Wonder Woman #32 (Spoilers)

[Vonter Voman]

Great issue. I wasn't expecting, but a lot happened.

- Strife seems to want First Born to marry Diana and make her his queen.
- Diana is using Hephaestus' armor again.
- Cassandra and the Minotaur go after Demeter. As Eros says, after the First Born took Death, he would take Life. Demeter owns Cassandra, but is about to die by the Minotaur. Artemis and Eros show up to save her.
- Eros' bullets don't work against the Minotaur, Artemis tries to fight him but is also losing, then Diana show up to save the day.
- The First Born also shows up (with his "cape of blood") in Demeter's realm to take it, and he suck the life out of her.
- Hermes teleport the gang, but Wonder Woman stays to fight the First Born. She shoots a flaming arrow and start burning the whole place. The First Born takes her with him.
- The issue ends with the gang in Paradise Island recovering, Zola wanting to know what happened to Diana and everyone fearing the worst. Then Orion boomtubes with Milan.

[SmokeMonster]

Great issue.

[richalex]

I wonder how her sister Sirroca(sp?) is going to come into play. I know instory Diana hasn't forgotten her and i'm sure is part of her plan, but what has she been up to?

[SofNascimento]

All I could think about when I finished this issue is "I WANT MORE".

Anyway, that armor Diana use is very ugly, hopefully it will be just for this issue.

[Vonter Voman]

I remember that when the cover to issue #34 was revealed, some people here thought First Born killed Demeter because of his looks. But actually, that's just his carbonized look (I don't know why Chiang chose that look instead of the fleshy one, maybe he will be carbonized again) with the "crown of horns" he wore in issue 23.2
Maybe the naked woman at his feet is indeed Diana, as something might happen now that they are together earlier than the final battle.

[Silvanus]

- Strife seems to want First Born to marry Diana and make her his queen.

Yeah--and, being Strife, she's so sneaky about it! She acts, I think, like she wants to be his queen--just to put the idea into his mind. It could be a good act of vengeance against Diana, since being the Queen of "Nothing" would probably mean a horrible, burning death. And somehow the "marriage" would probably lead to no good for the First Born either. Strife might have a plan that would punish Diana and open the throne of War for the taking, while also keeping the world turning and making it more strife-filled than ever. I didn't like like how pathetic Cassandra was in this issue--and I'm still hoping she'll make some kind of comeback--but having Strife be the one who seems most capable of outwitting the FB makes up for it a little.

I'm curious whether people will see any "Diana as queen of he FB" plot point as too much like a replay of the arc on Diana's "engagement" to Hades. The thought occurred to me, and it might be a reasonable criticism; but I like Azz's tendency to repeat motifs with twists that make them different (such as Zola's last disappearance being by her own choice, and Zeke's last disappearance lasting less than an issue).

- Diana is using Hephaestus' armor again.

Yeah--I think it should be used as a her regular outfit.

Cassandra and the Minotaur go after Demeter.

I like how Demeter warns Artemis that the Minotaur is more "primal" than she can knows how to deal with. I think the idea, thematically, s that the minotaur symbolizes the animal symbolizes the animal side of humanity, and the animal side is often capable of beating the divine side (or we'd act more "divine" more often.) In a way, it's like the minotaur is too brutish and dumb to know that the gods are supposed to be superior to him. I love his hesitation when Diana (who won his respect, and maybe more than that, in #0) shows up, and I really love that Diana doesn't have trouble dealing with him; having grown up more "human," she's probably more comfortable with the animal side than the pure gods are. Anyway, I don't think anyone will be able to complain that Diana gets saved in this issue; she does all the saving.

- The First Born also shows up (with his "cape of blood") in Demeter's realm to take it, and he suck the life out of her.

I thought that this scene, and especially Demeter's reaction, helped to establish the stakes of this story. If the FB wins, then according to Demeter, that's not just one defeat--even one that would usher in a dark age or long winter in the cyle of things; instead, it's the final breaking of the natural cycle birth and death of which Demeter was part. So, it would be the end of everything; and Orion may have more to say about that, since he's the one who said that time itself could be destroyed by what happens with the Olympians (starting with the last of their line "at the hands of a new god.")

She shoots a flaming arrow and start burning the whole place. The First Born takes her with him.

I like that her power to materialize weapons through the bracelets is proving so versatile. Her tactic her is interesting; the First Born mentions that he is surrounded by death, and Diana figures, I guess, that this "death" will be flammable? But she knows that the fire Apollo started only made the FB uglier and didn't do anything to stop him. So what's the plan here?



