picking up where The Truth left off. It follows Diana becoming a worldwide sensation as she makes many heroic acts, but it doesn't so much focus on her as focus on Veronica Cale, and her mission to learn more about Diana in order to use her to save her daughter who's essence was split by Deimos and Phobos, the sons of Ares. There's somewhat of a complicated story here, but I wouldn't call it convoluted. People use that term when they talk about a story that's hard to follow and often loses them. This story is fairly easy to follow. I would say that you really should make sure to read volumes 1,2, and 3 of this title first or this volume might not make much sense. We learn a lot about things previously unexplained, like the origin of Doctor Cyber for instance, and how it affected Dr. Cale. We also learn about Deimos's and Phobos's binding that we saw previously. I enjoyed the inclusion of Circe, one of Wonder Woman's greatest enemies. All in all, this book is the connective tissue for the previous volumes, filling in the gaps as it were. At the end, we catch up to the present and we get a continuation of the story from The Truth, the aftermath rather. The last issue here is the Annual, which serves as a story depicting the first meeting of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. There's several flaws here and something that made me roll my eyes and want to facepalm. This is supposed to be the first meeting of the Trinity, but the Superman depicted here is wearing his Reborn redesign outfit. It should have been previous Reborn, New 52 Superman that was depicted since Rebirth is still technically The New 52 continuity. Batman was wearing his New 52 outfit, but Wonder Woman was also depicted in her Rebirth outfit, not the one she wears at the beginning of The New 52. Also, I was under the impression that all the members of the JL, save for Hal and Barry, met for the first time in JL: Origin. This Wonder Woman Annual is seemingly ignoring main continuity. In my own personal head canon, this Annual is OUT of continuity, because it blatantly ignores the previously set line of events. Another major problem I have is that the end of this story, and the book as a whole seems to be SJW as F@*&!! Wonder Woman wants Superman and Batman to take hold of her Lasso, and they all introduce themselves to each other, but Diana also mentions that the Lasso is allowing each of them to view what's in the hearts of each other. When Wonder Woman leaves, Batman tells Superman that they've got a lot of catching up to do. Maybe you'll just have to read it, but I take it as Batman saying that he and Clark are lesser in motives and intentions than Wonder Woman. Batman is suggesting that Diana is the pinnacle of moral absolutes and that she's the greatest of them, and that Bruce and Clark have to catch up to her high status and match it because she's the ultimate example to be lived up to. This is WRONG!!! Wonder Woman is NOT the pinnacle. Superman is. If there's anyone to catch up to in morals and intentions, it's Superman. That's the whole point of his character. I feel that Rucka here figured since he's gone after this volume, he might as well go full SJW and write about how, "Oh no! It's not Batman or Superman that's the greatest! It's Wonder Woman who's better than those MEN, because girl power! SHE'S the moral absolute, because no man could ever be that!". It's just nothing but SJW trash. Shame really, and from what I've heard, it's not over with this title. If you just sort of take the final issue here with a grain of salt, then the rest of the book still comes off as a great tale.Art: Eveley does a great job here. I actually do like here pencils, but in my opinion, Sharp and Scott were both better artists. Eveley also comes dangerously close to drawing Wonder Woman with the SJW mindset of a "realistic" a.k.a. FAT body. I noticed that Diana's boobs are smaller, her waist and belly larger, her legs thicker. She's still gorgeous though. Of coarse, they completely redesigned Circe from looking like a goddess, into a pseudo-lesbian. In the back of the book, there are concept art sketches for Circe. Multiple pics featuring a beautiful redhead with long hair in different styles and all of a sudden the final pic is her with wild, short hair! It makes me think that someone came down on Eveley and forced her to draw Circe more masculine. She dresses very masculine in this book. I'd say she is completely unrecognizable from her previous incarnations. I miss her previous look, that is, a woman with beauty that rivals Diana, with a perfect figure, long purple hair, and long flowing gown. But, I guess Rucka, or Eveley thought that would be sexualizing her. Well, she's supposed to be something of a temptress. I mean, she does tempt Cale into a deal, so it makes sense. The women here are still drawn beautifully, with actual female figures, but the artists come dangerously close to being on the level of the people at Marvel who draw Carol Danvers a.k.a. Carl Manvers the way they do. Besides that, the coloring makes this a nice book to look at. There's some interesting lettering work. I feel like letterers today don't care as much anymore. I miss the days when comics letterers were also artists by designing artistic speech bubbles and different colors and fonts for different characters' words. Like what you might find in "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth", or even the "Hush" story arc. Why did that go away? Well, we do get some of that artistic nature back in this book. Glad to see it again.Overall: An interesting story that draws you in with a curiosity as to what happened in between. It's an examination of a woman (Cale) being driven mad by curiosity, anger, desperation, and grief. If anything, Cale is the main character here. That's kinda good in a way as it allows us to learn about her, and connect with her on a deeper level. This book does the opposite of the MCU films by putting the "villain" front and center and really making them the focus of the story. I really enjoy the "it's all connected" stories. So, it's no surprise to me having just read it, that it appealed to me. I was constantly worried about Rucka going off the deep end. He only managed it with the Annual, and only on the last page. If you've been reading this title through at least volume 3, then you really HAVE to get this! It fills you in on so much and it is a fantastic examination of Veronica Cale, a character that's mostly new to me.

