Veronica is a nasty creature, a real viper; she kind of reminds me of a female version of Colonel Green from the Original Star Trek series; she's really master the art of using people and seems to have a lot of enemies; she needs Maru and God knows whoever else around for good reason. She's one of those types that I really have a hard time with, given my propensity to try extending forgiveness to someone, coupled with naivety mixed with thinking people feel the same but really don't. We get an interesting and detailed background description of Dr. Cale, as a person, but, you have to evaluate her actions as opposed to things people say about her. But, we need further background to see why she's so vicious, because of pent up bitterness at a series of things that probably happened to her, starting at a young age or tender state in her life; of course, being wealthy can have that affect on people too.

@dshipp17: Why do you think Veronica Cale is so vicious? Aside from lying to Cheetah, having everyone at the Picket murdered and personally putting a gun to Steve's head, she's really been quite sympathetic. She just wants her daughter back. The things Diana revealed about her this issue were pretty virtuous and commendable, they weren't at all the usual actions of supervillain. That what makes her such a compelling character.

Cool issue, it reminded me of a more fleshed out version of this cover...

If only Diana had looked this tasteful and well put together inside 22, it would have become a favorite. I especially enjoyed how our little, sweet, innocent and naive Diana wasn't so naive after all. She knew the score on Cale from the word "go" and that was as refreshing and satisfying as a tall well chilled glass of iced tea on a hot summer's day.

"Why do you think Veronica Cale is so vicious?"

Basically because everything was just a ruse to get a scan of Wonder Woman; a lot of opportunities presented themselves to Veronica and Wonder Woman presented a lot of alternatives to Veronica, yet she stayed on a path to use Wonder Woman to get a scan, when Wonder Woman would have clearly extended a helping hand, and any reasonable person would have recognized that; that was very Colonel Green like.

"Aside from lying to Cheetah, having everyone at the Picket murdered and personally putting a gun to Steve's head, she's really been quite sympathetic. She just wants her daughter back."

Well, all of those first occurrences pretty much makes it very difficult to feel sympathy for her; she's clearly using a very villainous means of solving things, instead of grey area stuff or noble ways to go about it (e.g. she had dozens killed instead of say one person); and, to go to these extremes to get a family member reeks of selfishness instead of sympathy; of course, she could alternatively be doing it for nothing, but doing it for a family member is not better by any means; she actually removes any sympathy, because it clearly appears that, because she's wealthy, she feels entitled and anyone who's not wealthy are simply beneath her, which is why she takes this approach.

"The things Diana revealed about her this issue were pretty virtuous and commendable, they weren't at all the usual actions of supervillain. That what makes her such a compelling character."

Because of these other things that Veronica has done, things are pointing to hidden, ulterior motives and things unexplained; Veronica likely manipulated how those stories were presented in some way; thus, while it sounds virtuous, there's got to be something that's more than meets the eye that isn't being told. Yes, it makes her a compelling character, but to the extent of knowing some more about her background as to why she got this way and the full truth behind her operation and her purpose for seeming to help the less fortunate (e.g. I feel the same way about knowing more about Colonel Green and that female team member, as Kahless had a full Star Trek backstory recap, as compared); it's a little like Kilgrave from X-Men the Animated Series from the 90s; he was helping orphans, but he had a very sinister motive.

I agree.

Cale has been great the whole series and the end of this comic has a classic Superman -v- Luthor tension. I want Cale not to just be a Rogue in Wonder Woman's Gallery of Villains, I want her to be a regular supporting character. Maru as Cale's security detail is a mice touch, I thought she was just a hired gun up to this point.

While I liked the art style (colors are brilliant) I felt that it was little to stylized for the tone of the story. Both Veronica and Diana were written as very sophisticated in their exchange and perhaps art featuring a less "animated" style would have really complimented tone of the story better.

Otherwise, great issue!

@super-wonder: I loved the issue too and agree that a different more sophisticated art style would make this a perfect 10/10 issue.

though I don't want Cale to be WW's Luthor, the last thing I need is Cale flying around on some alien super suit (it doesn't seem like her to do that).

