When phallic objects attack!

[colonel_green]

Four scans from Wonder Woman #43, Gail Simone's antepenultimate issue.


The Citizenry, led by Astarte, who claims to be Antiope, Diana's aunt, is still attacking Washington, which is cut off from everything else.  They unleash one of those giant silver snakes:



Etta and Steve look on (Diana is fighting Astarte elsewhere), wondering what they're going to do.





Finally, he does something impressive.

Actually, that whole sequence was well done, the sort of feat that Diana herself really needs to do more.

Regarding the end of that scan, the lasso-vision then gives us Astarte's supposedly backstory, which is so completely divorced from past Amazon history that there's obviously something else going on here.

Pretty good issue, overall.  And both of the artists do really strong work.
 

Comments

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Hmm, Washington DC looks...Washington DC-ish and not New Yorkish.

Nice.

[nezchan]

Artists doing research? How oddly refreshing. I think I like it.

[q99]

The book's been good on that. I live next to DC and have often found it familiar. Especially when it hits the metro, which it's done on several occasions.

Right busses, too.

[holli]

Yeah, but the buildings are too tall-- there shouldn't be anything over eight stories.

[q99]

Yea, one of the few slip-ups. Still, the styling is generally right.

[joasakura]

I have to see if I can find the issue, but this giant silver serpent ...THING.. and Diana's Aunt reminds me of a a wonder woman comic I had from my childhood in the 70s.. where a woman made of silver and bronze came to destroy hippolyta and diana.. and she turned out to be the spirit of of Polly's sister given form ..or something. It's been a long time, but the imagery kind of sticks in my mind.

[shadowpsykie]

hmm interesting that they made his abilities proportional to his conviction to fight (Stems from his unwillingness to fight in the Trojan war)

nice nod to history... erm myth...

[aegof]

It always confuses me a little when new characters are named after gods.

[colonel_green]

He's not named after Achilles, he is Achilles, reincarnated.

[aegof]

I meant Astarte. Though I guess she's a new old character. And should've used "goddesses," I suppose.

[dimwit90]

I had to scream Fuck Yeah at that Achilles scene :)

[thebigapricot]

Motto. Why couldn't Robinson put Archilles in the JLA? Screw Congorilla, I want Archilles flying around on his elephant vanquishing evil.

[joasakura]

THIS

[gailsimone]

Achilles IS appearing in a DC team book very shortly, and not one written by me!
I'm looking forward to it.

[joasakura]

is "squee" the appropriate response?

[shadowpsykie]

OH YAY! and gail nice nod to the myth (Achilles' strength being proporational to his willingness to fight) conscidering he refused to fight through the first like 19 books of the Iliad.

will Patrick Cleese join him? :)

[q99]

I hope to see how he's handled, other writers being able to write a character is key to whether they get longevity I think.

[thebigapricot]

Yay! Hmm, he isn't going to land the elephant on a Teen Titan is he?

[gailsimone]

I think all the Titans are already marked for death. I'm pretty sure they ran out of Titans a couple years back.

[cmdr_zoom]

*sighs and nods* They finally had to start bringing in new ones, not created by Wolfman and Perez, and then those died too...

[schmevil]

Booya! \o/

[dimwit90]

I think "Archilles flying around on his elephant vanquishing evil" is the most beautiful sentence ever written. XD

[ulf_boehnke]

What's the name of the flying elephant? Will he join the Pet JLA with Power Girl's cat?

[joasakura]

the elephant's name is Mysia. :D

[shadowpsykie]

like Micenea?

[a_clericalerror]

I'd assume it's Mysia like Mysia.

[shadowpsykie]

hmm interesting considering the Mysians were allies of Troy... Pretty name though :)

[gailsimone]

That is correct, A_C!

It's pathetic, but man, if I could just write Hippolyta, Artemis and Mysia for the rest of my life, I'd be pretty happy. I had more fun writing them than almost anything else I've ever worked on.

And Mysia doesn't talk, even!

[big_daddy_d]

I wish you wrote Green Arrow/Black Canary. If DC gave you a run there, that would've been epic.

Hoping I'm not the only one who thought this.

