Is The Truth About To CHANGE?!

[Quinnhop]

This is ridiculous. Hephaestus was just saying that Wonder Woman doesn't even need the lasso to get the truth, her intimidation is enough. Obviously the lasso still makes the person it touches reveal the truth (over in Justice League it made Hal say something stupid/truthful), but Wonder Woman could just scare it out of them even without it. She is the goddess of bondage, an Amazonian warrior-princess with a golden lasso of truth, invented by the same man who invented the lie detector. She's finally being treated like the mythic figure she is, Olympian God-Tier. She's finally living up to her potential. Clearly Azzarello isn't about to undermine his mythification by taking away one of the central most elements of her myth. If anything he's just showing that her personality is reflected in her lasso and bracelets--which has always been the case. She's been presented as a coaxing hippy-nun for too long. She's the embodiment of mother nature's wrath: of man naked in the face of a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami/flood, volcanic eruption, etc. She humbles her prisoners by threatening humiliation--the humiliation of man's ultimate vulnerability to the world that nurtures them (to fate or even existence itself): Death. Wonder Woman is Truth and Justice, not Truth and Mercy (Pity)--finally someone's getting that.

She's finally being treated like the Grecian Super-Hero she is. Hopefully by the end of this arc she'll be an actual Goddess.

[SteveGus]

She's finally being treated like the Grecian Super-Hero she is. Hopefully by the end of this arc she'll be an actual Goddess.

I thought the whole point of the exercise was to make her more down to earth and relatable.

[Quinnhop]

I thought the whole point of the exercise was to make her more down to earth and relatable.

Not at all, just cooler and more relevant. Greek Gods are always relevant.

[slvn]

I think it's interesting that Hades seems to be counting on the lasso to work on Diana, even though he thinks she may possibly have willpower strong enough to resist the pistols of Eros. Of course, Hephaestus, having made the lasso, seems to be in a better position than Hades to know what it is or isn't capable of. Still, Diana has already proved to Heph (against eh fire monster) that "in [her] hands," it's more of a weapon then he thought. (Remember? when she triumphant, says Hephaestus, this weapon, in my hands...", he concedes, "Point taken.")

If she's able to say she loves Hades, I think Azz will leave room for interpretation: Is it because she really does love everybody a little, or because her will is strong enough to resist not only the pistols but also the lasso, or because the lasso doesn't have that much real power independently of Wonder Woman, or because its power is lessened in the realm of shadow (where there's probably even less room for truth than for there is, according to Aphrodite, to Hades). Or some combination? We, and the characters, will probably all be able to draw our own conclusions--which is OK with me. More to argue about! :)

Personally, I'd pick "it's magical AND its a channel for her power," if that were an option in the poll. Like Quinnhop, I'm not really bothered by the idea of "intimidation," if she's intimidating people into telling the truth. I think one of the things Marston wanted to show is that a beautiful and kind-hearted woman can be powerful enough to intimidate big, muscle-bound guys. (I'm thinking, for example, of her immortal line from Wonder Woman 2: "Surrender or die, Satan!") The idea of a powerful woman is no news flash today, but I'm just saying, a righteous intimidation seems not inconsistent with the original vision for the character.

[americanwonder]

... Obviously the lasso still makes the person it touches reveal the truth (over in Justice League it made Hal say something stupid/truthful), but Wonder Woman could just scare it out of them even without it...

If Diana is just going to intimidate truth from folks (something that's really more Batman's shtick, no?), then doesn't the lasso become very redundant? Besides being some strong string, of course (that is, until Bizzaro breaks it easily).

[Bluewing_A23]

Since Diana is now a demi-goddess, I wouldn't mind her representing the truth and the lasso is her weapon to channel it.

Also, if we look at what Azz has done to the other gods; Hermes needs his stuff to fast travel, he can give it to Diana to use it; Eros' power of love is from his Guns; I think it is very likely that Diana's lasso will work the same way.

