- Written by Greg Rucka
- Pencils & Inks by Liam Sharp
- Coloured by Laura Martin
- Cover by Laura Martin & Liam Sharp
“The Lies” part three! Steve Trevor finds himself trapped in the heart of Urzkartaga’s darkness, with Wonder Woman and Cheetah the only hope of rescue for him and his men. But how far can Cheetah be trusted?
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Working in stark contrast to the origin story currently unfolding in the even numbered issues ‘The Lies’ is a very dark Wonder Woman tale. It’s not strictly the subject matter that make the story dark, it’s more its setting.
The dense undergrowth of the Urzkartaga forest has pushed what can be a normally bright series to a palette of heavy browns and greens.
This issue flips between scenes of Etta Candy, Diana and Cheetah on the trail of Steve Trevor, Trevor himself and also some small flashback moments to Cheetah’s past. There are a fair few threads going on at the same time within ‘Wonder Woman’ which are keeping the story interesting.
Throughout the ‘New 52’ era ‘Wonder Woman’ comics focussed almost solely on Greek mythology. Villains and heroes were all drawn from those stories forgoing much of the titular characters comic book history. Now that her 75th anniversary is upon us the ‘Rebirth’ course correction is bringing back some much loved characters.
Cheetah has always been one of the most prominent characters in the ‘Wonder Woman’ pantheon so it’s fitting that this flip side to ‘Year One’ focus on her own origin and her place in this universe.
Erring on the side of caution I’m concerned that ‘The Lies’ is a little without focus. There is the mission to save Steve but with so much going on in and around that mission it’s not yet the sole focus of the book.
Artist Liam Sharp also does a great job of contrasting the work of Nicola Scott on the ‘Year One’ story. Sharp’s dark and tightly framed imagery in this issue is the best of his run so far. I’ve taken issue with previous issues for the way he draws characters. Wonder Woman herself has at times lost her femininity through his art. That is much less the case here.
There’s a lot of focus on the bodies in these odd numbered issues. Environments are dense but design to be less engaging than what we see on Themiscyra in the ‘Year One’ story. I would like to see how Sharp handles visualising the story when it reaches a more urban setting. With the pace set so slowly the locales have barely changed from the first issues so it’s beginning to become a little repetitive.
Verdict
‘Wonder Woman’ #5 is a strong continuation of a story which continues to be a slow burn. The focus on character over action is one of DC Comics great strengths and it is used at its very best here.
3 stars