One little criticism--I thought there were a few moments in this issue where the dialogue didn't seem to flow right, like when Heph says to Diana "I think my mettle has been tested more than that one," or something like that. Maybe it's just me, but "that one" seems seems to lack a clear referent; it might refer to "balls," but that doesn't quite make sense (grammatically or otherwise). It's something that happens with Azz's dialogue every now and then;in general, I find the dialogue exceptionally well-crafted in a way that makes a virtue of the "sound bite" quality that comics are stuck with, but occasionally it just seems to try to get a little too clever and miss the mark. Or else Azz is trying to make it realistic (in the sense that real conversations do slip off the tracks a bit all the time). Either way, it's slightly distracting. No big deal, though.

[Vonter Voman]

I think that line means "my metal (mettle) has become a little more resistent than brass (metal)".

[BlackFeath]

I wonder how her sister Sirroca(sp?) is going to come into play. I know instory Diana hasn't forgotten her and i'm sure is part of her plan, but what has she been up to?

Maybe Siracca is the one who provoked that wind in Demeter's realm...? Thanks to that when Diana shot that arrow, everything burnt. Also...how did she know where to find Artemis and the others to save them just in time? Maybe Siracca could be involved.

Anyway, good issue, even if it seemed a bit too short to me xD

Diana now can also evoke/create a bow and a flaming arrow with her bracelets! It seems to me that the Minotaur recognized her before she knocked him out, and when the others fled, he was still there inconscious. Maybe we will see him again in the next issue. I still believe he will become an ally, eventually.

Orion returns with Milan. That was expected, otherwise it wouldn't have made sense to involve him in the first place.

Hermes is still alive and Aleka has been promoted to Zeke and Zola's protector and has now gained Diana's shield xD

Next issue is called 'Paradise Lost'. Will Paradise Island be attacked...? Wonder what will happen to Diana. The fight against the First Born according to the solicit should continue.

I can't understand what Strife means to do...still wonder what is her plan...she knows how to divert attention and not be killed, though. She is a really interesting character, planning in the shadows and pushing everyone where she wants them...

[Vonter Voman]

Also...how did she know where to find Artemis and the others to save them just in time? Maybe Siracca could be involved.

Maybe the gods can sense where other gods are, or the God of War also has a screening pool. Many of them had done that kind of thing before.

Also to be noted is that Diana can now enter the Olympians' realms uninvited, since she is an Olympian. However, Strife could go to Olympus uninvited and she isn't an Olympian. Maybe the Olympus is acessible to all gods.

[Dr. Hurt]

First reactions:

1. Awesome action and art
2. Diana didnt need to stay behind. They all could have teleported away.
3. The FB cant be hurt when the sun explodes in his lap (Apollo's suicide) but a flaming arrow hurts him? Even if it is a magic arrow by her bracelets.
4. Orion is back! Hell yeah!

[Dr. Hurt]

- Strife seems to want First Born to marry Diana and make her his queen.

Ooh, i never thought of that. I thought she meant herself. Nice!

- Diana is using Hephaestus' armor again.

Yeah--I think it should be used as a her regular outfit.

Me too. It's awesome!

[BlackFeath]

Maybe the gods can sense where other gods are, or the God of War also has a screening pool. Many of them had done that kind of thing before.

Also to be noted is that Diana can now enter the Olympians' realms uninvited, since she is an Olympian. However, Strife could go to Olympus uninvited and she isn't an Olympian. Maybe the Olympus is acessible to all gods.

Yeah...maybe Olympus is accessible to every god. After all Strife has gone there also other times. Or maybe now the First Born is not interested in keeping away anyone. It doesn't matter to him...he thought that Strife had been unwise to go there and had just made his work simpler, but Strife seems to always have her own plans...

About the know where she had to go, yes...there could be many explanations. Siracca telling her could be one too, though xD She can hear everything through the wind, and there was the wind there. But it's high probable I'm wrong.

It could even be that Artemis and Eros before going to Harvest's realm informed Diana of their suppositions.

[Vonter Voman]

I don't think the arrow hurts First Born. It just goes "fwooosh", the place burning. It must mean something else, some alusion like Silvanus said about death surrounding him, but I'm not quite getting it. He then says he is not going into the night without her...
If now the Harvest is his realm (I'm not sure about that, but he is connected to the realm anyway), maybe Diana could possibly attack him by burning the realm instead of attacking him directly.

[BlackFeath]

First reactions:

2. Diana didnt need to stay behind. They all could have teleported away.

Yeah...maybe...but probably she thought he would have followed them. He wanted Harvest dead, after all.

3. The FB cant be hurt when the sun explodes in his lap (Apollo's suicide) but a flaming arrow hurts him? Even if it is a magic arrow by her bracelets.

Well...he was hurt, but he didn't die when Apollo 'exploded'. The weapons Diana uses are probably more powerful than they seem. After all she had almost killed him with a spear in issue 23, no? That said...I think neither the First Born nor Diana will die in this way xD

[wagthedog]

So...how many different uses has she gotten out of her 'swiss army cuffs' as of yet?