Wonder Woman

Now that Futures End is out the way, ‘Superman Doomed’ is over, and Azzarello and Chiang have gone on to pastures new, it’s all gone a bit quiet on the Wondy front. Last week gave us a couple of guest appearances by Diana in Superman Unchained and Smallville: Continuity, and I’ll have a brief chat about them after the jump. But the only big appearance was the conclusion to the two-part story ‘Generations’. Was it any good? And doesn’t anyone do any research at DC?

These questions and probably not many others will be answered after the jump.

Continue reading “Weekly Wonder Woman: Sensation Comics #13, Superman Unchained #9, Smallville Continuity #11”

It’s the end? Can you believe it? For three years, Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang have been the creative forces behind the nu52 reboot of both the character of Wonder Woman and the Wonder Woman comic itself. And now they’re leaving – issue #35 is their last one.

It’s been a controversial ride, with Diana undergoing perhaps the most changes of anyone in the nu52 universe:

• Her origin was completely changed so that she became Zeus’s daughter when her mother Hippolyta had had an affair with him (her previous ‘clay’ origin was revealed to be a ruse to keep Hera in the dark)
• The Amazons were changed from a society of women living isolated from the world in a superior civilisation to one that went out seducing then murdering men for procreation before giving away their male babies in return for weapons
• The gods were transformed from largely benevolent anthropomorphic beings, fit to be worshipped, to various zoomorphic creatures, personifications of office, and generally unpleasant individuals
• Diana was eventually apotheosed to goddess of war
• Most of the supporting characters from pre-nu52 times were removed, killed or ignored, to be replaced with male characters.

The controversy also continued in the manner of the storytelling, ranging from Chiang’s drawing style to the fact that the past three years have more or less been the same story, with minimal superheroics or even any real strength from Wonder Woman, and you can see why a lot of old school fans are happy that the ‘terrible nightmare’ is all over. Indeed, new writer Meredith Finch appears to be focusing on doing everything that Azzarello didn’t do, from including Wonder Woman’s new boyfriend Superman to having Amazon-centric stories.

But after the jump we’ll have a look at the final issue, to see what foundation Azzarello and Chiang have left Finch, whether it’s been all bad, and whether it concludes the story well and/or in the way I predicted.

Also after the jump, we’ll be looking at the latest Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman, the first of a two-parter in which Diana goes egg-hunting and Cheetah goes Diana hunting, and Smallville Continuity, which effectively founds the Smallville universe’s Justice League.

All go, innit?

Continue reading “Weekly Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman #35, Sensation Comics #12, Smallville Continuity #10”

This week sees the last issue of Wonder Woman from Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, the creative forces behind the character’s revamp for the nu52. However, before they go, they’ve one extra little ‘treat’ for Wonder Woman fans as part of the Secret Origins series of comics, revealing – in their own inimitable style – why Wonder Woman left Paradise Island. And as usual with those two, it was both the best of times and the worst of times.

Also out last week was Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman, which gave us a pleasing team-up between Diana and Big Barda against some intelligent gorillas and their robots. Monkey punching! Yay!

It’s a whole lot better than it sounds, I promise.

And lastly, Smallville: Continuity has apparently been including its Wonder Woman in the storyline for the past nine issues without telling me. Huh. So a brief recap of that story after the jump, too. See you in a minute!

Continue reading “Weekly Wonder Woman: Secret Origins #6, Sensation Comics #11, Smallville: Continuity #1-9”

It was all about Lex Luthor over at Justice League last week. The newest member of the League, he’s up to something so they’ve decided to keep him close to keep an eye on him. In turn, Lex has been learning what it means to be a goodie for a change – largely thanks to Wonder Woman. But what’s he been up to? Almost all is revealed this issue…

Also last week we had the latest issue of Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman, in which, with a little help from Atom, Wonder Woman goes all Giganta to deal with a Thanagarian villain in the entertainingly titled ‘Attack of the 50-foot Wonder Woman’. As you might expect, things don’t turn out quite the way you’d think.

Surprisingly, both are linked by a common theme. What might that be? I’ll tell you after the jump.

Continue reading “Weekly Wonder Woman: Justice League #35, Sensation Comics #10”