Wonder Woman: Rebirth #1

By Greg Rucka, Matthew Clark, Sean Parsons, Liam Sharp, Jeremy Colwell, Laura Martin, and Jodi Wynne.

DC Universe Rebirth #1 was a reset for many DC characters, a chance to start over and perhaps do the hero justice for some subpar storylines. The book took a lot of what we thought we knew about our characters and erased it, allowing for a chance for new origins and relationships to take place. Wonder Woman was no exception, and Wonder Woman Rebirth #1 continues to take our favorite Amazon warrior princess one step closer to new and exciting places.

Greg Rucka had an opportunity to just start over without explanation, but he navigated this story with Wonder Woman going through the shock of calling her own existence into question along with the readers. This first book feels so right as a new introduction to Wonder Woman. The story takes it time and builds while we witness Wonder Woman calling her origin and parts of her life into question. DC Universe Rebirth #1 saw a huge reveal for her and Wonder Woman begins a journey for the truth. Her story keeps changing, a theme constantly revisited throughout this book, and she is determined to get to the bottom of it. The concept of truth, lies, and deceit run rampant throughout this issue which, is so fitting considering her most iconic weapon is the lasso of truth. The imagery of Diana standing before a mirror holding the helm of Ares, the God of War, that she won from him in battle shows her struggle to find the truth amongst the many wars she has been fighting. Rucka lets the soul searching go on and builds the anticipation slowly until Dianna finds out she has been deceived and returns to Olympus to find answers. The final pages really set up the next books and leave the readers just as desperate for answers as Wonder Woman.

The art throughout the issue is divided smartly amongst different artists between pages, with pencils and inks done by Clark and Parsons through the first half of the book and Sharp, Colwell, and Martin on the last half with letters done by Wynne throughout. Why this was a smart decision was because this book shifted gears midway, going from a pensive, reflective tone to a determined, almost aggressive shift. Dianna changes her costume and goes out for answers, and allowing two separate creative teams to leave a distinct art style for each was great. The first half of the story we are getting lighter colors, lots of dialogue, reaction shots of Wonder Woman with great use of shadowing on her costume and hair. The best page of the book is about mid way and it shows Wonder Woman punching a mirror, with each falling shard reflecting a part of her past that she is calling into question. Next to this, is a small side panel that has her then looking absently into the mirror, empty now from where she punched it. This is a striking page in the book that completely captures the emotions and shows that we are literally erasing everything we thought we knew about her. The second half art shifts to darker tones, stronger lines, and we are getting great scenes of Wonder Woman battling in Olympus with backgrounds of red, and burnt orange reminiscent of a sunset. Her design is different too with her depicted in fighting stances, no smiles, and all business. Wonder Woman is now more ferocious than fierce and more amazon than princess, this is a Wonder Woman on a mission.

If this is the rebirth of Wonder Woman, count me in. The story and art of this issue really set the tone for her future stories and they will be done with two alternating stories with one arc titled ‘The Lies’ and the other ‘Year One’. DC seems to be doing everything right after Rebirth, and if this is an indication of the books to come we should all start adding them to our pull lists.