The Truth is...Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Jesus Merino, Vicente Cifuentes, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Pat Brosseau
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 19, 2020
I have been looking forward to this Four Horsewomen story to get going, and after a long prelude, it looks like it's going to happen! While I think the story could have used a little more focus getting to this point, I hope this can be a big finale to all the mini runs Orlando has had on Wonder Woman. Does it get off to a good start? Let's find out...
The issue starts out with Donna Troy saving a little kid, and it's what you would expect from Donna, but she hasn't been in this book much at all, and I was a bit confused at first, though, I loved seeing her. We don't get too much from her overall... Devastation and Armageddon show up to recruit her into the Horsewomen and, if she does end up joining, I will be pissed! We just suffered through Donna Troy being Infected (and having to read a Zoe Quinn one-shot to add insult to injury), so please, just let Donna team-up with Wonder Woman. It may happen that way since we don't get much in this issue and Donna doesn't seem hip on joining the baddies here.
So, what is Diana doing in her book? She has a very odd talk at an elementary school where she gives a "scared amazon" speech before being teleported to Paula Von Gunther in Norway. We find out Paula's origin, and it will be familiar to readers, and it's not a bad twist. I am getting a little tired of every villain of Wonder Woman's being someone she helped in the past, but it makes enough sense and ties things together a bit.
Unfortunately, the issue doesn't do much after the reveal. Paula and Diana argue about history, the truth, and even when the lasso comes into play, Paula chalks things up to perspective and agrees to disagree.
The issue ends with the reader wondering if Donna Troy will be able to hold off Devastation and Armageddon while Wonder Woman must make a decision that could save or doom Boston and Themyscira. Poor Boston! They need to send Wonder Woman packing after all of this.
This whole story, including the issues that lead up to it, seems to be in a holding pattern for some reason. I can guess it was to wait until Donna Troy could show up, but she's here now, so let's get going! I still like the overall premise of the Four Horsewomen, but I want to get to the meat and cheese of it all.
I did like the art in this issue. I did think Donna Troy was Diana at first, but that could have just me being a dummy. Other than that, I liked Jesus Merino's character designs, which are the main focus here.
Bits and Pieces:
This was an okay issue of Wonder Woman. I wish Steve Orlando would get going with the story since it does seem like he has something interesting here, but is taking his good old time getting to it. We do get Donna Troy, which is awesome, and while the book looks good, it's just missing something to make it read as big as I think it's supposed to.
6.0/10
I am not as forgiving as the reviewer on this issue. The motivation for Paula Von Gunther is simply not believable. She has no reason to hate Wonder Woman. No matter how you slice it, Von Gunther is alive BECAUSE OF WW. It would be more convincing if it was established that Von Gunther was brainwashed by the memories of the Valkyrie legacy and that it compromised her mental health. THAT makes sense because the blind hatred of Von Gunther in WW lore is well established going back to the Golden Age. Steve Orlando tries to suck and blow at the same time with Von Gunter. He suggests that she is a Nazi but she then has the character herself distance herself from the Nazi cause and suggest that she has some other motive for being an evil bitch. He is trying to suggest some iota of redemption that is possible for the character. And that is precisely why I do not find her interesting. WW needs a villain that hates her from the heart with no redemption as a possibility or even a desire for it. Devastation, Cheetah, Armageddon, Silver Swan, Dr. Poison and now Paula Von Gunter ALL either used to be her friends or otherwise possess some quality that makes Diana think she can "reach" with her "truth". It's insanely naive and this nonsense embodies why WW has the worst Rogues Gallery of the Trinity and most other DC hero. The only villains that have potential are Veronica Cale who has every reason to hate WW and does so wonderfully and Azarello's First Born who was straight up hateful. Hopefully Maxwell Lord will be added to the list, but I doubt that will happen as I expect the next writer Tamiko will have WW redeem Lord as a way to force her cliche view of the character that every writer seems to have. Bah.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this issue yet, but I was saying the same thing when Jim and I were reviewing the last issue on the podcast.
DeleteI understand your frustration. There was time during the Perez,Loebs, Byrneand the Original Rucka where Diana's enemies were actually threats.This new trend of making them sympathetic is getting annoying. The only one who was like that the second Silver Swan.
DeleteI agree with you, but I will give a little credit that even though there isn't a whole lot of reasons for Paula to be pissed, I do think Orlando is playing with the idea that she is being manipulated a bit by the spirits of her ancestors (which will then lead to an infuriating turn out of nowhere in the end) and still makes sense more than what we usually get from him. I think that the bigger probles with this book are we are getting Chapter One of the Four Horsewomen after farting around with them for months now and yet we still get an inch of progression. Plus, anything in Boston is just ridiculous nonsense. Yea, you might be right... I may have been too nice with my score. That's why pencils have erasers and why me and eric have a podcast that comes out later in the week!!!
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