New Readers of WW: Recommended Reading & Questions

[onoturtle]

Hi Ononturtle,

The best of Rucka's WW: 1) "The Hiketeia" - it's a stand alone gn with beautiful art; storywise, it's a Greek tragedy type story that includes Batman, too.

2) "Eyes of the Gorgon" and "The Bronze Door" - I think Rucka's WW run reads be best as a whole, but if you want to pick the best parts, get these two (in that order, btw).

Hope that helps. :)

Thanks, I decided to start from the beginning because of your comment. I have trust in Rucka, as I love his Renee Montoya work in Gotham Central & 52. Though I quit halfway through OMAC Project... I don't really remember why, maybe it was because I was unfamiliar with the characters (Checkmate people, and I think even now I probably am still unfamiliar with them haha) involved in it. So my follow up question, is the Infinite Crisis Wonder Woman material lead-in and tie-in after "The Bronze Door" worth reading? I did read stand-alone Infinite Crisis via tpb and some what understood the main concept of it... So many subplots going on and I didn't read any of the lead-ins gets me confused on the details.

[americanwonder]

Thanks, I decided to start from the beginning because of your comment...

I always get a bit nervous when someone actually listens to my recommendations. Hope you enjoy the ride. :)

Like you, I love Rucka and Bru's Gotham Central. 52 was really good, too.

... So my follow up question, is the Infinite Crisis Wonder Woman material lead-in and tie-in after "The Bronze Door" worth reading? I did read stand-alone Infinite Crisis via tpb and some what understood the main concept of it... So many subplots going on and I didn't read any of the lead-ins gets me confused on the details.

It was worth it to me. But, if you quit reading OMAC, and if you didn't care much for IC, I'd say you might want to skip the last tpb. It incluldes WW's chapter of the "Sacrifice" crossover with Superman, some of the fallout from that, OMACs attack Paradise Island - that sort of thing.

Happy reading. :)

[ben c]

People keep saying that the nina jaffe books are hard to find or expensive, but I always see them on ebay or amazon for a few dollars. I guess it is just timing.

[Zarquon]

I'm not a new reader, nor new to Wonder Woman, I subscribed religiously many years ago (2006 and earlier). I've heard that in the New 52 she is still something of a supporting character in her own book? Is this true, is it worth a subscription? Many thanks

[americanwonder]

I'm not a new reader, nor new to Wonder Woman, I subscribed religiously many years ago (2006 and earlier). I've heard that in the New 52 she is still something of a supporting character in her own book? Is this true, is it worth a subscription? Many thanks

Hi Zarquon,

WW as a "supporting character" is an exaggeration. There's a lot of faces (new and newly designed) creating kind of an ensemble feel. For instance, they travel in a group, and Diana is given info and plans from others. So, she's not the sole driving force I'd like to see more of, but she's far from being a supporting character. She's still front and center of the big story going on around her.

Worth a subscription? Hard to say without knowing your taste in stories. I have my complaints about the story, but for what it is, it is a well-crafted story. It is a big story, so if you can, I think it best to start from the beginning, or wait for it to be collected in tpb/hardcover.

[Zarquon]

Thanks very much, I think a collection sounds like a good idea...

[Outside_85]

I'm not a new reader, nor new to Wonder Woman, I subscribed religiously many years ago (2006 and earlier). I've heard that in the New 52 she is still something of a supporting character in her own book? Is this true, is it worth a subscription? Many thanks

I would say no, she is not a support character in her own book, yes there's a lot them, but the driving force of the book is Diana and what she wants to do. Currently she wants to protect Zola and the child she carries and that has made her enemies in divine circles, around all of this is the chaos that is Diana's own background where she is discovering new things about herself every 3rd month (it is what is currently being talked about on forums, but story wise it is the least important).

Take it from me, I thought it was a bit of a gamble of adding WW to my subscription-list Post-Flashpoint, but I am currently enjoying WW more than any other DC book.

[abhilegend]

Can anybody tell me which comic is this from?

