Wonder Woman #38 - Spoilers

[Nyssane]

This was... about how I expected.

Vanessa Kapatelis was a young girl saved by Diana and Steve a while back. While she was hospitalized, Diana kept her company and Vanessa considered her to be "Wonder Woman's Best Friend." A new surgical procedure based on Cyborg allowed Vanessa to move her legs. After a while, Diana stopped showing up, Vanessa's mother Julia died in a "freak car accident," and Vanessa was driven to madness.

Meanwhile, Jason is partying it up in Diana's home. Diana scolds him and blah blah. Then, Steve (who is hunting for Giganta's artifacts in Istanbul) tells Diana there was a distress call from a family Diana had saved earlier in the issue. She goes to the house to find Vanessa as the Silver Swan standing over the family's dead bodies.

Dialogue was the standard awkward Robinson fare. Vanessa's backstory incorporated a lot of elements of Helen Alexandros's (being a ballet dancer) which makes me wonder why they didn't just use Helen. Because this leads to the biggest insult of all: the off-panel death of Julia Kapatelis. Julia was such a major presence in Perez's run that it's just such a slap in the face to longtime fans. Of course, this could just be a fakeout and there could be some dramatic "she wasn't REALLY dead" trope. But it just seems pretty awful.

Also, Steve called Diana "Angel" almost exclusively... it's cute once or twice but not seven times.

The positives? I really liked the art. And Silver Swan doesn't look as bad in-comic as she did on the variant cover.

[DragonPiece]

Don't hate the issue, like you said the art was nice, nitpicks like steve calling Diana angel too much doesn't bother me. I only read bits of the new 52 run and Rucka's run, so I didn't have a previous attachment to this character. Overall a solid read, hopefully Robinson can at least continue this pace and not do as bad as he did in the last arc.

[Rakzo]

Thought this was much better than the last few issues. Classic Robinson mix of interesting reinventions and awkward dialogue (but not as awkward as the last arc).

Great art fron Lupacchino. Promising overall.

[MarquisAsh]

Robinson is getting much better. A little more work on the dialogue like you all said. I love the reference to Liam Sharps Wonder Woman run when she was at the mall. I predicted Jason was going to have a party in Diana’s house lol

[Koriand'r]

Since when does Wonder Woman talk about Jäger shots and gutting fish? Why is she using sarcasm all of a sudden and so self aware? This issue she spoke entirely out of character, but I enjoyed every minute of it!

[Harpsikord]

I actually like this. It wasn't my favorite but it was still good. Silver Swan's design is actually beautiful and menacing, and I'd love to see Luppachino around indefinitely.

I had no attachment to Julia Kapatelis but it's a shame she was basically fridged.

[WonderScott]

This was... about how I expected.

Vanessa Kapatelis was a young girl saved by Diana and Steve a while back. While she was hospitalized, Diana kept her company and Vanessa considered her to be "Wonder Woman's Best Friend." A new surgical procedure based on Cyborg allowed Vanessa to move her legs. After a while, Diana stopped showing up, Vanessa's mother Julia died in a "freak car accident," and Vanessa was driven to madness.

Meanwhile, Jason is partying it up in Diana's home. Diana scolds him and blah blah. Then, Steve (who is hunting for Giganta's artifacts in Istanbul) tells Diana there was a distress call from a family Diana had saved earlier in the issue. She goes to the house to find Vanessa as the Silver Swan standing over the family's dead bodies.

Dialogue was the standard awkward Robinson fare. Vanessa's backstory incorporated a lot of elements of Helen Alexandros's (being a ballet dancer) which makes me wonder why they didn't just use Helen. Because this leads to the biggest insult of all: the off-panel death of Julia Kapatelis. Julia was such a major presence in Perez's run that it's just such a slap in the face to longtime fans. Of course, this could just be a fakeout and there could be some dramatic "she wasn't REALLY dead" trope. But it just seems pretty awful.

Also, Steve called Diana "Angel" almost exclusively... it's cute once or twice but not seven times.

The positives? I really liked the art. And Silver Swan doesn't look as bad in-comic as she did on the variant cover.

Ugh. Mergh.

I haven't read the issue yet, but I'm kind of sadly chuckling at Vanessa being a ballet dancer, because that was so not her character in the Perez. She was kind of the epitome of sweet and awkward.

I'll have to see what I think and feel after reading it.

