Mythology: Wonder Woman (v4) Issue 01

One of my favorite aspects of the Wonder Woman series has always been her link to Greek mythology. The first issue of volume four of Wonder Woman (the new 52) is resplendent with mythological aspects. Let's examine some of them, shall we?

I do not claim to be an expert on Greek mythology, but I've always been fascinated. This is giving me a chance to research and learn more about the aspects of the mythology that effect Wonder Woman.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS

The first mythological aspect that we see is Apollo himself. Though it is never explicitly stated in the issue that he is Apollo, the dialogue in this image ("I'm the Sun of a King"), heavily implies it, with Sun being a play on words (Apollo is the son of Zeus and the Sun God). [Note: There was a character design image released by DC Comics that clearly states that this is Apollo.]

Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. His twin sister is Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt. "Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, medicine, healing, plague, music, poetry, arts, archery, and more." [Wikipedia]

This is a very interesting interpretation of Apollo. He starts out with dark skin and hair, almost like molten rock. As the sun starts to rise throughout the issue, he gets brighter until this:

Next we see someone (seemingly female) cloaked in peacock feathers. We never get a look at this person beyond an arm, a leg, and a silhouette. The peacock has long been associated with Hera, queen of the Gods [*]. She is frequently shown as being very jealous of her husband Zeus' many lovers. If she knows that Zola is pregnant with Zeus' child (as revealed at the end of issue 01), it makes sense that Hera (or perhaps an agent of Hera) would attempt to kill Zola.

Next we see Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. In George Perez's reboot of Wonder Woman in 1987, Hermes is the God who gifted Diana with speed and flight. Here we see him with winged bird feet and a helmet similar to the one he wore during George Perez's run [**]. No caduceus in sight.

Centaurs! Body of a horse with the torso and head of a human. There are two different origins for centaurs, both of which have connections to happenings in this issue. In one, centaurs were born of Ixion (son of Ares) and Nephele (a cloud nymph in the form of Hera [***]). In the other, all centaurs are descended from Centaurus. Centaurus is either the child of Ixion and Nephele, or the child of Apollo with Stilbe (a water nymph and daughter of River God Peneus). Whether connected through Apollo or Hera (or even not at all), centaurs play a heavy role in Greek mythology. It makes sense that Wonder Woman would come across them.

Finally, we have these three. Though these three start out as regular human women, they seem to be Oracles of some kind. It is possible they were nothing more than regular oracles (perhaps even imbued with the power of Apollo). However, the fact that there are three of them and they speak in turn could be a reference to the Moirae, the spinners of fate. The women could have been channeling the Moirae. It is unclear exactly who they were and why they could foretell the future.


That's all for this issue! Come back next month when we examine mythological aspects of issue two!

[*] The story of Hera's association with the peacocks revolves around Zeus' affair with Io.

[**] George Perez's Hermes can be seen here. This image was from Wonder Woman (v2) issue 07.

[***] Nephele was made by Zeus in the image of Hera to test Ixion's integrity. Ixion has shown lust for Hera. He failed Zeus' test and mated with Nephele (whom he believed to be Hera). And thus, the centaurs were born.

Wonder Woman Reviews: September 21, 2011

It's finally here! The premiere issue of volume 04 of Wonder Woman was released today.

SPOILER WARNING: This review contains spoilers!

Wonder Woman #01
Written by: Brian Azzarello
Art by: Cliff Chiang (interior art and cover), Matthew Wilson (colors), Jared K. Fletcher (letters)
Story Title: The Visitation
Release Date: September 21, 2011
DC Comics
Ratings: 4.5 out of 5

Dusk, on the rooftop terrace of a skyscraper in Singapore, Apollo and three young human women are talking. In Virginia, a humanoid (presumably female) draped in a cloak of peacock feathers in a horse stable takes a scythe and uses it to cut the heads off of two horse. Where their heads were arms and a head start to grow. In a nearby house, we see a young woman pointing a shotgun at a bird-footed, blue skinned humanoid. He is trying to protect her, but the young woman, Zola, doesn't believe him. The horses have turned into centaurs and are attacking Zola's home. The man takes an arrow for her and gives her a key. The key teleports her to London and the bedroom of Diana, the Wonder Woman. While Diana and Zola teleport back to Zola's house to face the centaurs, Apollo is being told his fortune by the three women (who have become Oracles). The man from earlier is revealed to be Hermes, and he beckons Diana to take Zola and run "to the ends of the Earth. Protect her, or the Queen will see her dead." Hermes reveals that Zola is pregnant with Zeus' child. The prophecy of the Oracles reveals that one of Zeus' children will murder another and take their place.

I'm very impressed with this issue. A lot of the DC New 52 stuff really suffered from premiere-itis. The stories fell a little short when weighed down with introducing a new origin, or they were confusing as to when they took place in relation to other appearances of the same character (I'm looking at you Superman). Wonder Woman did not have that problem. The world knows who Wonder Woman is (at the very least, Zola instantly recognized her). The Gods of Olympus are active and alive. There were no lingering continuity or origin related questions from this issue.

