How do you feel about Ares as depicted by Azzarello

[mathew101281]

Though I like parts his depiction(him training Wonderwoman) I don't like the less villainous tone that he took with the character. Ares is one of the few Wonder Woman that I feel has "gotten over" with the general comic book audience and is seen as a legitimate threat. I feel Azzarello's depiction undermines the character in someways.

[RandomFalls]

I'm not sure what to vote for. I really like it, but I would say that it draws with Rucka's take for my favourite version of the character.

Azz's version worked really well for this story, but I'm a little unsure how well his Ares would work with in another run. So its probably for the best that he was killed off.

[Amazon Swordsman]

This Ares looks a bit too much like...Azz himself...it's like that was actually his favorite character, and his way of placing himself in the story.

EDIT: Or that was supposedly chiang's doing...interesting...

[Dr. Poison]

I don't care for it for a few different reasons:


1.) Azz took one of Wonder Woman's top 3 villains and turned him into her mentor. Unless WAres is resurrected, this eliminated a lot of potential future stories. Imagine if someone had done this with Brianiac/Superman instead.

2.) A lot of WAres grandeur was lost in transformation. WAres went from being the scariest of the Olympians to a dirty, drunken, decrepit, old man.

3.) Athena would have been a much better fit for the role of Diana's mentor given that the two had a closer connection in prior continuity.

4.) WAres is a dead wringer for Azzarello. I know that Chiang created New 52 WAres' design but I think it's a little arrogant to have a character that looks like one of the book's creators appearing in the comic, especially when said creator is not the creator of the character.

[Vanguard-01]

Any display of Diana's redemptive powers is good stuff in my book. I love the changes.

It never made sense for Ares to be a Lucifer-style deceiver. Read the myths. Ares is about as FAR from subtle and deceptive as you can get. I think the idea of him as the god of a concept that has changed so much, he no longer even cares is a powerful message. And the idea that Diana managed to convince him to change his nature and fight for the good guys and even sacrifice himself in one last blaze of glory was just very well done.

[Silvanus]

This Ares looks a bit too much like...Azz himself...it's like that was actually his favorite character, and his way of placing himself in the story.

EDIT: Or that was supposedly chiang's doing...interesting...

Yeah, supposedly he told Chiang to depict Ares as a broken down, bitter old man (or something like that), Chiang came back with this caricature of Azz, and Azz took the joke. I think that yes, it might have become their way of putting Azz into the story, but no, Ares probably wasn't Azz's favorite character. Azz once described Ares as "kind of a [um..a "Richard," as in Grayson? I don't want to break forum rules.]" So if anything it's a self-critical self-portrait. After all, Ares seems to have spent most of the five years of the New 52 drinking and hating himself, until he redeemed himself in the end. If I let myself read into it, I think Azzarello and Chiang were kind of jokingly saying something like this: "look, Wonder Woman is so wonderful that she can even light a spark in the burnt-out heart of a broken-down old man like Azzarello."

Imagine if someone had done this with Brianiac/Superman instead.

I'm honestly not sure when something unique is done with Wonder Woman , it always seems to raise this concern, "...but they'd never do that with Superman and Batman." So what? Part of Marston's purpose in creating Wonder Woman was to have a hero who would do some things that Superman and Batman seemingly would never do. And if there's one advantage to Wonder Woman's not being one of DC's biggest sellers, it's that DC might be a little less protective of her status quo and a little more willing to let creators be creative with her.

Besides, didn't Morrison have Superman revert Brainiac to being his cyber-assistant? (Granted, we knew it wouldn't last.)

) A lot of WAres grandeur was lost in transformation. WAres went from being the scariest of the Olympians to a dirty, drunken, decrepit, old man.

3.) Athena would have been a much better fit for the role of Diana's mentor given that the two had a closer connection in prior continuity.

4.) WAres is a dead wringer for Azzarello. I know that Chiang created New 52 WAres' design but I think it's a little arrogant to have a character that looks like one of the book's creators appearing in the comic, especially when said creator is not the creator of the character.

How "arrogant" can it be to depict oneself, through ones' doppleganger, as a "a dirty, drunken , decrepit, old man"? And certainly, having Athena as Diana's mentor would certainly have been more predictable, but Azz might have been going for ironic, surprising, original, and maybe even a little unsettling, rather than predictable.

[Dr. Poison]

Yeah, supposedly he told Chiang to depict Ares as a broken down, bitter old man (or something like that), Chiang cam back with this portrait of Azz, and Azz took the joke. I think that yes, it might have become their way of putting Azz into the story, but no, Ares probably wasn't Azz's favorite character. Azz once described Ares as "kind of a [um..a "Richard," as in Grayson? I don't want to break forum rules,]" so if anything it's a self-critical self-portrait. After all, Ares seems to have spent most of the five years of the New 52 drinking and hating himself, until he redeemed himself in the end. If I let myself read into it, I think Azzarello and Chiang were kind of jokingly saying something like this: "look, Wonder Woman is so wonderful that she can even light a spark in the burnt-out heart of a broken-down old man like Azzarello."



I'm honestly not sure when someting unique is done with WOnder WOman , someone always has to say "...but they'd never do that with Superman and Batman." So what? Part of Marston's purpose in creating Wonder Woman was to have a hero who would do some things that Superman and Wonder Woman would never do. And if there's one advantage to Wonder Woman's not being one of DC's biggest sellers, it's that DC might be a little less protective of her status quo and a little more willing to let creators be creative with her.

Besides, didn't Morrison have Superman revert Brainiac to being his cyber-assistant? (Granted, we knew it wouldn't last.)



How "arrogant" can it be to depict oneself as a "a dirty, drunken , decrepit, old man." And I think having Athena as Diana's mentor would certainly have been more predictable, but Azz might have been going for ironic, surprising, original, and maybe even a little unsettling, rather than predictable.

Well, my personal issue with this is that as it stands now, Azz transformed WAres into a short-term plot device and sacrificed long-term story potential for the character.

[AmiMizuno]

Ares in myth was the God of War and destruction. He is the nature of the bloodlust of war. Athena was the planning of war. It doe make sense. He had his sister Erife with him on his war chiaroit . He also had his sons fear and terror. War is chaos so it makes senses.