Wonder Woman: Bitter Rivals

When Wonder Woman finds herself too occupied with the changes on Themyscira to investigate the murder of the head of the group Protect Our Children, she calls on the Dark Knight for help. Batman quickly finds a link between Keyes' death and another recent murder. Will Diana finally know her enemy's name?

Gr. 9-12. Rucka continues his inventive effort to make Wonder Woman relevant to a generation whose grandparents may not have been born when she first appeared in 1941. The venerable superheroine now uses her role as ambassador from the Amazons' island, Themyscria, to spread her people's message of equality and unity. She faces protesters' hostility as well as physical attacks by superpowered villains, unaware that her opposition is orchestrated by businesswoman Veronica Cale, who has hired a PR firm to discredit the Amazon and instigated the reappearances of arch-foes Silver Swan and Dr. Psycho. When the protest leader is assassinated on the steps of the Themyscrian embassy, Wonder Woman turns to Batman to solve the crime. Rucka moves smoothly between multiple plotlines (another involves the gods of Mount Olympus) without neglecting dialogue and characterization. The implicit contrast of Wonder Woman's nobility and idealism and Cale's jealous deviousness is particularly effective. Several artists contribute fluid though straightforward visuals, with primary illustrator Drew Johnson's work shining a bit brighter than the others'. Gordon Flagg
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