Wonder Woman #10

[aeka]

And the most important message from Wondy is...









So. If Hades now loves himself, then wouldn't that mean Hell will become a much better place as a result?

Comments

[grimmbear]

While I'm not sure of the need to make Zeus her father, I do love the book right now. The blend of mythology and super heroics is good but the characterization of the gods is spot on.
I'm glad they are making Diana more than a Superman clone, it's so easy to write her as that.

[lonewolf23k]

At the very least, I think Zeus being Diana's father is something that can be later on retconned as a lie.

[q99]

-
I'm glad they are making Diana more than a Superman clone, it's so easy to write her as that.-

When would you say she is one?

I don't feel she's been one in Rucka's run, Gail's run, or, say, the Waid/Kelly JLA run.

[jaybee3]

I agree. I dislike the whole Zeus as father thing and the way the Amazons are written, but I really like the rest. I think Diana is written well and the Gods too. Even Hades (who in the myth is no worse than any of his brothers/sisters, he just got stuck with the crap assignment) has the potential to be more than just a weird-looking villian.

I can't recall anytime since the Simone-era where the Wonder Woman series had such a clear direction - certainly this is miles above that whole "Odyssey" idea of JMS's.

[icon_uk]

That is one hideous outfit that Diana has on there, what IS that thing on her chest? It's like she made her bodice using origami.

If Hades now loves himself, then wouldn't that mean Hell will become a much better place as a result

Why? Self obsession isn't much good.

Besides, Hades doesn't look after Hell, he looks after the Underworld, which in Greek Myth includes both Heaven (The Elysian fields) and Hell (Tartarus).

Oh, and someone did love themselves more than Eros; Narcissus!

[amaresu]

To be fair Diana didn't design the wedding dress.

Oh, and someone did love themselves more than Eros; Narcissus!

I'm thinking they meant more of the healthy self-love than the Narcissus kind of love.

[aeka]

Self-love and self-obsession are two separate things. Also, Narcissus was obsessed with his own beauty, which again, is not the same as self-love. :P

[mrstatham]

Yes, but he doesn't love himself. The message being put across here isn't self-obsession, but that to get other people to love you - as he wanted Diana to - then you first have to love or at least like some aspects of yourself. If you don't like anything about yourself, what hope do you have with anyone else loving you?

[whitesycamore]

Why? Self obsession isn't much good

Does self love necessarily mean self obsession? I love lots of people, but I'm not obsessed with any of them!

The only thing I am obsessed with is vengeance.

[perletwo]

Why is everybody all green? (Yes, I know, they're in the underworld, but still.)

[mrstatham]

You answered your own question there, I think.

[starwolf_oakley]

This reminds me of something Dr. Drew Pinsky once said about Narcissus. The thing most people don't "get" about Narcissus isn't that he fell in love with his own reflection, it's that Narcissus didn't recognize himself.

[greenmask]

...

:O

[long_silence]

Wait, I thought Eros was Ares' (or sometimes Hermes') son, but not Hephaestus.

[his_spiffynesss]

I think they are going for a bit more monogamy between the gods (Zeus excepted) I kind of like the idea that Aphrodite and Hephaestus are in a committed loving relationship. In fact, maybe she's the one pulling the stings in this story line.

[jeyl]

"It's true."

You're not.

[valismedsen]

I don't read this, but I gotta say the image of this child with candles lit over his head and molten wax dripping over his eyes is just awesome! And the fact that this is Hades makes it even more creepier. What a fantastic character design!

[jlbarnett]

I think it's terrible, especially since I'm pretty sure Hades was the oldest of himself, Posedian and Zeus.

[tsunamiwombat]

I know "it's never just you" but i'm not the only one who thought of a million masturbation jokes after this right

[mishalak]

Not a million, just one so far. "Nothing wrong with loving yourself, even three four times a day as long as you are careful not to chafe anything."

[cypherfdp]

"I... I had hair under all that wax? Well that changes everything! I'm awesome!"

[sir_mikael]

I hope he uses it as hair product in the obligatory feel-better-about-myself makeover.

[crabby_lioness]

I love pre-Hellenic Greek mythology with a love that knows no bounds.

This version may actually be worse than Disney.

[jlbarnett]

I really dislike this book right now. I admit I dropped it a few issues ago but I just don't see anything really good about it.

The gods are weird variations of the characters that make no sense to me and I can think of no justification for.

And the women in this book. It's a wonder if a woman is portrayed positively.

Diana strikes me as pretty cold. I mean she's not really nasty but she's not as open as Diana should be.

The Amazons are flat evil, as was Strife.

The only thing I know about Zola is she's pregnant and she likes a certain type of guy.

Hera punishes the wrong people.

Persephone is apparently pretty dumb and possibly selfish. Her mother loved her so much she lets the world go to hell for half a year because she's absent. And she decides to try to escape the lord of the dead by killing herself? Unbelievable.

[okkult3000]

"Hera punishes the wrong people."

Uhhh... I don't know how to tell you this...

[shadowpsykie]

I am really loving this book. it's an interesting examination of mythology as a whole :D

[espanolbot]

It is interesting, isn't it? Like like American Gods, but filtered through a DC lens.

I'd like Diana to start interacting with people and creatures from other mythologies, but then I feel it would get too many comparisions with Journey to Mystery which like a lot of Marvel's myth-based stuff kind of covers a lot of the same territory.

Like in Hercules' series they had modern versions of the Greek Pantheon, so when this new version of Wonder Woman came about with updated Greek Gods, people cried "rip-off", even though the idea of Gods keeping up with the times isn't exactly a new concept, as it was used in American Gods and in the Greg Rucka Wonder Woman series as well, amongst other places.

That said, Diana going to Avalon and hanging out with Arthurian folk could be pretty fun, especially as he's in the UK at the moment.

[his_spiffynesss]

My take on the series has been they are trying to give this books something of that feel of the Proto-Vertigo books, but Arrazello just is not quite the writer for this job. He focuses so much on world building his mythology he doesn't spare any time on Diana. She's little more than a cipher standing in the middle of all of these Gods and their machinations.

[maxisanacorn]

I think it's implied Hades doesn't like himself at all. Not just love. He doesn't like himself. The image of him looking at himself in the mirror is pretty touching.

As one who was extremely skinny and then dealt with the social rejection after I became somewhat overweight at age 8-9, and shortly thereafter became 6 ft tall in 6th grade and kept the weight, I was a frequent target for ridicule. The idea that no-body likes you can be very persistent for people under certain circumstances. And what Wonder-Woman says here is very true.

I do like Hades boy character design with the wax and candles and his Spanish-ish conquistador armor. I guess post-love bullet judging by that art his face/hair will be now visible?

[mrstatham]

The wax covering his head might've been symbolic in terms of him not loving himself, in that he can't/couldn't even see anything special about the way he looks. So given Diana's actions, it's kinda clever that the wax seems to be clearing up.

[eaglet_auditore]

Looks interesting. Looks interesting indeed.