I know it hasn't come out yet, but, judging by how much a number of the posters here like Allan's work on Young Avengers, I figured it'd only be a matter of time before we needed a thread.

Anyway, I know we've still got a bit of a wait for this OYL series, but the released a variant cover for #1 at newsarama today by one of the Kuberts, so I figured I'd share.

Click here for preview

I'm not really fangirling over the art but that's just me. I'm picky and mean that way.

Anyway, I am curious to see what the loss of Paradise Island and the Gods means for the "Wonder Family". Should be an interesting series. Especially if that is who I think it is on the cover...

Interesting. I noticed on another OYL cover that Cassie was sporting the classic WW Eagle on her costume. Looks like they're carrying that over to Diana as well. Donna's still in her current outfit, but it's nice to see her there at all.

So are they keeping E2 Diana around? It makes sense she needs to end up SOME place know that the gods have withdrawn their plane and Paradise Island for this world. That could be interesting. I like the idea of her mentoring "our" Diana.

After much griping about Heinberg, I have to admit I'll at least be checking this out.

I thought Diana-2 was gone. I think that's Hippolyta. Maybe Superboy Prime will bang reality one more time.

In words of one elongated syllable - awwww, come onnnnnn....

I'd rather Hippolyta if it had to be for real, but I expect it's E2-WW...

If they added a "Wonder Tot", I'd be sold.

YA's Heinberg...? I can't beLIEVE I'm gonna be buying a WW book again...!

Be-lieve me, I feel exactly the same way. My soul hurts. And yet... I feel oddly empowered as a woman. Though, I suppose that last one wouldn't work for you LASH. Then again...

RE: The other Wonder Woman-- Personally, I hope it's Hyppolita. Of course, with the Island gone, dunno why she'd "come back" on this plane but... whatever. We'll know soon enough, I suppose. I think the new series is solicited for this month.

I want HIPPO too!

her death during OWaW *enraged* me!

I suppose it would make too much sense to combine Earth-2 Wondy and Hippolyta into a single character?

I that cover! As EDE says - all it needs is Wonder Tot and it would be perfect!

Is it really by one of the Kuberts? Doesn't look much like how I'd alwyas pictured their art but then I've never read Marvel so I guess I really wouldn't know.

I really hope this new series is a huge success though. Wondy has never been my numero uno DC character but I've always thought she had great potential, and as DC's (and the world's) most recognisable super-heroine I think she deserves a lot better than she's gotten.

Personally, I think that cover's pretty bad - *especially* for a #1 cover! Looks like bad '90's Marvel art to me...

I'm not keen on that cover. It looks a little... distorted to me. However at least (assuming it is a real indication of who to expect in the book) it seems to confirm that Diana isn't going to die in IC and have the role taken by Donna. As for the second WW... I'm thinking it's Polly as well. It looks more like her costume than E2 WW's, but I could be wrong. Also E2 WW generally seems to be drawn to look older than Polly does and she doesn't look that old on this cover.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is no second WW at all and that's some kind of cover thing (the new Wonder Woman explodes out of the old continuity! type thing). Either way, its probably Polly, and not the E2 Diana, although like EDE says, they'll probably combine it into one coherent history.

I'll def be buying this though! Lets hope Heinberg can keep his schedule, b/c I am DEFINATELY not one of those fans that feels a series should wait for its writer and artist.

Pick out the word that doesn't belong above...

The answer is "probably", of course.

*ngh-ngh*

That means you get our forfeit: Sing the Anvil Song!!!

Of course, if I were writing Wonder Woman, I'd straighten it all out with my epic opening arc featuring a time-travelling Egg-Fu and Genro the Genie.

Q: E-2 Wonder Woman: Dead or just somewhere else?

DD: E-2 Wonder Woman is gone for good.

see here (newsarama)

Interesting, at the end of Infinite Crisis #6...


<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">They prominently emphasize the shard of Wonder Woman during the JLA origin... could they be repairing that?</span></span>

I don't think they are doing any major revamps to WW's current status with DCU history.

Polly might be back among the living. Maybe sporting a nelly green cap.

as this week is the release of the 'Wonder Woman' relaunch by Allan Heinberg !!

do you guy's plan on buying it ?? and who do we think is currently WW !!??

in the descriptions, it mentions that WW is not who we think she is ??

also as a related link, i watched the first episode of season 2 of 'THE OC' written by Allan, in it SETH is talking with ZACK about comics, and he's asking him questions, one of them being what's WW's secret identity ??

which ZACK says, she doesn't have one, and SETH says, that she should have one !!

so who wants to bet that ALLAN, returns a secret identity to DIANA !!

does anyone else have any thoughts, on whats gonna be in the new series ???

Matthew.

I thinks they've said it'll be much more straight forward superhero action with less Greek myth than we've gotten in the past while. Making the Gods go away in Infinite Crisis is part of this.

I'll probably get the first issue to check it out.

I'm excited, yay! Stupid Rucka for making me like her. But yay! Heinberg!!! *dances*

ComicsContinuum has a new interview with Heinberg. He says that he's only scheduled to write five issues so far (and after getting a new job with "Grey's Anatomy", I think it's unlikely he'll get to do more). He also says:
"Keith Giffen's Five Years Later "Legion" is one of my favorite runs of all-time."

Drake, do you mean Comic Book Resources has an interview with Heinberg? Comics Continuum doesn't normally run interviews.

Why write five issues? It doesn't sound like much of a relaunch. I wonder if the Johns/Jiminez project is the main WW title.

Agreed. It's not even six months! I, for one, am quite disappointed.

However, if a Johns/Jiminez team were to take over after... Well, I may just recover yet.

Well, if Wonder Woman comes out bi-monthly like Young Avengers, then that's really almost a year's worth of stories

Oops, yes - that's what I meant....

I read the first issue today. I must say it was pretty good. This is definitely more like it. I am sooo glad they are downplaying the gods - at least in this issue. Storylines with the gods really never made a bit of sense to me.

For what it is worth - I'm liking it so far.

It was totally different from what I expected and it was great. I thought it was really a great first issue. Action started immediately, never let up but you got some great characterization and a surprise and two too.

Go get it kids! This is a great new Wonder Woman!

Wow!! Yay!! At first, I was freaked out because Tamper Lad is evil ( ) but, ohmigod, so much !!

Anyway, a few questions...
<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">-- Who is Nemesis? New character or..?
-- If that Sarge guy knows Wonder Woman is Diana, wouldn't he suspect "Diana Prince" is her?
-- Am I the only one who finds Donna Troy a lot less annoying all of a sudden? </span></span>

Like it way a lot. Like, whoa. And, yeah, muuuuch love.

Hey Cali...

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> - Nemesis is an old character that I first remember from Sucide Squad. He was the master of faces and was a super spy. He was supposed to be dead, but later showed up working for the DEO.

- i'm think that Sarge Steel knows, that would also explain why he isn't part of Checkmate.

- Donna is awesome in the issue </span></span>

Thanks Vu!!

I put WW on my pull list to try it out, but my only concern is that Heinberg is only committed to the first 5 issues. What if I love this series, and then he leaves after a couple of issues and someone I don't like takes over?

The humanity!

I have to say, I loved it. I really don't see the change sticking...especially with Heinberg only doing five issues. But it has lots of potential.

What amazed me is my nine year old daughter wanted to read it and was able to grasp 35+ years of convoluted history in one go.....

She liked it too, BTW.

Jamie

For Cali and Vu -

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Nemesis (Tom Tresser) was a character created by Cary Burkett for the second feature in BRAVE AND THE BOLD #167 (OCT 1980). He appeared in his own back-up for several issues before he was killed in BRAVE AND THE BOLD #193 (DEC 1982).

Later, John Ostrander used him in SUICIDE SQUAD and revealed that he faked his death. He has appeared on and off for years, until Devin Grayson killed him off again in CATWOMAN #62 (October 1998). But, I think he's appeared elsewhere alive and well. And now he's here in WONDER WOMAN #1. Unless it's a new guy.</span></span>

great first issue, loved the artwork !!

it was interesting to see DONNA in the main role, and i loved the inclusion of what looks like a new supporting cast !! [ especially NEMESIS ]

looking forward to what comes next ......

Matthew.

I'm going to wait for the trade. You know it's coming, and by then, we'll learn about WW's future past issue 5. Plus, I'll have a groovy story to put on my bookshelf.

After reading the first ish the first thing I thought was that this is going to be a multipart story just to find out what's going on and what the premise of the series is going to be. I don't think I care right now.

Interesting that Steve Trevor makes an "appearance" -- As a #1 issue, I'm sure a lot of people recognize the name, but as a newbie I want to know what place Steve Trevor really has in current contiuity.

Ultimately this felt like another chapter in an event rather than the first issue of a new era. I'll look to see if #2 interests me, but I have a feeling we'll be dragged along for awhile before we find out what really happened.

WONDER WOMAN #1

Book of the week, for me. Easily.

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Donna Troy as Wonder Woman? How'd she get here from Harbinger on New Chronus? Maybe 52 references the number of identities for this much misused heroine to adopt. I mostly enjoyed her in her new role, though she does seem to be much less competent that I would've thought. Guess she got rusty on that crescent moon, huh?

I liked the new look for Cheetah- though her choice in cats seems odd. They don't look much cheetahs. Dr. Psycho? How'd he get out of jail? Guess Kate in MANHUNTER (you ought to give *that* series a try!) is an even better defense lawyer than a prosecutor! I would've liked to see more pervy joy in him impersonating Diana, though. This little scumbucket would've really got off on that little act. It's great to see Giganta... though her new uniform makes her look like the love-child of Yellowjacket and a Giant Wasp.

It's a good villain grouping for a first WW issue. I can't imagine that the two villainesses would tolerate a long partnership with woman-hating Dr. Psycho, though.

Cool fake-out with Steve Trevor/Nemesis. I hope he's a member of the supporting cast for a long time. I always liked Tom Tressor and his disguise motif. He's a good match for superspy, Diana Prince(!) Or will he be Donna Troy's 'problem'?

Now Diana was a surprise! The last time we saw Diana in all-white, she had a memory problem. Both appearances reference a period in Wondy's career that many fans apparently love. I have to confess that I think I've only read one of the 'I Ching' issues, so I don't have a huge sentimental spark for the all-whites. I wonder if there's any connection to CHECKMATE?

Though I miss the gods and Themyscira immensely, this is an exciting start to the new series.

Diana Prince working as a government agent reminds me of the old TV show more than anything else (when's the little robot sidekick going to show up?)

I love Donna Troy but at this point I have to agree with some that she just confuses the heck out of things!!! With that said great issue. I have to admit if it wasn't for the last page I would be a bit worried.

So Donna is Wonder Woman now? Is this a temporary thing until Diana comes back, or is this supposedly permanent? And is she impersonating Diana, or do people realize that this is a new Wonder Woman?

If this is permanent, I wish they would have gone with a new costume to kind of give Donna her own "identity". It was different with the Flash, since his identity was a secret anyways. But this would be like Catherine Zeta-Jones becoming the new Angelina Jolie and moving in with Brad and Suri. Sure, they look somewhat similar, but she's obviously not Angelina so why would she be wearing her life?

I don't know about the new WW (I haven't checked it out yet) but now I'm having visions of Catherine Zeta-Jones living with Angelina Jolie.

Actually, it isn't that bad of a vision. Thanks Cru!

Well, thanks a lot Scott. Now I'll never get that mental picture out of my head. (Though I'm not sure I want to...)

Oh Lord, no robots. Please. I barely remember the tv series, but to me this issue had a similar feel to it and I'm hooked. I'm really loving the return of Diana Prince. Nemisis has me intrigued, too. I hope he sticks around.

Sorry gang, I don't know how to post a link. But LITG and the Pulse both mention the WW writer after Heinberg- Jodi Picoult! She's a novelist, having recently written a novel set in the comic industry. She's on for at least five issues.

I just read the first issue, and I did enjoy it, although I agree that Donna did come across as being a little green in the superhero department. She shouldn't have been captured quite that easily in my opinion. Maybe that armor was a little too heavy for her

I did like how they referenced her as being Wonder Girl, and then as being Donna Troy. No mention of her other confusing identities. Kept things clean and moving along. Maybe in the new DCU she never became Troia, Darkstar, Supergirl... oh, wait... that wasn't her

To be honest, I wouldn't mind terribly if Donna stayed Wonder Woman. I always liked her better than Diana, and it's just nice seeing her somewhere.

WW was known publicly as Princess Diana of Themyescera and their representative to the world in this reboot. Did she ever use the name Diana Prince? Is this Diana Prince the old WW?

Here are the links CJ mentioned:

The Pulse
Lying in the Gutters

According to the Justice League of America preview at Newsarama :

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">The Wonder Woman appearing in the new JLA is Diana. I wonder if that means that Donna is only a temp?</span></span>

Random Wonder Woman question:
Wonder Woman has been built up lately to be almost on par with Superman in terms of powers, so why does she have to use those bracelets to deflect bullets? (or does she not do that anymore in the comics?)

She doesn't use them because she *has* to, but because she *wants* to!

She may be nearly as strong as Superman and maybe as fast (not really sure about that), but she's not invulnerable.

Wouldn't it be great if after all the buzz of Heinberg/Picoult, Gail Simone came on board as the regular writer for WW?

Actually, she sort of does need the bracelets. She's super strong and fast and all that but isn't invunerable. How tough she is obviusly changes from writer to writer, but there was a story a while back (drawn by Byrne certainly, not sure about the writer) which is included in the JLA secret origins trade about her being trained when she was a girl. Basically the point of it was that while she could stop boulders and all that sort of stuff things like arrows or bullets have a much higher impact strength or something (I forget the scientific jargon) because all the power is focused on one small point. Because of that while she was unlikely to be hurt by something big hitting her a bullet could still potentially pierce her skin and do damage.

That's not very well explained on my part, but it does make sense in a comic book way. It's worth tracking down the story though to see what i've not explained clearly. The art is OK and the story is nice and clears up what is essentially a big flaws in her powers. The problem lies in the fact that she keeps having her powers amped up to put her on a level with Superman when there really isn't any need to do that. It's kind of like her being able to fly but also having an invisible plane.

I get that. I can walk to work, but I'd rather take the train. (although I don't know how fast she's supposed to be able to fly or how much it takes out of her etc...)

It probably doesn't hurt that, as a warrior, it is much more impressive to deflect bullets with her bracelets, rather than just stand there and have them bounce off her. After all, she did enter a competition to become Wonder Woman.

Yes, there is that too. The bracelets are symbolic for amazons, showing their enslavement to protect the door to hell underneath Themyscira which is why they all wear them. And as Cru says the final task of the tournament to pick their representative to the outside world was the Trial of Flashing Thunder (I think that's what they called it) where they had to deflect a bullet fired from Diana Trevor's gun. It's ages since I read the origin story, and who knows what's changed in curent continutity, but I think the only two to have ever actually passed that test were Diana and Artemis, although I'm fairly sure that Hippolyta was shown doing it as well when she was Wonder Woman. So it's as much a skill or style of defence as it is a super power. Plus on a purely aesthetic story-telling level it looks cool and is a neat little gimmick.

Bevis - that's post-Crisis. The Pérez stories, being heavily tied as they were to concurrant DCU events, won't fit with the post-Infinite Crisis "she founded the JLofA. She did she did she did!!!" thing without being very, very heavily rewritten.

Yeah, that's what I mean about who knows with regards to current continuity. I think they've said that polly was still Wondy during the war but they've also said that Diana was the first Wonder Womand and clearly those two things don't tie together. I doubt they'll have changed the reason for the Amazons wearing the bracelets since they don't have any reason too and it's one of the parts of the origin story that have been in place since the very early stories, but the whole Flashing Thunder thing and Artmeis being Wondy and all that stuff could well have gone out of the window.

Finally got to read issue #1 this weekend.

Wow! That's all I can say. The art is sumptuous. The story is fun, without being silly. So much of what is really important about WW's past is acknowledged deftly and respectfully, but everything moves along nicely. These villains have never looked better. Donna is awesome as Wonder Woman. Nemesis is intriguing, it's always great to see Sarge Steele, and Agent Diana Prince?!?!?! Mrs. Peel, eat your heart out. (Actually, all praise be to Diana Rigg and the creators of the Avengers. What a great inspiration to draw on for Wonder Woman.) Somehow, this book, as much as any of the OYL titles, feels rejuvenated and refreshed. I have NO PROBLEM with Heinberg taking his time -- bimonthly books are money savers, if you ask me!

I think MY first Wonder Woman comic ever was also Heinberg's -- issue 212, April/May 1974, where Wonder Woman was set back on track after a variety of different adventures. Loved the cover, with the JLA pleading for Diana to return, but the story didn't thrill me as much as it did Heinberg, apparently. Still, Heinberg's first issue of Wonder Woman is a perfect tribute to that past AND a wondrous launch into the future. Hurray!

has this title been confirmed as being bi-monthly ?? or is so, just because of gap between 1 and 2 !!

and 2 should have been out last week [ shouldn't it ?? ]

i am 'happy' to wait for an excellent read and fab artwork !! but i do think TPTB should have planned this a little better, so there ha dbeen more lead time !!

considering what they mention in the BIG THREE podcast, there shouldn't have been this large a gap between 1st and 2nd issues of a new BID book !!

i don't think this would have happened with the SUPERMAN or BATMAN titles [ don't include ALL STAR ! ] and i don't suppose the gap between the JLoA issues will be this big !!??

Matthew.

Q: Is Wonder Woman #2 gay?

A: No, but it did come out.

Not yet, DC missed the ship date on WW2. It is now re-listed for this week.

Finally, WW2 was released.

Another good read-- if you like Diana Prince, Nemesis, the white pantsuit complete with a mention of I Ching, an angry Cassie Sandsmark, a flashback with a smiley Batman, and the unbeatable image of Giganta wearing Donna Troy as a pendant dangling between her breasts.

Get used to the book being late. Wonder Woman is now bimonthly (scroll down to Briefly). #4 has been pushed back until December.

Seeing as how it's been quarterly so far, I'm still not holding my breath.

I just loved issue #2, and I am not sure why. Maybe it's that Heinberg just really GETS these characters, and the Dodson's seamlessly translate that understanding into visuals. Did Dr. Psycho realize that Diana Prince is Wonder Woman? It seems unlikely that he wouldn't figure it out, being psychic and all. The image of Diana Prince starting her starry spinny change into Wonder Woman was just awesome. Now we have Hercules -- not Herakles?!?! When a comic is this good, I don't mind bimonthly. Saves money.

The interminable wait between issues is *not* kind to this title. I *really* would've preferred waiting another six months or so, and then reading the five issues in orderly monthly release.

Oh, well.

I loved the page where Hercules lists his accomplishments, including slaying the nemean lion, the nine-headed hydra and concluding with "And now the Cheetah!". Great page.

It was fun seeing Circe pop up-- though I did feel a bit of 'what- her again?'

I hope the gods and goddesses don't stay in whatever plane they've removed themselves to, for long. Their absence is keenly felt, at least by me.

I imagine Hercules is about to do something shady-- betraying someone or the other. Because, frankly, at this point-- Wonder Man *is* more interesting than Wonder Woman. Whether she's Diana or Donna.

Is anyone afraid that the JLA scene where WW gives up immortality for a man might come to pass in this title? Does anyone see sparks with Nemesis?

I hadn't thought about that. Interesting premise if these visions in JLA 0 are supposed to happen at some point. Eh, it's probably like the Adult Legion story. It could happen but then again, maybe not.

