Wonder Woman #35 SPOILERS

[Razor Tiara]

What exactly is unclear about "They don't like men and they wanted to keep their island male-free AND secret"?

Yeah, but why?

[Razor Tiara]

If the wider DCU is the issue, I would not put the blame on any one writer. Can you explain how this is a writer's fault? If anything, it seems like DC got three years out of me that they otherwise would not have.

You took my place. That's the thing, it would be different if Azzarello's changes substantially increased sales, but he only swapped out one set of fans for another. So we're left with a partially told three year origin and lots of unanswered questions.

[numberthirty]

Yeah, but why?

Why would they want to keep the island secret? Isn't there a pretty likely reason?

[My Two Cents]

I kind of wish there was no First Born
I know it is probably just me, but every time he showed up the story just took a dive slightly down.
It was Hippolyta and Hera and Strife and War and Zola and Heph and so many others sharing moments
and spotlights in this book with Diana, that made for a terrific three year run me.

First Born just came off as a creepy bore of a character for me.

[LoneNecromancer]

Welp, finally over. Very enjoyable, though I would've liked to see a sort of epilogue moment with such a long run, which is odd considering I usually feel most epilogues would've been better off leaving things more open.

Think I'd like to take a day or so before re-reading the whole run in one go.

[borntohula]

I'm saying fans of the run, and I'm saying from what I saw in reviews, tumblr, reddit and twitter. It's too early to know for sure, but there's always a pattern.

And Azzarello doesn't have a "author fanbase" like that.

From what I'v seen on Twitter, forums, comments both Brian and Diana seems to have gotten new fans thanks to this run.

Anyway, I think I'll just ask Azzarello or Chiang about Hippolyta and Athena on Secret Origins. Hopefully they will answer with at least some hint.

Also about the Cassandra/Lennox beef. Lennox says 17 years ago to Milan in WW#15 and in WW#20 he tells Cassandra 30 years. If that supposed to mean anything, or if it's a writing error.

Even at the end of 100 Bullets, many "Hows/Whys/Whats" were not clearly established. I didn't mind at all. It gives me(as the reader) a chance to have something of the title left once it has ended.

One of the most rewarding/rich books I know, and especially in that sense.

It's ending hit me a similar way also. Not what I expected at all, so much I didn't know what to make of it at first. But then it hit me how good I thought it was. Same thing with Spaceman and now Wonder Woman.

One quick "This will probably go unnoticed" aspect of today's issue. A woman who grew up believing she was born from clay pleading for the life of a "vessel" was particularly touching.

Great observation! Thanks! I re-read WW#35 later today and went a bit soft when Diana asks Athena to leave Zola alive. No doubt about it this will make next read even "softer" for me. Reminds me a bit of the feeling when reading 100Bullets when Grave's tells The Trust off when naming Isabelle Cordova his replacement.

Saying Zola is a vessel is also quite interesting, since Eros says a similar thing about men in WW#7, but for seed. It's a cool parable that fits both sexes, and also into what our true nature basically is. To reproduce. Which isn't a truth nor meaning many would be able to find happiness in.

[borntohula]

What Athena says about Gods having regrets made me think of Jack Kirby's 4th World "Even Gods Must Die". Where the wide world building stops in favor of Orion throttling solo towards destroying Darkseid. Which I also felt happened in this issue, even letting the war happen in the background.

Something that ends quite differently than expected, with Orion escaping and saving his mother instead of facing his father. And in the background New Genesis apparently self destructs to cause paranoia to rise in Apokolips and destroying itself.

[Step]

I do wonder why Hera couldn't have turned Hippolyta back to normal.

Also, Hera and Zeus' relationship is going to be super weird(er) now, what with him being a baby, also he's the King of Gods now, how would that even work? Can he even speak? Like, if there was a war of the gods going on or something, would they turn to the baby for leadership? I hope Hera takes over as the God of Olympus, that'd be cool! Even temporarily until he grows up.

The final fight with the First Born was satisfying and that's nice, but introducing so many plot points and leaving them wide open like that...hmm, it was a nice issue, wish more stuff would've gotten answered, tho I honestly wasn't sure what I was expecting in 21 pages, but eh.

I hope Zola sticks around! And Cassandra!

[numberthirty]

Also, we discussed this here, that Athena wouldn't need to be born as Zola many years ago... but it seems she really was. But then how did she show up in Secret Origins? Well... maybe she could change her form, and that would explain the other gods not knowing she was "gone".

Shoes. It's about the shoes.

[Razor Tiara]

Why would they want to keep the island secret? Isn't there a pretty likely reason?

No. Why do they hate men and are on an island in the first place?

[numberthirty]

While we would have to veer off topic, do you actually feel like they "hate" men?

[borntohula]

I do wonder why Hera couldn't have turned Hippolyta back to normal.

Probably due to Zeus, since his eyes glowed the way they did when she came back to life and that his powers are stronger than Hera's thanks to belief. Why is a good question. Either a back up, some strange motivation thing or to remind Hera about her grudge. A bit hard to tell since it seems he likes to teach other's lessons without stating what those are. Putting First born away in the first place being a good example of this.

[SiegePerilous02]

What exactly is unclear about "They don't like men and they wanted to keep their island male-free AND secret"?

Why do they hate men in the first place? How did they get on the island, how/why are they immortal, did they have similar experiences with men like Hercules to drive them to this point like in past versions? etc.

Azzarello dropped that bomb on us way back in #7, and a lot of us were hoping for the other shoe to drop...and it hasn't. Azzarello has put out a lot of ideas in this run, and hasn't developed them. The male Amazons coming back should have lead to some great character moments and world building, but nope: Aleka is suddenly all cool with the men now, and then she's dead. And the men never say anything at all. There isn't much meaty character development in this run, things just seem to happen.

Future authors can build upon this stuff I guess, but that isn't going to suddenly make Azzarello's work better in retrospect.

[Silvanus]

One problem is that while it leaves open to another writers to continue it, it doesn't seem the Finches are going to follow that other than the God of War stuff.

In the Finches' IGN interview, Meredith says

we're really gonna focus on the Amazons and what's happening on Paradise Island at the end of Brian's story

Also, the November solicit includes this:

As this new epic begins, the fate of the Amazons is about to be revealed,

So I do think there's a good chance that we'll find out if Hippolyta returns to flesh, and maybe why she didn't do so before, as well as whether Aleka survived, whether any of the men are staying on Paradise Island, whether other reforms of the Amazons' new ways are moving forward, etc.

[Razor Tiara]

While we would have to veer off topic, do you actually feel like they "hate" men?

It has something to with them talking about stench of testicles, the threats of castration, the sex pirating and the selling of male babies, other than all that, they probably like men just fine.