[Volkditty]

I'm not a new reader, nor new to Wonder Woman, I subscribed religiously many years ago (2006 and earlier). I've heard that in the New 52 she is still something of a supporting character in her own book? Is this true, is it worth a subscription? Many thanks

This is the first Wonder Woman series I've read, and I wouldn't call her a supporting character. There is a lot of world-building going on as Azzarello is basically completely reworking WW's mythology (from what I understand), so while the story covers a lot more than just who she is and what she's doing, I don't think it overwhelms the character at all. That said, I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone. Either start from the beginning or pick up the trade, because it is very serial in nature. It's still on the first story arc.

[TrevorDS]

I just finished reading the first issue inside the New 52 vol. 1: Blood book, and I must say, I wasn't crazy about it. It could be that I know next to nothing about Wonder Woman, and just need a little more time to figure out what's going on, but the characters just didn't excite me as much as those in the Green Lantern: Sinestro book, which is the only other New 52 book I've read so far. The art in Wonder Woman was a little different than most other comics I've read or looked at, but that doesn't mean I thought it was bad. Like I said, I may just need a little more time to familiarize myself with who everyone is and what is going on. I really hope that I will enjoy this comic more as I progress.

[TrevorDS]

Okay, so just to update my other post above, I have now read about halfway through the New 52 book, and my opinion is beginning to change about Wonder Woman. First I had to re-read issue #1. This is actually a pretty complex story, so I went real slow this time to make sure I understood everything that was going on. After that I was able to better understand the following issues, and now I am starting to really get into the story. Since I am pretty much new to Wonder Woman, it is taking me a little time to learn who everyone is and how they relate to each other. This hasn't neccessarily been easy for me so far since there are quite a few major characters coming at me all at once, but I think I'm beginning to get it. I'm looking forward to seeing where everything leads.

[TrevorDS]

Third update... I have finished reading the New 52 book. It was difficult for me to get into, but then it picked up and I was really enjoying it for a couple of issues. The last couple of issues, however, just kind of killed it for me. I just found the story to be way too complicated. Every five seconds someone new was coming out of nowhere, and not even the characters in the comic had any idea who they were. It just made it really hard to follow the action because so many times everything had to stop so we could do a new character introduction. The characters themselves did not excite me that much either. I mean, Wonder Woman was pretty cool I guess, and I liked Hermes alright. Everything that took place on Paradise Island was pretty neat, but all of the gods and how they related to each other just kind of muddled things up for me.

I had a hard time following the dialogue also, due in large part to the fact that about half of it was written so that it was shown along with a scene of action that was somewhere else. A couple of times I was looking at the art, and thinking "Why is this dialogue showing up here?" I know what they were trying to do. I get that it was supposed to be read kind of like a voiceover of the action that was taking place on those particular pages, but the whole thing was just a bit much for me. I didn't understand everything perfectly while reading through the Green Lantern New 52 book, but luckily it was pretty straight forward for the most part. The dialogue in that book was written so that, even if I did get lost for a second, someone would say something to give me an idea of who everyone was and why things were happening the way they were. I didn't find that in the Wonder Woman book. It was almost like being around a group of people who have a secret, and they're not telling you. I found myself getting aggrevated at the book more than I was intrigued. I don't think I'll be getting vol. 2 when it comes out. This one just wasn't for me.

[americanwonder]

Hi TrevorDC, enjoyed reading your thoughts, though I'm sorry to hear you didn't care much for new 52 WW. I share many of your complaints. I'd like to tell you it gets better, but can't. #8 was pretty solid, but the story as a whole is dragging on - hopefully #10 this week will pick up the pace.

[TrevorDS]

Someone else may have asked this already, and I apologize if that's the case, but as you can tell based on my comments above, I wasn't a huge fan of the New 52 Wonder Woman. One comic I have recently read that I thoroughly enjoyed, however, was J. Michael Straczynski's Thor. I just found out a few days ago that he also was the writer for the Wonder Woman: Odyssey comics. Has anyone read these, and if so, would you recommend them to me based on my reaction to the New 52 book?

[Gaelforce]

Alas, there was the 12 Odyssey story leading up to the nu52 that JMS was supposed to write, but he bailed just a few issues in and everything in it was erased when the nu52 kicked off anyway.

I, too, am a huge fan of his run on Thor and, much as I hated Gail Simone leaving the book, I was looking forward to seeing how he handled my favorite character (I even interviewed him for the 'Five Questions with...' archive).

Personally, no, I do not recommend Odyssey as it lost it's way and ran way too long with an ending that just didn't work for me.