Really liking where this is going but I agree that the delays are just ridiculous. It hasn't even been bi-monthly. Argh. I am very curious to see where this all goes but it'll be July by the time they finish the first arc.

How many issues is Heinberg signed on for?

Heinberg is 5-6 I forget which was specified. Then a female novelist come on for a similar length arc.

DC announced today that WW #5, which was supposed to be the last part of the "Who Is Wonder Woman" story. Instead they will have a new story written by Will Pfeifer, with art by Jean Diaz, Geraldo Borges and Wellington Diaz and a cover by Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson.

The new story is about women's movement inspired by WW's killing of Max Lord. Chapter five of "Who Is Wonder Woman" will be rescheduled at a future date.

So right at the apex of the story you stop? With all the delays this title already has been through why not delay it again for the last chapter? This is like someone breaking into a murder mystery as the murderer is about to be revealed and saying "We interrupt your program to bring you this important message." DC is botching this title as much as Marvel did with Civil War.

They've done a similar thing with the "Last Son" arc in Action, where they're apparently re-scheduling the later parts of it for later issues and inserting another story in the middle.

I forgot about that announcement earlier this week. They also pushed back the 3-D version scheduled for Action #848 to #851 according to Johns .

What's interesting here though is that they're apparently leaving Heinberg's issue for later, and going onto the non-Heinberg issues with #6 as planned, leaving the last issue of his arc for whenever he gets round to it...

How many issues are actually out? I haven't seen anything since #1.

I think the first three issues are out so far, with #4 due out this week.

I picked up the first two, I believe, but it wasn't really anything that interested me.

Thanks.

I'm glad they have moved on. Heinberg isn't wowing anyone, and the delay is ridiculous. I wish this was done more often. Sure, it's a pain in the ass reading, but it's not like I can't go back and re-read old issues.

I'm curious to see what'll happen with YA now...

I'm all for them moving on. There are too many delays in too many books nowadays. But what I don't understand is how can they move on with WW? Wasn't the first arc supposed to re-establish her? How do you start a new arc, with new writers, without either ruining the end of the first arc or totally stepping all over it and making it moot?

You step on it, ruin it, make it moot.

Maybe it would be better to have Pfeiffer write the conclusion. But the book has to move on. Sounds like the new gal has a far enough lead that it will be more monthly again.

And hopefully learn that established writers don't guarantee sales...

Well, it's not like everyone doesn't know how things basically end up in the end, anyway. We al know that Diana is eventually going to end up as Wonder Woman again, ala her appearances in JLA.

From Heinberg's MySpace page:

I say move on to. I've long since stopped caring, and it wasn't like this was Watchman or anything. We know how it ends up too, like Eryk says.

I'm at the point where I say give me monthlies on time, or risk losing my business. No more excuses--just make it work, we don't care about your schedules.

I agree, Cobie. I thought this book had real potential - but if they are just going to skip around storywise, I'll spend my money on something else.

I think I'm the only person still loving this book!

Its totally reinvigorated my interest in Wonder Woman and her solo title - a book I haven't collected since before George Perez left.

IMO the story has been fun and interesting with lots of cool cameos and surprises and all drawn perfectly. Great writing and great art! What more could you ask for? Well OK - a book that comes out on time, but for some reason that hasn't bothered me with this title.

Can't wait to see all those cool old pre-Crisis villains in action next issue!

Uhhh... next issue is an unrelated Amazons Attack prelude. Not see the rest of this page?

Thanks Reboot. I wrote "next issue" but in my head was thinking "in the next issue of this storyline (whenever that may be)".

According to one of the panels this weekend (forgot which and which site had the news) the final part of "Who is Wonder Woman" will be a 48 page special. No idea when it will be released.

Not feeling this as much as I thought I would. Heinberg's Young Avengers were so good I was expecting a bit more I guess. Infact didn't care for the set up at all. She's suddenly WW again? huh?

I like the elements. Nemesis, the agency stuff, Circe, the Hercules twist. I LOVE the art. But as far as WW stories go it's a bit simple. I don't see much of a difference than the last few years of WW...just less complex.

I loved the teaser cliffhanger at the end with the tons of old WW villains showing up, lots in silhouette... but now it might be a year or whatever before that story wraps? This was a bad idea.

re: "give me monthly or else" thing, I'm spending so damn much money on comics already that I wouldn't mind if more books were bi-monthly or quarterly. I would be fine if no other issue of WW came out until this arc was completed, then they could go full-tilt with the next team if they wanted.

I'd rather they released storylines together. In other words, if a crative team can only get six issues out in a year, I'd rather read them in January through June and have no issues the rest of the year.

That ain't gonna happen for long with a character like WW, though.

Sorry for your wallet, LASHie, but I expect a bunch of biweekly Wondy-related stuff soon. Guess AMAZONS ATTACK will be part of that (which looks good, by the way, though I don't particularly want to read more Amazon deaths).

For an ageless race that doesn't reproduce, they sure do burn through them, don't they? I'm surprised they made it past 28 AD at this rate...

Heinberg's story was fun and the art was great, but like everything he's done in comics, the lateness of the book kept me uninterested throughout the run despite having some initial enthusiasm.

Looking forward to a writer that can make a monthly commmittment without crappy excuses.

Okay, so I picked up # 5 today and had no idea that they weren't finishing the "Who is Wonder Woman" story this issue.

Seems pretty lame to me.

I think I am just gonna drop this title. If they can't finish what they start, I'll spend my money on something else.

Okay, picked up # 6 today. With all of Wonder woman's enemies, etc. why are they using the same one we saw in the "Who is Wonder Woman" uncompleted arc? Did they not tell the new writer what was going on before she began her run?

Very disappointing and I want to like this title.

I agree 100%. They want events? Forget monthly. I rather have a collected graphic novel the size of 3 to 6 issues.

I thought about this since i was in high school 13 years ago. Popular characters should have 3 to 4 of these GN come out a year. Less popular characters should have atleast one.

Thing is they would make less money. Now the sell the monthlies and then the collected versions of them. Ohwell, it would be fun.

I didn't dig WW #5. Hunt, how can they drop the ball like this with #6???

I praise DC cause they seem to be much more professional than Marvel at times and care more about their characters. But IMO they've dropped the ball with Wonder Woman big time! (and the Legion)

I mean the whole point of this new title was to prove she deserves to be one of the big 3. Good job DC.

Couldn't agree more Jorge. Diana's not looking very "Big 3" right now. The only good thing they've done is reintroduce the twirl to change her from Diana Prince to WW. Oh, for the days of Lynda Carter, ha!

Though I'm happy to see the return of her secret ID, is anyone else find it a little silly that "Diana Prince" is always standing around in a room full of giant Wonder Woman images and no one else in the room (people whose full time jobs are allegedly to study and find WW no less) makes the connection...

I found #6 to be a mixed bag. Some good stuf wrapped up in more "blah".

My favoite part of the issue was the scene inside the Hero theme park when Nemisis is buying the WW doll for his niece. When Diana asks why the WW doll is less expensive than the Bats one, the clerk responds that she's never sold as well as Superman/Batman. Makes me wonder if it was a tip of the hat to all those involved in the debate over whether or not she's really deserving of her "DCU Big 3" status. I imagine the writer is aware of this on going debate and is trying to address it.

I'm not a usually a continuity hound, but I found her cluelessness about human things to be pretty stupid considering she lived in "regular human" households all those years and even held a job at the taco place. How could she not know what a credit card is or how to pump gas?

I appreciated Jodi's style and here attempt to have some fun with the character, and I think she's got the kernal of an interesting story here, but I find her lack of knowledge about the current Wonder Woman's background disconcerting. Granted, if I were only going to write six issues and breeze back to my high-paying job somewhere else, I might not take the time to read her entire run, but that's what editors are for.

I'm a little concerned about the lack of knowledge of Wonder Woman's history. Buts its funny...traditionally, her history has been one of the most complex/screwed up ones of all, given her 50's and 60's stories.

Honestly though, I'm ready for any good Wonder Woman stories I can get. The relaunch left me incredibly dissapointed, though its probably more my lack of enthusiasm with the comic book industry's inability to get comics out on time than anything.

Infinite Crisis completely fusterclucked Wonder Woman's continuity in pushing her debut back to before the JLoA's founding because Fanboy Johns couldn't stand the idea that she wasn't a JLoA founder and Black Canary was.

The Pérez issues are intrinsically tied to the continuity of the late 1980s - hell, the second or third arc was part of a MegaCrossover! - so they can't be pushed back, so just about everything before the run that introduced Artremis has to be either radically rewritten or thrown out.

It's official. Gail Simone is the new writer.

I'll definitely be picking up the first few issues of her run. I started this new series, but the delays and pacing of the first arc left me completely disinterested.

Ah damn. I was almost the first to find that announcement. LOL

Yep, I'm definitely going to have to check this out. I really loved how Simone wrote Wonder Woman in the BoP issue she appeared in.

Sounds good to me.

My dog is looking forward to the challenge.

I've never been a big Wonder Woman fan; don't know why exactly, but the stories have seldom interested me for long. Killing Max Lord was interesting because of the debate she had with Superman and Batman - and the notion that she would do the dirty work and suffer the consequences. I think, like Superman, she is almost too powerful and the weaknesses she has been given to balance this power just haven't struck any emotional chord with me. And, as Greg Rucka once said, how the hell does she explain that costume?

I'm quite interested to see which direction this will take.

This may actually get me to buy my first WW comic (not counting various cross-overs)since Perez helped reboot her back in, what, 1987? Twenty years ago.

I'm there.

Been there for a year now.

As for the artist, it could be some 3rd grader drawing stick figures- GAIL SIMONE is writing WONDER WOMAN!

I am so there.

Monkey and waterfall page three. Can't wait.

Someone needs to tell MEL to make sure he picks up at least the first issue just for that scene.

Here, on this Friday the 13th, I feel the need to point out that Gail's run starts with issue #13.

After so long in the doghouse, #13 has been vindicated and will reign as the most coolest of numbers.


After #247...

13 has always been my lucky number. My mom was born on a Friday the 13th and she always told me that if she hadn't been in labor so long I would have been too.

I kind of enjoyed this issue and Wondy's little flirtation with Nemesis. I hope he sticks around as her potential love interest.

I'd like to agree with those that think she doesn't need one, as I agree that for too many heroines, that's the sum total of their characterization, but I've come to the conclusion that this particular character actually *does* need a humanizing love interest.

There's something that's been missing since Steve Trevor was aged and married Etta. The guy in Phil Jimenez' run never really got the chance, but maybe an established character like Nemesis will.

Circe again is a bit much, but hopefully she won't be the central focus of the next few arcs.

With icons like Wonder Woman there's a sense that no one can stack up as a love interest unless they have history (like Steve Trevor). It's especially hard with Wonder Woman since she doesn't lend herself to mundane "my boyfriend this, my boyfriend that" soap opera drama.

That said, I do like the chemistry that's been shown with Nemesis. And JLA hinted that she's going to be invovled with a mortal...

Judy Picoult on writing Wonder Woman. Is it true she's only the second female to write WW?

Drake,

As I think about it, one of the potentially interesting story lines with Wondy that I don't remember EVER being addressed is her lack of familiarity with men. I read every Perez issue, and I don't recall it coming up, really.

I mean, she grows up on an island of all women, women who really don't like men very much. So, is Diana attracted to men? If so, would she really know what to do to woo one? I think you could do some fun, interesting stories around this topic without getting to racey. Maybe she could go to Element Lad and Phantom Girl for dating tips?

I read # 7, and am enjoying it more than I thought I would. I'll definitely hang around for Gail Simone's run.

Though it's a bit of Circe-overload, I enjoyed this month's WW. I quite like Tom Tressor as a partner for Wondy-- whether it really becomes *romantic* partner is still to be seen. I think I'd support it.

The Sarge Steel/Everyman/Nemesis stuff is a bit confusing... just who's disguised as who, again?
It's a minor subplot that's still integral to the story.

I enjoyed Athena's cameo, here. So the Greek gods are accessible. That'd good to know.

It seems they're once again refocusing Diana's role in the DCU. This issue, along with AMAZONS ATTACK, would seem to be forcing the character to choose whether she's allied with humans or Amazons.

Circe's machinations here result in apparently forcing Diana's hand-- kill her mother or be killed by her. We'll see if that cliffhanger resolves itself differently next week, I suppose, with the release of AA#2.

I look forward to the establisment of an ongoing creative team with a vision for the character including a settled supporting cast and a setting that's at least recognizeable from month to month. I hope Themyscira's a part of that background, but I'm beginning to wonder if that's in the cards.

After AA, how about no Circe for at least a year?

Joss' movie script explored this. His WW was strong and intelligent but naive in the ways of mans world. He wanted to explore her misunderstanding of our views and sensibilities for much of the humor in the script while maintaining her mastery of the martial (military) arts and show that she is also well educated.

Sequential Tart interviews Gail Simone re: Wonder Woman.

I like her attitude about being forced to work in crossover crap. That's been the downfall of many an interesting story in any number of books (Jimenez's WW and Hawkman come immediately to mind), but she seems to have a good handle on it.

Delayed!! Hmph. I was looking forward to it, too.

I contacted DCBS and canceled #13 from my August preorders. Gail's the only futzin' reason I'm picking this title up.

And why isn't DC doing more to promote her taking over?! Waid gets a much-publicized return to the old numbering with The Flash, not to mention the All-Flash special...

Heinberg got more promotion on Wonder Woman, and he didn't come close to living up to the hype. I'm expecting a bunch of WW ads in the next month or so.

Well, the board's now cleared for Gail Simone with the release of the annual. There's a new status quo for Wonder Woman that gives some purpose to the Diana Prince identity thanks to Circe. Doesn't really match up with AMAZONS ATTACK, however.

I loved the spread of all the villains attacking. I devoutly hope that Ms. Simone makes use of some the lesser known characters depicted here, instead of laying it on with Cheetah, Dr. Psycho and Circe.

I have no doubt that each of those mainstays'll appear, but I'd like to see some of the lesser lights shine, too.

Oooooo I'm all a twitter. Tomorrow we see Gail's first issue.

Newsarama has a few articles up, but DC hasn't done any promo work. That's odd...


I'm calling it now:

Wonder Woman and Gail Simone take the week!

Gail is hit and miss with me. I loved Rose & Thorn and Villains United and Secret Six. But her JLA Classified arc was ruined by a terrible ending, and I read one of her Birds of Prey arcs and just couldn't see what the big deal was.

I thought Gail's first Wonder Woman issue was okay. My favorite scene by far was the conversation between Hippolyta and the mystery prisoner who wants Diana dead. I'm intrigued to see where that goes.

The main plot kinda left me cold. Geoff Johns already used Nazi villains less than a year ago in the opening arc of the JSA relaunch, and I think they're no more effective here. The ape jokes didn't make me laugh (I think she's often heavy handed with the humorous bits) and her portrayal of Lt. Col. Etta Candy shows signs of dangerously drifting into Mary Sue territory.

But the biggest flaw to me is that Gail is the latest WW writer who just cannot get me to care about Diana herself, which is especially dissapointing because I thought one of the positive qualities of her JLA arc was a portrayal of Diana that actually made me like her. Now, I don't know whether she wanted to obliterate the spy game setup of the two previous writers and editorial wouldn't let her, but it's not working any better for me.

I still think Donna should have been a permanent replacement (thanks for nothing, Allen Heinberg.)

Gail is one of the few writers I'm really trusting to entertain me and please me these days, so I'm excited. In a way, her writing reminds me of PAD in the early 90's (when viewing it from the angle of why I personally enjoy her work).

Looking forward to it. Wonder Woman has been unreadable since Rucka left, and was virtually unreadable for years before he came.

I never thought of that, but I could see Gail possibly learning over the years to integrate the humor more smoothly into the mixture of drama and action (these days, when PAD's at his best -- i.e. X-Factor or the Hulk HoM arc -- his blend is perfection, which wasn't always the case in his early writing.) On the other hand, there's a certain...smugness to Gail's writing that even PAD's lesser work doesn't come across to me; hopefully she'll get rid of that as her writing matures.

I liked Gail’s first issue. We get Paradise Island and Hippolyta. We get Diana fighting apes, and apes flinging. BIRTHDAY CAKE and Diana Prince. Oooo Lt Col. Candy shows have sneaky she can be, and we get Nazis.

Okay the Nazi thing is played out, and with this week’s Wonder Girl mini, BC/GA, Countdown, and now WW- Themyscira is busier than Legion World on Cobie’s birthday. But it was a good start. I think Gail does a fine job mixing in the humour. She’s humanized Diana with her apartment and the cake. I can’t wait til she gets to cut loose with her.

The artwork is great, the Dodsons are perfect for drawing women without giving is a cheesecake look. (I like the shield they’ve given her. I know she has the bracelets, but it still looked cool.)

Gail Simone's a good writer and I think she's a much-needed breath of fresh air at DC right now, but there's always been something just a little bit 'off' about her writing to me and while I wouldn't descibe it as 'smug' - I think that's probably a step in the right direction to nailing the problem.

Fortunately, I didn't see any such negative aspects in her first issue of Wonder Woman. Loved it! I know I'm probably in the vast minority here but I absolutely LOVE the new status quo Alan Heinberg established with this run (i.e. secret agent Diana Prince teaming up with Nemesis and Sarge Steel and so on) and it was great to see Gail take that ball and totally run with it here.

The great art helped too. But best of all - it was just a really cool and fun issue. I know the Rucka run had a lot of fans but to me that whole era was just morose and dull - and don't get me started on those modernised Greek Gods complete with laptops and lattes - UGH!

Going by this one issue, it looks like this run is going to be completely the opposite and I for one will definitely stay on board for the ride!

LOVED the gorillas! Her manipulation/beatdown was an interesting use of WW's animal-empathy in warrior mode. I think.

Will they be hanging around awhile?

Maybe they'll be the Holiday Gorillas (y'know-- gorillas on holiday in 'man's world').

At the least, the leader that WW befriends here could become the 'Wonder Boy' that some fans have requested from time to time.

I'm looking forward to Gail Simone's time at the helm of WW.

Speaking of GA/BC, who is in charge of Paradise Island, Hippolyta as in Wonder Woman or Athena as in the GA/BC issue?

It's things like that that make me long for strong editors and strong oversight of the characters.

for Gary or Scott to merge the Gail interview thread from the S&LSH forum...

Just like last month, I find the scenes without Diana interesting and scenes with Diana uninteresting. Who knows what my reaction will be when the plot threads finish converging next issue.

That bit with Diana forcing Captain Nazi to relive his traumatic childhood is very J.M. DeMatteis -- and I don't mean that in a good way.

The Dodsons' art in this issue was not as good as they're capable of.

At least there was no Lt. Col. Mary Sue Candy this month. I swear, if she wore glasses she'd look just like Gail!

I'm only getting the next two issues because I want to see the confrontation between Diana and Alkyone (it's quite clear that Alkyone's the prisoner.)

There's an editor's note at the beginning of this week's issue saying the WW arc takes place before Countdown #30. Mind ya, Athena/Granny Goodness has been recruiting since before then...


Wonder Woman takes down Captain Nazi. Hippolyta takes down his cronies invading Paradise Island. Diana spends the rest of the issue seeking help from other pantheons to repel the invaders. She swears fealty to a Native American god, and that promises to be interesting in the future.

