"Sometimes, it's best not to be who we are...but who we aspire to be". (Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman #23)
Another great issue...
I assumed Diana wouldn't make it to Olympus just yet, she's definitely headed there now, with a familiar ally in tow...
Love the armor on Diana, her hair up in a bun really sells the look...
Aleka continue's to be surprised by Diana's decisions...
So, Hermes is still alive, barely...
Loved Harvest response to Cassandra, who has become a former shell of herself...
The Minotuar had that look in his eyes again, he remembers...
Loved the ending, Milan's Back!!
#MagnetoWasRight
Liked the issue
Series reads much better as a whole
Too many players and merging plots
gathering and weaving to allow Diana proper time and space in
what should be her place in the sun.
I think I would have liked this issue more if it had followed up on last issue's cliffhanger. We have to wait yet ANOTHER month to find out what the deal is with the Amazons and their sons. It gets addressed on the first page, and then its more God stuff immediately after. I think this issue's plot should have been pushed back another issue, we've waited too long since that bomb was dropped in #7 that I'm getting incredibly sick of having it pushed off.
Also, while it may still be too early to say, Cassandra has turned out to be an enormous and disappointing waste of time.
lol
WW stayed to fight First Born to the others get a chance to get out of there and first born not follow them.
let's not anticipated things, maybe Orion won't help her. the Minotaur still there, maybe he will help.
WW setting fire to demeter's realm so it can grow later, is a nice (not intentional) callback into Rucka's run. when she wanted flash to not stop the fire, because the fire should end naturally to not damge the forest.
Orion do the best entrances!!!
Last edited by Blacksun; 06-18-2014 at 03:37 PM.
my only complaint week in week out is that this can't go on forever... as soon as I start I somehow manage to be at the end, and wish it could last longer!
Sure, by sane standards, it would be kind of pointless; but he's "kind of" psychotic--and psychopathic to boot. This is part of what makes him a scary monster; you can't rationally argue with him, even by appealing to his self -interest, because his only interest (except for maybe Diana, now) is in destruction. He said himself when he first took Olympus that he had realized he is nothing and he had come to bring nothingness--he's not the kind of conqueror who's interested in building the next great civilization on the ruins of the one he's destorying. He's not even like Perez's Ares, who was dissuaded from pursuing nuclear destruction when Diana and her lasso made him realize that it was against his self-interest, since it could leave no one alive to wage war. This wouln't have deterred the First Born; it would have encouraged him. Deeming himself "nothing," the First Born would probably think nothing of destroying himself, provided that he had destroyed everything else first.
I don't think she was really taking the fight to him; she was just defending her people. It wouldn't have made sense to rush her army's preparations just to take them into a defensive skirmish; she'll need them to be fully prepared to take out the jackal men during the invasion of Olympus.Diana taking the fight to him - sounds right - like a good idea - nope not really - has she studied tactics before?
Last edited by Silvanus; 06-19-2014 at 07:14 AM.
They weren't expecting the First Born, they were after Hermes and consequently the Minotaur and Cassandra.
Thank Highfather Orion is back. The book has been pretty stale lately. However, while I love Orion (but not Azzarello's very strange characterization of him), I would've liked to see Wonder Woman (and her family) solve their problems on their own.
It seems were coming really close to the finish line. This issue was very fast-paced but also very short. Not much happened besides fight scenes. Speaking of fight scenes, Sudzuka really needs to work on those.
Also, Wonder Woman's armor design is kind of really bad.
Last edited by 'Dax; 06-18-2014 at 04:49 PM.
I just noticed that Chiang did breakdowns for this issue, which means how the elements are going to be displaced on the pages. We also know that he kinda collaborate to the script with the "Marvel style", so in this issue he probably did that as well.
About the FB saying "death surrounds me," and Wonder Woman pausing and saying "it does, doesn't it?" and deciding to shoot a flaming arrow: I think it's worth pointing out that death literally surrounds him, since there are dead Autumn leaves falling in front of him when he says it, and we also saw a fallen tree trunk in front of him a couple of panels earlier. (It kind of resonates if you at all associate Autum--the harvest season--with the smell of burning leaves. It's the season of death as well as the season of life.) So "death surrounds me," however the FB intends it, could be taken to mean "dead plant life surrounds me." When Diana pauses (with an ellipsis, "...," in her word balloon) I think she's just realizing that there really is, even in Demeter's land of life, lots of dead, flammable stuff around the FB, and she can take advantage of that by plunging him into fire. And, yeah, along the lines of what Blacksun was saying, maybe the burning stuff will feed the soil and kickstart the process that Demeter was afraid the First Born has stopped for good.
After all, Ares taught Diana to use her enemies' weapons against them (that's how she beat the Minotaur in 0), and I guess anything associated with death could count as the FB's "weapons." Certainly his "burning hunger," which is part of what the fire represents, could be a weapon she's turning against him.
The fire also seems to have a double meaning. The FB talks about not going into the dark alone, which seems ironic since the fire is bright, not dark. And pulling Diana into it--after admitting that he admired her, which was pretty much the first time he admitted to feeling anything but hate--could make the flames symbolize not just destruction but ardor (a word that at it's root means burning) or desire. This connects to what Eros was saying about hell being desire, and I think this all relates back to whatever Strife's plan is; somehow the FB's newfound desire for a partner is going to make him more vulnerable. I wonder if Diana already realizes this, and maybe even intended to be pulled into the fire with him..
Last edited by Silvanus; 06-19-2014 at 07:18 AM.
Here's a theory...
Diana and Strife are working together.
Strife planted the seeds of 'bring her to Olympus as your mate' and then Diana insisted on facing him alone.
I think she may want him to take her there for some reason.
It's a nice thought - Diana having a plan of her own...
I don't think Strife is working with Diana. She may be working a scheme that happens to work in Diana's favor, but I've seen nothing that suggests collaboration between them.
The rest of your theory may just work, though. As others here have said, Diana didn't HAVE to stand and fight the First Born at that time. She had already accomplished her mission objective: she rescued Hermes, Eros, Artemis, and Demeter. She could've had Hermes teleport her away with everyone else, and then Diana could prepare to face the First Born with her full army supporting her. There was no need for a showdown at that time.
Maybe, as a goddess herself, Diana's power is greater on Olympus? Maybe there's something there that she thinks can help? I'm not sure.
There are only two reasons why Diana would've stayed behind in that situation: either Diana just suddenly became stupid and decided to face the First Born alone despite all those preparations she's been making, or Diana has a plan. Azz hasn't written Diana as being stupid, so my money's on the latter.
Last edited by Vanguard-01; 06-19-2014 at 09:27 AM.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
--Lord Alfred Tennyson--