What Greg Rucka does for the character of Princess Diana is commendable, and elevates his issues of the Wonder Woman ongoing to some of the greatest heights the character has ever soared (while one may argue that doesn't say much): Rucka plays up the ambassador and public icon facet of Wonder Woman and deemphasizing her role as a traditional superhero. Diana being forced to combat an American public skeptical of the radical, paganistic views she brings forth to the world is as essential to the plot as her clashing with her (underwhelming to be frank) rogues gallery. In many ways more than one, this enables Rucka's Wonder Woman to be more akin to Aaron Sorkin's West Wing or Newsroom than orthodox superhero fare.
What must also be lionized (though maybe less so) is Drew Johnson's pencils: Johnson's quasi lifelike and statuesque method of illustrated characters is perfectly suited for Greg Rucka's more political perspective on Wonder Woman.
However, every compliment about Rucka's original run on Wonder Woman one can give are a double edged sword, as you see momentarily. While a gargantuan portion of what makes Greg Rucka as a writer so acclaimed, his slight, early 2000's indicative snark, as well as his (supposedly) more grounded take on superheroes, these attributes that reputedly elevate his work, do not mask the reality that these books of his are very much within the confines of the superhero genre, and these aforementioned quirks that make Rucka unique are actually a hindrance to his comics.
Painting a spotlight on Wonder Woman ambassador duties is a fascinating change of pace, in fact if Rucka dedicated his run entirely to this portion of the book, a modern classic could have been conjured. Quite unfortunately, either editorial or Rucka himself felt compelled to still include the villain of the week trope that is a staple of comics. This would not be a net negative as in and of itself, but this leads to the writer juggling two conflicts at once and because of it, the antagonists suffer. All the villainous characters save Veronica Cale feel misplaced and tacked on.
Greg Rucka also suffers from the same issues as his contemporaries Bendis, David, and Simone in regards to the fact that their "hip", "laid back" dialogue which was in chic at the dawn of the 21st century does not easily translate well to the world of superheroes. These are stories which fundamentally involve high stakes and men who bear god-like abilities. Rucka's snark filled, nonchalant dialogue is dreadfully out of place. The more casual linguistics spouted by the characters of modern superhero comics is in all likelihood a reaction to the oft flat words spewed by the characters of the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age, little do these contemporary writers realize is that this archaic form of dialogue, while unrealistic, helps realize the mythic and larger than life status of the protagonists.
The glimmers of greatness that the opening 10 issues of Greg Rucka's run are plentiful and fruitful. However, it falls flat on it's face in numerous areas.
5/10
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