Gail's strength has always been the small moments. I'm looking forward to the upcoming showdown just as much as you, Stealth.

^^^^ I think that was a Hawaiian deity Diana was pledging allegiance to at the end there, not Native American. Or are Hawaiians considered Native American? My knowledge is pretty grey in that area.

I enjoyed this issue just as much as the previous one, which is to say - A LOT!

This just reads like classic comic-book storytelling to me - fun, dynamic lead character; cool, fleshed-out supporting characters; exciting and interesting story; fast-paced plotting; snappy banter; great art; and so on.

After all the death and dismemberment and angst I read in every other DC book this month it was actually a *relief* to sit down with this one!

The 3rd issue is running late, and we've got a new artist in May, according to a Newsarama article.

Dagnabbit!

Yeah-- Aaron Lopresti, fresh off Ms. Marvel and a current DC exclusive artist... not sure how I feel about that just yet. We'll see.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Please tell me they did not just kill Hyppolita again after just bringing her back in that craptastic Amazons Attack event that made my eyes bleed. I guess death really doesn't have a meaning. Jeez.</span></span>

Gail, I expected better of you.

Caliente,

I don't think it is what you think.

Seriously <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> Since the death of Hippolyta, Amazons Attack, Granny Goodness pretending to be Athena in Countdown, the Amazons have been put through the wring and getting as messed up as the old Hawkman continuity. It seems like ever other appearance we are getting the "definitive" Amazons/Paradise Island. We definitely need stronger editoral control. </span></span>

While I don't like the final scene of this issue, I do like the story Gail is crafting. It showed why both Diana and Hippolyta are both warriors of note. These are Amazon women and they know.

I wonder if the members of the Circle will turn out to be reoccurring antagonists? Not sure if they could be termed villains, but maybe they could.

They're creepy and sort of insane. Maybe one will rise to defend Hippolyta or Diana, while the others go even crazier.

In anycase, I hope at least one of the apes remains as a *permanent* addition to WW's supporting cast (she's had too many folks fade into the woodwork).

Unfortunately, until the Holly/Harley/GrannyAthena stuff in COUNTDOWN runs its course, this title is going to seem like it's happening in a parallel dimension. At least while the story's set on Themyscira.

The conclusion of Gail's first arc consists mostly of the stuff I find interesting. The confrontation I was waiting for did not dissapoint.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> IMO, Alkyone could make a good recurring villain. There's a thousand ways she could have survived her plunge into the sea. </span></span>

On the other hand, I could have done without Gail's latest attempt to convince me that cake is inherently amusing. It just feels forced to me.

I guess I could say that, overall, I think her first arc was pretty good, and it turned out better than her first issue made me expect.

But for the moment, I'm downgrading Wonder Woman from "Buy" to "Read At the Store."

I give Gail's first arc a solid B. It's probably most memorable for her not totally mishandling Wonder Woman, which so many of the past writers have done. She gets credit for writing a short 3 issue arc with a beginning, middle, and end. That's kind of refreshing in today's market.

I'll be back for more. WW will never go on my "read at the store" list. My loyalty to Wonder Woman is second only to my loyalty to the Legion.

Yes it is, except it was a 4 issue arc.

Math never was my strong point.

Fair enough.

This arc started strong, but the end felt rushed to me. It would have been nice to have more of a throw down with the Circle.

And the Nazis rather rapid surrender didn't feel worthy of the 3 issue build up.

It was a good start, and I know Gail has big things in store so I'll stick around.

So we got a two part Khund related issue. Diana gets to throw down with a GL before negotiating a little peace.

It was fun, short, entertaining- I liked it. Here's to more of this kind of work.

The art was a little to humorous for my taste, but it fit the story for the most part. It seemed wrong for the Diana/Tom scenes, though. I didn't like the whole courtship thing last issue, but this issue gave us a little more insight into Tom, and it might not be as boring as I originally thought.

There's a new Gail Simone interview at Newsarama. It sounds great; I'm really excited about this..

Wow! There's a new issue out, with Lopresti starting his run as the penciller. He does a fine job of it too. He gives us a few interpretations of WW on the cover, and they all are worthy of her iconic look.

Gail opens with Diana looking for Beowulf during his hunt for Grendel. Then follows up with a day at the office. And it's nothing like my boring job- Sarge Steel suspects Agent Prince is more than she seems. Lastly, Etta Candy and Diana have an encounter with the creepy stalker from Diana's apartment.

I'm intrigued and excited.

Wow! Cobie's first in-continuity appearance?!


( )

Did anyone recognize the red-eyed stalker from another dimension? reality?

I remember his face from some '70's comic that I want to call NIGHTSTALKER. Is that right?

Wow. Way out of left field. Across the street from the parking lot.

A couple of solid adventures on non-Themyscira Earth to set what Diana's life is really like when in the whites *and* in civvies and this title will be cookin'.

Oh, yeah. The Manazons are coming. Ha! Ha! (Actually, Zeus and Apollo's comments were quite intriguing, funny name for their army aside.)

It was just STALKER ... I remember him being used most recently a few years back, in JSA, I think...

So apparentyl Stalker is bringng Diana on a tour of quasi-historical figures. First it was Beowulf, this week it's the Red Hand (unless I miss my guess there.) It seems our mysterious Stalker needs her help, and they need the others.

Diana does some praying, and not to her traditional gods. I wonder if her change in costumes is tied in with that. Gail's doing a fine job of weaving her previous and current patron dieites together.

And Hipployta discovers what we all suspected, we haven't seen the last of the Circle.


Ooo and more apes!

I enjoyed the Beowulf issue quite a bit. The dialogue between the two was cool.

I like the Stalker and think bringing him in is a cool idea. Ditto with the previous Khund 2-parter. Gail is a writer that picks up steam over time, and I feel like the book is starting to move now. I'm actually reading entire issues of WW for the first time since Rucka.

Can't say I'm too excited about the *groan* Manazons story though.

I have to say while the first arc was entertaining and the Khund two-parter was pretty good the last couple of issues have been fantastic. I'm not sure why I'm liking the story so much but possibly it's because we're seeing a really nice Diana out her element fantasy story while still getting the on-going story with her real life. The two shouldn't work together but for some reason they do.

Plus the art in the last few issues has been lovely. Hopefully we'll actually end up with a long running creative team if they can keep the same standard up over time.

Wasn't there a DC barbarian-type character named Claw or Klaw with a red devilish looking hand in the same era as STALKER? Is that who this fourth character is?

I'm enjoying this a lot, too- though it is a storyline that you have to actually read and pay attention while doing so. It's not made up of issues you can skim through and get the gist of what's happening.

Which is a good thing.

I love the art-- those pages/panels with the sword-borders are lovely.

I'm ready for some more of the Apes on Holiday from Gorilla City. I love 'em to pieces.

CLAW The Unconquered ran from '75-76. He was used most recently in his own mini under the WS imprint, and a crossover WS mini with Red Sonja, a year or so back.

Gail's really digging through DC's Sword & Sorcery depths with Claw and Stalker. Cool.

Newest issue--Wonder Woman thinking "Will I be the betrayer" was interesting... I wish that could have gone on a bit more, though I'm also glad this storyline's progressing and is, apparently, back on Earth in the last panel.

The gorillas on Holliday didn't get to be as funny or exhibit as much personality in this issue... I would've preferred Nemesis befriending them after an intial skirmish.

Donna Troy makes a welcome appearance. Welcome in that she's wearing the black and white starfield outfit, rather than the unbecoming half Wonder Girl, half Troia look she's stuck with in TITANS. Wonder how she'll interact with the gorillas?

The last issue made me realise that Gail is really putting a lot into WW at the moment. There are a lot of plot threads going on and the main plot is proceeding at a fairly cracking pace without it feeling like there's too much going on. It's something the title has been missing for a few years now. Waid got horribly hamstrung at the end of his run by the constant crossovers and didn't really get much chance to just tell an entertaining story. Gail actually seems to be doing that here though.

Plus the art is lovely. The panel with Diana's face half regular inks and half pencils is absolutely stunning.

This story really is Gail and Aaron trying to make WW the best she's ever been. It's amazing artwork; Mr Lopresti is right up there with the Dodsons and Adam Hughes when it comes to drawing beautiful, strong women.

Gail's script ranges from the fantastical to the humourous with ease, and we readers are gettign enough of both to satisfy. The main story has me eager to see Diana cut loose on a demon. The sub-plot of Nemesis and the gorillas was entertaining, and then Gail threw in a guest-star!

This is one of my favourite reads each month.

That was aptly climactic. I'll kind of miss Beowulf, though. I liked the way he interacted with WW-- Klaw, too, though I felt like I really didn't get to know him that well. Grendel's still in Diana's future, though.

The Donna/Nemesis/apes scene was fun. I liked everything about it. I quite like Nemesis as partner for WW. Don't miss Steve Trevor a bit. Donna seemed more like herself than in the pages of TITANS, that's for sure.

Rhanda, Tolifhar and co.? Love 'em. May they be a part of the cast for a long time.

Nice issue. A good ending to the story arc. Gail's use of the sword and sorcery crowd was inspired and orignal. A nice break from the mad gods of Diana's pantheon, but still very fitting for the Wonder Woman mythos. Donna and Nemsis were fun. I haven't enjoyed Donna this much in a long time.

Yeah, a solid wrap-up. Diana's empathy for Stalker was very in-character; Her sorrow at his suffering with the return of her soul...

WW in Hollywood- and she gets upstaged by the gorillas. There's a scene where either Rhanda or Tahlifar licks a character's hand that made me laugh out loud- something I don't often do when reading.

And what they tote around in their briefcases? Hee-hee!

The rest of the Hollywood portion of the issue was a perfectly serviceable adventure featuring an opponent that didn't really interest me that much when she appeared the first time in JLA. However, her MO makes her a perfect foe for Diana. It's even one that I'd think I'd like a lot from reading a description of her gimmick and of the character herself. But somehow, she leaves me uninvolved. Not sure why.

The meaty portion of the issue, for me, occurs in the waters surrounding and on Themyscira as Nemesis meets mom. Or should that be Mom?

I'd have liked to see a few issues of the pair dating, at the least, before these first formal steps of the Amazon mating dance. That said, I find the process quite fascinating.

I like the Amazon menagerie (has this been seen before? I don't quite remember...) and Hippolyta's not-so-subtle manipulation of Nemesis.

Tom and Diana riding in and out on a floating seashell made for some lovely images. Themyscira at night is also beautiful.

What wasn't was the 'someday you might rule this' line. Really? A man? And Hippolyta's 'babies, babies, babies'... funny. Possibly, a jokey manipulation as subtle as sticking Nemesis in front of a hungry griffin. If taken as serious? Ugh.

Yet not without redemptive possibility. Over time. Lots of time.

Yes, the images of Diana and Tom's trip to Themyscira were gorgeous.

Wow! Didn't know Donna appeared. I will have to pick this up. I thought she was treated awful in all the crossover mess and especially over in the horrid "Titans".

Will Donna be a regular in WW?

Donna is none of my all time favorites.

Donna was in issue #23, but not in #24. I haven't heard anything about Gail making her a regular, but imagine she will pop up from time to time.

#25-- Aaand that's a wrap!

Couldn't resist.

The issue really got going once the Queen of Fables created the arena 'contest'. Before that, there was some funny movie-related bits-- but not that funny, since I wouldn't be at all surprised if those were actual bits from Hollywood scripts.

I wonder what lies behind the 'centaurs and I never really got along' line. She seemed fairly chummy with Chiron not so long ago.

"In any arena, real of imagined-- I am INVINCIBLE!" Great line for Diana, I thought.

She even upstaged the Ape-as-critic who thought the script 'lacked a proper second act.' Hee-hee-hee! I know I'm repeating myself, but I love those teen apes. 'Where we will promptly consume them'. Hee-hee!

Scenes with WW and little girls are almost sacrosanct. It's always a nice thing to see, but I thought the subplot with the alchoholic mother and her daughters was a bit misplaced. Not gratingly, as it did reflect upon the WW movie plot.

I'm looking forward to next storyline, with the 'rise of the Olympians' and a new male Wonder Woman, whatever that's going to look like.

Caught up on about five months of Wonder Woman reading. I thought the Beowulf/Stalker/Claw saga was probably the best Wonder Woman story I’ve read in about ten years. Everything about it was superb: the interaction between the characters, Diana trying to ‘re-find’ herself (both the real reason why and the metaphor), and ‘quest’ feel to the whole thing. It was awesome to see the Stalker for the first time since the 1970’s (at least that I’m aware of), and Claw is always interesting. I really enjoyed Beowulf more than anything and thought his chemistry with Diana was surprisingly fun and refreshing.

I’m bored to death by the ‘suitors’ Diana is always acquainted with, outside of Aquaman and the occasional flirtation with Batman (I *hate* when Superman and Diana are paired up like that), so Beowulf was cool.

The Nemesis/Diana relationship is cool for me thus far but I’m not sure I see this as a longterm thing. I like Nemesis, loved him since Suicide Squad, but as Diana’s paramour? Not sure.

Oh, I also love the Megalodons. They rock.

And Hippolyta is being used well too.

Another fun romp, short and all about the action. These brief tales seemed to get overshadowed by the long arc; and that's a shame because they remind me what comics are all abour.

With just these two issues we get Diana kicking butt and having fun with her simian sidekicks. Her ferocity facing the Queen of Fables counters that soft side she used with the little girls. And then Gail's metatextual comments about waiting for a good WW movie...

If I had more money this is the first comic I would add back to my collection. I really liked what Gail was doing here and I think it's a shame that she doesn't seem to be setting alight the charts as much as she should.

Wonder Woman is THE premiere female super-hero dammit! She should be a top-seller!!!

Rise of the Olympian starts...

Gail opens this story with the DMA facing off against an ugly monster. It's enough to draw the WW out of Diana, and boy was she needed. The story is a bunch of hints and set up, and we get to meet a few more DMA agents on Diana's team.

The Greek Gods make an appearance, and Genocide makes an impressive debut.

The return of the Olympian gods really has me curious. What exactly has happened to them and what will the consequences be?

Loved their return to a sadly vandalized Olympus-- the art was interesting. The ship they rode in on was a nice visual. The way the scene was written kept me curious about who was in it. When Zeus and co. emerged, I was surprised.

The Tom Tressor scenes were great, too. Nice to see his toughness and his protectiveness of the amulet. A lot of fans are apparently resistant to him as a love interest for Diana. Not me. I think they're great.

I'm less interested in Diana Prince's missions. I liked seeing Etta, but I'd have preferred an updated Holliday Girls to this little squad. Still, they're not bad- so I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt. (missed the gorillas...)

Genocide was the least interesting part of the issue, to me. She was suitably dangerous and single-mindedly violent. Not my favorite thing in a villain, I guess.

I wonder, will the old Global Guardian character The Olympian appear in this storyline?

Killing off ancient goddesses just isn't a good idea, I don't think. Kharmically (is that a word?)

I hope Athena doesn't die...

...this Pantheon seems much diminished. In need of some rising.

Which could also be said of Diana, as of this issue.

Apparently, the nature of WW's lasso will be a big component of this storyline. Hmmm.

Loved the cover- and Tom calling himself an Amazon... and Donna's answering glance over her shoulder.

Donna and Cassie get some good air time this issue. They haven't been seen much in the title in the last couple of years. It's good to know they are still connected to Diana in some way.

The stuff around the fight was great fun-- the three chickies in armor (gold, silver and bronze?)... the gorillas answering Diana's call to battle... the bits with Black Canary and Vixen...

The only thing missing is an absolutely engaging opponent. So far, Genocide is merely That Which Must Be Beaten. Why? I don't really know. What does Genocide want? I don't really know. And I'm not meant to. Genocide's mystery really isn't engaging my curiosity. Perhaps the revelation of her origin and purpose will.

I'm a tad worried about developments in the 'Manazon' camp. Jason of the Argonauts as Hippolyte's counterpart? Solicits have mentioned Achilles, haven't they?

Will choosing such storied names make the new champions of Zeus more or less palatable? I can see an argument on both sides.

I hope Diana's counterpart will have the benefit of his own history and personality. I wonder if Donna and Cassie and even Artemis will have counterparts?

I've been loving Gail's run and the rise of the olympians is really kicking it for me. I like the sense of dread we get from Diana's narrative. I loved seeing the three Amazons fighting against Genocide, that was a nice visual, I also really loved the other plots going on. Action AND building for the future, that's almost unheard of these days.

But finding out that Steel is in Dr. Psycho's body (and vice versa) explained a lot, and a bit common, was a nice touch because now I want to see Steel kick the villains butt (but I don't know how he could do it). The mystery of the lasso still builds, and the Olympians really intrigue me. Jason huh? interesting, and Zeus' mission for them, also interesting.

I'm enjoying this a lot, it's one of my top two books (right up there with Green Lantern) great superhero action and lots of action with continuing build-up.

Seeing the wonderful women armoured up and ready for battle was cool. Lopresti is right up there with the Dobsons when it comes to drawing incredible women.

The Sarge Steel story is making sense now. Gail put that one on a slow boil. And it really gave Cheetah a chance to show her teeth.

The Genocide fight is okay, but it seems as much a distraction to the readers as it is to Diana. With her occupied, she must not see the return of Zeus and his kin.

WW #29: Losses fill the early pages-- Donna's apparently feeling the effects of a Genocide-wielded lasso, Rhanda (one of the white gorillas) is apparently dead (sob!) and Diana's reeling.

Diana V. Cheetah (great fight, I thought) and Zeus V. Kane Milohai and Manazons V. the U.S. Navy... a lot packed into the ORIGINS and OMENS shortened story.

Hippolyta appears in the O&O back-up, telling the bedtime story of Diana's creation to a hospitalized Tom Tressor.

I like the way these two characters relate; each makes the other more full and distinct, IMO.

The last page is a montage of future events, as most of the O&O back-ups have concluded this way. Among the glimpses: a pregnant, unidentified woman in Amazonion armor, Diana undersea, Tom walking away from Diana, possibly a Manazon tossing around a police car.

#30... Genocide kills or almost kills Etta Candy, Zeus raises the 'historical' Achilles from the dead and names him his champion (I think- wonder if Patroclus is there, too?), Diana tears down the Secret Society's HQ in anger, threatens to or actually does cut off Cheetah's tail, expresses regret for killing Maxwell Lord...

Some nice art, the scene on the cover doesn't really happen yet, and Oh, yeah- Hippolyta summons the Amazons back to Themyscira by praying in a circle of swords. Phillipus is the first to respond. The Bana-Migdhalls (spelling?) are now considered full Amazons (I thought they already were?).

WONDER WOMAN #31: Whoa-- when an explanation makes so much sense that you can't believe you didn't think of it all along, you know it's one that sits well with you.

Still, ugh. What a creepy fight the showdown between WW and <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> her future dead body brought back in time and filled with the essence of Ares (I think) </span></span> will be!

I don't quite have a handle on The Olympian yet. Is he man-out-time warrior who's misguided by Zeus (who, in turn, is perhaps being influenced by, or even is, Ares?-- my conjecture), that might be seen as heroic eventually, or is he out and out villain? Or perpetual antagonist, I guess, rather than 'villain'?

Call me corny, but I like the prospect of him and his 'manazons' eventually teaming up with WW and the Amazons. I don't suppose there'd ever be a high level of trust there, but they've got pretty much everything in common.

Athena- I knew you couldn't keep a good goddess down. What is she planning?

I've really gone off this arc despite the good work Gail's done in the past.

