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's Interview with Publisher Dan Didio

CBR has just released an interview with DC Publisher Dan Didio. The interview was conducted at Fan Expo Toronto in August, shortly before DC's relaunch officially began (with Justice League #1). Dan had this to say about Wonder Woman:

Shifting topics a bit, let's discuss Wonder Woman. There's a sense from fans that DC hasn't been happy with her in a long time. In recent years, she's received a lot of makeovers, shall we say, especially considering the past year with both the infamous pants re-design and the [14]-issue run by J. Michael Straczynski and Phil Hester.

Again, if you look at the history of the character, she has constantly changed. She has gone from the early '40s version, there was a definite interpretation during the '60s and they tried to stretch her out in almost the same way they did Superman, with Wonder Tot and Wonder Girl. They tried to rebuild the franchise in that fashion. Then, you get into the late '60s and she takes on, as we call it, the "Emma Peel" look, where she loses the powers and puts on the jump suit. You get past that, and what's Wonder Woman in the '70s? Well, then she gets her powers back, and she goes to the Goddess thing, but then she goes to World War II, and she comes back from World War II. Then we have a couple more changes along the way. We get a little more stability when George Perez comes in in the '80s, and that seems to hold for a while, but even then, we have the changes that take place with Artemis, and she's working [at] Taco Bell or wherever else she's working at that time, so you have a lot of changes there too. Then we roll through the '90s and we get into 2000. Now, we have much more of a warrior woman and a social diplomat. We've had Hippolyta alive, we've had Hippolyta dead, we've had Paradise Island there -- it's one of those things that's constant evolving.

There are a lot of key things that we wanted to address in the [New 52 Wonder Woman] concept. The good part about the relaunch is that Brian Azzarello is addressing a lot of things at the core. There are people in her life, but she's never had that strong rogues gallery as existed with other heroes, and she's never really had that strong supporting cast. You had Steve Trevor, you had Etta Candy, you had a couple of the Amazons, but for a character who's had almost a 70-year history, that's not a real big well to draw from. We're trying to fill that well now.

So that was a big factor -- introducing new characters?

Oh yes, absolutely. Without getting into too much detail, you're going to be finding and meeting Wonder Woman's family.

Having seen the cover of issue #3, people have been suggesting online that perhaps the reveal that will be pissing Hera off is that Diana is Zeus' illegitimate daughter.

[Laughs] Well, if anybody knows, it's -- well, let's put it this way: there are a lot of twists and turns in the future of "Wonder Woman."

I wanted to ask how you felt about the "Odyssey" storyline from this past year, beginning with the fact that DC renumbered Wonder Woman to issue 600...

Yeah.

Fans were excited...

Yup!

Then it went straight out the window...

Yup!

And people's first reactions were to be, frankly, pissed.

I was disappointed with how it went, but I was encouraged by how much effort was put into trying to keep it on track as much as possible. [The] problem was that Joe Straczynski was over-committed. Joe tried to work with us, and he made his plots and his storylines available to us to keep it going. But it's always difficult to implement other people's visions, because he had a very distinct vision for what he had planned for Wonder Woman. I think Phil [Hester] did a wonderful job taking what he had and trying to make it his own. We had a lot of things that were just working against us. For everybody that was involved in that project, from Joe and Phil through all the artists that were involved, everybody gave it their full effort. Some things work, some things don't work, but our main goal is looking forward right now and concentrating on how to make sure everything's as strong as it can be.

That's all to be said about Wonder Woman, but you can read the full interview over at CBR!

The post from CBR also shows off this piece of Wonder Woman art from Cliff Chiang:

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!

DC's motion comic New 52 Trailer.

I just realized this today. On DC's main page, they have a motion comics style trailer for the New 52. Included in the video is motion comic versions of the Wonder Woman promo art we've seen previously. However, it also featured one shot of Wonder Woman I hadn't seen before:

(This image is a screen cap directly from the video).

I really like this image. I can't wait for the full issue!

The trailer for the New 52 can be seen on DC's main page.

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.

WW Comic Reviews: Week of Augst 03rd, 2011

Only one new Wonder Woman related comic this week.

Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The 1980's
Written by Roy Thomas
Art by Rich Buckler, Tim Smith III and Carlos Rodriguez (pencils), Joe Rubinstein, Jack Purcell, Norman Lee, and Carlos Rodriguez (pencils), Kevin Colden (colors), Travis Lanham (letters), Rich Buckler, and Kevin Colden (cover)
Double, Double...
Released August 03, 2011
DC Comics
Rating: 3.8 out of 5

I'm not very familiar with Roy Thomas' work on Wonder Woman in the 1980s. In fact, when I heard that the Retroactive - 1980s issue of Wonder Woman was not George Perez, I was a little hesitant. As it turns out, there was no reason to be.

A young girl is almost run over by a limo running a red light, but is saved by Wonder Woman. Or is it? The woman is especially violent and angry, and can *fly* (something Wonder Woman had never been able to do at that point). Diana Prince arrives at work at the Pentagon in time to see a news report that Wonder Woman was spotted moments ago hoisting a car above her head. Surprised that her alternate identity could be doing anything without her, Diana changes into Wonder Woman and searches for the culprit. Turns out Doctor Psycho and the Silver Swan are up to no good!

Perhaps because I have less knowledge of this era of Wonder Woman than I do of the 1970s era, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I enjoyed Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The 1970s. The story was interesting and fun to read. The dialogue felt very much like the characters. The writing certainly reflected the 80s era. I did find the ending a little...shall we say, odd. It seems like Wonder Woman is uncharacteristically nonchalant about death. Perhaps that was how she was in the 80s? I guess we'll see when I get that far into my reading. The important part is, unlike the Retroactive 1970s issue, this story is complete and actually has a conclusion!

