#Cadulo

[fringefiction]

Wonder Woman #1 Wonder Woman Day Special Edition

Plot Diana is in the Dkarango Region in the Banakane Rainforest in Bwunda in search of someone. Meanwhile, Commander Etta is in Langley, Virginia in attempt to contact Steve and Manny are holding the line against the Cadulo soldiers. Steve still have memories of both him and Diana together, but work comes first. Review Artistically well-drawn but a bit of a discordant comic. With the dual…

[wondyvillains]

Wow, check out this AMAZING piece by artist Rich Bernatovech! What a great showcase of Wonder Woman's rogues gallery!

Here's a list of villains that I've managed to find among the over 100 villains:

• Adjudicator • Aegeus • Alkyone • Anann • Andres Cadulo • Angle Man • Anglette • Apollo • Ares • Armageddon • Astarte • Atomia • Badra • Baroness Von Gunther • Barremargox • Baundo • Bellona • Blue Snowman • Cassandra • Cassie Arnold • Cat Eye • Cheetah (Barbara Ann Minerva) • Cheetah (Debbi Domaine) • Cheetah (Priscilla Rich) • Circe • Crimson Centipede • Cronus • Cyborgirl • Dark Angel • Decay • Deimos • Devastation • Disdain • Doctor Cyber • Doctor Poison • Doctor Psycho • Drax • Dreadnought • Duke of Deception • Earl of Greed • Echidna • Egg Fu • Eris • Euryale • Eviless • Fausta Grables • Fireworks Man • First Born • Genocide • Giganta • Glop • God With No Name • Grail • Gundra • Hades • Harrier • Hecate • Hera • Hercules • Hypnota • Inventa • Janus • Julianna Sazia • Karnell • Liar Liar • Lord Conquest • Mask • Mayfly • Medusa • Minister Blizzard • Mob God • Mouse Man • Nemesis • Oblivion • Osira • Paper-Man • Phobos • Queen Clea • Queen of Fables • Red Panzer • Savage Fire • Sharkeeta • Silver Swan (Helen Alexandros) • Silver Swan (Valerie Beaudry) • Silver Swan (Vanessa Kapatelis) • Slaughter • Sontag Henya • Stheno • Superwoman • Tigra Tropica • Titan • Trinity • Veronica Cale • White Magician • Zara

[jaysterg5]

Wonder Woman (Vol 5) #7

Writer - Greg Rucka

Art - Liam Sharp

Cover - Liam Sharp & Laura Martin

Variant Cover - Jenny Frison

"The Lies" Part 4

After meeting up with Steve Trevor's team, Wonder Woman and Cheetah rescue the missing girls and head off to find the Warlord Cadulo. Not only do they need to rescue the remainder of the missing girls, but they have to stop Urzkartaga from taking over Steve's body!

Living up to the story title, a lot of lies and deceptions are revealed this issue as they pertain to Cheetah. Many things about Urzkartaga and his curse haven't been true, and they've forced Cheetah do kill and do a lot of things she would never have done. She'll have to reconcile all of this in the future, and hopefully Wonder Woman will be there to help her through it all.

I'm guessing we'll get to some of the lies surrounding Wonder Woman over the next couple of issues, but I'm curious to see if any of them relate to Steve Trevor, Etta Candy, or ARGUS in general. There may be lies on Olympus, but what about on Earth?

I felt this was a pretty straightforward issue from a story arc standpoint. In fact, Wonder Woman may have defeated Urzkartaga just a bit too easily. Maybe we're not entirely done with him and Cadulo yet.

Sharp's art continues to be a high point in the series from his unique interpretation of Cheetah to the horrifying giant of Urzkartaga. The jungles remain moody and dark, and the entire atmosphere seems almost claustrophobic. Brilliant stuff!

Very solid issue that keeps you engaged and wanting more. Story may be running a touch long, though.

[jonroxton]

Studying Wonder Woman Rebirth -  The Black, the White and the Gutter

I plan on doing more of these and will work on the intro later. UNTIL THEN! Here be Wonder Woman Rebirth comics analysis.

The moment I finished Wonder Woman #2: Year One Part 1 I instantly read it again. Since then I’ve read it a billion times. I am OBSESSED with the narrative and thematic symmetry between Diana and Steve.