[gailsimone]

It was offered to me a couple times, and they did ask me to participate
in the wedding issue and the marriage stories.

[alienist]

If anyone could have salvaged that storyline, it would have been you.

[sistermagpie]

That was pretty awesome. He should give lessons in trash talk. And I love the idea of his strength being connected to his conviction.

[cf105]

Its an awesome concept and yet at the same time it allows for the Worf effect whenever needed. Go Gail!

[joasakura]

Here: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/wonder-woman/6#i252

is the old issue of WW i was thinking about (252)

I have it somewhere in storage. :T

[gailsimone]

Good eye, Joas!

It was actually the great Kurt Busiek who pointed out what an interesting germ of an idea this story presented!

He offered to loan me the issues from his collection, but fortunately, I was able to pick them up in Portland, and I found the idea kind of irresistable!

[joasakura]

I scrambled around to find my copy of it- this was grade A-nightmare fuel when I was nine :D

I can't wait to go pick the issue up and see how the rest of this plays out. (also, <3 for Mysia ;D)

[gailsimone]

Man, Colonel, first, thanks for not posting big spoilers, second, thanks for assuming the big weird moment isn't completely random ;) , and third, HOLY SHIT, I never heard the word "antepenultimate' before!

What an amazing word! I had to look it up.

I wish it were true, it's actually my penultimate issue, with a short story in 600 among many. Next issue is my actual last one, sob cry weep bitch complain, whine!

The artists did a lovely job here of crazy destruction, and I loved Nicola's first pages, with the Amazons.

We wanted to have a fun, crazy story to go out on after the relatively depressing Olympian stuff.

Glad you liked it!

And I can't wait to use "antepenultimate" sometime, soon!

[benicio127]

Aaaand if he was talking about the issue before this one, it would be your preantepenultimate issue. The more you know. ;-)

[pyrotwilight]

But...but...Achilles can't be attacking phallic objects. He LOVES phallic objects. *brain broken* XP

[gailsimone]

You are nasty!

But that is funny. :)

[joasakura]

sometimes, you have to hurt the one you love.

or something. :D

[cygna_hime]

He can do both. It's a Greek thing.

[20thcenturyvole]

Win.

[icon_uk]

A three-eyed, two-trunked elephant which is flight capable??

Screw the Batmobile and the invisible plane,. heck screw the Spider-Mobile.... Mysia HAS instantly leapt to the forefront of "most insanely awesome form of heroic transportation EVER!"

[q99]

You're just noticing this? :)

[icon_uk]

I'm not a regular Wonder Woman reader, and don't have a local comic shop.

[q99]

That's a good reason :)

And on your original point, yea. I'm hard pressed to think of a heroic means of travel that even comes *close*.

[punishermax]

SOMEONE CALL YUGI! WE HAVE A BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON ATTACK!

[pyrotwilight]

I activate my tRap card, transforming by Blue Eyes White Dragon into Green Eyes white METAL DRAGON!

[punishermax]

~lens flare~

~anime speed lines~

Ha ha! I activate my...

~flourish with card~

TRAP CARD!

~slams card down dramatically~

AMAZONS ATTACK ISSUE ONE! YOUR ENTIRE FANBASE LEAVES! I WIN!

[gailsimone]

I know this means SOMETHING... ;)

[colonel_green]

It's a reference to the anime Yu-Gi-Oh, which is about kids playing superpowered card games (like Pokemon).

It also inspired a parody series on YouTube that is the source of numerous internet memes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-32NGYLqwAQ

[big_daddy_d]

Personally I think the Blue Eyes White Dragon is awesome. Kaiba should really keep his eye on that thing, less it gets loose and starts laying waste to the city..hmm in that case we got no choice but to depend on..GODZILLA! Wait..even if the big G wins, we're still screwed..holy crap. We're left with none other than the POWER RANGERS!

[big_daddy_d]

"DIE BY THE HAND OF ACHILLES, BASTARD SON OF NOTHING!" New favorite quote.

[proteus_lives]

Very motto!

