But of the writers you mentioned, Johns has only written Wonder Woman in ensemble titles, and his grasp on her character is highly dubious to begin with. For most of his New JL run, he has written her as a stab happy lunatic. WW characters are naturally not going to be getting a lot of focus in such a setting, so Cheetah only getting a B plot in two of his issues when he already has a spotty record with WW herself means it's not so much a surprise that his Cheetah is underwhelming. That shouldn't be a black mark against her. Johns is also, IMO, not great with the other two members of the Trinity either. Which is fine, no writer can be considered a perfect match across the board.
Azzarello is not a black mark against her because he never used her. He wasn't interested in any of her old villains and focused on his own, the First Born and Cassandra. Neither of whom we will be seeing again any time soon.
Ares had Marston and Perez/Wein....but so did Cheetah. She is the second villain Diana faces in the Perez run. Ares also doesn't have much going on beyond the origin story, writers seldom know what to do with him to make him interesting, which is why the WW film had so little to work with and he was underwhelming. So she was part of those runs like Ares was.
Simone's run in general had promise and then petered out. It is liked by the WW fanbase, but not as highly regarded as others.
For Rucka, he didn't use her too much in his first run. She was however the deutragonist in his second run, and even detractors of the run think she's one of the better parts of it. And it seems to be one of the big influences for her movie counterpart.
When writers are working on their run, their goal is tell the best stories possible. To do that, they will use the characters they feel they have the best chance of achieving that with. Azzarello not being interested in the character is a black mark against the character, as well as lots of other WW villains, IMO.
The origin story, that Ares is the main villain of, and is used in lots of character comparisons and parallels with Diana, is the highest regarded story of that run, and is considered one of the very best WW stories ever. I like Cheetah in that run, but she does not play a significant role in the highest regarded stories of that run. She appears in the second big story for two issues out of seven, but most of that story is about the big challenges Diana has to face.
Simon's story The Circle is regarded as one of the very best WW stories, and like many of WW's highest regarded stories, her better known villains do not features or play a big role. Again, for me the consistency with which this happens says something negative about a lot of her villains.
I liked how Rucka used Cheetah as well. I thought she was a good character in that run, but it also strengthens my belief that she works best as a supporting character, rather than as the main villain. I think that the consistency with which top writers have either left her out, or struggled to have her play a large and significant role as the main villain in a highly regarded story suggests that it is not easy and that the character has a lot of flaws. Wonder Woman may not have as many top writers as Batman and Superman, but she has at least as much as any other DC character. Villains with as much or less top writers on them have played a large and significant role in some of the highest regarded DC stories, like Sinestro, Deathstroke and Reverse-Flash
s kind of unfair to compare with the Batman franchise in general, because Wonder Woman is not afforded nearly as much creative opportunities as Batman does. Of late, even Superman can't keep up. Batman gets top writers, so his villains get top treatment. Wonder Woman only gets a handful of top writers, not all of them are interested in using every character in her corner (including Cheetah), so ALL her villains are underdeveloped, along with her supporting cast. Things get worse when editorial keeps rebooting her.
I agree regarding Batman getting so much top writers, but I used those two villains (Bane and The Court of Owls) because they both managed to be the main villain in a highly regarded story in their first shot at it, which IMO further highlights the failures with Cheetah and other Wonder Woman villains, and the flaws that her villains have. The writers of those two stories (Knightfall and Court of Owls) are highly regarded, but they are not on a different level to the best writers WW has had.
But again, some writers put a lot of effort into WW, but their numbers are significantly fewer than other DC properties, and editorial doesn't keep things consistent with their efforts and will even undo them. Rucka's second run exists to undo Azzarello's run, which was divisive as well as popular while it rebootded things. Perez's run exists to reboot everything that came before it, including Marston. When Diana herself is hurting for universally beloved portrayals and consistency, it's not surprising that it gets worse the further you go into her cast.
WW still has as much or more top writers than all other DC characters, other than Batman and Superman. She has as at least as much highly regarded runs as every other DC character, other than Batman and Superman. Sinestro, Deathstroke and Reverse-Flash managed to play a large and significant role in a highly regarded run/and or story as the main villain, and none of them have had more top writers on them than WW, as the heroes they face are lower down the pecking order
But as I said already, Cheetah WAS a part of the Perez origin stories and in Rucka's latest run, so she has some popular takes under belt. It's DC's failure to capitalize on these takes that hurt her. The fact that she's been able to stick around for this long in some form or another proves that there is some potential in her, or else she'd be collecting dust along with the rest of the neglected WW rogues. The apathy towards them is far more damaging.
I liked her in both those runs and I agree that she has potential for more than what she has done, even as the main villain in a big story. My main argument is that while having potential, her quality in the comics has, for the most part, IMO, ranged from ok-good, but rarely, if ever, great. I think she should have played a large role in a highly regarded story as the main villain like other vilIains I have mentioned, who have had around the same amount or less top writers on them. I also feel that based on the comics, that a supporting role, either to the main villain or hero (like how she was used in Rebirth), is how she works best.