Narrative and visual symmetry further strengthen in Year One: Part 3 with some extra dose of juxtaposing:

The size of the panels, their framing and the clarity in symmetry and juxtaposition bring Diana and Steve together despite their distance across time and space. From Will Eisner’s Comic and Sequential Art:

For the longest time I appreciated this particular set of panels and pages precisely because of the way it invoked time and interconnected Diana and Steve. It never failed to engage me. Even now I find WW#2 is the strongest single issue of Rucka’s run.

I never really dug deeper into why it engaged me the way it did. Then I was reading Year One/The Lies again and once again marveling at how strong this run was, when I noticed something.

The white and black backgrounds.

The arcs were ofc purposely being contrasted and Diana’s story was deliberately being deconstructed. What I didn’t realize was just how intricate it was.

From Watchmen as Literature:

Year One is clearer in its panels and thematic symmetry between Diana and Steve. They are younger and happier and so have idealistic and emotional responses to their experiences. Things are equal (like the pages above: panels are similar in size and number) and plain (vertical and horizontal), on white, progressing linearly.

The Lies focuses on Diana’s search for truth within post-New 52 distortion. 

In WWR #1 there is literal visual chaos shattering the previous canon.

Once WW#1 begins proper, perspective, framing and color all change as Diana seeks answers (if this sorta essay catches steam, I am def writing about perspective, framing and color, maybe one for each!)

And Steve, older and occupying a different role in Diana’s life at this time, remains static in panels.

I was initially caught off guard by the thick white outlines in some pages during The Lies, but with the gutter in mind, their importance becomes clearer. 

Barbara Ann, taking the important role the same way Steve does for Diana in Year One, affects the visual language of The Lies.

The panel outline changes when DIana and Barbara Ann engage foes together. The thickness of it is almost overwhelming and changes the flow of the story.

From Comics and Sequential Art:

The last ten pages of Wonder Woman #7: The Lies Part 4 all have the thick white on black:

As the Lies and the Truth converge, the background changes accordingly. Young Barbara Anna and Young Woman Barbara Ann are both surrounded by white.

The black background appearing only when she enters the tomb that leads to her journey in becoming the vengeful bloodthirsty Cheetah.

In WW#9, even though Cadulo is defeated, the threat of Veronica Cale still looms, with one of her people still working undercover.

When Diana is with Steve, it changes to white:

WW#12, the Year One conclusion, the only time there is black background is when we focus on the men affected by Ares and his Sear toxin.

Veronica’s mission starts to lose the moral high ground when her partner literally burns up.

As the line between worlds begins to blur, the panel outlines go from white on black to black on white.

When we meet the conductor of this symphony, Ares, the panel outlines fades into the background and becomes a part of it.

After all is over, the panels, thick black outlines, are tightened together on white. There are many, many examples but the most important one is Diana getting her lasso back after discovering the truth of what has happened. A common theme in Rebirth, as far as I could tell reading Superman, WW and some Batman, is identity irt to the New 52 canon.

It’s then the black stops being associated with nefarious and sad things.

[snarktheater]

Comic Book review — Wonder Woman Rebirth

Happy Wonder Woman Day! I wish I could be talking about the new Wonder Woman movie, but since I'm not getting it in theaters for a couple more weeks, I have to resort to a back-up solution.

Luckily, I mentioned at the end of last year that I'd been reading a lot of comics, especially Wonder Woman comics. And with the completion of the fourth story arc in the Wonder Woman run since the DC Rebirth started, I feel like it's a pretty good time to look back at what the comic has been about, what it's done, and why I love it so much.

First of all: I'm still far from a massive comic book aficionado. I know about comics because I basically live on the Internet (and also, let's face it, because of Linkara), but I'm not really following either the evolution of the DC Universe or the Marvel comic universe. So I'm always happier to catch a series as it starts, especially if it starts anew.

The Wonder Woman Rebirth fits that bill. Part of the DC Rebirth initiative that started a year ago, which didn't fully reboot the universe but did force a clean slate (and some retcons) on most of the properties, it's a series that clearly has roots somewhere, but is written to be accessible to new readers. Like me. Well, kind of. I did read part of the Gaile Simone run before this one, but there's been a universe reboot between the two, so I think it doesn't count anyway.

Another thing: I said it's the fourth story arc, but the comic was actually published with two parallel story arcs at once until now, and all four have built up towards a single storyline.

