Series: Wonder Woman #7 – 12
Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, Tony Akins
144 pages
Published: January 5, 2013
ISBN13: 9781401238094
Writers – Brian Azzarello
Pencilers – Cliff Chiang
Inkers – Cliff Chiang
Colourists- Matthew Wilson
Letterers – Jared K. Fletcher
Editors – Matt Idelson, Chris Conroy
Wonder Woman goes to hell! After playing Poseidon, Hades, and Hera against each other, Hades strikes back by kidnapping Zola and trapping her in the Underworld. It’s up to Wonder Woman — with a little help from the God of Love and the God of Smiths — to break Zola out. But what is Hades’ real game, and once you get into the land of the dead, how exactly do you get out?
Collecting: Wonder Woman 7-12
I enjoyed reading Volume One of the Wonder Woman New 52, so I made a b-line for the second after writing the review.
Brian Azzarello takes over writing duties again, introducing new Gods to the cast, such as a gun toting Eros (god of love), Hephaestus (blacksmith God), a (sometimes) antler sporting Artemis (Moon God of the hunt, and sister of Apollo), and Demeter (God of harvest).
At this point, I’ve grown accustomed, and intrigued, by Azzarello’s writing style, especially concerning the God characters. The pattern of characters thinking fast enough on their feet to finish sentences of others with their own snide remarks, and how the dialogue flows so well from panel to panel.
The Gods confront each other twice in this Volume – once in Hades, the other at the throne of Zeus – and I loved how Azzarello wrote their characters to be so nonchalant with one another. One panel, they’re fighting, and the other, they are having a normal negotiation. Then again, they re all family in the end, something Azzarello makes clear in his writing. For those interested in good dialogue and overall storytelling – complete with a third act plot twist – Wonder Woman: Guts, is definitely a good selection.
But what good is writing without artwork, which has made a significant improvement from the previous volume. Cliff Chiang provides the pencils and inks, while Matthew Wilson adds more vibrant colors that were slightly lacking in the first few issues of the previous volume. Nonetheless, the hell minions – which have an “Attack on Titan” look to them, the dog-headed daughters of Hades with three pairs of breasts and medusa-like hair, and the idea of making Hades itself appear like London, England were clever additions to compliment the story.
The image of Wonder Woman nearly hung at the neck by her own lasso, not to mention toting the guns owned by Eros – which can pierce through her gauntlets – and the fight scenes featuring Artemis and her crescent moon shaped “batarangs” (although a bow and arrow would have been more consistent, mythology wise)… the art could easily stand on it’s own merits to draw in more readers. Some may complain about the not always detailed background images on each and every panel, but that’s a dismissible nit pick at best.
I give the overall volume a 10/10.
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