It feels as if this storyline is taking ages to get nowhere.

I was looking forward to Achilles / The Olympian but so far he hasn't done much at all. WW needs a decent male villain and I was hoping it would be him but he's been eclipsed by all this Genocide business.

I'm loving this arc and this issue really hit it out of the park. The reveal was amazing and the way it was told (through Athena) was cool and really felt "epic". Also love Achilles, the scene where he talks to the U.N. was cool and I loved how it was laid out (the scene were he puts his hand up then closes it to halt the elephant thingy was just really well paced imo).

But what really got me was the opening pages, where she is visibly upset about what happened to Candy and concerned about Tom. People want Diana to be more human they didn't need to give her a secret identity, just let her be close to her supporting cast. She doesn't come across as some goddess on high caring about her subjects, she comes across as a woman very concerned about her friends.

Great stuff and I really loved this issue. And the reveal, wow, that was chilling.

I like seeing Diana's response to the chaos around her- the fear at losing friends, her anger at her enemies, the warrior with no limits. (Cheetah's tail in my opinion is fair game!)

Things do seem to have moved a bit slow, but that's okay. Getting some Etta time, bringing in Steve Trevor- these are all good building points knowing Gail. Part of me wanted some follow up on Donna's response last issue, but Gail won't let that sit long.

And teh throwdown with Genocide is messy. there's a lot of fisticuffs, even more property damage, an unsettling reveal of Diana's emotions, and even more fisticuffs.

We spend the issue in Diana's head. Her love for Nemesis isn't as romantical as we thought. And that's the most disappointing thing, seeing Diana be less than truthful.

Her resolve in battle is fitting for a warrior woman, and I think that's what sets her apart from most of the League. Taking back her lasso- man I was excited to see that.

And since this is a visual medium- Lopresti draws a beautiful book. His women are shapely and pretty without being babe-alicious.

I agree about Lopresti's work-- it's a treat to look at it.

This was an exciting battle scene, though I'm glad to see the last(?) of Genocide.

The bit about Nemesis and the fact that she doesn't love him was a turn I didn't expect. Should drive the characters for awhile.

I liked that Achilles' instinct was to go and help Diana-- he *isn't* going to be an out and out villain. Zeus has obviously slipped a wheel or two.

Is Euphemus part of Achilles' group? Working for Ares? Or a separate Argonaut that's not involved in Zeus' plot?

Ares wants to marry Genocide? Ugh. Or does he mean that *Diana* is his 'future queen'?

Past time for the Olympians to take center stage in a storyline that is, after all, titled RISE OF THE OLYMPIAN.

Lopresti's come a long way since Takion, that's for sure. Through no fault of his own, being associated with THAT clunker almost did him in. Glad to see he persevered and developed artistically into the treat we're seeing here.

Takion...

I collected that title. At least it was a cool looking character.

#35- continues a fun team-up with Black Canary. If there can be multiple Batman/Superman books, why not one featuring two of the oldest female heroes in comicbooks?

I'd buy...

So that's who WW's patron-in-lieu-of-Zeus was... the father of Pele!

Made for a good uncloaking scene- though why Pele was at that club is rather murky. Best not to think about it too closely.

A romantic cliffhanger-- how do you want it to end?

She was there looking for Diana, wasn't she?

Though I enjoyed what I read, I'm not sure that WW's team-up with <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> Giganta </span></span> is such a good idea.

For that matter, their little tete a tete over scones or whatever it was seems... I don't know... out of character? Or is it? Perhaps Diana is the one hero that would have such an episode.

Still, I found myself puzzling over that much more than I did over her confrontation with Achilles, a relationship in which I'm much more invested. I find this 'male Amazon' tribe pretty interesting, even if it does seem to prove Zeus' insane instability (you only have to read a few myths to know that this isn't out of character for him at all.)

Is it the gender of the failed recipient of Diana's offer of alliance that is the main characteristic attributing to that failure? Or is it his 'out of time', unevolved state?

Add this to Pele's continued goading of Diana, and it becomes obvious that faith is going to be a major theme of the next few months and more, perhaps.

An apt choice, for Wonder Woman.

#38-- Wow, I enjoyed this issue! Alkyone is a deranged witch, arranging a hideous ceremony that's all a trick to unveil what she thinks is Diana's father! I don't for a minute believe that she's correct, except in the most figurative- in a couple of senses- way.

Donna has a couple of strong scenes, and a new Amazonian look that I hope doesnt' make it into the pages of TITANS or JLA.

Tolifher (eek! I've forgotten how to spell his name!) and co. appear briefly, and have me worried. I want them around as supporting cast forever...

Achilles puzzles... will he ultimately be friend or foe or something forever in between? Will a Wonder Man really be joining the Wonder family?

It's somewhat frustrating to to have read on message boards that both he and Alkyone are gay characters, without actually seeing that in print. It's hinted at, surely. Strongly, even, but not spelled out.

Also, the Blackest Night stuff makes everything happening in this title seem a bit unimportant. That's not right- as I read the issues, I think *this* is the important stuff. But DC would seem to have a different mindset.

ML, make sure to stay away from the WW boards over at DC. If you like it, you must not be a "true fan" there. I think I'm gonna abandon them before to long. You might get one or two people from the other side to talk to you reasonably, but the rest go nuts.

Anyway, I'm liking it as well. I also thought the Cottus as Diana's "father" was nutso wish fulfillment on Alky's part.

I must be about the only one that likes the skirt look on Donna. I have to say that after 40+ years of ugly unitards, this was a nice change of pace. Besides, I like women in skirts.

Ummm, Achilles is gay, as per Gail. She's stated it straight up (pardon the unintentional pun).

so far, I think its been pretty good. Got me to read Diana on a regular basis, and that hasn't happened since marinan finished up the Perez reboot. It has a couple of problem spots in the pacing and jumping around at times, but I think Gail does that to get you to pay attention to the book. Its certainly not spoonfed.

I liked this issue, although I was a little lost. I've got to figure out where I put all the issues I haven't read yet.

I don't get all the fuss on the DC Boards, either. Not the best Wonder Woman story ever, but hardly deserving of such harsh criticism. I'm with you, Rick, on Donna's skirt. I really liked the look.

We are a cult of two, then it seems.

I actually thought it looked good and from a battle standpoint, probably more practical than the unitard. I don't care how strong she is, those things have to be restricting. The skirt provides ample coverage and allows for easier movement.

Plus, she's got great gams.

*searches the internets for a picture of this costume*



UH... ... I don't think so. If it had a gladiatrix skirt - like her short-lived Wonder Woman costume - rather than that fabric thing (which I'm fairly sure she couldn't run in - the weight of it would make it more restricting than a unitard), lost the blue completely and toned down some of the fussier asymmetry (and note - she's not left-handed last time I checked. Why has she got the SHIELD on her right arm and the SWORD set to draw with her left?) it could maybe work.

...

I just said "if it was completely different, it could work", didn't I? Okay, I definitely don't like it.

Sorry, George Perez is a great artist, but can't design costume's for anything. Case in point Dick Grayson's original nightwing. Both Donna's and Dick's costumes were terrible, and much fussier than this pic.

The other pic, the Donna as WW looked infinitely less practical to me. Her own skirt looked like it was going to stab her in the legs with what looked like chicken feathers.

The skirt looks like it would cover much more than either the perez or the ww outfit.

And honestly, while I've never really liked the unitard look, none of it matters concerning weight. She's super strong. I was thinking more along the lines of "Hey, I'm superstrong and wearing a unitard...hope it doesn't bust in an awkward place!" type of thing.

But, all that said, if you didn't like it, you didn't like it, lol. I just really like women in skirts. Legs are nice.

Note that the Pérez pic was linked on "Uh". I was attempting to suggest that this reminded me of a costume I already didn't like.

And here's the thing - skirts of any length are horrendously impractical for running in, let alone fighting. Donna's WW gladatrix skirt was mostly a cosmetic adornment to what's functionally a leotard, like Namora\'s current costume over at Marvel - she could move freely, whereas she'd have to do a Moulin Rouge to get anywhere on foot in THAT skirt (When I say "weight" in terms of skirt, I just mean it falls down naturally rather than getting caught by a breeze. IOW, she'd get tangled up in it).

My favourite Donna costume, incidentally, is this one . Yep it's a unitard, and the version that goes up to her neck rather than the cleavagetastic version of recent times at that, but it's simple and classy.

And you're talking about the "burst in an awkward place" thing, presumably when she tries a high kick or something like that... but she'd be virtually guaranteed to flash everyone if she tried something along those lines in a skirt!

Well, cheerleaderss were underpants instead of 'panties'. I'd think it would be the same thing.

All I'm really saying is that it beats the unitard look. Yeah, they could lose the starry bottom fringe, but other than that, it looks pretty good, seems like it would be a lot less restrictive and definitly represents a change.

So when Dick goes back to being Nightwing, he should wear a skirt rather than his normal unitard?

Let's keep Donna's skirt in context, guys. I don't think it is any way intended to replace the sleek black and star field uni as her super hero costume. It's the outfit she will be wearing for the battle to come on Themyscira.

Diana has different outfits that she wears in different settings, and typically does not stay in the Wonder Woman costume when she is on the island for extended periods. Remember the Perez designed skirt she used to wear sometimes?

Take a closer look at issue #38. Most of the characters, men included, are wearing skirts. Lopresti is definitely going for a "period piece" feel as opposed to titillation or sexualization of the characters. I like the black, blue and silver color scheme. Donna's look fits in well with the rest of the cast in the context of this story

They've been playing with the WW look since Gail and Aaron came on board. Between the elseworld beats and the to-war outfits, I'm glad to see them experimenting with the look of Diana and her comrades.

Donna's skirt is a bit impractical, but this is a super-hero comic book. I like the look- it maintains some continuity and still signifies a more drastic approach than her usual body suit.

Don't know if you heard but WW's celebrating #600 issues soon!:

http://www.comicvine.com/news/wonder-woman-600/139964/

Reboot, he's romany. If he was scottish, yeah, I'm sure the girls would love to see him in a kilt.

Talk about Blue Moon...

Thumbs down from me for Wonder Woman: Blackest Night #2. It reminds me of why I am so fatigued by DC Crossover events. The Nicola Scott artwork is still excellent. The story is just plain weak. I've been reading on the message boards how incredible Mera is in Blackest Night, so I was interested in seeing her in this story. Well, I wasn't that impressed. The story made it seem like Mera and Wonder Woman are great friends, almost best of friends. Where did that come from? I agree that they should be friends and the friendship would have a very interesting dynamic. I've been a Wonder Woman fan for a long time. The relationship was overstated.

The imaginary battles and deaths of Cassie, Donna, and Hyppolyta were just messed up. Pointless and gruesome. They all came across as really petty. I guess catty comments still count as characterization for female characters? Come on, Rucka. You can do better than that.

And now, we're supposed to believe that this secret love that Diana harbors for Batman is key to bringing her back from the dark side? I'm confused and insulted. It makes no sense and DC writers have got to quit treating Diana as an appendage for Superman and Batman.

Well, I loved the conclusion of this arc. I always love 'come together' plots- especially ones that don't utilize new-agey 'focus your will together' kind of resolutions pulled from some magic book or other.

I hope to see Achilles in a variety of settings in the future. If there was any justice, *he'd* get a new series instead of that nabob, Magog.

It was gratifying to see Alkyone 'get hers', but I hope she somehow survives, as villainesses you love to hate are the rarest creatures in comics. I mean, would anyone want to see her 'reform'? Don't get me wrong, I *like* redemptive character turns (Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Piper, Catwoman) as much as I dislike their opposites-- but *every* villainess doesn't have to turn good. Or even show shades of gray (though I'll never criticize *that* segment of the color wheel). Here's hoping Alkyone turns up again and again, with ever loonier plots in that bald head of hers!

Well I thought this has been a pretty weak string of Wonder Woman issues for some time now but the final story of this arc (#39) was actually a strong step in the right direction. I haven't really found this story to interesting at all and that's my biggest complaint; yet here Gail shows off her writing skills at bringing the events to such a strong close that I sat back and took notice.

One complaint I just can't stop having is the continued use of Zues here (and in Hercules too). Enough is enough and kill the bastard off already. He's such a weak, useless character that I can't stand him. I think that's a major longtime problem with Wonder Woman's series: the Greek Gods are pretty annoying for me and no one can ever get them right. I prefer the other characters of myth, including Achilles and legendary heroes, but actual longtime "Gods" (re: not character raised to Godhood) always seem to blunder around.

Achilles, on the other hand, had a great role here. I'd like to see his continued involvement in Diana's life.

Alkyone is probably the best Wonder Woman villain to be invented since the 1940's. Great, great new character (I assume Gail created her in her first arc).

Aaron Lopresti's work is just great and if it wasn't for that earlier in the arc I'd probably have never bothered to read the end. Plus, he draws totally awesome Megaladon sharks.

Now I hope Gail uses this momentum to move things along and get back on track. I'm groaning about the oncoming Ares story (yet another character no WW writer has ever gotten right IMO) but hopefully there will be some other things before that hits.

Gail's been telling a long story since she came on board, in the same vein as John's or Bendis. It's been enjoyable seeing someone take time to build (rebuild) Diana's world. Since Amazons Attack, her world has been in disarray. With her run, Gail's brought back the fantastical excitement of Paradise Island, showing us what an intriguing life she has on Themyscira.

It's been a bit heavy on the mythology yes. But it's given Lopresti opportunities to draw some amazing art. From Diana's varying looks to Poseidon's creatures, to Achilles' warriors, it's all been a pleasure to look at.

With the new issue of Wonder Woman, we get a new storyline. And no more Zeus, no more Achilles, no more Amazons attacking, Gail's brought Diana back to DC (Washington that is.) She sets up a story focusing on different prejudices, instigated by a trio/quartet? of prep school kids with some cool nicknames.

I know folks had an issue with the Greek stuff, here's something a little more modern for you all.

I love the mythology and would eat it up if that's all the series ever was (what's wrong with a setting distinct from pretty much *every* superhero book out there?)- but I realize I'm in the vast minority here, so I welcome the more standard superhero stuff, too. I guess WW's status beyond comics means she shouldn't be *too* pigeon-holed into an easily forgotten corner of the DCU.

Greek (and Norse) gods and goddesses have *always* had stories told about them that stresses their human-like foibles. That's a big part of their enduring hold on western storytelling, not just in comics. And a not inconsiderable role in the development of Western Civilization as a whole.

In comics, though, they do create a somewhat unique dilemma. A writer has to reconcile their existence not just with 'reality', but with a reality filled with colorful, superhumanly powered heroes and heroines and villains and villainesses that have to actually be the stars of their tales.

If Zeus and Athena were presented to the fullness of their potentials in the DCU setting, could WW or Superman or Batman believably be the heroes that they are or are meant for us to believe they are?

I guess that's why Zeus's bumbling around is what we see... and Hades' and Ares' one-note villain characterizations are the rule. Neither of them were uncomplex villains, any more than war or death are purely evil in reality. Interesting that Athena doesn't seem to be 'lessened' in her DCU appearances. Is that only because they've been relatively few? I always wonder about Apollo's perpetual absence...

Anyway- #41's out and it features a break from mythological setting, though a figure from myth is featured in a prominent opening subplot, along with some new(?) characters with *very* myth-based origins continuing to cause trouble.

I loved this issue for a number of reasons. First of all, there's Achilles moving to... well, somewhere in America. For some reason, I thought it was Washington DC, but that's not actually stated. I liked the bit with Patrick Cleese... but if Achilles were the leading character, I'd find the Diana-as-matchmaker bit and the reincarnated Patroclus thing as way too much too fast too easily. *However*, as this isn't someone who's going to get his own miniseries or back-up anytime soon, I'm OK with moving along his story at a heightened pace.

What I really liked was Mysia and Chris Batista's rendition of Achilles astride the two-trunked, three-eyed flying elephant vaulting into the nightsky above Thalarion. Beautiful.

Oh, yeah- this is a Wonder Woman comic. I liked that part of the issue, too. WW and PG go through a fairly routine 'mind-influenced-super-heroes-fight-each-other-instead-of-the-bad-guys' plot, but with some enjoyable twists. First of all, even though one of them's under the influence, so to speak, she still thinks and acts like herself.

There's a battle of words at the heart of shaking off the influence, rather than just a punch in the gut. Or in conjuction with a punch or two, to be more accurate. These are two fighters. But that's not all they are.

I liked that characterization was revealed while fighting, something that doesn't happen nearly as much as it should in superhero comics. I liked the 'did she just punch me to Canada' line. I liked the way elements dating back to WW's earliest history were intertwined with recent events (the bondage bit, Reformation Island, the white gorilla to the rescue, the too-short glimpse of Steve and Etta).

What didn't I like? The 'she's not Amazon' line. Hippolyta would think this, or Artemis. But Diana? The only thing worse would be if Donna had thought it. Diana and PG sitting on clouds at issue's end? Floating among- great. But how do you sit on a cloud? Maybe Diana was using the L________ tech that the invisible plane's made from...

How long till the little sons of Ares raise a ruckus on Reformation Island? Was that the plan all along?

I hope Diana's use of actual spanking comes back to her-- it was well-justified and good for a chuckle, but the psychology of the act shouldn't be ignored.

It was a nice short story wasn't it ML? And while the mythology was present, it was more just to tie the issue to the current series.

Gail really showed Diana's and Kara's personalities. She gave us a great peek inside each woman's mind, how they approach a fight, how they look at life, and at each other. I gotta disagree with ya ML - Diana's comment about not being an Amazon seemed spot on. She respects Kara as an opponent, but her training as an Amazon is a way of life, she's more than her powers.

And seeing PG try and handle crowd control was more entertaining than WW's handling of the villains of the story.

Achilles' story is one of those slow burns. Just hope it isn't too slow.

It's official. Gail Simone is leaving Wonder Woman. JM Straczynski will be the new writer. I respect them both. The high point of Gail's run for me was the sword and sorcery arc. Best of luck to her. I've enjoyed Stracynski's Brave and Bold stories and look forward to his work on both Wonder Woman and Superman. And the beat goes on....

While I didn't dislike Gail's run on WW, I have to say I'm not heartbroken about her leaving the title. I just didn't *love it* like I did so many of Gail's other comics. Like Jerry, the high point for me was the sword & sorcery arc but many other arcs landed flat.

I do look forward to Gail's return to BOP and also to JMS's arrival on Wonder Woman. I'm still waiting for that Wonder Woman run that really just blows me away--thus far it has yet to exist in my lifetime.

I'm waiting for something to top Perez' run ...

#43- Astarte, the till-now unseen aunt of Wonder Woman, is the main opponent, at least until we meet *her* daughter, Theana on the last page.

What do WW fans here think of these additions to Diana's family?

I haven't decided yet... I'd be more interested if it were Hippolyta's *other* sister who appeared.

For me the highlight was once again Achilles and his elephant... this time acting more like a superhero. With Etta as his scene-partner!?

I understand he's set to appear in OUTSIDERS, which has me disappointed, since *that* title isn't DC's greatest at the moment, to say the least.

Ah, well- hope springs and all that.

There's what- one or two more issues of Gail's run? JMS would ordinarily have me excited, until I saw his actual starting point. Themyscira once again destroyed. How original. I'm pretty sure the elements of the current supporting cast/milieu that I enjoy won't be around for much longer. Bye-bye Gorilla Knights and Achilles (once you survive the Outsiders)... have fun with the Minotaur butler and Wonder Boy and Merboy and Birdboy in WW limbo land.