[fanboiii]

This is ridiculous. Hephaestus was just saying that Wonder Woman doesn't even need the lasso to get the truth, her intimidation is enough. Obviously the lasso still makes the person it touches reveal the truth (over in Justice League it made Hal say something stupid/truthful), but Wonder Woman could just scare it out of them even without it. She is the goddess of bondage, an Amazonian warrior-princess with a golden lasso of truth, invented by the same man who invented the lie detector. She's finally being treated like the mythic figure she is, Olympian God-Tier. She's finally living up to her potential. Clearly Azzarello isn't about to undermine his mythification by taking away one of the central most elements of her myth. If anything he's just showing that her personality is reflected in her lasso and bracelets--which has always been the case. She's been presented as a coaxing hippy-nun for too long. She's the embodiment of mother nature's wrath: of man naked in the face of a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami/flood, volcanic eruption, etc. She humbles her prisoners by threatening humiliation--the humiliation of man's ultimate vulnerability to the world that nurtures them (to fate or even existence itself): Death. Wonder Woman is Truth and Justice, not Truth and Mercy (Pity)--finally someone's getting that.

She's finally being treated like the Grecian Super-Hero she is. Hopefully by the end of this arc she'll be an actual Goddess.

I'd like to say, I enjoyed the writing of your post even though I disagree with half of it. The personification of WW as Truth is an interesting interpretation. What I would change is:

She humbles her prisoners by exposing man's ultimate vulnerability to their existence: Truth.

We all live with a great deal of deception whether subconsciously through psychological maneuvering or deliberately. I would nix calling her the goddess of bondage. That undermines her nobility with fetishism. She is also better suited as a demi-god literally and symbolically straddling the two sides of divinity and humanity. As for merciless interrogation and ruthless justice, I'm torn over the matter since I also find her a figure of compassion. She should know there is a thing as too much truth.

[dshipp17]

Again, I think most of what's being said in this thread more takes away from from the Greek pantheon more than stating anything that's factual about the story. When Hephaestus said truth is not her weapon but intimidation, I took it more as a literal meaning: she was threatening Hephaestus at the time; I think it was a simple matter that Hephaestus knows his weapons or inventions better than the people using them; contrary to peoples' wishes here is this forum, Wonder Woman is no different; Wonder Woman cannot surprise Hephaestus using his own inventions; Hephaestus just simply knew qualities about the lasso that Wonder Woman doesn't know; and, as shown in issue 8, Hephaestus could have just as easily been showing Wonder Woman that he knows his objects better than her when the bullets penetrated the bracelets better, to the surprise of Wonder Woman; it would be good of DC to quite dumbing down supernatural beings to fit the writers' whims or to make their characters look good; Marvel has (or had) this concept mastered when they show their supernatural beings superior while not taking away from their characters.

I hope Azz plans to restore the lasso's original qualities where the lasso can be effectively used against Diana, as effectively as she can uses it against others; during the post-crisis days from Perez to Simone, the lasso appeared to be nothing more than an unbreakable rope; that was very dull to be quite frank with you; and the bracelets appeared to be reduced from being able to control Diana into just objects to deflect projectiles hurled at her; that was also dull; it's like, while the obvious answers to Diana's ills were to start reverting back to Marston's design of having the lasso and bracelets being effective against Diana, they went the other way around and metastasized the dull qualities of the Wonder Woman comics; after all, just because Kryptonite is still effective against Superman, that does not send unintended bad signals, as some would have implied in the case of Wonder Woman; after issue #7, I hope Azz proceeds forward and do what it takes to add some of the unique qualities back to the Wonder Woman stories and show the bracelets and lasso being effective against Wonder Woman again, or, showing her Kryptonite again.

[pad]

Apparently, according to the Smith, Wonder Woman has the power to scare the truth out of you. The rope is just something she keeps around for dates with Lobo.

What I want to know is what's a big, lumpy character like Heph doing with a four-poster canopy bed. He's a GOD. Why would a creature with that shape sleep in a cramped, square little bed, with barely enough room for his feet?

This is the bed that Hephaestus made to catch Ares and Aphrodite in the act. The net was tied to each post and was designed to drop on the lovers. When Hephaestus gathered the gods to show them how bad Ares and Aphrodite were, the gods all mocked Hephaestus. Zeus told his son, "You've made your bed, now lie in it." And that is the story of why Hephaestus sleeps in a small bed.

