Wondy 33

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Four pages from today's Wondy.

So, the sea monsters from the preview attack the island. The amazons fight back. Ares shows up.



WHUT. She won't kill Genocide, but she will kill Ares? She can kill Ares? Since when? He's the god of war. The whole point of him is that he outclasses her as much as Clark outclasses Jim Gordon.

They're on Thalarion at this point, and Zeus shows up and is all "be a wife and mother, and oh I killed Kane."





When WML does a better Polly than Gail, something is badly wrong with the universe.



... yeah.

On the plus side, I've had to cut back on luxuries recently and I've been waffling over what titles to cut, and this makes that decision easier at least..

Comments

[thandrak.insanejournal.com]

Everything is going according to Athena's plan.

[angelophile.insanejournal.com]

To be fair, it must take the shine off having a god when you can punch them in the face.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Well, the fact that you can is a bit of a new (like as-of-this-issue) development, so while it's fair in this context, it's a bit odd in a wider one.

[gargoylekitty.insanejournal.com]

I just scanned these exact same pages. XP

Any who... While I saw the whole 'combine the Olympians with the Amazons' thing coming eventually, this... I have no real words for this. I mean, really? What the hell.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

I was in the process of scanning these too. Ah well, I'll just go ahead with the Herc ones.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, I wasn't sure what to make of this. If Ares is supposed to be dead, that's ludicrous. Even if he's not (and I kind of suspect he isn't), the fact that anyone even seems to think that he could have died in that manner is still ridiculous.

As for the rest, it's the sort of thing that would make Geoff Johns smile with delight.

[sherkahn.insanejournal.com]

Not unheard of, though. We have precedence for gods dying. A couple of issue ago we had one sky father (Zeus) could kill another sky father (Kane) by ripping out his heart.

My reaction:

[toasty_fresh.insanejournal.com]

(http://s481.photobucket.com/albums/rr174/toasty-fresh/?action=view&current=icantbelievemineeyes.gif)

Re: My reaction:

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Where's that from? It's perfect.

[janegray.insanejournal.com]

Aww, so Kane stays dead? I was kind of hoping that jerk Zeus would somehow get killed, and somebody would use his heart to bring back Kane. Poetic justice and all that.

[kagome654.insanejournal.com]

I keep expecting his heart to grow back, à la Prometheus.

[unknownscribler.insanejournal.com]

Words cannot adequately describe the sheer and horrific levels of fail and suck contained herein.

This should have ended in one of 2 ways.

The first is for the first time in their lives, the Amazons take their lives into their own hands and side with Diana and tell the gods who have just massively fucked them over to just GTFO, or at least for a bunch of them to side with Diana and in so doing finally choose their own destiny.

The other would be for Diana, as an invariable cosmic level consequence of being a mortal who slays a god, a consequence even the other gods are unaware of, becoming quite against her will, the new God of War.

[pepperspray101.insanejournal.com]

Well who's to say that won't happen later on?

[chthonicspirit.insanejournal.com]

And then Diana woke up with a hangover and swore never to touch Etta's special candy again.

[majingojira.insanejournal.com]

Somehow, I knew that Diana becoming (effectivly) an Atheist (well, Agnostic to be more specific since she just told the gods she won't worship them) would be met harshly.

But I think it's fucking awesome.

No one will notice it, but she has basically become the most high profile Atheistic Superhero in all of comics.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

But I think it's fucking awesome.

Yep!

Next, we'll give Batman a serum that makes him more powerful than Clark.

[alschroeder.insanejournal.com]

WW without the Olympian gods is like Steve Rogers without the flag. Maybe Gail is trying to strip Diana of everything that has meaning to her, to show us how she reacts under such circumstances---but like Steve Rogers as the Nomad, we can hope it's only temporary.

[gargoylekitty.insanejournal.com]

That is a pretty common thing. Stripping a character down until there's not much and then remodling them a bit... though this seems too much.

[(Anonymous)]

well I still think Wondy's BA...on a side note why is Baldy still alive? I'm really tired of her screaming dragon...