What future limbo dwellers will JMS introduce?

Big news. Wonder Woman is getting pants and a whole new costume designed by Jim Lee. Plus, a mysterious new origin. I'm in. Of course, I'm almost as loyal to Wonder Woman as I am to the Legion. Here's hoping lots of other people check it out.

Very reminiscent of Diana's costume she wore while Artemis was temporarily WW, isn't it? Not sure how I feel about it at the moment, but I'm skeptical she'll wear it longterm. I suppose, though, you could say it's a little more...dignified?

I kind of like the costume, but not big on the new origin at all. It's somewhat ironic that they're eliminating all reference to the American flag in her outfit while at the same time making her less a foreigner.

Dunno what to think about her having a "new origin". I haven't read the article, but I'd hate to think they're rebooting the character somehow. I mean, there have been several 'soft' reboots (and a few hard ones) in the DCU after the initial post-Crisis reboots, but the bigger characters have mostly just had tweaks. I'd definitely be opposed to all of that great Perez foundation being buried.

I expect this to be a temporary thing anyway. Her whole mission is supposedly to fix the timestream so I imagine she'll eventually be back to normal, but with some of this newer stuff added. (which will then be dropped when another writer takes the reins)

I also don't like the outfit. The torso part isn't bad, but the jacket and bracelets that leave her initials (whaaa-aa-aat??) are not so good. From the preview pages, it looks like she's getting a serious downgrade in power as well. I wonder if JMS is just continuing some stuff he had in mind when he started "Thor."

Also, what happened with the previously released teaser image of manly-man Diana standing in the rubble of Paradise island? I thought that was supposed to be the launch of the new direction. (Or did that happen already?)

I understand DC's need to do something with Wonder Woman since it really feels like the charater is just floundering. JMS really nailed it when he said DC has treated Wonder Woman like "the ferrari that gets bought but only ever stays in the garage".

WW also has a great history of having her continuity completely dropped in order for a new one to take effect so her above all other superhero characters just seems naturally apt for something like this.

I guess at the end of the day, with Wonder Woman in particular 'right now', I just don't care all that much if they make massive changes to her. I just want the comic book to be good and get my interest.

I think the costume is cool but don't care if it lasts or doesn't. Her original is on the short list of classic superhero costumes and I love it but I don't mind a brief change.

Wonder Woman, like Aquaman (and Thor, and Namor) benefits from having a cool 'hidden land' built into her backstory, that can be mined for a completely different sort of storytelling than a standard superhero.

Walt Simonson took this to the logical conclusion with his run on Thor. JMS, IMO, is totally missing the boat here. Wonder Woman doesn't need to have Themiscrya destroyed, she needs to have it explored and expanded.

Has Aquaman benefitted from the half-dozen times that writers have blown up Atlantis to get him away from it and make him 'more accessible?' No. He's only suffered for it, and his potential as a character has floundered.

Taking away the rich mythological background elements of Diana that make her more than 'Captain Marvel-lite' or 'Superman with boobs' is a mistake, I think. Her powers keep getting redefined to make her more and more of a female Superman (or Shazam), but I feel that's a big failure. She needs to be a character in her own right, as different from Clark (and Bruce) as Hal or Barry or Ray, not just 'like him, but with girl-parts.' Turning her into yet another survivor of a destroyed culture or shattered family isn't 'new' or 'fresh,' it's dismissing her actual backstory in favor of Clark's or Bruces. If you want to write those stories, go write them with Clark or Bruce.

I like the costume, but not for her. It would look great on a new character, and it's a good picture, but Diana looks cooler in armor, IMO.

Making her an orphan from a destroyed land really does seem to make her a Superman-lite, doesn't it?

Reading the article, I don't think JMS is trying to divorce her from the mythological aspect at all. There's a heavy implication that the threat comes from Greek mythology (at least partly) and that the goal will be to either retake or re-establish Themyscira in the process. It reads like a longform or finite story that may ultimately result in the restoration of the status quo. I guess what it'll come down to is whether this epic alternate reality tale will be worthwhile in the long haul. If it's a story well told, I think it will, regardless of its longterm ramifications. The key here is will it be a story well told?

I get the analogy, but I would say that what JMS is doing is more like taking that ferrari, which is built for speed and having it jump over buses because he's tired of seeing it just go fast all the time. (hm, on second thought, I wouldn't mind seeing a ferrari jump some buses...)

I have iomages of Ferris Buellers Day Off in my head. Not the same car...but the analogy is there.

I think that DC needs a cartoon or movie of Wonder Woman to give interest, not a reboot. There is a huge market of females that don't read comics, but may love this character.

Wonder Woman #600 was an enjoyable issue. A lot of people were let down by last week's Superman #700, and its lack of bonus material. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, packs the bonus material in.

The Lynda Carter introduction is heartwarming. The issue contains some really nice pin ups by some of DC's best artists. George Perez provides pencils for Simone's farewell story. The return of some old friends. A funny story about Power Girl's cat. Good stuff.

All this, plus a new look and an unexpected new direction. I like the new look, and I'm already drawn into the new story line.

I'm going to admit I only bought this issue because of one of the colorists, not that I didn't want to, I was hoping for it.

I never really read Wonder Woman before, but I knew about Vanessa, Silver Swan, and I'm glad she got a happy ending. Gives me hope.

The biggest supporter of Wonder Woman's new look? Lynda Carter. She was pretty adamant about it too! I'd provide links but I'm lazy--you'll find it if you google it.

When I read the JMS interview, I did think he was trying to give her a more meaningful origin. Her refugee status is akin to Suplerman's. But it does sound like she's trying more to represent Amazon culture, keep it alive, perhaps even rebuild it and make it relevant in a modern world.

The costume doesn't seem all that iconic, very similar to Superboy and Wonder Girl. I doubt it will last, but I do think Diana needs something more to make readers take notice. this should do the trick.

To me, this all seems so temporary that it's hard to find the energy to get really worked up about it.

I'm sure that by the end of this alternative timeline story (or at least soon after it) Diana will be back in the origin and costume that we all know and (at least some of us) love.

I will say one thing for JMS's story here though - it sounds A LOT more intersting than the one he has coming up in Superman. I'm kinda wishing that I had added this book to my pull instead.

I agree, I haven't mustered up much of an opinion either way because it all feels so temporary, but I am interested in the whats & whys of JMS's plan and seeing fans lose their minds.

But let's be honest here. Everything about Wonder Woman ever has seemed so temporary that who really gives a crap? When was the last time someone gave her a set-up that felt like it'd stick? George Perez? That lasted what, 6 years tops?

But the revamp of both FLASH and GL feels very permanent. Maybe WW's time has come, without need for a Rebirth story. IF JMS can make Diana a big draw, and a temporary costume is needed for that, then bring it on.

I haven't read this yet but I have to wonder how this will impact Donna and Cassie...

Ceej, I'm in agreement with you. What I want more than anything is to feel like the stories right now matter. If JMS can recapture that, than I think its enough to get me on board.

(That and them being good of course, but I trust JMS on that front).

Agreed. A good story is a good story is a good story, I say. The question is: will it be a good story?

Serious question: Why is that important?


(Editor's note: Lardy's post above quotes a post I deleted in favor of quoting and responding to a later post. It happens.)

Hannah gave the new outfit the two thumbs up review. She likes it a lot. Guess that means it works on some level.

For me personally, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes my reasoning is fair to the characters, creators and company and sometimes it isn't.

But I'll tell you why with Wonder Woman. After all these years, I just have never felt much of a connection to the character. The only time I've ever truly enjoyed her comics are the ones I've read from the early 1960's and the late 1960's Mod era.

I *want* to like the character. So I feel like if they can convince me I have an invested interest in Diana's future, it might draw me in.

Naturally, many fans will not feel that way. Especially if they already love the last 10 years of the comic.

I don't feel this way with all the comics I buy, and probably not even most or even half of them. I like many titles that each issue stands on its own. I love House of Mystery because the stories within the stories are so out there and have no real effect on the larger storyline.

The mystery deepens in issue #601. Sharp dialogue. Interesting art. I'm getting a good vibe.

Cobie, there's an echo of the Mod era in this week's issue. Diana really has to work at a couple of things. The intrigue level is higher than the sample we got in #600.

As for this story not being permanent, it's mentioned in the issue that the past has been changed. So it likely won't be permanent, but there's already a few things I like about the change that I can see sticking around.

I got the impression from something that Diana would remember all this after things are back to normal. Just an impression, though. I hope she keeps the pants. That a mature woman representing feminine power is running around in a swimsuit is beyond ridiculous at this point. When they announced the costume change on the news one of the reporters just shook his head and said "About time." The reaction on another station was similar. It's led me to believe that super-heroines in skimpy costumes is one of the big reasons mainstreamers are turned off comics.

This new direction in Wonder Woman is sounding more and more interesting to me.

Must... resist... urge... to spend... money... on it...

From issue #602:

"I want all of you to go.. I want all of you to live so I can spit in the face of the gods, and tell them they're wrong."

That's the Diana I like to see. I'm totally fascinated with both the story and the manner in which it is being told.

So I caught up for the new era of Wonder Woman, reading #601-602.

My first thoughts were: wow, this Don Kramer artwork is pretty incredible! He is really knocking it out of the park, and the series has both a 'down to Earth' feel where things are tight and gritty, but also at times it will suddenly feel very widescreen and epic. His Diana is beautiful yet fierce.

I'm actually enjoying Diana in the new costume right now. We all know she'll revert back eventually but I don't mind the temporary change.

Overall, JMS's story from a plot-perspective is very interesting. There is a suspense to it with some real mystery. JMS also draws heavily on real history and Greek myths, creating an interesting blend.

In terms of story-telling, JMS is doing an excellent job. The series is unfolding really well and gradually building steam, and JMS maintains a level of tension throughout to keep the reader intrigued.

I'm enjoying this new era of Wonder Woman quite a bit so far.

I'm lovin' it!!

You know as I recently learned from the new WW Encyclopedia Astarte was Diana's aunt pre-crisis & a golden robot from space. Having not read the issue your're referring to there I don't know how much (if any of that) is still true.

The Astarte recently introduced by Gail Simone was quite different from the pre-crisis version.

RE: #603. This book is a visual feast. The Keres were creepy looking. The coloring really sets the mood. I'm liking Daina's personality and I'm still wrapped up in the mystery of it all.

I'm curious, how so? Sadly I haven't been able to read any of Gail's run even though I really want to.

The first Astarte – Empress of the Silver Snake - appeared in a two-part story in Wonder Woman (v.1) issues #252 and #253 published in 1979. The story was by Harris and Delbo. She had a gold metallic body and wore a silver outfit. She looked like an exotic robot. She shot green rays from her eyes and traveled through space in a ship that looked like a giant silver snake.

Astarte attacked Wonder Woman in space. She kept making vague comments about Wonder Woman stealing her body. It was eventually revealed that Astarte was the spirit of Queen Hyppolyte’s dead sister Diana – who Wonder Woman was named after. Diana was killed in the ancient battle with Hercules. Her spirit traveled through space, not realizing she was dead, for years before creating her new body from a gold and silver asteroid. She went to her final rest after Hyppolyte convinced her that she was really dead.

The recent Astarte appeared in a three-part story in Wonder Woman (v.3) #42 through #44. The story was by Simone and Scott. This Astarte was very human looking. She was a tall tough blond woman who carried a very big gun. She wore a military style uniform. Astarte was the cruel captain of a well armed alien group known as the Citizenry. In a nod to the original story, one of their weapons was a giant silver serpent robot thing that they dropped on a residential area. Etta, Steve, and Achilles dealt with the destruction.

This Astarte claimed to be the older sister of Hyppolyta. Three thousand years ago the Citizenry came to Earth to kidnap the infant Hyppolyta. Astarte sacrificed herself and went with them in Hyppolyta’s place. She eventually adopted the Citizenry’s cruel ways as her own, killed their Captain, and became even crueler than her one-time captors. She forced Wonder Woman into an arena battle with her warrior daughter, Theana. I won’t spoil the ending. Many Wonder Woman fans have been critical of Simone’s run. Yeah, whatever. This is a good story and is well worth picking up if you can still find the issues.

You ain't kidding! This is probably the best Wonder Woman artwork since Perez. It's just so dynamic!

I really like the mysterious, atmospheric mood of the story too.

I'm still really enjoying it!

Okay, I think we're far enough into it to make some educated guesses about what is going on. My theory is that this is the Wonder Woman of the new Earth One.

Well, the transition from JMS doing all the writing on Wonder Woman to Phil Hester coming on as writer following JMS plots has begun. Thus far, the transition seems pretty seamless and isn’t noticeable, even if it annoys me on a personal level. Interestingly enough, Phil Hester’s recent takeover of the Green Hornet writing chores has been good enough to keep me buying when I thought I would drop following Kevin Smith’s departure so I wonder if something similar will occur here.

The artwork by Don Kramer remains fantastic, and I love the way he draws Diana. I really enjoy the way urban cities combine with mythological settings here—it creates a very eerie feel to the series.

In fact, the tone of the current run more than anything is what is making WW so appealing to me. Moreso than any WW run in years. I’m really engaged in the storyline right now even though I didn’t think I would be. I think Jerry may have been right in his prediction, that this is the Earth-1 Wonder Woman we are seeing (which actually would be the first thing to make me interested in DC’s Earth-1 stories, since the GN of Superman and Batman were a hard pass from me).

The Morrigan is interesting so far but the creators will really have to put some effort into making her/them different from the Furies (of Sandman and other fame).

#607: I liked the Minotaur and wish he hadn't taken the action he did. I find myself just not really caring about Diana and these Amazons and the Morrigans, since I'm fairly certain it's all going to be set back to DCU default before long, anyway. I guess the bland costume will remain.

I much preferred what came before the JMS regime. There were problems, sure, but at least there was a sense of fun. I know, kiss of death.

I think the art is fine and the storytelling's competent. It just isn't engaging my imagination or my heart. One or the other ought to be by anything with 'Wonder Woman' on the cover.

Hmmm- my feeling about this title haven't changed a bit since February. It was sort of fun seeing Cheetah and Giganta as 'sisters', but that's not going to last.

I think 614's the last issue involving this 'reality'? I'll keep reading, but I'm past ready for 615- or which ever issue sees Diana restored to her right mind and a continuity that flows along with the rest of the DCU. Will that not be till after FLASHPOINT? Gods...

A bit more progress with #610. The villain remains a mystery but we get more insight into the mechanisms of the switch.

RE: #612

The answers finally start to come. So it's not some alternate Earth or timeline, but the workings of the gods and godesses that we know so well. This time they have a valid motivation rather than just playing petty games with Diana and her sisters. They also treat her with an abundance of respect. Nice. I'm still enjoying the visuals and looking forward to the big battle next issue.

Was that a secret? I seem to remember the Gods being behind it in the promotional interviews.

Can you mention what the motivation was behind a spoiler? How are they showing respect?

No, I guess it wasn't that much of secret. I just had the feeling that there was more to it than that because the gods always have some hand in Diana's life.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">The gods have been in exile, hiding from a mad god (godess) named Nemesis. Nemesis is not an Olympian god, but an Earth bound god. She is the goddess of the unjustly slain, the murdered and war dead - finally brought to a level of power that makes her an unbeatable threat because of years of human atrocity.</span></span>

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">The purpose behind the odyssey was to prepare Diana to defeat Nemesis in a way that her original upbringing could not. It was necessary for the gods to hide her away from Themyscira in the midst of mortals, to better develop the humanity that would be needed to defeat Nemesis.</span></span>

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Regarding the respect - there are several pages of dialogue in which the gods eloquently sing Diana's praises, and the hope she represents for the world. Zues says, "But you, Diana, you are the world as it might be. You are our better tomorrow."</span></span>

Hey that all sounds more interesting than I expected. But I bet the REAL reason was for the comic to look more like the WW series that was planned.

And we know how well THAT works... see "de-aging Black Canary because of the BoP TV series that was cancelled almost BEFORE that comic storyline was completed"...

RE: #614

A strong finish for the current Wonder Woman series and the Odyssey. The last few pages set up the relaunch perfectly.

Month after month, year after year, I read all the complaints about Wonder Woman comic books, the writers, the artists and the lack of respect that DC shows the character.

Month after month, year after year, I read the book and fail to understand where all the negativity comes from. There are few things in life that I enjoy more than reading a good Wonder Woman story. Odyssey continued that trend. It was a fascinating character study, a fun experiment and a mystery with some satisfying outcomes. The art was solid throughout. Yet, the "fans" howled as loud as ever. I read one review today that declared it the worst year in Wonder Woman's history. Oh wait. Wasn't that last year? Or the year before? Oh no, it's the relaunch that's going to destroy the character. Yeah, whatever...

Well, the first issue of the new Wonder Woman was not what I expected. Pretty creepy and dark with very little explanation of how Diana fits into the relaunched DC Universe. It is definitely interesting and it appears that this story is going to have some depth. Too early to judge, but it has my interest.

It's definitely different from anything I've seen out of WW before. I can see this being a big hit with the Vertigo/"dark/edge" fans.

I may have to try this...

I thought the story itself was everything promised. It hit all the notes it set out to hit. Wonder Woman comes across as slightly more of a guest star than the lead, in a way. On the other hand, it was an effective build up to her introduction.

That said, I find this take on the gods problematic. Will it be balanced by gods 'patronizing' mankind beneficially as well as terrorizing it? We see a bit of that with Hermes, perhaps.

I'm not fond of the looks chosen for the gods, in fact, I don't like them. But I acknowlege their effectiveness in the story presented here and can't argue with anyone who appreciates them.

Looking ahead, if Diana's relationship with the Olympians will always be this pessimistic, I won't be a WW reader for long.

Even if the stories are as well-told as this one.

I really liked the first issue. This might be the first time I'll actually collect "Wonder Woman" on a regular basis.

I was also reminded a bit of a Vertigo title - "Sandman" in particular in terms of the tone, the machinations of the gods and how these dramas trample across human life. (yes, of course tales of this kind are much older than Vertigo, but they didn't come with such pretty pictures! )

It also reminds me of "Thor" in that the drama and mythology are more interesting than the main character. It remains to be seen if that's the case here, but the setup is obviously light on Diana's characterization. Right now, she's placeholder for "hero."

My main motivation for picking this up, aside from curiosity, was the art and I was very pleased. I actually really liked the designs for the various gods - they weren't traditional: the peacock lady I'm guessing is Athena? I like how you never get a good look at her. Hermes, looking more like a WWI soldier with that helmet rather than the FTD florist logo, and Apollo, his daytime and nighttime looks. If anything, the reinvention of a mythology (and to a not-so-small degree the art) remind me more of "Mage" really - and that is a very, VERY good thing.

Wonder Woman kicked off with a terrific start! I've always this series and after one issue, I'm more enthusiastic for the relaunch than Ive been for any WW runs in years!

First: love the build up for Diana and then seeing her in action. We haven't gotten much insight to her thinking yet but she's confident, capable, a warrior and a thinker. She's heroic, in the same sense as Odysseus or Achilles. And while she's stunningly beautiful, there is nothing gratuitous about her, much like Superman.

Next: an excellent story as well! I like this usage of the Greco-Roman deities; it's edgy and different. The tired old Greek Gods approach has been done to death and is done in Marvel's U already. If any series should set the tone for a new interpretation of them, it's this one.