Agreed, that would seem pretty silly to have Veronica pulling a suit out of nowhere.
For me it's the rivalry and the dichotomy of the Powered Being and the Human determined to level that being. What Luthor and Cale represent to me is not just a nemesis or an arch rival but the indomitable will of the species to demonstrate humanity's superiority. "We don't need you! We have the resources and the stamina to make it without you!"

They are the best that Humanity has to offer with the worst of intentions.

I would also love to see a Cale / Luthor rivalry in some way too.

Same, I'm loving Cale's character thus far and hope she does stay.

I'm sure Luthor is waiting to one up Cale after that party, be it in business or crime (course to them what difference would it make.)

So is Diana leaning in for a kiss here?

On the first date? . . . Oh Diana! LOL

Didn't you see me respond to those comments? Why not also address my comments? And I dislike attempting to bring in a a Lex Luthor character, when Wonder Woman already has a Lex Luthor in Dr. Psycho; using the character that was already there would have worked much better; of course, it's more of a way of putting the lens on Diana's true character than putting the lens on other characters that appear in her book, as something that's really needed, at this point, for Wonder Woman.

Yes.

I didn't want to.

I see where you're coming from and you are certainly entitled to your tastes and opinions. Dr. Psycho is certainly a formidable adversary with a unique skill set that has the potential to rock the DC Universe (but they wasted that moment on Maxwell Lord, literally they just pulled "Max now has mind tricks" right out of their ass . . .But I digress). Psycho deserves a closed story that features him alone. The ensemble nature of this story arc would have set him in the periphery like Poison and Cyber, because Rucka has a clear agenda to push his creation forward.

Is Psycho Wonder Woman's Luthor? Everyone will have their own perspective on this but mine is no, he's not.

Dr. Psycho isn't a Lex Luthor character, he's a Dr. Psycho character. Veronica Cale is like Lex Luthor in that neither of them have super powers, but they're both formidable threats to their respective enemies due to their intelligence and immense wealth.

I too would like to see a rivalry between Luthor and Cale, also what would happen if they switched opponents, like in Marvel's "Acts of Vengeance" crossover.

"Dr. Psycho isn't a Lex Luthor character, he's a Dr. Psycho character. Veronica Cale is like Lex Luthor in that neither of them have super powers, but they're both formidable threats to their respective enemies due to their intelligence and immense wealth."'

I'm not saying that Dr. Psycho is literally a Lex like character, as I'll usually say he's her Joker; I mean the character that is in a jin-jang dynamic with her; Lex just became that for Superman, when another character might fit that mold, as is the case with Batman and Joker too; I actually would think someone like Harvey Dent is more Batman's jin-jang character. Veronica, while wealthy and into Wonder Woman is not her jin-jang, especially seeing her in Rucka 2.0; in Rucka 1.0, she was closer, except Wonder Woman had/has Dr. Psycho for that role.

@dshipp17: The only jin-jang character that I see with wonder woman is Ares (peace-war and all in between)but he's way too powerful for an appearance every other issue.

IMO WW's luthor(Main Villian) is Circe, as she also has somewhat of a jin-jang dynamic with her as well. She also can be used multiple times for different reasons as she does what ever she wants for the most part, she's a very compelling villain as well when you take into account her history w/ the amazons and her child with Ares. And she has a far more variety when it comes to powers(being a witch/sorceress) for entertaining stories, but not as powerful as some like Ares where the universe/heavens are in danger when he's around.

This!

T'would be awesome!

I've always liked Circe in this capacity too.

n52, this is by far my favorite look for her.

Though I thought that nothing would top this sexy number!

@super-wonder: Not a fan of Circe with red hair. IDK why, just weird to me, purple hair is way sexier IMO.

My favorite looks for her.. Armored Circe isn't half bad either, if only she had purple hair, and green armor.

JLU version would be perfect if she had pants and not a skirt.

or..

A Green and Gold redesign like this, but with the long V neck that she usually has would be perfect.

They're all great! ;) I do like the Purple Hair too. For a character like her, she can pull off a lot of different looks especially to suite her moods. That Witcher image is pretty cool!