What Makes Rebirth's Wonder Woman An All-Time Great

Last May, DC relaunched their publishing line with DC Universe: Rebirth #1.The resultant changes [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Last May, DC relaunched their publishing line with DC Universe: Rebirth #1.

The resultant changes to the DC Universe were sweeping, and the post-Rebirth DC Universe garnered more critical and fan acclaim than the publisher has enjoyed in more than a decade.

A big part of that was the impression that the company's three biggest properties -- Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman -- were enjoying beloved runs and sales success at the same time; that is something so rare that one could argue it had not happened since the 1990s.

Wonder Woman, in particular, excited fans; after a generally popular but sometimes-controversial run by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang to launch 2011's New 52 reboot, the title had fallen off significantly just before Rebirth.

The announcement that best-selling writer and Wonder Woman fan-favorite Greg Rucka would be taking on the job was a boon for fans of the character and helped to cement the impression that DC was "headed in the right direction" with its Rebirth reboot.

Joining him were a pair of superstar artists, including Nicola Scott, with whom Rucka had been planning one of the series' two ongoing story arc since the last time he wrote the character.

...and how'd it turn out? Well, there's a reason we're talking about this as Rucka is on his way out and Wonder Woman is the hottest property in comics.

    RUCKA

    "How do you say no to Diana?" Rucka said at the time the series was announced. "I couldn't."

    Rucka, who had earned the love of fans during his first go-'round with Wonder Woman from 2003 to 2006, was the biggest selling point of the Rebirth relaunch, and a key reason that yet another round of tinkering with Diana's origin didn't worry fans off the bat.

    " it's not a reinvention, it's a retelling; we're focusing on certain things," Rucka reassured ComicBook.com shortly after the launch.

    Of course, a writer doesn't make a comic alone -- which is part of why Rucka wanted to work on two different stories with two different artists, rather than taking on a rotating team of artists like most of the Rebirth titles did.

    "One of the things [twice-weekly publishing] creates, and you see it throughout the industry, you know, it's not endemic to any one house, is that when you have to move up the schedule like that you put the artists on such a treadmill that there's no way that they can get as far enough in advance to have a full sense of ownership, and so you end up with rotating teams," Rucka said. "There's a time and a place for that, but I really, one of my concerns coming in was I really wanted everybody to have full buy-in, for lack of a better phrase. It seemed to me that certainly at the start the best way to do that would be to tell sort of these two stories that are in fact very related to one another, but the way they relate doesn't become necessarily evident until you're further into it."

    greg rucka pic
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    THE ART TEAMS

    So yeah, about those art teams.

    On "Year One," Nicola Scott helped Rucka reinvent and streamline Wonder Woman's origin story, while Liam Sharp illustrated a story that dealt with the fallout from a New 52 revelation that Wonder Woman had a secret brother.

    Both artists provided rich, lush illustrations, and while their styles are distinguishable, they are complimentary. That meant that every two weeks, readers were getting a Wonder Woman comic that was simultaneously one of the best-looking books on the racks and one that retained more of a sense of continuity than many of the Rebirth titles.

    At a time when DC was pacing the superhero-comics industry for the first time in years, Wonder Woman was topping everyone's "best of Rebirth" lists, and most of those stories acknowledged that the title is as good as it has been in the better part of a decade.

    The art was a big part of that: most of the great runs on Wonder Woman have required a great look -- whether it's George Perez or Cliff Chiang or Sharp and Scott, a truly great run on any comic -- but especially one with as distinct a world as Themyscira -- requires top-notch art.

    Wonder-Woman-Spread
    (Photo: DC Entertainment)
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    THE STORY

    Rucka brought his reputation and great character work to the series, but the high concepts that he and his collaborators explored are a big part of what has made the Rebirth run on Wonder Woman one of the best in decades.

    The Year One plot wasn't just yet another in the long line of Wonder Woman origin reboots/retellings: it didn't cancel what had been introduced in The New 52, but instead built on it and contextualized it with decades of previous Wonder Woman stories.

    It's a recipe that has been a success for DC in recent years: it's how Geoff Johns seemingly saved the Hawkman/Hawkgirl brand, integrating various disparate takes on the character into a single, coherent mythology.

    At the same time, while one half of the story was looking back at the past, the other half was establishing a mythology that would not only play off recent revelations from Darkseid War, btu set the stage for the run that will follow Rucka & company, as James Robinson and Emanuela Lupacchino's first order of business seems to be exploring the dangling plot thread of Wonder Womans' brother.

    In serialized storytelling, there's not much better than a story that successfully integrates the past, sets up the future, and does so while making the characters more real, believable, and fully-fleshed-out than ever.

    Wonder-Woman-Rebirth-1-Featured
    (Photo: DC Entertainment)
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    MORE WONDER WOMAN

    Wonder Woman Volume 1: The Lies

    Heroic. Iconic. Unstoppable. Armed with her Lasso of Truth and imbued with the power of the gods themselves, Princess Diana of Themyscira—known to the world as Wonder Woman—is one of the greatest superheroes in history.

    But who is she…really? Not even Wonder Woman herself knows for sure. Diana's links to both the Amazons and the Gods of Olympus have been severed. Her memories are a tangle of contradictions that even her lie-detecting lasso cannot untangle.

    To solve the riddle of her origin, she must embark on her greatest quest of all: finding a way back to her vanished home. To get there, she must team up with her greatest enemy, the feral beast-woman, Cheetah. Will this unlikely alliance shine the light of truth on Diana's darkest secrets, or bury them—and her—forever?

    Find out in WONDER WOMAN VOL. 1: THE LIES—exploding from the blockbuster DC Rebirth event! Legendary Wonder Woman writer Greg Rucka (BATWOMAN: ELEGY) makes his triumphant return to the character for the first time in years and joins renowned fantasy artist Liam Sharp (2000 AD) for one of the most momentous stories in Diana's history! Collects WONDER WOMAN #1, #3, #5, #7, #9, #11 and the WONDER WOMAN: REBIRTH one-shot.

    Wonder Woman Volume 2: Year One

    New York Times best-selling writer Greg Rucka continues his return to WONDER WOMAN! The team of Rucka and artist Nicola Scott weave the definitive and shocking tale of Diana's first year as Earth's protector. Paradise has been breached, Ares stirs, and the Amazons must answer with a champion of their own...one who is willing to sacrifice her home amongst her sisters to save a world she has never seen. Wonder Woman's journey begins in this epic origin story!

    Collects WONDER WOMAN #2, #4, #6, #8, #10, #12, #14.

    Rebirth honors the richest history in comics, while continuing to look towards the future. These are the most innovative and modern stories featuring the world's greatest superheroes, told by some of the finest storytellers in the business.

    Honoring the past, protecting our present and looking towards the future. This is the next chapter in the ongoing saga of the DC Universe. The legacy continues.

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