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Diana's not going to kill someone who poses no threat to anyone. Wacky Alkyone wants to hurt one person: Diana. Which she isn't capable of. The Punisher would probably spare your life in that situation. Diana's certainly not going to take it.

[ccsharumun.insanejournal.com]

I'm actually kind of looking forward to how this plays out.

ALSO--

Achilles looks like He-Man :D

[gailsimone.insanejournal.com]

Thank you for your first comment.

AND CURSE YOUR BLOODY HIDE FOR THE SECOND!

[(Anonymous)]

Aw, shit, bluefall, did you HAVE to post the very last pages?

Goddammit. What a rotten thing to do.

I didn't think ANYONE would do that. Eight
months!

Grrrrrrr.


Gail, irritated in the vancouver airport

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Aw, shit, bluefall, did you HAVE to post the very last pages?

Well, yes. They're what irritated me, they're what I want to talk about, they're the point of the story. They're the same pages two other scanners were in the process of scanning when I posted this, because they are what we, as a group of Wondy fans, are interested in discussing with each other.

That said, I'm sorry for darkening your Wednesday. Airports are obnoxious enough without entitled fans making them that much worse. I don't think I was wrong to post (and, being verbose me, just cropped about five paragraphs of pointless exposition on why, because an apology seems rather more relevant), but that doesn't mean I don't genuinely regret doing anything to vex you. :(

[zegim.insanejournal.com]

Well, I loved this issue.

[batcookies.insanejournal.com]

Hoo boy. This issue. This issue...

Some thoughts.

1. I'm thinking of the mythic/heroic cycle. Hero ends up separated from hearth and home, hero faces a series of trials, the hero gets torn down and suffers, but then the hero rises, there's atonement, and finally the hero returns home. I think Gail's aiming for something like that here, and this is the start of an ugly period in Diana's life that she will triumph over before returning home.
1. B. The last time I remember thinking "the writer is trying to do something Epic, in the mold of the heroic cycle" was Devin Grayson's Nightwing, with Blockbuster dying and everything. So I really hope Gail doesn't linger for too long in telling this story.

2. Ares went down way too easily. I know that part of the impact was meant to be just how abruptly he was taken out, but... he's Wonder Woman's oldest and most powerful foe. And yet killing him was as easy as killing Maxwell Lord. I think Wonder Woman's foes badly need to be built up, and I don't think this makes Ares look like a particularly dangerous foe. And since I wasn't wowed by Cheetah or Psycho in this arc either (oddly I thought Cheetah's appearance in Secret Six used her better), I don't think this did a good job building up her existing foes.

3. I'm really not loving the Hephaestus cannon, sorry. I don't get why it deserved the name "Hephaestus cannon". It was an unusually large and fancy gunpowder and cannon-ball canon. I preferred the Amazons that could fight an army of OMACs.

That said, there are definitely some things that I liked in this issue.

But... that ending. I just don't know about this. I'm completely with bluefall in saying Wonder Woman needs her gods like Captain America needs America. We're dealing with "Nomad" here. I just don't know.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

The last time I remember thinking "the writer is trying to do something Epic, in the mold of the heroic cycle" was Devin Grayson's Nightwing, with Blockbuster dying and everything. So I really hope Gail doesn't linger for too long in telling this story.

This is part of my concern, but for me a larger part is that... we had the Heinboot, we had Shamazons. We had the Goddess of Truth living a lie. We had the gods and amazons lost in exile and Diana not caring. She was broken already. She was ready to be built back up. Or, barring that, to be brought to the absolute low of *that* "new status quo." But this arc has resolved a majority of that crap solely to reestablish it. The amazons are gone? Okay, now they're back. But Diana's in self-imposed exile, so basically they're gone. Diana's a superspy rather than a diplomat and emissary of her gods? Okay, well, her agency blew up and she's hanging with deities again. But she's disclaimed her heritage and gods and is has nothing left to do but generic superheroics, so basically nothing's changed. She has no real ties to Donna or Cassie? Okay, we'll bring them into the book. But then we'll have them get hurt and split from her during the Genocide fight, so basically they're still not regular supporting cast. She's got this weird dubious love interest, so we'll make that official and have them actually court and kiss. But then we'll have her sort of maybe break his heart but want to go back to him, so basically they're still uncertain and going to dance around each other. It's like, why bother? What's different now in practical terms for Diana's journey than when the title first changed hands? Even if the upswing of the Hero's Journey starts next month, that's still a very long time to spin the wheels of the epic cycle.