Brian Azzarello did a fantastic job of setting up the future of this new series without sacrificing telling a good story in this issue. That can be a very tough task for writers, but not Azzarello. Cliff Chiang's art really shines here, with the help of very crisp and beautiful colors by Matthew Wilson. Everything really comes together to create what I feel is the strongest premiere issue of a run of Wonder Woman in a very long time. I can't wait to read this book every month, and I hope Brian Azzarello sticks around for many years to tell some great stories.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to long-time Wonder Woman fans and new readers alike.

CBR Interview with Azzarello and Chiang

Comic Book Resources has an interview with both writer Brian Azzarello and artist Cliff Chiang about their upcoming run on Wonder Woman.

Check out these highlights:

What drew you specifically to "Wonder Woman" as opposed to the other DC characters?

Azzarello: What drove me to Wonder Woman? Because I had a good story I could tell about her -- that's what drives me to any character. I don't get wrapped up in characters unless I have something to say about them. Cliff and I came up with this mythology and I said, "All right, let's do it, let's see if we can pull this off!" I'm not writing this just because it's Wonder Woman. Here's the take on this, looking at this character a little bit differently, and I feel it's going to resonate with fans.

I really like hearing this from writers. Not "I was assigned this job." Rather "I had a story to tell." You can definitely tell the writers who are assigned books and just run with it versus writers who truly want to tell stories starting a certain character.

Chiang: I mean the tricky thing with Wonder Woman is that she's so iconic. If you ask five different people about Wonder Woman you are going to get five different versions of it, and one is a warrior who kicks ass, and one is going to be this compassionate person who prefers negotiating before fighting, etc. Trying to make everybody happy just dilutes the character, so we just have to pick a direction and go with it. As long as we're coming from a really sincere place with our story and the things we want to do with her the fans will love it and I think they'll come along for the ride.

This is one thing that has been more obvious to me with Wonder Woman fans over other fandoms. It seems like, for the most part, Wonder Woman fans want her to be this or that. Exactly what they think is best for the character. Exactly the version of the character they liked most. Never growing. Never evolving. That is what makes characters stale and boring. I love Wonder Woman. And there are certainly stories starring her and versions of her that I prefer over others. But Wonder Woman is a character that I love. So no matter what different version is shown, or what changes people make, I'll read the stories. The important thing is that the stories are great and that she evolves as a character and a person.

Brian, a lot of the work you've done before has been realistic with a violent and gritty tone to it. Is that something you're still keeping with this "Wonder Woman?" Are you making her a little grittier and horror-inspired than before?

Azzarello: Not with her. Definitely the world around her and the Gods, I'm definitely bringing that take to the pantheon. And it's been a blast getting rid of those damn togas!

People have touched on this in the past, but I'm glad to see Azzarello playing with the Gods' dark side. He seems to be going away from the Diana's Friendly Protectors Who Occasionally Ruin Her Life version and more towards Angry Gods. I'm fascinated.

Chiang: ...it's a challenge and a honor to be handling a character like Wonder Woman and being responsible for really polishing up this image and making her a character that will really resonate with people. I feel there are times her costume is better known than the character herself.

This quote from Cliff Chiang was the highlight of the interview for me. I love when people consider it an honor to work on Wonder Woman. Those are the people that tend to do some of my favorite work.


Read the entire interview at Comic Book Resources. It's a pretty great interview, and there are no spoilers!

Coventry Telegraph interview with Brian Azzarello

Coventry Telegraph's geek blog The Geek Files as an interview with Brian Azzarello about Wonder Woman and other upcoming projects.

Some excerpts:

"You just touched on something as far as the Trinity goes; there's no such thing as the trinity. That's invented you know. There's Superman and there's Batman and there's everybody else," he says.

But that's not the way he intends to leave it: "So what I want to do, I want to create that damn trinity. I want it to mean something."

It seems like this question always comes up to anyone who has written Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The Trinity. How do you feel about the Trinity? And the answer always seems to be the same. "What Trinity? It's Superman and Batman, and then the rest of the DC Universe." It's good to see that he's interested in bringing her to the forefront (though, at this point, that is a generic platitude of anyone who writes Wonder Woman). But...

He then adds, with a little reassurance and a laugh: "People need to relax, she's not wearing pants. But it's not going to be a superhero book. I can guarantee you that, it's not a superhero book. It's a horror book."

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. It'll be nice to see a different take on Wonder Woman's adventures, I suppose. But a horror book? I guess we'll see how it goes.

I know Brian Azzarello is a talented writer. But I've also heard (extensively) that his superhero books are severely lacking. Having never read any of them, I picked up Superman: For Tomorrow and Batman: Broken City. I have faith that Broken City will be good, since Azzarello is well known for gritty detective stories. But we'll have to see how Superman turns out.

You can read the entire interview on The Geek Files.