Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello / What is Your Verdict?

[Don-Jack]

I'm confused about some plot elements. *Are all the Amazons dead now, or are they in some kind of limbo curse? *What exactly was the ruse WW played? Promised Hades and Poseidon they could marry Hera and somehow that got Hera to show up and be blinded? *Is Hera literally blind? How? *I can't tell from the drawing.

- The Amazons were turned into snakes by (probably, but it's not certain) Hera, Hippolyta was turned into a statue. So it's more likely to be the "limbo curse".
- Hera was not literally blinded. Diana threw an Hade's candle into the Hera's pool, where she could see wherever Zola and the others were in order to attack them. Now the pool doesn't work anymore, and Hera can't see where they are.

[WhitOro]

Total noob here. To the forum and comics in general.

Welcome to the boards and in the world of comics Thebart, hope you survive the experience.
If you want advices on other WW stories, there's the thread:
http://forums.comicbookresources.com...estions/page11

[tangentman]

That is your point of view. From my perspective it sounds about like this:

Even a year later, the sheer vitriolic hatred towards Azz just never ceases to astonish me! You'd think people were talking about the coming of the antichrist or something...

So I guess I'll just stop discussing for now, because we'll both just start run around in a circle here.

The only flaw in your statement is that I DON'T harbor "sheer vitriolic hatred towards Azz". I've stated publicly what I like about his run, and given praise for those points I like more than once here. However, I don't just paint his work with a brush of wholesale approval. What I don't like about the run are things I REALLY dislike. I brought that up in assigning my "grade" in regards to the OP.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

Total noob here. To the forum and comics in general.

So far, I like the new WW. I have read ZERO WW so I have nothing to compare it to. *I actually find I'm more involved with this than I am with the nu52 batman. *Surprising, since I'm not one who's normally into Greek mythology. *So I think that gives some indication of how much I like this.

What I like is I'm getting a sense of WW as a person, through all the frenetic action, whereas Batman just seems like a cipher, despite all the previous exposure I've had with batman. *I appreciate the artwork, but I don't find the owl arc, which has been raved over, very interesting or involving. WW is actually the most interesting character in her own book, which is not often the case in many stories. I like how book one just drops you right into the action, and the action is used to illustrate the characters instead of a lot of dialogue, speechifying, or ruminative narration.

I'm not sure what to make of the mythos revision. *I think the made from clay legend is fine, more befitting than oh I banged a married man and got knocked up then lied about it all these years. WW went from being the female analogue of Adam to being a love child, albeit of a god, or The god. *I'm less troubled about what it means for WW as a feminist icon than what it means for WW as a hero / champion. *What does it mean that WW is related to all these gods, who really are just a bunch of screwed up people who have more powers than they can wisely use?

Zola IS a weak character. She's a McGuffin, barely a person. So far.

I'm confused about some plot elements. *Are all the Amazons dead now, or are they in some kind of limbo curse? *What exactly was the ruse WW played? Promised Hades and Poseidon they could marry Hera and somehow that got Hera to show up and be blinded? *Is Hera literally blind? How? *I can't tell from the drawing.

Anyway, I'm not keen on waiting, so what WW books should I read? *To give you some ideas of my taste, I love Y last man and Preacher. *I started on 100 bullets and while I like it okay it doesn't really grab me. *I like Walking Dead as entertaining potboiler, but not much more. Oh, and I think Saga is great but the waiting is going to kill me. *I wish I didn't know about it until 3, 5 years from now when I can read the whole run. *I guess what I like is SciFi/fantasy action with heart, a strong female character / love story at the center.

Edit: I don't know how I got all these asterisks in the post. It's too much of a pain to edit on the iPad. Sorry.

FRESH MEAT!!

Bring out the tar and feath......er, I mean welcome aboard. :)

[SteveGus]

But I like Marxists! Why dirty that word by associating it with Azzarello? J/K.

FWIW, the "marxist" business has nothing to do with Azzarello's Wonder Woman, as far as I know. IIRC it came up in a discussion of China Mieville's unpleasant version of Dial H for Hero. That writer identifies as a Marxist and, indeed, has run for office as a socialist candidate, so in his case it's just a description of where he's coming from.

So if WhitOro's keeping score, that one shouldn't count.

[carabas]

But if, as seems the case, people are willing to go with this explanation because that is the story, it seems odd that Diana needs a father to be more relatable or understandable.