[khaosworks.insanejournal.com]

Um... okay.

I haven't been reading Wonder Woman, I confess, but is there any explanation as to why Zeus doesn't just devolve Diana back to clay? Aren't her powers gifts from the gods? If she stops believing...

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

I think the gods would have to take them back

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

When WML does a better Polly than Gail, something is badly wrong with the universe

I don't think Polly is afraid there. She's simply stating bluefall's arguement that Diana is an Amazon and Amazon's worship the Greek gods.

[majingojira.insanejournal.com]

I like your take on it. Kinda fits into "Parallels coming out of the Areligious/Atheistic Closet" thing that's running in my biased head.

[marlowe84.insanejournal.com]

De-lurking for a moment to say that I really liked the developments at the end of the issue. I just... thinks it makes for a fascinating story, and I'm really excited to see where it goes from here. I think a rift/conflict between Diana and the gods that made her is very Greek Epic-ish, and can be taken in some awesome directions. There were things about the whole story arc that didn't make a lot of sense to me, but Diana forsaking Zeus makes a lot of sense to me, personally.

[demonprawn.insanejournal.com]

Well I fuckin' loved it. and Aaron drew the hell out of it. I'm shocked at everyone's hate cause i got a huge buzz reading this. A crisis of faith storyline just seems appropriate for a character who is so deeply buried in the stuff. Is this the first time WW has abandoned the gods? I find that hard to believe seems like too obvious a story line. Like Superman wondering if he's too powerful for his own good, or Batman disconnecting with humanity or Spider-man forgetting to be responsible with power.

Ares went down easy, a little too easy. You think he's really down an out? Hell a page later and his plot continues to unfold "post mortem".

I know we got the mini Canary arc next but I can't wait to see where the gods and Amazon stuff goes.

[pepperspray101.insanejournal.com]

Oh good, I'm not the only one not bothered by this. Maybe its cuz I'm new to wonder woman, but I see this as the story of a woman who just lost her "support network" and has to deal with life without it. I think for once I can relate to Wonder woman. I'm intrigued to see what happens next.

[nevermore999.insanejournal.com]

Y'know, it's rare I disagree with Bluefall, but I really don't mind this. I'm interested to see where this goes. It's something that always seemed worth exploring to me in Wondy, that she might get tired of the gods jerking her around. It's like, a couple of times in her run a god (usually Hermes) has said "I'm not sure we deserve worshipers like you" and I've been "...They really don't do they? They gave her life and all that, but they're always screwing with her and she's always saving their asses." My mom's given me everything in the world and then some, but if she screwed with me as often as the Greek Gods screwed with Diana, I'd probably stomp out yelling "I have no Mom! I am not a !"

Now, obviously Zeus is completely coocoo for cocoa puffs here, and Di should have noticed, but I think that can be excused by how wasted she must be after all this shit happening to her. Genocide does seem to have affected her on some level. Ares, I don't believe he's really dead. Zeus thinks he is, but the guy's nuts, like I said. If it turns out I'm wrong, I'll be very disappointed, but I think there's a way bigger picture here.

Hippolyta seemes to be more less "afraid of Zeus" than "unwilling to abandon her gods and her people". What she's got here is Zeus killed a god Diana liked. Zeus has done dick things in the past, yet here Diana is flipping over this and saying she's outta here. Zeus didn't hurt Diana, so it's not like Polly herself has anything to be mad about, except Diana's suddenly all hurt and ranting and wanting to abandon her people. Well, Polly can't do that, she's the queen, she's the leader. Diana is not in any way hurt, she'll be fine on her own, there's no reason for Polly to tell of Zeus or go with Diana, because Diana never bothered to explain the sitch properly to Polly.

Diana's actions are understandable here in light of the history of the gods screwing with her, and all the trauma Genocide's put her through.

