Wonder Woman #4

[superfangirl1]

Over on Paradise Island, Hera does indeed appear, resplendent in cape of peacock feathers. Knowing she has no chance against a goddess, the warrior queen bows down and asks for forgiveness. And Hera seems set to look with compassion on the weaker woman, so vulnerable to her husband's charms.

Diana finds Hippolyte, but she's in no fit state to accept an apology thanks to the departed Hera. She's been petrified, and her Amazon sisters are in equally dire straits, having been transformed into snakes.

Comments

[q99]

The 'Diana protecting someone with a couple minor gods hanging out' is cool, but the book isn't respecting WW's history much.

[darkknightjrk]

Hmm...I can't really argue that, but I feel like they're giving HUGE respect to Diana's character and the world that she inhabits, so I do think it balances out pretty damn favorably on this book's end.

[aeka]

Huh. I never took Diana as the type to smash champaign glasses into people's hands. Learn something new everyday. o.O

[q99]

Ehh... the Zeus thing, *and* getting rid of the Amazons? I'm not seeing much in the way of respect, more of the writer wanting to do their own Greek God thing with Wonder Woman and didn't want her history in the way, and decided clear-cutting is the way to go about that (rather than putting them out of the way/not involved in the story or what have you).

[q99]

Oh, she's never been *too* shy about hurting people if the situation calls for it, so I can see it.

[darkknightjrk]

Well, we know that the Amazons are going to be changed back, and Zeus and the writing of the Greek Gods in general...it's just written so well that I really think it betters the character.

As for the history--just because they're not mentioning it doesn't mean none of it exist. Events like, say, Diana encountering the Bana could still be in place. I'd rather see them focus on telling a good story than try to put in an infodump of her past adventures.

[darkknightjrk]

Eh, she's a God--she can handle it.

[xammax]

I think if they were going to do it, this rebooot was the time. End of the day we have a good story that respects her character and the way she acts, has her doing cool things which many runs on her title can't claim. I am buying this run because I think the tone has set it apart from other titles.

[xammax]

That god... she deserves it. Alot. I support all glasses into hands she gets.

[golden_orange]

Yeah, to be honest, if it's a choice between changing things to tell a good story with a good character now or adhering slavishly to 70-odd years of history and backstory, then that backstory can be pruned to hell as far as I'm concerned.

Plus, I'd be utterly amazed if the point of this story arc wasn't Diana finding a way to restore Hippolyta and the other Amazons -- the whole thing has "redemption and acceptance of the past" story-arc written all over it.

[darkknightjrk]

"Plus, I'd be utterly amazed if the point of this story arc wasn't Diana finding a way to restore Hippolyta and the other Amazons"

Especially when you consider that one of the recent solicits has her breaking into Hades' realm to try to get Hippolyta out.

[moetushie]

Wow I kind of ship it. I've got to read up on the context...

[q99]

The part that gets me is they specifically bring up the old so that they can then retcon in the new.

It's a new universe, one can just say "this is the status quo" without mentioning the statue version at all if they aren't planning on using that origin.

That strikes me as more clumsy.

[swatkat]

I wouldn't call it clumsy - it seems to me a deliberate attempt to contradict that origin. By bringing it up, they give a plausible, in-universe explanation of why Diana now has a new origin. I'm not happy with the origin change, but they did have it make sense within the story in a way that has a huge impact on the story, I'll give them that.

[swatkat]

She's my favourite new character, and she SO had it coming. I just hope she returns soon, making mischief as usual.

[swatkat]

She is a God. Also responsible for the deaths of a number of Amazons and currently insinuating she get rid of the unborn child of a mortal woman under Diana's protection. Diana showed incredible restraint before this, actually.

[damar148]

Wait, why is Mr. Freeze hanging out with Wonder Woman at a nightclub?

[ian_karkull]

Seeing Hera in her peacock cloak makes me absurdly happy. I love that fabulous thing to death.

[long_silence]

That's Hermes. He has bird legs in the DCnU.

[jlbarnett]

the Amazons are more like the Amazons of myth than the Amazons of Wonder WOman to me.

[jeyl]

Sure it may make sense, but the whole thing still comes off as if it's mocking the original origin story by bringing it up to begin with. And it's not even the best depiction of Diana's origin story because it leaves out so many important elements that, believe it or not, would bring the same conclusions that Diana would have come up with here.

Hippolyte didn't simply ask for a child out of the blue while lying on a beach. She was "supposed" to have a child. She was pregnant with Diana by the time of her real world death before she became an Amazon. During the time with the Amazons, she had a longing for something she didn't understand, and once she was told what that was, she was granted the chance to to bring her unborn daughter's soul to life. It wouldn't be the same if she got pregnant again because that would have created someone else entirely, so creating something for the soul to inhabit would make the most sense. And all of this was possible not simply by one god, but of dozens who blessed her!

Conclusion:
- Diana is the real daughter of Hippolyta, blood and soul.
- A man was involved in conception, but also in both Diana and Hippolyte's death.
- She was brought back by the gods after Hippolyta discovered what her sadness and longing were coming from.
- Upon Diana being brought to life, Diana was blessed with attributes by each of the Gods.
- The clay was simply a means of hosting an existing soul, not creating one.

What this comic tries to offer:
- Diana is the real daughter of Hippolyta, blood and soul.
- She was conceived out of her mother's lust for a man.
- Father is a god who goes around cheating on his wife with anything with a vagina and leaves them to their fate when his murderous wife will kill anyone he sleeps with him.

Now, how is this an improvement?

[jeyl]

Respects her? How? The only thing that's respecting the original Wonder Woman is that she's a woman. That's it. Throughout the issues, she's never been nice to the girl she's trying to protect and always reacts to things she doesn't like with violence. Her compassion she had for everything, including those she strives to protect is completely absent here. Where is the respect?

[jeyl]

But with this Wonder Woman, it seems that EVERY situation calls for violence.

[kurenai-tenka.livejournal.com]

I absolutely loved this issue, can't wait for the next one! :D

[swatkat]

To be very honest, I don't have much investment in Perez's origin about Diana being Hippolyta's unborn child (or the Perez run in general). I liked 'The Circle' better, which doesn't really contradict Perez as such but hinges more on Hippolyta's desire for a child, which is something that really resonated with me as a reader.

She was conceived out of her mother's lust for a man.

I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. (I do have issues with the origin, but coming to that in a minute.)

Father is a god who goes around cheating on his wife with anything with a vagina and leaves them to their fate when his murderous wife will kill anyone he sleeps with him.


Father is Zeus, and family members are the Olympians, which makes for excellent drama. Now, it may not be drama to all our taste, but it does have the ingredients of a great story.

My issue with the new origin is that it appears to undercut the queerness of Diana's origin, not because it has Zeus as a sperm-donor, but because it no longer emphasizes on Hippolyta's desire to have a child, which is was so strong that it fashioned the finest woman you'll ever see out of clay. Furthermore, it opens up the Wonder Woman mythos to Daddy Issues Drama which, in the hands of a lesser author, could lead to much horror. I do not see it as a 'mocking' of the old origin - just an attempt on the author's part to work with both and make in-universe sense of the retcon.