The tone and atmosphere were fantastic, and I think the comparison to Sandman that Drake made is apt, though with much more action (and sense of urgency). There is a balance of horror / superhero / mythological saga adventure and it works.

I really enjoyed it. DC did something right: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are all at the top of the DCnU in terms of quality. When was the last time that happened all at once?

Cobie comparison: better than JL #1? Yes, one of my favorites so far.

Now that you mention peacock feathers, the mystery goddess ought to be Hera once again striking out at one of Zeus's conquests, a pregnant Zola.

Yes, I totally read the story to point to a jealous Hera as the one who is trying to kill Zola.

A great developing story. The solicitation described it as a horror story, but it's well above the usual blood and guts of that genre. I echo Mystery Lad's hope for some benevolent gods so that it's not just Diana defending humans. Sandman is a good comparison - and this is the first time I've really been interested in Wonder Woman.

It was also very refreshing to see that she has normal size boobs, a very athletic body but realistic. Zola as well looked like a regular, actual female and, after the seemingly endless lacy lingerie shots from the other books, it was good to see a woman in boring, everyday underwear.

Issue #2 kicked ass! The art is gorgeous and Wonder Woman looks stunningly beautiful. The story is moving along at a brisk pace. Nice interlude on Mount Olympus. DCnU Paradise Island is beautifully depicted as is its queen. Looking forward to next issue...

Four fins up (out of a possible five) on the Sharky scale

^Seconded! Fantastic #2 that gave all the elements that made #1 so memorable while adding a little extra oomph in that it didn't waste time clarifying story points and giving us some revelations.

Hera for the first time (EVER?) comes off as an antagonist whose point of view is something you can understand. Hermes is just awesome in every single panel he's in.

But the heart of the issue was Diana's place among the Amazons and with her mother, and I thought they really nailed it and made it feel important, exciting and emotional. Wonder Woman as "the perfect Amazon" was told to us and then shown to us.

I love that Hippolyta is blonde again, like she was in the Golden Age and Silver Age.

This is possibly a contender for my favorite of all the DCnU. And I've always collected it but its never been my favorite before.

I loved #2! This book rocks!!

I was unaware that Hippolyte was ever a blonde. I'm still fond of Perez's rendering of the Amazon Queen.
My only beef is Strife's name. Ares' sister is Eris and Eris' son is named Strife. I just finished teaching the Greek mythology unit to my ninth graders and I wished the writer and/or editor had done their homework.

Yeah # 2 solidified this version of WW for me, whereas # 1 had me on the fence with its WTF-ness.

Is that redhead ponytail chick Artemis? Why isn't her name Artemis??

#3 finally hooked me (well, I loved that Hippolyta is blonde again, in the previous issue, but </span></span>

And Owl Lad - I know we want things to be correct, but this IS supposed to be a different universe from ours, so the various myths used for the different DC titles that use various mythologies, are going to well, be different from those mythologies.
Making Strife a grandaughter to Hera would have been cumbersome to the storytelling, I think, and lessened the connection she has to Diana.
Just my thoughts on your comment.

On Themyscira: what do you think of it's much more literal depiction as a bronze age Hellenistic town? I both like and dislike it. I appreciate the research that obviously went into its depiction, but I miss the fantasy of the marble and the hills and the statuary and the pseudo-tech, none of which so far appears to be included.

I don't like brutish Amazons, though.

I'm still on the fence regarding the Olympians.

Diana, though, is coming across pretty realistically. If a tad adolescent.

Hard to connect these dots with the ones in JUSTICE LEAGUE, though.

Like you, Mystery Lad, I'm torn on the presentation of Themyscira. The marvelous detail of George Perez in the early days of the post crisis WW captured my imagination in a way that I don't think anyone will ever be able to top. That being said, I can't find much to complain about in the current artwork except that it isn't Perez. But, what is?

Regarding the changes/revelations to Diana's origin, and apparent disconnect with Justice League, I'm waiting to watch it all unfold. Ask me in year. It does appear that a lot of thought has been put into Wonder Woman's latest "new direction". I'm intrigued and interested, and definitely in for the long haul.

Just finished #3. Simply FABOO!

Agreed! I also totally loved it! This is one of my favorites right now.

I love the way the dieties are being portrayed--IMO the best they've EVER been done in Wonset Woman! It's time they got away from the prior interpretations which coincidentally are done the same way in Marvel and every other place for 50 years. Here they are unique and strange and difficult to grasp, as they should be.

What a great way of reimagining Diana's origin without dismissing the clay origins. Brilliant and it gives Diana a whole host of new stories with her new family tree.

And <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Hera didn't actually 'kill' the Queen. At least, I don't think she did.
A slimy green statue isn't exactly forever dead, is it?</span></span>

I think Erica Durance looks great as Wonder Woman !

http://www.movieweb.com/news/first-look-at-erica-durance-as-wonder-woman-in-harrys-law-episode-2-11

and previously on Smallville ...

I had no idea that Diana/Erica appeared on Smallville!
She looks great.

Yeah, Lois-as-Wonder Woman looked pretty cool to me.

Then again, I thought the Mercy Reef version of Aquaman was pretty cool, so my willingness to accept just about *any* TV comic book attempt may have clouded my judgement.

By issue #4, I'm now thinking that WW may be the best of the DCnU (only true contender: Batwoman).

My only complaint is its only 20 pages and I have to wait a month for the next one. Really--it's terrific!

Totally agree. Just read #4. The visuals are spectacular. This rendering of Diana is fierce and majestic, yet contemporary. Great cliffhanger.

#5: Poseidon's makeover struck me as unintentionally (perhaps?) humorous. And Hades, I think, briefly appears. Then again, the makeovers of the gods hasn't been as big a hit with me as with most other readers, juding from reviews and comments I've read here and there.

I've been thinking about this disconnect. I think it started with Apollo. I liked the visual well enough, but was put off by the evil, or at least 'dark grey' nature of his characterization. Why is Apollo depicted similarly time after time? In novels, mostly, but as well as comics? I don't get it. Apollo would've been the most straightforward heroic update. Is that why? Sometimes, easiest *isn't* a negative. Someday, somewhere I guess I'll read an Apollo-in-the-current-times book or comic that captures my fancy.

Ah, well- I don't dispute the quality of the work; the 'horror' aspect to the Greek gods themselves (as opposed to their squabbling offspring/relatives/rivals) is just a take that doesn't tickle my trigger.

I do like Hera, though. Probably because she's the goddess I least had/have an image of.

Why is Diana in London? Has she lived in the US at all? It's a minor thing that puzzles me and keeps me from fully enjoying the stories.

New guy- Lennox. Claims to be Diana's half-brother. He's cool and all, but he's no substitution for Donna Troy. Can't tell yet if he's a 'good' or a 'bad' brother. If Donna does turn up, Diana's experience with Lennox will color Diana's receptiveness to Donna.

A Wonder Woman suspicious or leery of her Wonder Girl might be an interesting dynamic.

I agree about Apollo - I don't see him as burning up his oracles.
He was portrayed as a god of healing and life in the Greek myths and I prefer him as such, especially with so many negative and cold, god actions and personalities.

I'm not sure why Posiden wants Olympus since he has the oceans, which cover most of our world and most of the life here.

Zeus has more children than Diana and Lennox, of course - there's Hercules (one of the 12 highest on the Pantheon as voted by the gods), Apollo, Artemis and Athena, to name a few but probably the greatest.

Diana may be considered the 'last' though, if Zola dies.
I had a thought about Zola's child, perhaps it's Zeus, in hiding?

I didn't like the art much this time, #6, but I read it over multiple times to try to really understand the story.

Did Diana, Hermes, Lennox and Hades light, bind Hera to her home, effectively 'blinding' her?
That would keep her from finding and killing Zola and the baby, right?

And Hades is trying to hold Diana to the 2 gods, one queen idea/bargain?
Doesn't Hades already have a queen/wife, the goddess of Spring, I forget her name?
The Greek gods weren't known for multiple wives, lovers yes, wives no.

Persephone. Another Greek god that gets amazingly little play- in any media. Goddess of the spring who's married to the god of the afterlife- for half the year. Who knows what she's up to the other half?

I think I don't really want to see this creative team's take on her. She'll probably be a talking haystack with a maw that leads straight to hell (since that's what this Hades is calling his realm- despite the fact that the Greek mythological version was really nothing like the Christian hell).

Apollo was the god of light and the sun, truth, plague, music and poetry, as well as healing. Guess the 'plague' part caught the creative team's fancy. :rolleyes:

Yes.
It was like all of the discussion about Power Girl a few years ago and the only part Geoff used was the boob window and her attitude problem.
sigh

I've always liked Persephone. Her mother, the Harvest goddess, name again ?, is the one who graciously gave up her position on the Pantheon for Hercules to take.

The goddess of Spring was enough, and SHOULD have been enough, for Hades. She brought life and light and laughter to his realm. She stayed 6 months, all through spring and summer, leaving at the fall solstice, IIRC.
When she wasn't with him, she was up here with her mother bringing warmth, color and bounty to everything on earth.
So, she should be doing good stuff.

It's too bad that we don't see any of the positive gods and goddess besides Hermes, especially Diana's traditional patronesses Aphrodite, Athena and Artemis, the AAAs of Olympia.

And I'm sorry that Diana feels that her life was destroyed.

Persephone/Prosperina's mother was Demeter/Ceres.

But I think Hestia (goddess of the home and hearth) was the one voted off the island so that Hercules could become one of the big 12, 'though. Hard to remember, which of fifteen or so gods were one of the twelve Olympians tended to change depending on who was listing them...

Hestia would be a rocking patron for a superhero. She's the goddess of the home, the walls that defend and contain, as well as the hearth-fire. Some combination of flame powers and force-field powers would fit (or perhaps the ability to summon defensive walls or transform / animate surrounding matter into protective barriers)

A Shazam-analogue that derived powers from the six Olympian goddesses, Hera, Aphrodite, Hestia, Athena, Demeter and Artemis, could be all kinds of awesome.

When I was a child, I didn't find a lot of sci-fi/fantasy books and authors in the school library. We were too small of a town to have a city library, that I remember.
So, the Greek/Roman/Norse myths were my major sourse of imagination, until I hit middle school.

I've read so many that they might have become confused, that and the Romans adopted the Greek gods, which mucked about a lot of the stories.

Hestia was VERY important in the Roman world, IIRC, so she may have been reinstated and the other one nixed.

We have the Renaissance influence and interpretations, too.
And I'm no scholar on the subject, just an interested fan.

I think that all of the mythological gods and goddesses were wonderful superheroes or supervillians; especially the later ones, second and third tier!

Shady, I had the same fascination as a kid, especially the Norse gods. I found the concept of Ragnarok so different that if always got me to learn every minor role each god played in it.

I clearly remember being a kid and learning that the Roman deities were the Greek ones renamed; this perplexed and intrigued me to no end.

Yes, the Norse were fun.
I wanted to be a Valkyrie for a time.
I liked Frigga and her apples, too.
I was fascinated by Ragnarok, too, and the Rainbow Bridge.
sigh

Then, Marvel started Thor.

Ah, fond memories!

The second tier Greco-Roman goddesses, if anything, were even more interesting than the Olympians! Hecate - magic and witchcraft, Selene - the moon, Nike - winged victory, Tyche - good fortune, Eos - the dawn, Iris - the rainbow, messenger of the gods, Eris - discord and strife, etc.

And yeah, Valkyrie was always my favorite Defender. She had the whole Asgardian thing going on, but wasn't quite as over-the-top powerful as Thor, making her seem like a better team player.

Freyja, with her stewardship over the Valkyries (and status as a Vanir in King Odin's court), along with her seithr magic traditions, falcon-feather cloak and lion-drawn chariot, always fascinated me.

The same dieties were also worshipped under yet another series of names by the Etruscans, more or less. Nethuns was Poseidon was Neptune. Fafluns was Dionysus was Bacchus. Tinia -> Zeus -> Jupiter, Turan -> Aphrodite -> Venus, Turms -> Hermes -> Mercury, Uni -> Hera -> Juno, etc.

The Olympians got around!

Thor, Zeus, Herakles, Ares, etc. get so much play. I'd love to see more of gods like Skadi or Freyja or Artemis or Hermes. A heavy-hitting divinely powerful *archer* or *speedster* super-hero would be a huge changeup to the usual 'big strong dude' comic-book god-of-myth fare.

Members of the Egyptian Ennead (Set!) or Celtic figures like Morrigan or Brighid or Manannan or Nuada barely get any play, by comparison to the Greek and Norse, and the Sumerian / Babylonian / Aztec / Mayan / Chinese / Japanese / etc. pantheons of dieties are hardly ever touched.

Tons of fascinating figures abound, many of whom would make spectacular heroes or villains or just supporting characters.

The Wonder Woman title, I don't know if you read her Set, is using Hermes and Eris/Strife pretty well at the moment.


I'm not sure who Lennox is supposed to be, whether he's a little known original character (or someone I don't recognize) or if he's one that's made up by DC.

And I never really cared much for the Defenders or Valkyrie, per se, I just want to be one of them. They were a little like angels to me when I was a kid. And they got to ride winged horses. They had hounds too, didn't they? Horses and dogs were passions of mine when I was growing up.

Is Freyja the same as Frigga?
She seems a lot more interesting than the keeper of the Tree of Life for the Norse gods!


Wonder Woman has had other pantheans in her books in the past: Hindu and Christian, for example.
I think I've seen them use Aztec legends, too.

The interesting thing about Roman versus Greek mythology is that the Romans pretty much super-imposed the Greek myths on their pre-existing pantheon of gods and goddesses. So, with some gods more than others, you can actually separate out the distinctively Roman elements as they existed prior to the Greek influence. I'm sure there's a bunch of interesting books to be written (or perhaps that have been written) on that topic.

Frigga (or Frigg) was the wife of Odin and mother of Balder.
Freya was one of the Vanir who came to live in Asgard (along with her brother Frey and their father Njord) as part of the exchange of hostages that ended the war between Asgard and Vanaheim.
The custodian of the tree that produced the Golden Apples of Youth was a goddess named Idunn. She was one of the Aesir, but she was married to Bragi, the god of poetry, not to Odin.

Thanks for clarifying that point!

I don't have any books on the Norse gods and it's been so long ago that I read their stories.
sigh

I'm still having trouble typing, more that usual, tonight.

Lots of interesting discussions going on here! As some of you may know, I went to graduate school for Roman History, though I admit it was not that heavily focused on Roman religion, as fascinating as that was. Something else else that has always stuck out to me is that the Romans had a specific religious ceremony they would conduct before they would conquor a neighboring city or peoples. Within the ceremony, they would essentially invite the local Gods to join the Roman pantheon, and if the ceremony was completed, it would be assumed the Gods accepted (especially if they were then victorious). It had a really incredible effect on the morale of the Romans and their enemies: the Romans saw the other deities as recognizing their superiority and wanting to live within Roman culture, and the Roman enemies, if subsequently defeated, would see this as their own deities abandoning them. It's an incredible concept that takes a little while for the magnitude to sink in.

Set, as Shady mentioned, Hermes and Eris are getting all kinds of good screen time in Wonder Woman these days.

Shady, I also don't recognize Lennox and I'm assuming he's a new character.

I really liked how WW & company decieved both Posedion and Hades in the recent story-arc; that was well played and then the following consequences which are coming up (regarding Hades) is a natural extension. It's interesting to see Diana caught in having to essentially play unfair to solve one problem, causing another that she now has to solve.

I continue to love the re-imagined personages of the Greek deities here (unlike Todd). I've grown so sick of how they are usually presented in comic books that totally rethinking their visuals and keeping their personalities raw and viceral is really doing it for me. Everything thus far also seems to fit within the broader understanding of how the deities were seen in Ancient times, albeit from a different perspective.

Of all the Wonder Woman series over the years that I've sampled, this is the most interesting - largely because of the gods (very Greek Street, although I abandoned that series). I just wonder where it's going to go - will it be a on-going series of stories in which Diana has to deal with the interference of her god-relatives in human affairs, or will they recede into the background?

I'm enjoying the facts presented that Diana ISN'T an ambassador from the Amazons and that she has a father, a direct and powerful being, even though he's missing.

That's interesting info, Cobie, abouit the Romans taking on stealing dieties, especially if they won.

Greeks just had the various gods choose sides in conflicts.
The Romans had such egos!

Yet they valued some forms of humility- especially in the pre-Empire centuries (the period that's most ignored by fiction-writers... I wish DC would reintroduce Alpha-Centurion or the Son of Vulcan or someone and have them come from Rome's ideologically best years.)

I want Donna Troy back- maybe as the Roman gods answer to Diana? Or Trojan goddesses? Yeah, the Trojan ones. And Cassie could be associated with the Roman versions. Nubia for the Egyptians... Artemis for the Celts (renamed Morrigan or something, I guess).

Did anyone else find Poseidon's debut funny? What about Hades?

Mega-seconded!

I haven't read the 52 version of the Titans yet, but I think Cassie is in it.
I just don't know if she has a connection to the Greek gods, Zeus in particular, or not.

And we might have seen Nubia and Artemis as Amazons already, but I think that they weren't named, IIRC.
Did the Amazons get turned into snakes?

There's going to be another Wonder Woman on Earth 2, which comes out in a mont or so!

I like the Jim Lee design, even though she still has a strapless bustier to fight in.
sigh

Still lovin' this book!

The Amazon sons story was sad but something that they historically seemed to have done.

I hope Cupid sticks around. I like him, even though his power seems to have a monkey paw quality to it.

#7 was 20 pages of perfection!

This revamped version of WW is the first time I've been able to read an entire issue of WW w/o falling asleep half way through.

#7 was a great story. Nasty about the Amazons' boy babies - although girl babies are aborted or destroyed in our world even today - and even more cruel about the fathers; that seemed unnecessary, but we're not dealing with Paradise and love with this bunch of Amazons. Yet Diana herself shows great compassion to people. What made her different?

I liked Cupid too. That opening scene was a good illustration of watch what you pray for - and that love isn't all hearts and cherubs.

When I first read the Amazons as murdering rapists, I was revolted. As Shady mentioned, that sort of thing is associated with some accounts of 'historical' Amazons, so it isn't plucked from the ether.

Also, WW and we are getting the story from a god- clearly not to be shown as all that reliable a narrator in this series. Except Hermes. Who is a trickster.

So, I don't know how much the tale will stand.

I did find the 'wonder boys' characterization and devotion to 'master' interesting. I wish one of them had felt differently.

Again, I find the story itself very well-written and entertaining. I always like Hephasteus-- and this Eros is fun. But the ramifications for this earth's Amazons is almost too much to take, for someone who liked very much previous versions of the concept (not that pretty much every version didn't have their own 'dark aspects').

Does this aspect of the Amazons mean that they aren't 'immortal' like they've been before?
Or does it mean that a lot of the Amazons get killed in combat for some reason?

We haven't seen that these are in any way superior beings, really, no purple ray or invisible plane, that I remember anyway.

I haven't read all of Diana's Justice League yet and I'd have to go over WW issues again to see about the plane.
It's funny that the plane has completely skipped my mind, since it was always such a part of Diana's persona.

It's sad, and shocking, what people can get used to, without knowing any better.


I read the Kanigher-Andru WW. And the Thomas-Colan WW, the Mishkin-Cohn-Colan WW, the Mishkin-Heck WW, the Perez WW, some of what came later, and the Byrne WW.


