A punny thing happened on the way to the wedding. Actually, several punny things, and I’m getting very tired of Brian Azzarello’s penchant for wordplay. All too often the point of scenes in his Wonder Woman run seems to be to get a pun into play, yet rarely does said pun move the story forward.
For example, this issue opens with weirdo goddess Strife visiting her Uncle AresΒ at a Damascus cafeΒ to ask if he’ll be her date at the wedding of Hades and Wonder Woman. It’ll be a blast, she laughs, as a suicide bomber blows everyone to smithereens.
Ho Ho.
That’s two pages wasted, unless you enjoy viscera flying at you. Look, we get it, the gods must be crazy. We’re nine issues into this run of Wonder Woman and know Hermes isn’t the only mercurial Olympian, they’re all a sandwich short of a picnic. Even more gods show up this time, as the royal family members discuss whether or not to attend the nuptials. Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and apparently too zoftig to be properly shown on panel, isn’t going because there’s no room in hell for Love. Hubby Hephaestus is accepting his invite, and taking demi-god Lennox as his Plus One. Eros is going too, while Hermes stays on Earth to protect the human Zola, who’s carrying Zeus’s child.Β Persephone, self-harming first wife of Hades, has no choice but to be there.
Hades himself is chatting to his father, Chronos, whom he’s using as a throne. The guy’s starving,Β but Hades offers nothing from the feast before them. He does give niece Strife a drinkΒ – the bloody tears of ChronosΒ – when she shows up to make a suggestion to which we’re not privy.
And Diana? Who? Oh yes, Wonder Woman, the bride herself, having accepted Hades’ proposal as a means to free Zola from his clutches. She’s in here too. Barely. Seven pages out of 20 feature the book’s title character and while there’s a hint of defiance on her face, she does bugger all, content to let gorgons dress her in freaky finery. The book ends with Hades playing a new mindgame with her, presumably suggested by Strife. He demands Diana prove her love to him, though why he entertains the notion she might actually want him, rather than be plotting an escape route, I have no idea.
I have even less idea why I’m buying this book, given that more often than not it disappoints, frustrates and annoys me. I’ve never not read Wonder Woman, I’m a sorry get … but more than that, I’m an optimist, always expecting the next issue to be more true to classic Wonder Woman. But in purchasing, I’m telling DC to extend this approach to theirΒ most marketable female. To continue to let Brian Azzarello churn out an Olympian soap opera in which, more often than not, Diana is a bit player. Some might say she’s central to the book, as the prize desired by some gods, and the annoyance of others, but really, she’s just a McGuffin – the excuse for the Olympians to parade their peculiarities.
The best moment this issue comes as Zola yells at her protector gods to get off their mythological bottoms and do something to help Diana. The worst is, well, this (click on image to enlarge):
Does Azzarello actually think this puerile stuff is clever?
The art by penciller Tony Akins, inker Dan Green and colourist Matthew Wilson isn’t bad. Their gods are impressive, standouts being Stryfe and Chronos, while their Diana, well, it’s not like they’re called on to draw her much. She’s fine – out of costume, so don’t expect the enticing scene on Cliff Chiang’s cover to show up – but recognisable. Mind, poor Zola looks a fright, like a lunatic ten-year-old boy … which is especially unfortunate in the scene which has Aphrodite calling her beautiful. She must mean internally.
If you’re good enough to leave a comment on this review, feel free to add: ‘Drop the book, loser’. And maybe suggest something I should be reading. Because until Wonder Woman gets her comic back, I should get my coat and go
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Too true – that there was anything wrong with them is the last thing I'd wish to imply. Shelly Mayer was one of comics' greats!
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I dropped at issue #3 after 40 years of reading the title. It just got too painful -too even read message boards or be in FB groups after issue #7 so your reviews are the only connection to the character I have anymore. π¦
So many folks seem to think that one day Azz will change his tactics or another writer will reboot into the old school WW, and that we can't-beleive-I-dropped-WW-after-decades folks will be happy again. I don't think that's ever going to happen. At least not for a generation or so, IF and only if, the pop culture mainstreams takes a big shift. I think this WW is the new starting point from DC editorial POV and any reboots for the next 20 years will be towards more edgy, dark and twisted. It just makes more marketing sense -given they thought this would be mainstream.