[Don-Jack]

The thing that most bothers me is that Hades wanted Hera to be his wife, even if she doesn't love him. But now he wants his queen (Diana) to love him.
And I don't understand what is necessary to become the king. Dethrone the queen (Hera)? Have another queen? Hera is searching for a king?
And what Poseidon and Hades were doing at London before they were tricked? Poseidon just leaved and it was very strange (he probably is gonna show up again)
There are a lot of questions, and my main concern is that Azzarello will explain it all or not. And to explain it all, I think it will be necessary at least another year, with an annual focused on that.

[slvn]

The thing that most bothers me is that Hades wanted Hera to be his wife, even if she doesn't love him. But now he wants his queen (Diana) to love him.

I thought Hades's conversations with Diana and with Cronos very revealing. He seems pretty emotionally stunted, which, I guess, is mirrored in his physical form. He doesn't have a mature understanding of what it means to be loved. He wanted to think that he could force Hera or Diana to be his wife, but now Strife has planted the seed of doubt, making him afraid that Diana won't really ever be his because she doesn't love him. He probably would have eventually had the same doubts, or realization, about Hera. It's what Cronos tells him about his "nature"; he's incapable of being satisfied, whether he gets who he wants (whether as a guest or a wife0 or not.

As for Poseidon, as some poster pointed out at the time, the sea can be moody--stormy one minute, calm the next--so it make a kind of poetic sense that he would be intent on world dominion one minute and then lose interest, in the midst of a good laugh, the next.

...I think it was a simple matter that Hephaestus knows his weapons or inventions better than the people using them; contrary to peoples' wishes here is this forum, Wonder Woman is no different; Wonder Woman cannot surprise Hephaestus using his own inventions

Maybe, but he does say "Point taken" when she she says "Hephaestus,this lasso, in my hands..."--clearly implying that the lasso, in spite of what he had said earlier, was a real weapon for her. I don't think this dumbs him down at all--he knows what the lasso was when he made itm but it may have become more since then. After all, she's a child of Zeus too, and its possible that her power made the rope more than it was originally inteded to me. Or maybe it was empowered by another god or goddess.

I a very curious to see what Heph's wedding gift is. Maybe it's something so beautiful and inspiring that it will weaken Hades' control on "his" souls by inspiring them to want something better. Based on what Hermes said in issue 8, I think the souls' free will could be Hades' Achilles heel. If they have the freedom to not comply with their lord's wishes, than Hades' control over his realm becomes very weak. Maybe the gift is a musical instrument--one of the earlier solicits, or publicity for an earlier issue, promised that we would hear the music of Orpheus, and maybe that was delayed. I can imagine someone (Lennox?) playing a piece of music so beautiful that the dead would be entranced and not respond to Hades commands.

[carabas]

How is any of this new?
The "truthiness" being inherent to Diana and the lasso merely amplifying it, people finding it exeedingly hard to lie to her, even without the lasso, that goes at least as far back as Greg Rucka's run, doesn't it?

[Rob_Olivera]

How is any of this new?
The "truthiness" being inherent to Diana and the lasso merely amplifying it, people finding it exeedingly hard to lie to her, even without the lasso, that goes at least as far back as Greg Rucka's run, doesn't it?

Mummsy seems to have had zero trouble lying to her, in addition to the queen's close-knit group who knew the truth. personally, I don't find Wonder Woman to be very intimidating. At least no so much that she'd "scare" someone into telling the truth. Always thought this was Batman's schtick. As far as having an innate ability to neutralize lies from coming out of people's mouth... this would be new.

I think people were just in awe of her, which is what alot of the new fans do not like about her old representation (being on an untouchable pedal, that is).

[Maximum Impact]

How is any of this new?
The "truthiness" being inherent to Diana and the lasso merely amplifying it, people finding it exeedingly hard to lie to her, even without the lasso, that goes at least as far back as Greg Rucka's run, doesn't it?

It's an idea that Phil Jimenez came up with but Rucka used it too.

[Lorendiac]

I believe by the time this story arc is over, Wonder Woman's lasso is going to be revealed to be nothing but a glowing piece of rope. Proof of this will be when she lies to him while bound by her own lasso in issue 10. Would that be ok with you?

I could live with it (although it wouldn't be my first choice).

On the other hand . . . I'm rather fond of the way they handled it in the "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited" cartoons. In that version, the DCAU Wonder Woman had been using the lasso in her superheroic activities for years before she finally discovered that it wasn't just a glowing piece of rope!