Tony Akins

I really got suckered in by the first issue and it fell apart pretty much from the beginning of the second.

I feel I monkey's pawed myself enjoying the dark, mythic, brutality of the first issue, the grim summoning of the centaur was pretty awesome, but the interesting quickly became edgelord with shades of how Snyder made Superman grim and gritty, but nothing else, and men writing women.

The narrative is...fine. The dialogue is OK to painful. The art has its moments, but is really dull, particularly with facial expressions, particularly Diana's for some reason. We also need to talk about nu-metal by way of Ali G Hermes...WTActualF?! Admittedly, Hermes' feet and the designs of Hades and Poseidon looked great. No notes.

Wonder Woman is a fascinating character with a rich backstory and mythology to draw upon. She occupies an interesting space in the Trinity, between Superman's wholesome light and Batmans grim darkness. All of this, not to mention her connections to the World Wars, have such wonderful potential for mixing the dark and light, the mythical gods with grounded human problems. She is the eternal fish out of a clay amphora in any sphere of her life. Her narrative potential is endless! But she was done dirty here on what seems like a cheap and easy way for her to be a cis guy's idea of want a strong female protagonist is.

A modern mortal becoming pregnant by Zeus is a story with legs, and one especially apt for a modern and feminist telling. One that eschews casting Hera as the hateful harpy-shrew scorned wife, women turning on and destroying each other over the actions of men (this couldn't be more appropriately portrayed as it is in this. It's almost comical), never ascribing/ Zeus taking no accountability for his actions, a discussion about the utter lack of consent that is his M.O (yes, taking the form of something a person literally "cannot resist" is a consent issue)*, but instead it's paint by numbers meddlsome gods and 'crazy bitches' shtick, which, as played out as it is, can still have legs if it's down well. This just isn't.

It's not awful and there's some interesting enough ideas among what is a surprisingly lazy and uninspired first volume of this incarnation of Wonder Woman.

*I am absolutely a intersectional feminist, Gender malconent, and alphabet imp, but I resent how basic and shitty this writing is to necessitate me sounding like some faux progressive wokescold.… (mehr)

I am falling in love with this series. Volume 2 is a smart, rich and surprisingly humorous installment of Brian Azzarello's stellar Wonder Woman run! Azzarello really has reinvented Wonder Women in an engaging way. In this book, our Amazon Princess literally goes to the underworld to marry Hell himself, as a price for the bargain she has with Hades, and in attempt to rescue the woman she swears to protect from the conspiring Gods.

Many folks are uncomfortable with the "retelling" of the amazon mythology but in some versions of the myth, no men were permitted to have sexual encounters or reside in Amazon country; but once a year, in order to prevent their race from dying out, the Amazons visited the Gargareans, a neighboring tribe. I mean, where did you think the Amazons came from? Are they all Goddesses?
There were two special months in the spring in which they would go up into the neighboring mountain which separates them and the Gargareans. The Gargareans also, in accordance with an ancient custom, would go there to offer sacrifice with the Amazons and also to have intercourse with them for the sake of begetting children. They did this in secrecy and darkness, any Gargareans at random with any Amazon, and after making them pregnant they would send them away. Any females that were born are retained by the Amazons themselves, but the males would be taken to the Gargareans to be brought up; and each Gargareans to whom a child is brought would adopt the child as his own, regarding the child as his son because of his uncertainty.

To the naysayers, I'd say take a look at the ancient mythology this series is drawing from. You'll learn much.… (mehr)

I liked this but I didn't love it. It is a gritty version of Wonder Woman therefore Vol. 1 Blood is an apt title. There are obvious problems with the storyline. In short: Diana, Amazonian Princess aka Wonder Woman, finds herself protecting a young woman impregnated by Zeus from his vengeful wife Hera. But Wonder Woman is about to find out her own dubious parentage, a secret her mother Hippolyta has kept from her for years. So, yes, the Wonder Woman origin story is thrown out the window with this one. So if you're a purist, forget reading this. But, the drama that ensues between the gods and between Diana and Hippolyta is interesting enough to be enjoyable.… (mehr)