THEN I read the Golden Age WW ARCHIVES.


WOW. F***ING WOW.


I suddenly realized... this was "it". And NOTHING ELSE ever, ever had been. Even the George Perez run was CRAP-- BY COMPARISON.


It's like... for the sake of example... PEANUTS.


You could take 50 of the very best writers and artists on the planet, and set them loose on doing that strip. And their work could be magnificent, stunning, gorgeous, compelling, gripping, hilarious, thought-provoking, or even all of the above. And it JUST WOULDN'T MATTER. Because no matter what they did... it wouldn't be "the real thing".


And WW has not been "the real thing" since her original creators passed away.

All I can think of when I see Hades is Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast!

I found Wonder Woman #7 to actually be...quite excellent! Incredibly well done story that was written with all the right notes and drawn incredibly.

I know there's some anger at the revelation, but the truth is it was just executed so damn well, I can't help but be on board. And given the Amazons roots in ancient cultures, this seems more realistic and in line with those worlds than not.

Cupid and Hephaestus were great. The sons / brothers are a great addition to the mythos. And Diana was written perfectly; as FC mentions above, she shows a compassion her sisters do not, showing how different she truly is.

The series continues to be one of the best out there.

All I can think of when I see Hades is Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast!

^

It's been on tv a lot too lately!

Enjoyed the bride of Hades arc and the end was genius, imo.

Poor Persephone!
She's an anorexic waif who slit her wrists to escape a Hades who can't love.
How come she doesn't get half the year or so, as Spring & bountiful Harvest, anymore?
I loved her plump Titian beauty.
sigh

I have to admit that I was left a bit confused when Diana escaped Hades' Underworld. He just let her go and then she shoots him?

Shot him with Eros' gun. With Hephaestus' gift of a mirror, I guess the idea was for him to love himself, as Diana counseled. ("You can't make anyone love you unless you love yourself.")

That's what I got, too.
Diana loves, so with Ero's gun, she can give love.
I just wanted to see his change, the dawning wonder, his look toward Persephone, the loss of the bleeding scares, yum, yum, yum.
Oh, well.

Hera's gambit is wierd.

Zeus as Diana's father certainly opens up opportunities for upsets, though, which is fun.

I'm still enjoying WW quite a bit! Chang's art certainly is a big plus, as without him I'm not sure I'd be enjoying it as much.

Azz needs to be careful on how close he brings Hera into being her cliche. The early issues made me feel like this was a fresh take on Hera with some nods to her usual role in things but without retreading the same old ground. I'm hopeful he is able to pull away from the recent slide into cliche.

I'm enjoying the way Diana herself has been written. She's a powerful, iconic character here while being someone I can emphathize with. That is a hard thing to deliver for her (and Superman, etc.).

One thing that sticks out for me: where the hell did Lennox come from? He like showed up out of nowhere and sticks out like a sore thumb. He's obviously a favorite of Azz and I can't shake this "Mary Sue" feeling I get towards him.

Yeah, Lennox is sort of like a fifth wheel, or the guy that nobody invited to the wedding but he's there.

Well, I had axed Wonder Woman as part of my disenchantment with the DCnU, but now I've read the spoilers over at Bleeding Cool and the book's back on my list because (big spoiler alert)<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> I love Kirby's New Gods!</span></span>

After reading WW #12, this is probably DC's best relaunch of the New 52. It might be my all around fav DC title in general, but in terms of a "relaunch" I find it the most successful in terms of redefining the character in a way that builds on what she was before - changing enough things to reinvigorate the concept, but also bolstering her strengths.

The scene with her removing her bracelets was an amazing concept. I'm not sure they've been thought of this way before, but it now makes me wonder why she has to have them at all. (I'm sure Azzarello knows why, I just hope he tells us soon)

The last scene with the baby? Totally didn't see *that* coming!

And the last page? **((((BOOM!!)))**

Yes, this is my current favorite title.

Wonder Woman #0 was the best of this month's zero issues that I've read so far. This is a totally new take on Diana's training and coming of age that compliments the changes that have been introduced in the new series.

I totally agree WW #0 was hands down the best of the zero issues. Totally fantastic in every way! Days later, I'm still thinking about it and its various intricacies.

#13 was pretty good too--it strangely felt a bit more like the WW we had before in the focus on the last half being Diana kicking ass and being all sweet and compassionate to the little girl she finds.

Also, Hera proclaiming her love of ice cream was hilarious, especially when you remember Diana's first real appearance in the New 52 Justice League.

The only DC Comic that I am anxious to read each month (the only one I put in my "read now" pile after a 4 week pick up) is Wonder Woman, which I continue to love!

I love the cast Azz has developed, and at this point watching them interact is worth the price of admision alone and ton of fun. It's about time--3,000 years actually--that Hera got her chance to be a complex yet likable character! And the very complex depiction of Ares, like all the other deities here, is most welcome.

Plus, Orion and Wonder Woman have more chemistry (good and bad) than Superman and WW by a mile. His presence here is fun and fitting.

My only complaint is the book is at its best when Cliff Chang is on the art so I hope he's back ASAP.

These are my thoughts on the Superman/Wonder Woman pairing, as of now reading Justice League #22.

I've had misgivings about Superman and Wonder Woman as a couple from the start, simply out of fear of Wonder Woman being turned into nothing more than Superman's sidekick. In the issues I've seen leading up to this, it's felt as if Clark has been trying to get Diana to open up to his lifestyle choices while Diana has yet to voice any of hers. In this issue, she came across as very standoffish, to the point where I felt the whole point is NOT to side with Diana at all. I have read stories where this coupling has been attempted and done well, but, it still feels as if Clark is the dominant party and Diana is supposed to be the submissive one. And I'm reminded of Infinite Crisis, where Diana met her older counterpart from Earth-2, who lectured her on how she hasn't been acting human in a long time and that she needs to be there for Superman. I didn't think much of that at the time, but re-examining it now, it just feels like Diana is being treated as if she has to be supportive of Superman while allowing him to be the one in control. Taking all that into account, I say the line of thinking that put Clark and Diana together is backwards, especially since A: DC has been trying to re-brand everything as brand new for two years and that they have gone in new directions, and B: that the writing feels geared towards vilifying Diana for not throwing everything down and submitting to Clark's thoughts on how to live, or making us feel warm inside when she does. What are we supposed to think about Diana for being against Superman? What are we supposed to think about Clark for how he's trying to put his views on the world on Diana? I have no idea, and I wonder if anyone else does.

Then there's also the clash of what they represent. Superman is a symbol of Truth, Justice, and the American Way, Wonder Woman is a symbol of hope, love, beauty, intellect, and strength not just for women but for the world, and her early stories challenged gender roles and the roles of women in society. They had a very well known friendship in the old DCU to the point that they were more like brother-and-sister. But now the latter is coming across as unresponsive to the wants and needs of the former.

The discussion about her Rogues Gallery also felt very out of place, because Wonder Woman has always lobbied for reforming her rogues even if she doesn't take their bullshit. Frankly, I feel this relationship is very stilted and puts Diana in a bad light, and after so many years of conflicted portrayals, this is really the last thing she needs.

So, at the end of the day, the only DC comic that really stands out to me as excellent is Wonder Woman. I'm still really enjoying the series immensely.

Cliff Chang's artwork is my #1 reason, as he's just emerged as such an awesome talent. It's very pleasing on my corneas.

I'm also loving the Orion / Wonder Woman chemistry, which his part animosity, part growing respect and just a little one-sided flirting. It's much more exciting and enjoyable than the Superman / Wonder Woman nonsense which is falling flat on its face elsewhere.

Interesting perspective on Wonder Woman from Phil Jimenez (whose Wonder Woman run is my favorite to date)

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/10...o-make-a-movie-out-of-this-wonder-woman/

I wouldn't say "well covered" so much as "well copied." Do you change the original because it's been copied over and over again into so many other names?

And because so many of those copies have been popular, I don't see why anyone is saying this is a difficult movie to make. She's every bit as interesting as Superman with the advantage of having a back-story connected to years of high school English and Social Studies class. She's NOT alien. She's a history easier than Superman's to identify with and she's just as tough.

15-20 minutes of her "growing up," a few more of present day, then go save the planet and have ice cream. Good flick. Save the romance and stuff for part two.

I know some Legion Worlders who might be interested in the final splash page of Wonder Woman #37. Just saying....

Interested, yes.

Screaming into the night, also yes.

I know what Jerry and Sarky are talking about. I didn't read said issue but it was spoiled on the Internet.

I actually wish the character in question had remained in limbo until DC was under different management.

I KNEW IT! I knew this was going to turn out badly for that character:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=58486

You have no idea how angry I am about this.

I think the writer is correct that the best thing to do is to tell the story she wants to tell but the writer chose the assignment. Taking the "any character will do as long as I get to tell MY story" seems incredibly self-centered.

If someone is going to take on a comic assignment, it would seem loyalty to the character is primary. If there's a story that leaps from that history that a writer wants to tell, well then all is good.

Maybe I'm reading into the writer's thoughts too much or using what I've seen apparently done in the past to color my perspective but that's how the interview came off to me.

Why look! It's the Convergence solicitations.

http://www.newsarama.com/23230-dc-s-april-2015-solicits-convergence-week-3.html

Say, can anyone spot the difference between that character HERE and in Wonder Woman?

I thought Azz and Chang's Wonder Woman run was one of the best I've ever read on the character ever, and to go from that to the Finch's had been vomit-inducing.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/03...risons-wonder-woman-books-get-scheduled/

I'm looking forward to both of them.

I like the prequel idea. Has that been done before? Not sure what is meant by storybook style but Doran comes to mind. I'd be in, in a heartbeat if she were drawing. I'll wait for fan reviews.

The other one, I'm not sure about at all.

I think it might be done like the Lil Endless books Jill Thompson has done for Sandman.

Also: OHHHHHHH MY GOD.

Two passes for me, unless they leap off the shelf. A fairytale Wondy jumping on any Disney bandwagon going?

And the "feminist focused" label on Morrison's as well as the Shades of Grey bondage bandwagon isn't going to get me to buy it. I'd just read reprints of the originals.

Morrison said around Final Crisis that he had problems writing the character, and what I read didn't make it seem like he really could either.

RE: Wonder Woman #40

This book continues to infuriate me on so many levels that if it wasn't for the fact that we're getting two versions of Donna in Convergence acting the way she's supposed to, I might have been tempted to set the store on fire

I'm beginning to realize Diana doesn't really have any moral high ground to judge Donna considering everything SHE did during Flashpoint.

WONDER WOMAN #43
Written by MEREDITH FINCH
Art and cover by DAVID FINCH and JONATHAN GLAPION
Bombshells variant cover by ANT LUCIA
On sale AUGUST 19 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
Donna Troy’s fate becomes more clear as she embarks on a journey that will either end her life or begin a new one, while Wonder Woman draws closer to the Amazon who tried to depose Diana as queen!

...

I don't trust this at all and I am side eyeing it SO much.

What's the difference between Wonder Woman and the Legend of Wonder Woman.

One of them's good.

I thought it was a little padded, but my daughter absolutely loved Legend of Wonder Woman.

I wasn't even aware of it.

I'll see if my local comic shop has any copies left.

Thanks, guys.

You can read it online. It's a digital comic as well. That's how it started. Also, it doesn't take place in the Nu52.

But can I read it online for free? I don't like doing business transactions through the internet.

Ah.

I'll wait for the trade to appear at the library.

The Finches whitewashed Dr. Poison in this month's WW issue.

She went from a Japanese woman to a white blonde.

Disgusting.

HOW are these people still writing Wonder Woman.

Whatever else anyone can say about Titans Hunt thank God Abnett is rewriting Donna's backstory and PRAISE GOD LOBDELL is not involved.

Anyone pick up Morrison and Paquette's Wonder Woman Earth One? It's my first foray into the Earth One stuff.

I really liked this version of Steve Trevor. Etta Candy was a little left-field for me (it was like she was in a different story than everyone else).
The overall storytelling seemed confused in some places, as if the word balloons were out of order (or is there something screwy with time on Paradise Island?).

I have to admit - the bondage stuff was zany throughout.

I picked it up last week. It was certainly interesting. Morrisons attempts to bring Marston's original ideas and pair them with a more modern sensibility, and finds a whole series of messy contradictions that he gleefully embraces, some to great effect, others fall a little flat.

The flow of the book is a bit disjointed, as some pages read like standard comic panels others flow across double page spreads that aren't apparent at first glance. Paquette's art is gorgeous, but it doesn't have a firm grasp on unconventional narrative to guide the reader like a Quietly would (to be fair I've seen this with other artists paired with Morrison).

These are mostly quibbles however. The sexual subtext is fun, and the Domination/Submission stuff is a little tongue-in-cheek at times but certainly made me smile. I liked that the resolution avoided violence but we still got to see some action, and I also liked a Wonder Woman who was joyful. I hadn't realised how stern Diana's been depicted over the last little while until I found all the scenes of her laughing in this book a little jarring.

I borrowed a friend's copy.

While I agree with a lot of what Dave says, I got the impression that Morrison wanted to go further afield than DC's Powers-That-Be allowed him to, and that the numerous delays were part of the process of Morrison's nuttier, edgier ideas being sanded down into a smooth, near-innocuous product.

I don't think it's bad by any means, but it didn't WOW me like Flex Mentallo or the best moments of 7 Soldiers did.

More worrisome is that I get the impression Morrison is not likely to write Volume 2 or beyohnd, and the Writer Most Likely would seem to be Greg Rucka, who is about to take over the mainstream version of WW (and IIRC, part of the reason Rucka left DC so acrimoniously a few years ago was that they had promised him WW:E1, then reneged and given the gig to Morrison -- perhaps this time around they sweetened the pot by promising Rucka BOTH versions of WW.)

I don't like Rucka. His female characters tend to be too much in the Claremont grim-warrior mode for my taste. So even with Nicola Scott on art, I won't be bothering with the upcoming WW relaunch.

Jill Thompson's writing and illustrating a graphic novel about her own take on Diana's early days and will be coming out in September.

That's great. I had heard about it last year, but I was worried that it had been shelved permanently for whatever reason. Glad that's not the case.

So that's Legend of WW, WW E1, WW Year One, and now Jill Thompson's book.

Wow, Diana's finally getting her share of origin books.

Legends Vol 2. has been green-lit. Great news for fans of that take on the character.

Spoke with Yannick at the East Coast Comic Expo (while he was sketching Diana in the front cover of my copy of Earth One).

Some interesting things:

- He's never met Grant Morrison and barely spoken to him. It's all E-mail!
- His scripts are incredibly sparse, leaving a lot of page layout and interpretation to the artist (Though is he strays too far from Grant's vision there's a "suggestion" to redo from time to time).
- The original Earth One had a lot more crazy over the top bondage and dom/sub stuff, but it was GRANT who scaled it back when his Mom took ill and the story became more about the child/mother bond. He supposedly took pages to his mother's bedside to show her.
- Grant really wanted to push a lot of buttons, including the Diana in chains on the cover. He said the more controversial the better.

I really don't do as much with Wonder Woman as I'd like to admit. When it comes to DC's Trinity, I've always gravitated more towards Batman, though I realize I show a more vested interest in WW's world than I do Superman's regardless of the difference in issues I own.

My biggest interest in Wonder Woman goes straight to the Golden Age stories, mainly because of the variety and insanity of her rogues gallery. Blue Snowman, Zara, Hypnota, Queen Atomia, King Neptune...

I have zero knowledge in Wondy's Silver Age stories except for Wonder Girl, and in regards to the Bronze Age, I... I actually enjoy her "Mod' days although I do believe getting rid of her powers was stupid. Beyond that, I'm only familiar with some of the stories concerning the first Silver Swan.

I have only a few issues from the Perez era. One part of the Silver Swan arc, the death of Myndi Mayer, and the death of Lucy Spears (Jill Thompson autographed it for me). I'm more interested in trying to find all the issues of the arc where Diana had to work at that taco joint when she was broke. I've invested more time in finding all the issues of the Dark Angel arc from John Byrne's run because she's my favorite WW/Titans villain, despite how badly Byrne wrecked Donna Troy's backstory.

I realize when it comes to Wonder Woman my interest has been more for Donna Troy than Diana, and I consider Donna a Titans character first and a WW character second. I wish Donna's stepdaughter Jennifer could've had the chance to be Wonder Girl. It would've been fun to have a new Wonder Girl who was a follower of Donna instead of Diana. Admittedly, my interest in the idea stems also from how much Cassandra Sandsmark grates on me due to her consistently poor handling over the last decade.

I've been nothing but disappointed in the lack of Wonder Woman Elseworlds there are, compounded by how Diana usually gets treated in Elseworlds.

I've only read Gail Simone's run in trade format. The only story I recall and enjoyed was the Queen of Fables mini arc concerning that awful movie they were making of Diana.

I never went near the Nu52 series, not during Azzarello's run and especially not Finch's run. At this point I'm thoroughly sick of Diana dealing with mythological characters like Zeus and Ares because they've dominated so much of Diana's time. I'm giving Rucka's stuff a chance because he's implying the Gods she's been dealing with in the Nu52 were impostors.

I love Legend of Wonder Woman and I'm surprised at Renae De Liz's consistently good work despite of the stigma that was beginning to surround her and Ray Dillon. Earth-One was a MAJOR disappointment.

Now that sounds like an interesting twist, and Rucka is pretty accomplished at writing strong women. I thought the mythological gods were interesting at first, sometimes funny, but it wore thin after a while. Rucka will have to come up with a good excuse for how non-gods (if that's what they are) could have deceived Diana.

The Rebirth issue was all about the inconsistencies in Diana's backstory and was the most self aware of the new beginning issues besides the ones associated with Wally West. She's aware that her backstory keeps changing, from her "child of clay" to "Zeus' daughter" to the "beloved daughter of the Amazons" to "child of scorn because of her unnatural birth." There's even a page that clearly references the pre-Flashpoint stories.

Rucka starts off implying the current Gods are fake when Diana crumples the helmet of Ares in her hands, which she claims should be impossible. After she leaves for "Olympus," the helmet melts into this disgusting black gunk.

SK, I disagree. Wonder Woman was a character that really didn't make much sense. Her powers weren't well defined. How strong was she? How fast? Plus, her connection with the Greek gods raised a lot of questions. Were the gods meddling on Earth? What were they doing? What exactly was their agenda?

Getting rid of her powers - and severing her from the Greek gods and Paradise Island, made a lot of sense to me. The "mod" stories were - IMHO - the best of the original 350 issue run. I don't think Diana was ever more interesting than she was here. The stories got much better. As soon as she got her powers back, the stories went right back to their normal sub-standard level.

My understanding is, her powers were returned because of pressure from the feminist movement. This confounds me. Diana had no superpowers, yet she was fighting crime and kicking butt. She seemed a very empowered female.

As a totally new character, I am sure the feminist movement at that time would have loved the character. But to take a super-powered character (even if the exact limits were nebulous. I mean even Superman's strength fluctuates) and make her a normal, even if bad-ass woman isn't really empowering. It is depowering literally.

I will agree that WW did suffer from a lot of bad writing.

After the Golden Age, didn't her stories stagnate into her having to choose between boyfriends? Then there was the Artemis era when Diana had to wear that God awful jacket and short shorts combo. John Byrne made Donna Troy's backstory even more convoluted by dehumanizing her via saying she was just a reflection of Diana brought to life. Then there was all that time she spent getting judged for having to kill Max Lord.