I can only pray they do a Jonny DC version of WW. I am so, so, so tired of the constant, repeated break-her-down-to-build-her-up storylines that either a) never really build her up or b) build her up for half an issue just to reboot to start breaking her down again the next one…
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Aw heck Anthony, I hope you're wrong. An even darker Diana? I couldn't bear it. I'll end up in that support group with Etta Candy.
A DC kids version would be at least some solace.
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I must be peculiar because I am enjoying this odd soap opera. At some point it will get old, I am sure, but for now, I am really enjoying it. I am saddenned that again modern comics artists seem so incapable of maintaining a schedule that Cliff Chiang is once again missing. Sit at your desk and get it done, geez!
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I think we're all of us peculiar here, Hector – be proud!
Cliff Chiang draws at the pace he draws – I don't mind that he's not here every month, as such a commitment was never announced. Having said that, I do prefer a consistent artist/team.
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On the plus side, I picked up Supergirl #8 strictly because of Perez and was surprised by how much I liked it… picked up #9 and enjoyed it despite the lack of Perez. So I guess Supergirl is going to replace Wonder Woman on my buy list for now…
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Well that's something, anyway!
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I love this book and I love Brian Azzarello's word play.
This is definitely a different kind of take on Wonder Woman, but I was never a fan of any of the rest of them, save William Messner-Loebs' early 1990's–and this is way different from that as well!
I'm not going to tell you to stop reading this title, but that could be because I'm loving it so much.
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And quite right too, Jeff. Support the books you enjoy. There's plenty of other stuff I'm liking, so I wouldn't wish to tear this from anyone's hands …
Honest!
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I don't doubt your sincerity, Martin. I honestly just find Azzarello's pacing and wordplay and complexity to be a refreshing change of pace from the status quo of comics. It's like a mix of the Vertigo and the mainline DCU. I find his updated used of the gods to be very intriguing, and I love the way he is showing Wonder Woman to be a very strong character (I get the feeling she's playing Mr. Candleface here in a way that we will really enjoy in a month or so…). I love everything about this book.
While I'm sorry you don't feel the same way, I hope that ten years down the line, your black spot on Wonder Woman's history is my personal Golden Age of WW–back when I used to read and enjoy her title.
Cheers!
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I love wordplay, really I do – heck, as a sub-editor, half my day is spent coming up with punny headlines … and many of them are rightly stomped on by colleagues as too contrived. Azz needs such colleagues.
And again, seriously, I don't begrudge you this run. But I do whine …
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hm, I've actually been enjoying the comic.
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Nowt wrong with that! π
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While I'm enjoying it, I'm also ready for a conclusion of some sort. To any particular story point. Between the fact that this title seems to have no connection to the rest of the DCU and the lengthy storyline, this almost feels like another year of JMS in a pocket universe.
Part of what contributes to this is that there's no sense of place for Diana. Sure, she woke up in a flat in London in the first issue, but have we seen a domicile that was hers since? Has she ever found her place in the world after leaving paradise? We know she changes clothes, but this Diana is essentially nomadic, traveling with gods and wandering realms, and it's almost as if she's only slept once (in Hephaestus' workshop) since the first issue.
I'm enjoying the story (and yes, I think some things will turn out to be untrue or surely reversed, like the man-slaughtering amazons), but it also doesn't feel like anything that will be sustainable beyond Azz & Chiang or in the DCU in general. In the end, the gods won't be her friends or constant traveling companions, and her home won't be on Olympus or in Hades or with Hephaestus. Azz isn't world building for a grounded iconic superhero; for Diana, all of that is happening (barely, and unfortunately) in JLA. Who will be a supporting character when this run is over? Who will be a villain that Diana takes on again?
Azz is spinning a fantasy journey for a mythic hero, but the flavor of this is almost like two years of powerless Diana Prince – something DC tried for awhile and will later be seen as “Vertigo Wonder Woman.”
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Oh, and Mart, if you're looking to temporarily replace Wondy in your pull list, you should absolutely get Saga. It's awesome.
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Hi Frank, I so agree that the lack of a private life to anchor Diana's adventures is a weakness. It's part of a trend, I suppose, but I want Diana to have a life beyond fighting monsters and gods. I want to see her everyday adventures.
I really hope you're right that revelations will be proven false, because this Wonder Woman, and her world, isn't one I wish to follow.
And I reviewed Saga #1, I liked it very much!
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