Wonder Woman #3 review

In which the Amazons bury their dead and Diana learns that she has a father as well as a mother.

Last issue, in the midst of tricking Amazon into killing Amazon, demi-goddess Strife told Diana that they shared a father - Zeus. Diana didn't believe this, her mother Hippolyta having told her that she was a clay statue brought to life in answer to her mother's prayers.

Believing herself to be responsible for the slain, Hippolyta feels ashamed. She admits to Diana that Strife speaks the truth - she is the result of a passionate affair between Queen of the Amazons and King of the Gods. Learning she was pregnant, Hippolyta concocted the magical birth story to hide Diana from Zeus' wronged, vengeful wife, Hera. Feeling her life to be a lie, Diana goes into the Amazon jungle (no, not that one) and smashes things for awhile, before emerging and announcing that she is no longer to be referred to as Diana, and certainly not by the dismissive nickname Clay - from now on, it's Wonder Woman.

Clay? Really? The queen allowed her beloved child to be referred to so dismissively while growing up? It's one thing to keep a lie going, but allowing your child to be hurt in the process? Not cool.

Mind, Diana seems sanguine about the nickname; less so about her mother's well-intentioned deceit. While I'm not buying writer Brian Azzarello's self-evidently silly argument that having a father who's a god is more relatable than Diana being a transformed statue (not a Golem, that's a culturally specific term), the comic book Hippolyta of earlier continuities has form when it comes to lying to Diana 'for her own good'. And Diana has been angry at her previously, on learning the truth. This lie, though, is rather massive, changing Diana's sense of self - her mother is her genetic parent; she has a dual heritage as Olympian as well as Amazon; and >ulp< she's likely to be murdered by one of the most powerful of the gods. It's a lot to take in, and given that praying to her deities for succour might not be the wisest move right now, I can understand her smashing a few things. 

But I'm not delighted that when she comes out of the jungle she immediately puts the trash-talking Amazon Aleka in her place, with a well-placed punch. Yes, Aleka is stirring up ill-feeling against Diana, but she does have a point - knowing that the mortal Zola was being hunted by Hera's monsters, bringing her to Paradise Island wasn't the wisest of ideas. Rather than lash out with a closed fist, Wonder Woman should hold out a conciliatory open hand - love and understanding is meant to be the core of her being.

And while I'm not judging Hippolyte for her unwise choice of  man/god, her obvious pleasure in sharing the details of her shenanigans while purporting to be ashamed makes her seem like a daft old tart. Then there's the crab fight on the beach as Aleka rabble rouses - it's not subtle.

Things I do like in the script include the spunk of Zola, which is enough to stop gods in their tracks, and the mischief of Strife, always stirring the pot. And it's good that Azzarello obviously know just where his story is going, and he has a fine turn of phrase.

It's just a shame that he's turned Diana into the kid who's OK with who they are, only to suddenly find themselves the scion of a rich clan - the Adam Carrington of the superhero set. I truly hope this series isn't going to be filled with godly, godawful soap opera. At its best, the Wonder Woman strip is a delicate balance of superheroics and mythology - go too far in the one direction, confine her to one milieu, and Diana loses a big part of her appeal.

And never mind Zeus, Diana's real-life father, William Moulton Marston, intended Diana to inspire. Wonder Woman's powers weren't innate, they were the result of Amazon training. She strove to become the finest, wisest warrior on Paradise Island - her only birthright was her mother's love. So making Diana an actual demi-god cheapens the ideal of Wonder Woman, takes away from her message that any of us could become a wonder too.

On the artistic side, Cliff Chiang continues to dazzle. His Diana has the physique of an athlete rather than a whippet-thin model, while - partnered with colourist Matthew Wilson - he choreographs action and sets the mood superbly. There's one panel in which Diana's body is a little off, and unfortunately it's the capper to the issue, but disappointing Chiang is still pretty nice

And there's one hilarious panel in which ... wait, I'll show you ...

I'm a great proponent of 'sometimes a cigar is just a cigar' but Lord, that's one big fat Cuban. Still, the Zeus scenes have the requisite sexy intensity to them, probably more than a Teen-rated comic should have. This is a good-looking book, it's a well-written book. I just hope the creative team remembers that it's supposed to be a Wonder Woman book.