So we have four story arcs. On the present-day side of things, we have the aptly-named "The Lies" and "The Truth". And in the past, we have "Year One" and "Godwatch". The present-day storylines are more intricately tied together, while the past storyline are independent from each other and mostly connect to the concurrently-running story…to an extent.

The Lies and The Truth are, as the naming scheme implies, two facets of the same story. Diana realizes that something's wrong as her past and memories become confused as a result of the DC Rebirth events, and her investigation leads her to uncover…well, a lie. A pretty big one. Then comes The Truth, where she tries to uncover…well, what the truth really is. Wow, am I being vague with this recap. But really, there's little way of explaining it beyond that.

Year One, meanwhile, follows Diana's first year as Wonder Woman, complete with Steve Trevor crashing on Themyscira and Diana leaving to the "world of men" with him, knowing that she can never return. Of course she does this with a reason: signs have appeared that Ares, the god of war, had escaped from his prison, and Diana must stop him.

Godwatch, finally, follows the backstory of, well, Godwatch, an antagonistic organization that appears near the end of The Lies and is our primary villain throughout The Truth. The comics still feature Diana, of course, but she's not aware of who's pulling the strings of the fights she's involved in. This may make this story arc seem trivial, but it it not.

Why do I love this four-part, twenty-four issues story? Well, on the surface, it's just really well-crafted. The plots intertwine, setups are made that pay off long afterwards and feel natural and no element feels out of place in hindsight. The world surrounding the Amazons is built with precision and with a fresh take that divorces them from Greek culture specifically and gives them a more universal edge. The main characters are fleshed-out and well-rounded, featuring Diana and Steve, naturally, but also Etta Candy, reimagined from Steve's assistant with an unrequited crush to his superior officer (on top of being a black woman, which I understand is the case since the New 52 reboot), Barbara Ann Minerva, the villainous "Cheetah" being now a scientist with a fascination for the myth of the Amazons and a feminist streak…

…and Veronica Cale, the head of Godwatch, who has a troubled past of her own and is really just trying her best. Plus, a few more characters to round out the cast (and of course, a bunch of Amazons in the early issues who stay very relevant afterwards, in spite of everything).

But it's not just that it's a well-crafted story. This run has themes, and they're good, and I want to talk about them. And I'll split it in two broad categories for the sake of structure

Queer and feminist themes

I'll start with this one because…well, it's more incidental. Although it's really important too, don't get me wrong. But it's more…there, rather than something the story is trying to make a point about.

And really, it's long overdue. Diana comes from a society of only women. She's the most famous superheroine in existence. If anyone's story should primarily focus on women (and it does, if you look at my list of protagonists) and feature some pretty major queer women, it's this one.

And this series delivers on that front, too. Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons calls her general Philippus "my love", Etta Candy and Barbara Ann "Cheetah" Minerva are implied to be a couple when the latter isn't busy being a monstrous demigod, villain Veronica Cale and her associate Adrianna are definitely intimate and Veronica's daughter Isadore "has no father"…it's all there. And of course, there is Diana herself:

Diana of Themyscira is canon bi in this series. And I do mean bi, since she also has a thing with Steve Trevor and apparently a romantic past with Superman, although that one I think is due to earlier comics that we get the sense the writers here would have happily done away with.

And the greatest thing (especially considering the writer is male) is that all this representation of queer women is done without a single objectifying scene of any of these women. The one more thing I could ask for at this point are trans Amazons, really. But still, that's some giant steps forward.

It's not just queer representation. The story, as I mentioned, is focused primarily on women. Diana's gang includes herself, Steve, Etta and Barbara Ann, and the latter is the first she can even talk to outside of Themyscira, while Etta is definitely her closest friend. The first antagonist of The Lies is Urzkartaga, the god who cursed Barbara Ann to be Cheetah, and he's a literal misogynistic god with a cult of literal misogynists. So that's one obvious message there.

Also—and I'd be remiss to mention it—that head of that cult, Cadulo, gives us my favorite Steve Trevor moment.

So, you know, no big deal. Let's just have every single protagonist in the series denounce aspects of the patriarchy and fight literal misogynists.

