Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia (Greg Rucka)

Batman and Wonder Woman come into conflict when a young woman, wanted for involvement in a crime seeks sanctuary at Diana's Amazon embassy. By her laws and beliefs she must take the girl in. The girl has cleverly discovered this Hiketeia clause, and WW will fight Batman over it if she has to. This does not end well.

Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia is a bit of a rarity these days as it is not a collection of previously published comics but an original graphic novel. Written by Greg Rucka and penciled by J.G. Jones, this book was certainly created by A-list talent and features stars to match in Wonder Woman and Batman. The story features a fugitive from justice (and Batman) who seeks a form of sanctuary from Wonder Woman invoking a ritual known as the Hiketeia. The ritual offers Wonder Woman no decision to refuse, she has to accept as long as the supplicant obeys the strictures of the ritual. This inevitably brings Batman and Wonder Woman into conflict and sets up an interesting situation of the ethics and responsibilities of all the involved parties. I am not a big fan of Wonder Woman and am definitely not a fan of Greg Rucka's writing but this story is an exception. It's well paced and the characterizations are very well portrayed. Rucka manages to create a fairly unique situation for the char... Read more

I had high hopes for this GN because it features two of my favorite characters: Wonder Woman and Batman, and because I admire Greg Rucka as a writer and usually enjoy his work. I was disappointed. The idea is a good one, and the writing and illustration are very good. The problem is that the story is underdeveloped. The narrative barely begins before it ends, rather abruptly, 90 pages later. The Supplicant says at one point that she had studied ancient Greece so that she could learn to be like Wonder Woman, but she doesn't really say why, or how (or even where). She tells a sad story that explains her earlier actions, but doesn't adequately outline how it came about. In a graphic format, you have to show everything--it is not enough to throw out a sentence in passing and leave the rest to the reader's imagination. Diana's motivation is never really explained, either, unless you can accept the worn-out premise that Diana does everything out of goodness and duty. That's... Read more

If the purpose of The Hiketeia was to give us a closer look at Diana and what makes her tick, it did so in grand fashion. I love action and I'm happy I didn't know beforehand that this story is mainly devoid of it. There is tension, to be sure, but very little in the way of combat. Rather, this is a study of Diana of Themyscira and her motivations. She is a character steeped in tradition and religion. With the Bam! Pow! action of super-hero comics in general, there haven't been great opportunities to explore her motivations in depth. That's not to gloss over what Perez and other excellent writers (excluding Byrne) have done in her series. By and large they've done well in presenting the origin and life that shaped and defined Wonder Woman. The elements that make her unique among her peers. However, sometimes, a quiet moment is needed for that really close look. The Hiketeia is full of quiet moments. Diana sipping coffee from a mug with the Superman logo, making sandwiches... Read more

The best thing about this book, aside from the art, is its very simple premise. "What happens when ideologies clash?" Greg Rucka did a fantastic job of picking two DC characters that are very opinionated in their ideologies. And its just a matter of telling the right story to see which one of them will you believe in.