It seems odd to you that a biologically conceived character is more relatable than one fashioned from clay? Really?

Didn't they have this whole period where Diana believed herself to be some sort of golem not too long ago (Heinberg/Picault, IIRC)?

[carabas]

It's also easy, when you trying to paint Joss Whedon as a savior of the women in television, ignoring his favourite position of a woman in his works: nude in the bathroom generally wet and trembling, hugging her knees, crying over the bad boy of the season and the dick attached to him.

Say what now? Sorry, seriously, what?
I'm pretty sure this has happened not even once.

[Gaelforce]

I recall it happening once in the seven seasons of Buffy when Spike attacked Buffy.

So unless I missed something, I'm kinda not seein' how one episode out of seven seasons is 'favorite'.

[carabas]

Total noob here. To the forum and comics in general.

Welcome!!!

Zola IS a weak character. She's a McGuffin, barely a person. So far.

I think that's fair, certainly based on the first trade.

Anyway, I'm not keen on waiting, so what WW books should I read?

Try Greg Rucka's run. It's Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia (original graphic novel) and Wonder Woman (Vol. 2) #195-226. It's sadly unfinished though, but it's what made me take notice of the character. It is in many way a lot like Azzarello's run, and was hated by a lot of WW fans for exactly the same reasons.

I started on 100 bullets and while I like it okay it doesn't really grab me.

It really only starts to kick in at the end of the second trade.

[nightwing1982]

I gave him a solid 4 stars. I have always enjoyed his writing and with WW, I am very surprised on how well I am enjoying his run.

[Outside_85]

It's also easy, when you trying to paint Joss Whedon as a savior of the women in television, ignoring his favourite position of a woman in his works: nude in the bathroom generally wet and trembling, hugging her knees, crying over the bad boy of the season and the dick attached to him.

He is getting better tho, Black Widow still had her clothes on when she did that in Avengers.

[Sacred Knight]

Joss subverted the "Petite Blonde Cheerleader As Victim" motif in horror films by creating a cheerleader that could kick a monster/slasher's ass. The overall themes in Buffy are empowerment of women and using that power responsibly. The series ended on a powerfully feminist note with Buffy sharing the Slayer's power, rather than hoarding it.

Agreed.

Wonder Woman's themes were empowerment of women, but also through sisterhood and an innate worth in women. Azzarello's taken that away. Not only taken it away, but replaced the original creation with a more conventional cliche (child of two parents AND a child of Zeus) because the original story was TOO feminist, TOO "out there". Hence, stripping Wonder Woman of a unique feminist origin. The character herself may remain feminist in ways, but her origin and universe are now bereft of that quality.

No he didn't. Wonder Woman still has her sisterhood. Well, they're stone at the moment, but she has them, and grew up with them, and was surrounded by them. And they are indeed empowered. Heck one could argue a little too empowered. He didn't take that away from her origin. From the mystical side of her origin, an element was added. I don't begrudge anyone for having a distaste in that added element, but all the same that's what happened. I stand by my belief that nothing was inherently taken away. Being born unnaturally, with only women's hands in it, last I checked had no real value in any real feminist values after all. It had its symbolic value, I'll give it that much, but in the end doesn't hold a candle to what truly makes her what she is and that's living on Paradise Island raised by her mother and her sisters.

And since when did the very simple idea of being born via natural reproduction become cliche? One could accuse the change as being less unique in the overall scope of the DC Universe. I get that and wouldn't argue with it (although the very idea of being born via unnatural means is highly overvalued here I've found, in terms of storytelling originality. Its not THAT original). But cliche? Silly.

[chastmastr]

what truly makes her what she is and that's living on Paradise Island raised by her mother and her sisters

Who are now evil murderers. Thanks, but no thanks.

[Thebart]

-
- Hera was not literally blinded. Diana threw an Hade's candle into the Hera's pool, where she could see wherever Zola and the others were in order to attack them. Now the pool doesn't work anymore, and Hera can't see where they are.

Thanks. I reread issue 6 and I still did not get it.

Also, did I miss a revelation about Lennox somewhere? What is his story? He just showed up and offered to help. I kept expecting him to reveal a hidden agenda at some point but he seems to be a straight up good guy and is accepted as such by WW. Weird.

If he is made of stone, why does he have a bandage on his nose?

[fanboiii]

Who are now evil murderers. Thanks, but no thanks.

Thank you Azzarello! Gone are the corny immortal Sapphos.