Quislet, I don't really understand how Wonder Woman got popular. Those early stories were difficult to get through. I have some of the early stories, and they're pretty tough to enjoy.

I think the bondage in her Golden Age stories helped make her popular.

SK: After the Golden Age (and the death of William Marston) her stories did get about choosing boyfriends and other domestic problems. But then so did Superman & Batman. A lot of 50s Superman was about Lois trying to find his secret ID and/or marry him. Batman became a whole lot less gritty; having sci-fi adventures even. It is here we have Batwoman as the woman who wants to marry Batman; and that lovable imp Bat-Mite.

Oh of course I know that. I just felt like her stories during that era, to my knowledge, might have been a bit blander compared to Batman and Superman. I'm not well read on her Silver Age adventures so I admit I could be wrong.

I imagine they were.

Superman had Mort Weisinger & Julie Schwartz who cared about the character. And Batman had the boost from the TV show. I think I have read that Batman (the comic book) was on the verge of being canceled until the TV show happened.

One of the only Silver Age WW stories I have is a retread of Giganta's origin where it involved Doctor Psycho making her obsessed with getting Steve Trevor. But that wasn't the case at all when she originally debuted, was it?

Don't know. I know when Marston was writing her, WW was more about bondage and females in charge. After he died, I imagine the new writers had more conventional ideas about male and female roles.

To know more about Marston, I recommend Jill Lepore's book "The Secret History of Wonder Woman"

I read into Marston's original stories that there was always the underlying theme about consent.

Diana's sisters thrived as a civilization because they were sexually openminded. There was always talk of how they were submissive by choice.

Diana's rogues gallery were made up of women who didn't believe in choice. They were sadists and tyrants who tried controlling men and women against their will through brute force, hypnosis, coercion, and drugs. And of course there was female misogyny as well. You had women like Dr. Poison who actively tried to aid Imperial Japan during the war despite how little freedom women supposedly had in that country at the time (I really hope I'm not coming across as racist and inaccurate). And then there were the women who had to use masculine identities to find strength like Poison, Hypnota, the Blue Snowman, and King Neptune, as if to say women who are forced to deny their femininity in order to gain power are self-hating and doomed to be miserable.

And I'm not referring to women who choose to adopt masculine clothing or identities because it's what they feel comfortable in, although I realize that's also how it sounds like. I mean women who feel they have to hide behind masculine personas even if that's not who they are. Also kind of perpetuates the belief that only men can be powerful.

I'm open to admit I might be wrong.

I was rereading the "Once and Future Story" one shot Trina Robbins and Colleen Doran worked on, and I am just now realizing the character "Etain" was a reference to Etta Candy.

So I know there's been a lot of talk about the movie trailer (which was effin awesome) and the Morrison OGN, but I have to direct this thread back to the current Wonder Woman series. Forget whoever Rucka replaced, forget Cho off the covers, forget all of that other crap that isn't relevant to the printed page. Because Wonder Woman has been nothing short of stunning thus far!

Rucka is firing on all cylinders like he hasn't done in an age, and the art by Nicola Scott and Liam Sharpe (alternating issues) is face-meltingly awesome. Both stories, the past and the present, are fantastic. I'm hooked.

Wonder Woman hasn't been this good for me in a long, long time.

I remember that you enjoyed the Azzarello/Chiang run that launched the New 52, Cobie. Do you still look back on that fondly? If so, how do you feel about it basically being swept away, if I'm understanding correctly?

I enjoyed it quite a bit, and certainly longer than I enjoyed most of the new 52 (in fact, it may have been the last one I was reading IIRC). The problem was that ultimately the story just seemed to drag out issue after issue. Eventually, it had gone something like 30 issues or so and I just couldn't keep up with it.

I think this super long form storytelling was Azz's way of trying to keep it more in line with a Vertigo type of story. But when I read it month to month, I need more of a payoff on a monthly basis, especially with a superhero story.

The highlight though was Cliff Chiang's artwork, which was stunning. And, in hindsight, I think more than a little bit of my enjoyment came from Chiang's artwork making Azz look better than he really was putting out.

In regards to it being swept away: frankly, I just don't care. About three months ago I had reached my lowest ebb ever with DC and superhero comics in general. And I was at the point where I considered not even buying them anymore. This nadir was so low that when it comes to any continuity of the last (5) years for any DC title, I don't care if I ever see it again (and on the reverse, I don't care if it remains in place).

Coming full circle, I can say that as much as I liked the start of the last version, this version is already a lot better. And that is because the story-telling sensibilities are much more in line with what I want from a comic book. The prior relaunch was more of a "best of what's out there" while this is more of a "right in my appetite". Does that make sense? This just *feels* like what I'm looking for right now from a Wonder Woman comic, or a DC superhero comic in general--plus its got phenomenal writing and art.

Still absolutely loving this Wonder Woman run, which is a contender for best series. The recent issue, which was an interlude focusing on Dr. Barbara Minerva before she became the Cheetah, is probably the best Cheetah story ever told. (We talked about her recently in the main Rebirth thread, so I thought I'd follow-up here).

The Cheetah is a character I've always been ambivalent about. I know she was over-exposed in recent years, but I passed up on all that stuff. Here she is complex with many different sides to her, and she may be my second favorite character in the series (behind Diana).

God bless Greg Rucka for this issue.

Since it looks like the movie is emerging from development limbo, what would you recommend I read? I can't tell from the clips online which version it is drawing from. Should I just find the Golden Age Archives and go from there?

I have her Encyclopedia and have read some work by Perez and Jimenez. I also have read some 80s New Teen Titans with Donna Troy and a handful of Earth-2 issues from that same era.

Start with the Golden Age stuff, the original stories.

My short list of recommended WW:

1. The Golden Age stories, 1941-1947 -- Since there were no creator credits in those days, it's been hard until recently to tell where her eccentric male-feminist creator, William Marston (aka Charles Moulton) and Marston's various female writing collaborators, leave off, but IIRC, it's shortly after the introduction of the original Villainy Inc. And, FTR, Marston died in 1947, and the next year or two was something of a mess of unfinished Marston & Friends scripts, plot outlines, and springboards finished up by various parties, including Robert Kanigher, who took over as WW's chief writer/editor circa the end of the 1940s and stayed there for almost 2 decades. The Kanigher Era of WW has a lot of fans, but I personally find its juvenile, reactionary charms eminently resistible, with neither the edgy, subversive streak of the Mort Weisinger stable, nor the easy-going cleverness of the Julie Schwartz stable.

2. Wonder Woman #300 -- I've sampled various odd-and-sundry issues from the post-Kanigher, pre-Perez era (1968-1986), and found most of them utterly mediocre. The gem among the plastic baubles is, IMHO, this issue, written by Roy Thomas, edited by Marv Wolfman, with framing sequences drawn by Gene Colan, and alternate-world scenarios drawn by such talents as Ross Andru, Jan Duursema, Dick Giordano, Keith Pollard, and possibly one or two others I'm forgetting ATM. It's main selling point in hindsight has been the first appearance of Lyta Trevor (as a 12 year old), but as delightful as that sequence is, there's plenty more to enjoy.

3. Phil Jimenez -- I find that this perennially underrated run (WW v.2 #164-188) blows the Perez run out of the water. In place of Perez's pretentions, gore, creepiness, preaching-to-the-converted, and annoying "wide-eyed-innocent" portrayal of Diana, it gives us a playful, larger-than-life tone, nice Easter Eggs paying homage to every WW era (including the Lynda Carter TV show), tons of coded LGBT visual and verbal cues, and a Diana who, while still relying on her supporting cast (chiefly Donna & Cassie) to carry her, still comes much closer to registering as a sympathetic human being than in other runs IMHO.

Is the run in the 60s where she gives up her usual life and uniform as entertaining as it sounds?

^^That's a good question re: the "Dressed-Down Era."

I personally find it dated and OTT and a bit too much of the "Middle-Aged Creator Trying to Be Hip and Edgy Syndrome" (the creator in this case being Mike Sekowsky, whom I consider the most overrated JLA artist of all time (first doesn't mean best IMO), and not much of a writer, either.

Now, having said that, if you're as intrigued by this era as you appear to be, then you certainly don't lose anything by checking it out the way I did, via library (or, naturally, online, but I'd suggesting trying to see if you can do it online for free, in case it turns out you don't like it.)

I just realized something.

The answer is simple:



Wow. For a bad event storyline, it sure has provided a convenient catch-all "out" for writers.

I would like to know how versions of Wonder Girl have existed.

I am not sure if I want to go through the unintentional consequences that happened because of the Crisis rebooting Wonder Woman.

This is what I have so far:

Wonder Girl (Original Teen Titans, basically WW clone)
Wonder Girl (70s/80s)
Fury (The closest we get to an Earth-2 Wonder Girl)
Wonder Girl (Cassie)
Wonder Girl (New 52, reluctant to include due to lack of knowledge)

Wonder Girl (Original Teen Titans, basically WW clone) - A magical creation based on Wonder Woman when she was young.

Wonder Girl (70s/80s) - Essentially the same as the above, only the writers finally created a backstory for her as Donna Troy. Donna's mother gave her up for adoption when she was a baby, because she was fatally ill and couldn't raise Donna herself. Donna went through a couple of foster homes before she was found in an abandoned building by Wonder Woman and was taken to Paradise Island.

Fury (The closest we get to an Earth-2 Wonder Girl) - Lyta Trevor, daughter of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. Was a founding member of Infinity Inc. After Crisis, she became the daughter of the retroactively created "Golden Age" Fury, and then put through the wringer by Neil Gaiman in Sandman.

Wonder Girl (Cassie) - Was more or less a knock-off of Vanessa Kapatelis created by John Byrne during his run on Wonder Woman. When she first started out Zeus gave her mother the ability to nullify her powers if she wished. It later turned out her father was Zeus. Fans prefer her in Peter David's Young Justice to her appearances in Teen Titans, where many felt her personality was ruined and she became a judgmental, violent, and whiny loser.

Wonder Girl (New 52, reluctant to include due to lack of knowledge) - Cassie Sandsmark again, based mainly on her Teen Titans personality only her father is someone named Lennox, she's a pickpocket or thief or something, and she's stuck with some kind of magic armor that's slowly killing her or something. "Titans Hunt" later restored Donna Troy as the first Wonder Girl.

--

Other Versions:

Sins of Youth Diana - During the Sins of Youth crossover, Diana became young and Cassandra an adult, so Diana briefly was considered Wonder Girl.

Stephanie Trevor - Daughter of Wonder Woman and the deceased Steve Trevor from the "Generations" Elseworlds.

Sins of Youth was AWESOME!

Agreed 100%, Pov!!

Although Peter David was initially annoyed at finding himself the "head writer" on an event storyline, since he loathes events, and since it was originally supposed to only be contained in "Young Justice." LOL

Right?! Except for the gross way they killed Tana Moon.

God, you know what would've been great?

A Convergence: Sensation Comics miniseries focusing on the Golden Age Wonder Woman written by Trina Robbins.

A Golden Age Wondy villain appeared in the Batman Annual.

DC cancelled the second volume of Legend of Wonder Woman.

Because of course they did.

http://newyork.endangeredbodies.org/put_in_ink_rape_of_the_amazons_by_jude_deluca

I wrote an article about Wonder Woman for Endangered Bodies analyzing the New 52 and Rebirth arcs, but there are spoilers for the current run by Greg Rucka. Don't read it unless you've read issue #11 of the current volume.

It was a great series, but did the creators really think they could bite the hand that feeds them the way they did and not have repercussions? If Bleeding Cool is to be believed, they had little nice to say about DC or any of the other teams working on WW properties (including Rucka).

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/1...-challenging-relationship-de-liz-dillon/

I am getting real tired of the alternating story-line in Wonder Woman. Stick to one story at a time or give her a second title.

Who thought that an alternating story-line was a good idea to hold on to readers?

Is it still twice a month (I honestly can't remember)? If so it is effectively two monthly titles, but I can see the frustration point.

I haven't read it yet, but it seems like a solution to having to alternate artists every other issue. By alternating stories instead, you at least get one artist per story. Sharpe to Scott would be pretty jarring if it were all the same story each issue. I suppose anyone getting the floppies could let issues stockpile and read four issues of one story, then four issues of another. Or you could buy the trades which will probably collect each separately.

Nicola's finished her "Year One" arc and is back working on her and Rucka's creator-owned Image title BLACK MAGICK. The storylines are being collected individually in trades, hers and Liam Sharpe's "Lies" arc.

It seems like they are still alternating story-lines

Such mixed feelings. I admit I probably let the bar get a bit too high, since Rucka's first run is my favorite WW run ever, despite ending too abruptly.

My main concern is something that afflicts a lot of Rebirth stuff: wallowing in its own damaged continuity. When the characters can't even keep their own backstories straight, you've got a problem. And I'm a little disturbed that 6 months in, we still don't know exactly what Wonder Woman it is we're reading.

Plus, the one thing I didn't like about his first run was Veronica Cale. For that to be the one thing he's brought back so far is a little disheartening. (well, maybe Ferdinand if the latest issue is to be believed)

Still, Rucka's a great writer, and it's nice to see a turn away from the warrior version of WW we've seen so much of lately. (Even if Rucka's own Sacrifice, or at least other writers' clumsy readings of it, were partly to blame for that.) I'll give it time to find its feet. And work on adjusting my expectations. If someone had told me before his first run "This will be your favorite run ever," I probably would have focused entirely on its flaws.

Also, since this is my foray into this thread, I thought I'd offer my thoughts on the Azzarello run. Funnily enough my RL friends consider me the Azzarello WW hater, although in this forum I'm about to sound like an apologist.

Azzarello is a great writer, and he brought his A game in terms of craft to this series. I thought he had a really solid take on Diana's character, and an interesting take on the Gods.

But of course I hated his Amazons as much as everyone else around here seemed to. I understand where he was coming from, and if I see it as an Elseworlds (What if Diana came from EVIL Paradise Island?) I can acccept it. But those Amazons had no business being the main continuity Amazons.

Likewise, I can see Diana as Goddess of War as a legitimate take on the character, but not one that fits with my headcanon. If Diana has to become a Goddess (a prospect that I don't really buy into), John Byrne had it right in concept but not execution: Goddess of Truth is the only thing I could personally see.

I'm agnostic on the subject of Diana's origin. My main concern is that it feel properly like a myth, and both made from clay and fathered by a god fit that description for me.

I also loved last year's Legend of Wonder Woman, WW: The True Amazon, and WW: Earth One. Although I certainly see problematic aspects with that last one and don't blame and won't argue with anyone who dislikes it. With four new takes on the character, all at least partially creatively successful from my pov, and a breakout movie appearance her 75th anniversary was one of the best anniversary years I've seen any comics character receive.

BFOB, great point on the "Diana as a Goddess" motif. I totally agree: Byrne's "Goddes of Truth" is much more fitting than whenever they'd tried to make her a Goddess of War (or something similar). Even if it fell short in execution, which all "Diana as Goddess stories" always do, it's just all around a much better approach.

Quis, I can definitely see how the alternating stories can get to you after awhile. I just consider it to be two, entirely separate monthly comics at this point, allowing for each "monthly artist" to stay on their arc. So far that's worked for me--but your POV is definitely valid here. From what I understand, this structure isn't changing any time soon.

Don't get me wrong. I find both stories interesting. It is the alternating that gets to me. If they were in two separate books, like Superman & Action Comics or Batman and Detective Comics, I would probably buy both and be happy.

So they're kind of going the Paula Von Gunther route with Veronica Cale, aren't they?

So, all said and done, I have to say that Rucka's latest run on Wonder Woman...was probably my favorite Wonder Woman run ever. Not to take away from the mass of other WW runs that I loved (Phil, Byrne, WML, Rucka v.1, etc.). But this one was the most exciting and the one that had me biting my nails to read the next issue. It was also the best run ever (for me) in terms of Diana's supporting cast, giving her a genuine love interest and in the way it addressed the Greek deities.

The art has been melt-your-brain incredible. Liam Sharpe's talents are just immense and I eagerly look forward to what he does next (but hope he stays on WW for awhile).

And I loved the final arc. I think Rucka really stuck the landing here, and Diana never looked better.

I think that's how I felt about Rucka's first run, and I think some of my ambivalence about this one is my inability to not constantly compare the two, despite a real effort on my part not to do so. I do agree that I love where it ended, I was just frustrated by how long it took to get there. Hopefully we'll get to see this take explored in future, rather than it being instantly jettisoned for a new take, as often happens to this title.

Simone and Lopresti reunited for a six issue Wonder Woman/Conan series. I Picked up the first issue and it hit all the right notes for me.

So apparently Zeus is still Wonder Woman's father.

What the HELL was the point of letting Greg Rucka undo most of the New 52 WW if they were going to keep this?

Wow you would not believe how much I hated last week's issue with the new Vanessa Kapatelis.

Eesh. You make me glad that I decided to hold off and hear the reviews of the Robinson run before I tried it. Not that there aren't plenty of other voices around warning me off.

"Children of the Gods" sucked because it was barely about Diana. It seemed like the whole point was to start shilling her horrible twin brother and hyping up Darkseid and his stupid daughter Grail. Along the way it confirms 100% that Diana is a child of Zeus, and she has to keep being saved to the point the big fight at the end is between Zeus and Darkseid.

Jason, meanwhile, is totally boring but he's been getting more focus than the majority of the supporting cast. Hell, he's been getting more screentime than DIANA.

This current story line has already started off pretty badly. Vanessa Kapatelis has been reintroduced as Silver Swan, and Robinson's essentially sucked the life from her. The bond she and her mother had with Diana is totally gone. Vanessa's now some random kid who got caught in the crossfire when Diana was fighting a bad guy, got crippled, and was visited by Diana a few times in the hospital. Her mother Julia, meanwhile, appears as a background character for like two or three panels before it's mentioned she died. There's none of the depth the REAL Vanessa had, and her motives for being jealous and resentful of Diana are completely superficial. Not to mention her costume redesign SUCKS ASS.

And now, from solicits, it sounds like the only reason Diana will be allowed to return to Themyscira is so JASON can meet their mother.

I keep saying "I hated Robinson before it was cool" but I really don't understand how people keep defending him. You can only say "There are the editors to contend with" so many times before you have to admit the only consistent factor between all of the horrible comics he's written in the past decade was him.

Hey, I just realized, why didn't they do for Lyta Hall what they did for Power Girl? They eventually conceded Karen was from Earth-2, they could've done the same for Lyta since technically her mom did still exist in the Post-Crisis DCU.

Whoever decided to put Robinson and his atrocious Jason story after the mind blowingly awesome Rucka / Scott / Sharp run should taken behind the sheds and shot like a rabid dog.

Or forced to actually read the story.

That good huh?

It's a waste of Luppachino's artwork and characters like Zara and the Blue Snowman.

I wonder how Jason would have come out under Rucka. Since they’ve been setting him up since Rebirth, he would have happened anyway.

Oh yeah I know Jason was forced on the run by the editors.

Still doesn't change how much Robinson's writing has sucked regarding EVERYTHING ELSE.

At least Steve Orlando's getting a chance to write on the title in the summer.

I picked up the Annual issue, but only because it got a bunch of new Star Sapphires (and they were drawn by Jim Calafiore, so there weren't a bunch of big boobed human looking aliens).

I am proud to say that I am one of the readers who made this Omnibus possible by e-mailing DC and demanding it:

https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Woman...c3759cfed04479de02a27&language=en_US