Also, I think this is temporary and it's going to lead to interesting storylines. I'm willing to wait to see where it goes before I condemn it.

But I understand why you're upset. After all the shit Wondy's been put through, her distancing herself from the Amazon's again must irk you a lot more than it does me for whatever reason. I have some problems too: Does Diana know the gods were kidnapped by Darkseid? Why isn't she surprised to see her sisters back? What's about Athena (and I think this all might be some big plan of hers)? Athena's rarely done Di wrong, why couldn't she just say "I only answer to Athena now?" Or is that not allowed or something and if you renounce some you renounce them all?

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

It's not... hmn. How to put this.

While I do think the writing here is out of character, it's not necessarily out-of-bounds, if you see what I'm saying - people sometimes do act out of character. The phrase wasn't invented for literary criticism. And while the comparison to Cap is absolutely spot-on IMO, and Diana without her gods is missing the point of the mythos, the thing about the Cap comparison is that Nomad wasn't inherently a bad idea as a temporary thing, and offered a chance to tell some interesting stories for the all of four issues it lasted. Of course Diana-in-exile offers interesting story opportunities too.

It's just... at this point, they're not stories I want to read. I've been waiting three years for a Diana who is Diana again. She's been Nomad, been in exile all this time, and the big climactic three-quarters-of-a-year event that would supposedly dramatically alter her status quo just... fizzled out and left her still in exile. I don't care if it's written better, I don't care how brilliant the next few arcs are in exploring the consequences of this one. It's still a story I'm burnt out on. I feel like I've been living in a steakhouse where the chef only makes disgustingly inedible beef tip soup, nothing but beef tip slop for months on end, and finally they brought in this new five-star chef and she makes... more beef tip soup. It could be the tastiest beef tip soup in the world, but I've pretty much had enough of the dish, and I was kind of hoping for the steak that I came to the restaurant for in the first place. No slight on those who dig the new beef tip soup, or on the chef herself, because there's nothing wrong with beef tip soup as long as it's tasty. But me, I've had my fill and more, and I'm just going to wait for steak to come back on the menu.

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting. On a slightly unrelated note: was there ever an explanation offered for the gods' snazzy new spacesuits?

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

a very ancient, very advanced alien race picked them up from the remains of Apokalips and gave them the suits.

[mooppoom.insanejournal.com]

God. This arc just wore me out. I dropped it two months ago because I could not, could not take one more issue of 'mysterious manazons gather, Wondy is enraged by Genocide's atrocities and runs to fight it, but instead is shocked to find that it committed more atrocities and is too powerful for her.'

After I'd spent half a year seeing that same story repeated again and again I couldn't muster the strength to read even one more issue. If the next issue has nothing whatsoever to do with this arc I will buy it. But I am never, ever following a story like this again.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

Is that Tim Drake in drag in your icon? XD

[magus_69.insanejournal.com]

I've been writing and revising my reply for quite a while now, so I'll just cut to the chase. It looks to me like Gail is breaking Diana down so she can bring her back up again. There is sense in this; no building can last if it is supported on a poor edifice, and I think we can all agree that the Heinberg/Shamazons mess is a very poor edifice indeed. Gail has destroyed that edifice so she can rebuild anew. She's doing for Wonder Woman what the Murderer/Fugitive storyline was supposed to do for Batman: destroy the faulty edifice and build something better.

Of course, M/F was a long crossover that consumed the Batbooks for months. There's only one WW title, so this will take some time to complete.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

But there was no edifice to speak of; in fact, she had already abolished the bad stuff midway through this arc (DMA gone, Amazons back)...only to bring that stuff back. Diana was an isolated outcast living in our world at the start of this story, and she is at the end, having had a hope spot in the middle.

[pepperspray101.insanejournal.com]

Hm. This was painful to watch. But not because of its blasphemous oocness. But because it reminded me too much of my family situation where the menfolk of my family treat the women in my family like shit and I was the only one smart enough to say, enough is enough. I'm leaving this abuse behind. Let's see what she does now. I'm intrigued.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

you know what I'd like to see. Gods competing for Diana's attention. Also I think the Amazons should adopt what the Bana did. Take gods from a variety of pantheons.