Collects Wonder Woman (2016) # 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 10 pages from Annual # 1 (2017)*The series continues the pattern of the odd issues being set in the present and the even issues being (mostly) in the past. If you enjoyed the previous two volumes (read those first!), I strongly recommend that you buy volumes 3 and 4 together so you can read the issues in this (mostly chronological) order:Volume 4: 16, 18, 20, 22Volume 3: 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23Volume 4: 24Volume 3: 25Volume 4: story from Annual 1Bilquis Evely - Pencils and/or art for 16, 18, 20, 24Mirka Andolfo - Art for 22 (cartoony)Nicola Scott - art for the Annual storyIssues 16, 18, 20, and 22 take us from where volume 2 left off up to (almost) the present day - through about nine years or so. The sons of Ares, Phobos and Deimos, are trying to get to Themyscira, and force Veronica Cale to help them by stealing her daughter's face. We see how Doctor Cyber and the Cheetah came to be. First appearance of the Rebirth version of Circe. And, oddly, Cale wins a date with Diana at a charity auction (this is before they become enemies). Issue 24 takes place shortly after the present-day story from issue 23, and the story from the Annual is a flashback to the first time Wonder Woman met Batman and Superman.And sadly this is the end of Greg Rucka's second run. Hopefully he'll be back some day.*They really ought to just call this the 2017 Annual. How many Annual # 1's have there been? Or call it a Special, since these Annuals don't always come out annually. Which, y'know, they should, to be an Annual.

Just as Rucka's second volume, Year One, flashed back to retell Diana's origins definitively for the Rebirth era, so does this fourth volume flash back to tell the broader story behind one of Dina's classic rogues: Veronica Cale. Reintroduced to comic book fans as the mastermind behind the events of the third book in Rucka's run, Godwatch starts at the beginning of Cale's story when Wonder Woman appears in man's world. After Veronica's daughter is bewitched by Ares' trouble making sons, Cale is stuck serving them and helping fulfill their goal of finding the real Paradise Island so they can free their father. As the story continues we see Cale grow from a mourning mother willing to do anything to save her daughter into a hard as nails villain in her own right, though she never loses her human edge. The book sets up the story of Veronica's betrayal of Barbara Minerva (who went on to become the Cheetah) and reintroduces the witch Circe to the Rebirth era (just in time for her short cameo in one of the issues of Trinity). All in all this is a wonderful character piece for Cale and it was awesome seeing Greg Rucka return to the character after he originally wrote her so well in his Infinite Crisis-era run of Wonder Woman. It is unfortunate that this book marks the end of Rucka's time with the character again, especially since early feedback on the new creative team hasn't been that good. Still, this is a great end cap for Rucka's run and marks a solid four volume arc.

DC continues to make Wonder Woman one of the most compelling story arcs of the Rebirth titles. There are some readers (my wife is amongst them) who don't like the staggered time frame of the volumes in Wonder Woman, but I didn't mind it at first and it is definitely growing on me now. Good art, complex characters, and rich storyline and mythology are making the Wonder Woman reboot a remarkable adventure. This story, in effect, acts as a prequel to volume 3. I enjoyed it in its own right and added emotional punch to the preceding volume.It had two epilogues. The first was meh, the second, set somewhere after Wonder Woman came to our world, had more emotional punch. Good stuff overall

It was a little jarring going to a prequel here, but it was still a well written story with some fantastic art.

Only one complaint, I NEED MORE!!!!

Great and wonderfully drawn! It's just hard to wait for the next issue.

Esse arco tem uma boa história e desenhos incríveis da Bilquis Evely! Destaque para o confronto com Circe e a Mulher-Leopardo! Pelo menos nesse arco do Rucka ele utilizou os vilões clássicos ao contrário da fase do Azzarelo que ficou naquela besteira interminável dos deuses gregos que mais pareciam indigentes! Alguns Splashs da Bilquis são fantásticos!

Definitivamente uma arte maravilhosa e uma história no padrão esperado dos heróis DC. Não dá para ficar esperando tanto pelo lançamento da Panini quando o material é de igual qualidade e ainda é mais barato que o nacional.

Good story, unfortunately this trade did not include the last chapter of the battle, only the epilogue.

Seules critiques:- c'est moins bon que le précédent run de Greg Rucka sur WW (questionnement sur la politique, la paix, le rôle d'ambassadrice de WW ...)- le dessin est irrégulier.