[cygna_hime]

Well, Achilles is in character, anyhow. ...Where is his mom, anyway? I mean, granted that he's Achilles-Achilles, so my assessment of his ICness has some grounds, Mumsie has no reason not to be showing up any minute to be her smothering cross-dressing enabling usual self. Or does she? What's up with the pantheon atm?

[q99]

Wasn't his mother mortal? So presumably long, long dead. This body was recently created by Zeus, out of the soul of Achilles, the heart of a Hawai'ian god, and divine fire.

At the moment, Athena and Ares are dead but kicking it in spirit form. Zeus made Achilles and gave him command of Jason and the Argonauts, basically trying to replicate Athena's success with Diana and the Amazons. I think the rest are still patching up Olympus after the Gods of Apokolips wrecked the place. They haven't been seen doing much at the least.

[cygna_hime]

No, his father was the mortal one. His mom was/is Thetis, one of the Nereids. That's why I was asking; Peleus is naturally gone, but Thetis both has no reason that I know of to be dead and every reason to want to come see her precious baby. She's like that.

Zeus made Jason exist again? Fail. Some people just should not be allowed. Jason is most of them.

[q99]

Oh. Hmm... you know, that's a very good question. Maybe Achilles just hasn't called yet to let her know he's back :)

Good news is he's bumped into Patroclus's reincarnation (with implied Diana meddling). Achilles is *very* happy about that.



What's the reason to not have Jason back?

[cygna_hime]

Well, I mean, if *I* were Achilles I'd probably "forget" to call my mom too. She's kind of...yeah.

I saw those scans. I was also very happy, though not (quite) as happy as Achilles.

There is a list. 1)I despise him. 2)That's no hero; that's an entitled douchebag. 3)He never did anything heroic other than have taste in women and own the ship. 4)Medea is infinitely more interesting and awesome and if anyone deserves to be rez'd just for Deeds In The Service Of Kickassery, it's her. 5)There is no way Jason fits into Wonder Woman as a hero rather than a villain. 6)Did I mention despise? Because I do, and so do all right-thinking people. 7)It's unlikely that he will get kicked in the nuts for ten pages straight as he duly deserves. 8)DESPISE.

[q99]

Ah yes, a solid point. Still, it was Zeus's doing, so it's not out of character.

I think if this group of Gargareans (as they're dubbed) does good, it'll be largely because of their leader, and I attribute a lot of his compassion to Kane Milohai's heart as anything else.

-Well, I mean, if *I* were Achilles I'd probably "forget" to call my mom too. She's kind of...yeah.-

Yea :)

[nothingbutcake]

Oh my god, this gay is kicking ass.

[schmevil]

"This gay is kicking ass."

Typo?

[nothingbutcake]

Nope.

[schala_kid]

Achilles is like the unofficial Wonder Man., also I'm loving this storyline.

[perletwo]

To be fair, Steve and Etta aren't just standing around watching, they're mobilizing everything the DMHA has to throw at the silver serpent, because the city is shut down - as Etta points out, nothing comes in, nothing goes out, whatever stops the thing has to be already there. The trouble is, they just don't have much left after the battle with Genocide. They're taking stock of their meager ration of tanks when a uniformed extra points Etta in the direction of "the elephant in the room."

Can ya tell I really like the characterization of Steve and Etta in this run? :D

[jlbarnett]

Interesting story. It does massively retcon Hippolyta's backstory. I'm assuming the Astarte is not claiming to be Antiope, but a sister of Hippolyta's first life. Of course she was supposed to be prehistoric, not originally Greek.

[colonel_green]

From everything Simone has said, this backstory isn't genuine.

[sethgray]

Goddamn, Achilles. Patrick needs to be tapping that like whoa.

Also, Nicola Scott needs to draw everything ever for always.

[retro_nouveau]

Diana's cousin is love at first sight, even though I hate her hair. Her name seems way obviously an anagram... Can't wait for next month.

Heh. Not a single complaint that Achilles' combat attire shows so much skin -- even more than Diana's. And I would be the absolute last person to start.

[janegray]

See? See? I always knew that Achilles was great :D

The "Conviction = Strength" idea reminds me of Empowered, although in her case it was more "confidence" than "conviction."