The bigger antagonist of the entire story arc, Veronica Cale, is on the opposite end, in that she's humanized thanks to the Godwatch prequel stories and given motive for standing against Wonder Woman (spoiler: she's more or less coerced). Bonus point since, when the coercion is lifted, she immediately stands down instead of going on being evil for no reason, which I almost expected to happen but never did.

And you also have some racial inclusiveness. On top of Etta, as I mentioned, the Amazons are moved out of Greece and are now multicultural, and a few prominent figures (like Philippus, whom I already mentioned, and a woman who appears to be the Amazons' chief scientist). I'm not going to say it's the most balanced ratio I've seen (because…it's not), but considering how many "iconic" characters we're dealing with here, I think the books are faring remarkably.

Truth and compassion

Linkara defines Wonder Woman as the "spirit of Truth", and I think that's the best way to describe her. I realize that sounds like a meaningless, pompous title, but it actually captures what she's about fairly well.

Outside of the obvious (her lasso makes people tell the truth), the idea of Wonder Woman as the spirit of truth is also well explained in her post-Crisis on Infinite Earth backstory (which is also shown in that video I just linked), where one of the powers she received is to "open men's hearts". Which, no, isn't about romance—I think.

It's truth, but it's also all that derives from it. Above all, something I think is best explained in the recent annual issue of this very series:

Understanding. And with it, empathy and compassion. Which defines Wonder Woman's heroism. To me, the Big Three of DC's universe, at their best-written, convey very identifiable and humanist messages (in the classic sense of the word, not in the "shouldn't feminism be called humanism if it's about equality?" nonsense).

Batman is the heroism humanity can achieve (and note that I'm not talking about edgelord Batman here like in Batman v Superman, I'm talking about the guy who adopts a whole gaggle of children because he can't see anyone else grow up alone like he did), through wits and resourcefulness (and, admittedly, money). Superman is the value of humanity; what makes a god-like being like him heroic is that he is human and understands humans (again, not something we see in the Snyderverse much), and cares about them. And Wonder Woman is the in-between, the demigod (not necessarily in-universe) who embodies the best values of what humanity can be.

There's obviously some intersection, and probably also better ways to phrase it (let's be real, there's probably an essay's worth of discussion in what I just said in a paragraph), but that's the gist of it.

A few very popular frames from Wonder Woman are the one that shows Batman could never identify a weakness for her, and another where she says she doesn't have a rogue's gallery like Batman and Superman because "when I deal with them, I deal with them". Both of these are cool and badass, but they omit the reason why both of these things are true (in theory if not always in execution, because, again, inconsistent writers): her primary weapon is compassion and understanding. At her best, she solves the problem that drove her villains to villainy in the first place (which is exactly what she does in this series with Barbara Ann as Cheetah), and only resorts to force as the final resort, like with Urzkartaga. And that brings us to the resolution of this story.

Minor spoilers in the next few paragraphs.

It turns out that the big villain behind everything Diana had faced throughout this story wasn't Ares as she thought—he never even left his prison on Themyscira. Instead, it's his sons, Deimos and Phobos (terror and panic), who want to usurp Ares as the god of war. See, when Ares was bound to his prison, he was allowed to see the madness that war brings, so he doesn't really want to be released.

So Diana has to stop Phobos and Deimos, literal gods, from killing their dads. How does she do that?

Yup.

End of the spoilers.

It's the same thing with Veronica Cale, though I won't go into details over why. Diana deals with her enemies by understanding them. Even Urzkartaga is defeated through Diana's empathy, not for him, but for his victims.

On a greater level, the final battle of the story sends a powerful message: that truth, understanding and compassion are greater than fear, anger and violence. They are far more powerful tools to solve a problem. And that's a pretty powerful message to send, especially in a superhero comic.

And that's what Wonder Woman being the spirit of Truth means to me, why I love this comic series, and incidentally, why she's my favorite superhero across the board. Oh, yeah, did I mention that she's my favorite superhero? I might have wanted to start with that.

Happy Wonder Woman day, everyone. And now I'll go back to anxiously waiting until I can see the movie, while hoping very, very hard that I won't be disappointed by it. But if I am, I'll know I can go back to these comics to find the heroine I love.

Also, if you're interested in checking these out for yourselves (and you absolutely should), Comixology is currently having a Wonder Woman Day sale until June 5, which includes the first seven issues of this series, so go take advantage of that!