The art...well, there were three different artists for this one issue. As such, the art tends to fluctuate. Rich Buckler's pages were very detailed and action-packed. Though there were a couple of shots of Wonder Woman that bordered on terrible, the story manages to explain it. There were some panels that I absolutely loved. Buckler's art was certainly the highlight of the issue (pages 1-14). Tim Smith III's art (pages 15, 19-26) were a bit sillier. Though pretty, they tended to take a more anime inspired approach. At times, that can be a good thing. Here, it just falls incredibly short and took me a bit out of the experience. Carlos Rodriguez's (pages 16-18) art really should have been used for the entire climax of the book, rather than just three pages. These three pages are some of the best looking in the book, and the action scenes really shine.

My comic shop owner kind of implied that he did not expect me to enjoy this issue, so I was a little surprised to find out I did. The issue was very enjoyable and certainly made me want to read more of the 1980s pre-Crisis Wonder Woman. The inclusion of a reprint of Roy Thomas' first issue of Wonder Woman (1982's issue 288 - "Swan Song," featuring the origins of the first Silver Swan) was also an enjoyable read. It's really a shame that DC doesn't make it a point to have more Wonder Woman stories from pre-Crisis released in trade format.


That's all for Wonder Woman solo books this week. We'll see if Flashpoint #4 warrants a post as soon as I have the chance to read it!

WW Comic Reviews: Week of July 27th, 2011

Wonder Woman #613
Written by J. Michael Straczynski and Phil Hester
Art by Don Kramer and Travis Moore (pencils), Wayne Faucher, Walden Wong, and Drew Geraci (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors), Travis Lanham (letters), Lee Garbett, Dave Meikis, and Paul Mounts (cover)
The Odyssey, Part Thirteen: Nemesis
Released July 27, 2011
DC Comics
Rating: 3 out of 5

In this issue, we finally discover how this "new" Wonder Woman has come into existence and why some people seem to remember the original Wonder Woman. Nemesis (the Goddess of Revenge) wanted to destroy the world's greatest warriors. She would have destroyed Wonder Woman, if only a portion of Diana's soul had not been recast in a new life, in a new history in Man's World. This was meant to leave Diana alone amongst the mortals, which would (in theory) turn her bitter and angry. It accomplished the opposite, and made her feel at home with the humans (a feeling that has long since eluded Diana, who never felt in the place in Man's World). If there is one thing that I hope writers hold on to after this story arc is over (other than the pants), it's this Diana's closeness with the mortal world. Making her feel a part of "Man's World" will go a long way to fixing some of the major problems that turn people away from Wonder Woman.

The penultimate issue of J. Michael Straczynski's The Odyssey story-arc was certainly action packed, featuring Wonder Woman against, well, Wonder Woman. The writing for this story arc has gotten better as it has gone along, and this issue was no exception (which I feel is more a credit to Phil Hester becoming comfortable with the character than anything else). The explanations of what had happened were clear enough that I wasn't left completely confused (though I don't feel that everything has been completely explained) and the action didn't feel drawn out or dull. The artwork for the battle scenes was pretty great. The area where the fight took place was dark, haunting and everything it should have been. The flashback scenes were not as great. I felt that there was too much focus on Wonder Woman's ass in the flashback scenes. It was so often and so prominent that it frequently took me out of the experience of the story.

Overall, this was an interesting chapter in Diana's life. I am looking forward to re-reading this entire story arc once it is complete.

Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The 1970's
Written by Dennis O'Neil
Art by J. Bone (interior and cover pencils and inks), Kevin Colden and Matthew Petz (colors), Dezi Sienty (letters), Carrie Strachan (cover colors)
Savage Ritual
Released July 20th, 2011
DC Comics
Rating: 3 out of 5

As a huge fan of the Diana Prince: Wonder Woman era of Wonder Woman comics, I had been anxiously awaiting this issue since it was announced at WonderCon '11. For the most part, I feel like I am still waiting.

Wonder Woman comes to Paradise Island, only to find it sinking beneath the sea. She swims down to find out what happened and discovers an alien looking craft, beckoning her to enter. Inside, she discovers an object that claims to be The Voice of the Most High. Wonder Woman has sinned, gravely, by making herself less than she is (presumably by renouncing her powers during the Diana Prince: Wonder Woman years). She must redeem herself by completing three ordeals, lest Paradise Island be destroyed.

The writing is certainly evocative of the era it is styled after. It's comedic and quick, yet very little is explained. Most of the adventure seems relatively arbitrary, and there is very little resolution to the story (much like the original Diana Prince: Wonder Woman run). I can understand why J. Bone was chosen for this issue. His style is a more modernized version of the art used in the 70s. Though, I did feel at times that it would have been more suited to a children's line of comics, rather than this story. The issue was enjoyable if you can get past the rushed feeling of the ending and the fact that very little is explained.

This issue also reprints one of my favorite issues of Wonder Woman, volume 01 issue 201, The Fist of Flame. Diana and I-Ching are ambushed and are required to go to Tibet to seek out The Fist of Flame. There, Diana comes face to face with a master thief, The Catwoman! Written by Denny O'Neil with art by Dick Giordano and originally published in July 1972, this story is one of the highlights of the Diana Prince: Wonder Woman era.


To see my reviews of non-Wonder Woman comics for this week, check out my Comic Blog!

Preview Art from Wonder Woman (vol. 04) Issue 01!

A couple of preview pages for the first issue of the New 52 Wonder Woman have started making the rounds. Check them out.

I know a lot of people were worried about artist Cliff Chiang. But, I liked his work. And these preview pages reassure me that the art on the new-new-new-Wonder Woman will be fantastic.