Review: Wonder Woman Vol. 4- Godwatch
Quick Summary
Pros: The main narrative is engaging and emotional. The story here is a worthwhile extension of and provides a worthwhile ending to the current storyline.
Cons: The artwork is not as good as it was in previous volumes.
Overall: The final volume in this run on Wonder Woman turns out as great as the rest of the series. This volume manages to, once again, detail a narrative that works well on its own and as part of a larger storyline. The artwork is not as impressive as in other volumes from this series but still manages to look alright. All in all, the quality of the volume reaffirms the appeal of this run and serves as a reminder that every Wonder Woman fan should consider checking out this series.
Story
Wonder Woman Vol. 4: Godwatch, by Greg Rucka, is another successful volume in the Rebirth era of the Wonder Woman series. Once again, this series manages to combine a story that is compelling and deeply emotional all on its own and that fits into an equally compelling and emotional larger narrative. The volume dives even further in to the origins of Wonder Woman, Cheetah, and Veronica Cale while explaining how this origin has had an impact on the present. It is a great volume that provides a great ending to Greg Rucka’s work on this series.
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The main narrative in Godwatch is set in the past and explains how Veronica Cale’s daughter was kidnapped and how she was forced to trick Wonder Woman and Cheetah in an attempt to free her. This is a tense storyline that involves some fantastic and elaborate schemes, one of which even brings in another Wonder Woman villain, Circie, into the fold. Despite the fact that the reader knows this story results in tragedy, the writing behind it still allows it to be highly compelling.
Part of this comes from the fact that the emotions run so deep throughout the entire narrative. Thus far, Veronica Cale has served as a heartless and conniving villain, yet, here the reader can see the trials and torture that pushed her to this point. At the same time, they see Wonder Woman’s belief in Veronica crushed and see Cheetah fall from grace. The personal relationships here are what give this story its emotional appeal.
Godwatch is also seriously successful in the way it connects to the larger narrative surrounding Greg Rucka’s work on the series. The volume delivers the final missing pieces of Wonder Woman’s newly realized origin story, much of which was teased back when this series first started. Learning these secrets adds an additional layer of satisfaction to the reading experience. Plus, the volume gives the run a wonderfully worthwhile conclusion. At the very end, it connects the past and present storylines together in a way that works well for both.
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Art
The artwork in Godwatch is good but is not as stunningly beautiful as the other volumes in this series. Bilquis Evely’s work comprises the bulk of this collection and ends up ranging from average to slightly above average. The unique style looks great and the crisp lines help the images to pop. However, there are places where the detail feels lacking. Plus, a single chapter from guest artist Mirka Andolfo generally looks disappointing. The volume gets significantly better in the final chapter, when Nicola Scott returns to the series, but this is only for a chapter and is the only place where the quality of the visuals matches the quality of the visuals in previous books. Overall, the artwork in this volume is alright but is a bit disappointing considering the quality of the past.
Continuity
Wonder Woman Vol. 4: Godwatch directly continues the storyline from Wonder Woman Vol. 2: Year One (Review). This volume was also published concurrently alongside Wonder Woman Vol. 3: The Truth (Review) and makes references to the events of that volume. Specifically, the events of Wonder Woman #24, collected here, directly continue the storyline from Wonder Woman #23, collected in The Truth (Review).
The Wonder Woman series continues in Wonder Woman Vol. 5: Heart of the Amazon (Review).