[Doctor Bifrost]

I thought I disliked Jason, but until I read this issue, I had no idea just how much I disliked Jason. I have no idea how a young man raised in a "small fishing village" (which they keep mentioning to explain his naiveté) learns so quickly how to act like a stereotypical doucehbro fratboy, but watching Diana play Stern Mom to him is something I have no interest in whatsoever. Ever since he's been introduced, his actions, and Diana's reactions to them, have made very little sense and done nothing to make me want to see more of him. He's the second-worst addition to her family ever. Or maybe just the worst.

Vanessa's origin reminded me a little too much of what recently saw of Eobard Thawne in Flash. See, she thought Diana was her bestest friend, but it turns out that Vanessa's not really that special after all (Diana, one of the busiest superheroes in the world, only spent weeks visiting her rather than months before returning to her vocation of saving the lives of other people), so Vanessa turns into a murderous supervillain. I'm assuming in this case there is some level of mind-influencing going on - either deliberately by some other villain, or as an unknown side effect of the nanotechnology they're using her aa a guinea pig for.

(Of course, many of us thought that there would be a mind-control explanation for Jason assisting Grail, but in fact it just turns out that he's a naive young demigod brought up in a small fishing village.)

The fact that the police told Vanessa that Julia's death was a "freak accident" suggests to me that actually there was something more complicated involved. I'm just not the least bit sure I'm curious enough to come back and find out.

[theoneandonly]

its weird how the previous wreck of a arc was not even mentioned or what the ramifications of Zeus death were for diana and Jason. shoudnt Jason and Diana fear heras wrath as Zeus died trying to save them while they just watched helplessly more than ever now requiring them to be extra circumspect to avoid being in the public eye? If Jason can throw a party after his father's death and Hercules with whole he was much more close then he just doesn't care about his family or anyone else and is just a douchebag. not to mention why did he ever bother to hide when he could throw parties and paint the town red without attracting divine wrath. So silly.

[Agent Z]

Looks like I'll be giving this a pass.

[Doctor Bifrost]

shoudnt Jason and Diana fear heras wrath...

Yeah, that whole question seems to have been dropped. And, of course, the reconciliation of Diana and Hera was part of "the Lies," so we have no idea how Hera reacted once she found out Zeus had a one-night stand with Hippolyta, resulting in two kids.

In fact, we don't even know - or maybe I just can't remember - when, in "The Truth" version of things, Diana found out she was Zeus's daughter. Or if Hippolyta ever told her, and mostly everyone else, the lie about the clay origin (in context, a very poor lie to choose).

In fact, I don't feel like I know much about Diana's life. At least in Azzarello's run (regardless of how I feel about the Zeus-daddy origin and the sex-pirate killer Amazons, which, once more for the record, is A Big Thumbs Down) we got to see, on an issue-by-issue basis, Diana find out things and react to them. Now, after "The Truth," everything is much more vague. Is that a good direction to be going in?

[numberthirty]

Is that a good direction to be going in?

If you even have to ask the question, you probably have an answer.

[Mel Dyer]

Passing on this, ..but sounds like a great issue for loyal fans, who care about the characters and know the mythos, really well. I think #39 is going to be the must-see and possibly James's best, so far.

[DragonPiece]

its weird how the previous wreck of a arc was not even mentioned or what the ramifications of Zeus death were for diana and Jason. shoudnt Jason and Diana fear heras wrath as Zeus died trying to save them while they just watched helplessly more than ever now requiring them to be extra circumspect to avoid being in the public eye? If Jason can throw a party after his father's death and Hercules with whole he was much more close then he just doesn't care about his family or anyone else and is just a douchebag. not to mention why did he ever bother to hide when he could throw parties and paint the town red without attracting divine wrath. So silly.

Since James Robinson is taking over trinity and the next arc in that book is WW focused and dealing with trying to find the amazons before Darkseid, I'm guessing that aftermath will be dealt with in that book.

[Dr. Poison]

I like Vanessa's new origin. Let's face it, with the changes made to Wonder Woman in recent years, it would be difficult for her to have met Vanessa and Julia the same way she did in the Perez retcon. Vanessa's story is quite tragic and it makes for an excellent Two-face like villain for Wonder Woman. Now, the big question is who gave Vanessa her abilities and pushed her over the edge of sanity? I'm thinking it's Dr. Psycho.