I just hope that Azzarello gives Lupacchino a chance to really get into the characters, and not just the action. I think he probably will, but we'll have to wait and see.
Except that it's hardly "rare." Zeus has SO MANY, including Diana's twin brother now.
As for dragging heroes through the mud to show their mettle - I think Rucka having Diana kill Max Lord was that type of choice. I think changing her origin is not, because it destroys an essential part of what Perez and Marston did by reversing a lot of traditional heroic origin tropes into female versions or female-led actions.
As for "elevating Diana to the Greek myths" - I've heard this innumerable times from Azzarello Wonder Woman fans. My response is twofold. First - if Azzarello was truly interested in bringing Diana closer to the Greek myths, he wouldn't have reimagined the gods and other mythological figures to be so alien to their Greek roots. Second, the Marston/Perez origin for Diana has deep roots in Greek mythology already - to the myth of Pygmalion, the statue come to life. And the goddesses who gave her clay form vitality are also links to the myths.
Basically, I'm not concerned about the "bastard" part, I'm concerned about the watering down of the uniqueness. Even if it's a "rare honor" - it's not as rare as the singular clay origin.
I haven't done a full readthrough, but the issues I have read were...pretty generic Swizcynski spy stuff. I had the same negative reaction to when he took over Black Widow, so it's possible I just don't like his writing.
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He did not. Azzarello's handling of Greek myth was shallower than the one that Pérez did. Azzarello has nothing that comes close to what Pérez did in #45, "The Legacy of Pandora's Box".
But it goes deeper than simply "elevating her closer" to the Greek myths. Because what Marston started, and what Pérez did even more, was to re-interpret the Greek myths from a feminist angle. Azzarello gutted that latter part, making his interpretation of Greek myth far more conventional, and far less interesting.
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As TheCape says, Azzarello's Wonder Woman had no real meaningful honor or connection to Hippolyta compared to how important her connection to Zeus was. And it's that shift of emphasis from the female to the male, SPECIFICALLY in Wonder Woman (and Birds of Prey) that I object to. Just as I'm against (and this will probably get me in trouble with some people, though many of them are now gone from these boards) Cass Cain becoming BatMAN (but have no problem with her being The Bat or the legitimate heir to Batman), I'm against Wonder WOMAN and the BIRDS of Prey losing their unique emphasis on the female. Not, as I've tried to emphasize, to the exclusion of male characters, but it's a matter of emphasis, theme, and symbolism.
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Remixing the gods is pretty much the whole tradition of the Wonder Woman book and it's built in to the greek tradition itself. The greeks remixed their own gods. Choose any given period of history and you can find a number of different writers with different takes on the myths of their day.
I see, I guess I misunderstood? Because initially I got the impression you thought adding "dudes" was what watered down the uniqueness. But I think you are saying it's the adding of one dude in particular (Zeus) that you don't like.
I like both origins. The traditional origin is more of a christian "virgin birth" kind of a thing. The remixed is more greek and pagan.
I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps I appreciated Azz's book because of my better than average (but far from expert) familiarity with the greek worldview.
“To the future or to the past. To a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone - to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: from the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink - greetings!" - Winston Smith
«Speaking generally, it is because of the desire of the tragic poets for the marvellous that so varied and inconsistent an account of Medea has been given out» (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History [4.56.1])
But if "remixing the gods" is already a tradition in Wonder Woman books, it's hardly "elevating" for Azzarello to do the same thing.
It's not even specifically Zeus - Rucka used Zeus heavily, and I quite enjoyed that. But it's the fact that Diana's origin is now specifically 1) not unique, even if it's still rare, and 2) dependent on a father, when before it was dependent on a mother. Yes, Hippolyta was still her mother, but the emphasis was completely shifted to the male figure.
I'm not a fan of when a Wonder Woman writer makes all men evil or weak, and all women strong and noble. Or when a Wonder Woman or Birds of Prey writer makes them only fight female villains. But I think there is something uniquely interesting to these two comic concepts that is rendered less interesting (at least when I've read them) when the emphasis on women is changed. I'm a huge fan of male heroes as well, and I have no problem with bro-teams like Blue and Gold.
I still think that the clay "traditional origin" is at least as Greek, via Pygmalion, as it is partaking in Christian or other mythical/religious traditions.
"We're the same thing, you and I. We're both lies that eventually became the truth." Lara Notsil, Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command, Aaron Allston
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
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I'm aware that the virginal birth motif is spread across cultures, yes.
“To the future or to the past. To a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone - to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: from the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink - greetings!" - Winston Smith
“To the future or to the past. To a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone - to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: from the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink - greetings!" - Winston Smith
The point of the WW franchise is to reject the thought process that being related to an abusive, cheating asshole like Zeus (who in some interpretations is also a rapist) is in any way a good thing. I guess our own worldview is casting a shadow on it, but WW is born from more modern world views and I think going backwards to theirs would be counter productive for her specifically.
It was also so common in Greek myth that it's pretty much one of the oldest cliches in the book. It really doesn't elevate her into Greek myth any more than she already was, it makes her less unique and defines her by her relationship to a man. If giving her a biological father is going to happen, there are better candidates even within Greek myth itself to go for than Zeus, who is like the lowest hanging fruit.
She's her mother, but that's pretty much her only role aside from being Zeus's mistress and the leader of some sketchy warrior women who lost all of their redeeming qualities. Hippolyta is meant to be so much more than that though, she's the deutragonist of the franchise. Diana's story is in many ways her story as well. Azz just used her for a few issues and cast her aside because her important parental role was hijacked by a man.
I think it would have been better to make Hercules her father (definitely without any form of rape being involved though) if she had to have one. He's already both tied to the DC Amazons and Hippolyta is mostly known for the myth of the 12 Labors anyway. He's a big name so the danger of him overshadowing Hippolyta is still present, but not as much as Zeus I feel. He cannot fly out of the sky shooting lightning bolts and having his pissed off wife and kids hijack the plot (driven in response by his actions) the way Zeus does.
Being brought to life from clay is still a very Greek myth thing to do, and with no Zeus or any other father, it's a female driven narrative.
Who wants to take bets that the creative team will be gone by issue 30?
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