Wonder Woman: Love and Murder

Wonder Woman (2006) #2

by Jodi Picoult, Paco Díaz (Illustrator), Ray Snyder (Illustrator)

"New York Times" bestselling author Picoult ("The Tenth Circle") puts Wonder Woman on a collision course with her long-missing people, the Amazons, in this action-packed story. After Special Agent Diana Prince is assigned to capture Wonder Woman, her problems are only beginning, as a deadly foe begins to close in her.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Dc Comics, Wonder Woman, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

128 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2007

About the author

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-eight novels, including Wish You Were Here, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire.

MAD HONEY, her new novel co-authored with Jennifer Finney Boylan, is available in hardcover, ebook, and audio on October 4, 2022.

Website: http://www.jodipicoult.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jodipicoult

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jodipicoult

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeesh!
This was one of the first Wonder Woman comics that I read. Maybe even the first. So for sentimental reasons, plus the fact that the art was nice, I'm leaving it with 3 stars.
Back when I originally read it, and had nothing to compare it to...
I *mumble* gaveita5starrating *mumble*.

After a re-read?
Ugh. This was definitely not a 5 star comic.
Jodi Picoult writing Wonder Woman?
No. No to that whole sentence.

This was supposed to be the Diana Prince after she killed Maxwell Lord. So obviously she had been on Earth for a while, right?
But in Picoult's world, Diana didn't know what a credit card was, couldn't pump gas, and had no idea how to walk through a fuckin' turnstile.
Oh, well, that makes total sense!
Grrrrr.
How about the LURVE interest?
Nemesis was a pig. But somehow Diana saw through to his inner little boy, and fell for him anyway?
There was even a vomit inducing moment when Wonder Woman (after a fucking EXPLOSION!) lands on top on Nemesis.
And then they do that stupid thing where they look into each other's eyes and say "Hi." in breathy voices.
Because after something explodes, your first thought is always going to be to make googly eyes at a perv, right?
I hate you Picoult!
Stick to writing stories about dying children and their pets...or whatever it is you and Nicholas Sparks write about.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonder Woman is persona non grata after killing a supervillain who had mind controlled Superman to do evil (see “The Sacrifice”) and thus takes on a secret identity using the old strategy of comic books “Hey, these glasses make me look entirely different! Check it out!”.

In this tale she starts as an agent for Metahuman Affairs with her wise cracking potential love interest, Nemesis, who has the ability to use illusion to change into any other person. Wonder Woman's character is clueless about using every day devices and while it's amusing it doesn't make much sense at times because you have to ask yourself how likely is it in all the decades she has been around that she wouldn't know how to get through the gates of a metro?

What appears to be just a ploy to capture Wonder Woman for her murder of the supervillain turns out to be a lot more. There are some plot holes and logic issues described in spoilers below but I am giving it the benefit of the doubt since this is the beginning of the series. Additionally, Wonder Woman has some self-actualization issues but it's too early to tell if it's going to pay off.

Appearances by JLA members most especially Batman and Superman (who had issue with Wonder Woman's choice to execute the supervillain even though they both suffered greatly from that ordeal). Additional appearances by the Amazons as well as the villainess, Circe. The wanna be superhero and supervillain bar as one of the story venues was an amusing touch.

Best selling novelist Jodi Picault gives her spin in this tale with wonderful artwork by Paco Diaz, Terry Dodson and Drew Johnson.

STORY/PLOTTING: B; ARTWORK PRESENTATION: B plus; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B; WHEN READ: 2011 (reread end of August 2012 for this review); OVERALL GRADE: B.

SPOILERS: you can say that the Amazon Queen would not just openly attack Earth since they do have an embassy with Earth. Of course, one would have to presume that this is the real Amazon Queen back from the dead and that she isn't being controlled by Circe in some manner. Then again, even Batman comments that it's strange that the Hippolyta, the mother of Wonder Woman, would openly attack simply because her daughter is being held captive and wouldn't try to talk first. Based on the fact that the readers may not know everything I am going to hold characters and story at a “B” since this is the beginning of an idea and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt.

The old nuclear bomb through the portal to Amazon territory smells of Circe, too.

There seemed to be no emotional tension between Wonder Woman and Superman and Batman compared to the ending of “The Sacrifice” when they were all pissed at each other.

Some asked why Wonder Woman went willingly and the answer is because she observes the customs of laws of mortals, even if she is powerful enough to break out. Additionally, she didn't leave from her murder non scathed. Think about it.

[kwesi 章英狮 · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to graphic novel, I'm being choosy because they are printed in a glossy paper, colored, expensive and I don't have the place to protect them. I saw this copy from a sale bin and bought it for P99, approximately $2 and I bought it without hesitation since I'm doing a Jodi Picoult challenge this year. I never expected that Jodi will be one of the authoress of Wonder Woman and I never been a fan of her, although I was a hardcore fan of Justice League before. It was a pleasure for her to be part of the gang and the second female authoress of Wonder Woman. I'm glad I really enjoyed the collection.

From the beginning till the end, you can identify the dialogues that are really meant to be Jodi. She uses her own style like the other books, trying to use too much monologue which is kind of weird for a normal graphic novel. This time, Wonder Woman, is looking for her own identity, who she really is or what are the things that really important for her. Choosing between human and the amazons, Love and Murder is a story in which our leading superhero is questioning her own identity, who am I.

I don't have any idea what really happened before the story starts but it stated that Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord or the Black King because of controlling Superman for destroying the world and by killing innocent people. She snapped her neck and died, but the result of her judgment put her into the man's world in which she should learn to become human and what is human all about.

She hide her identity by the name of Diana Prince, a special agent for the Department of Metahuman Affairs and partnered with Nemesis. Now, they face how crucial a life to become human. Facing Wonder Woman's enemy, Circe, revived and fooling around her life again. Trying to deceive every people, amazons and even her mother to start a war between the amazons and the human race.

Hippolyta, came back to life. What really happened to her five thousand years ago, that's a big question mark, I don't know how she died or who killed her. And Circe fooled her for capturing Wonder Woman by Sergeant Steel. Everything goes upside down when Wonder Woman chose the path that her mother never taught her.

In the end there are questions that are crucially I can't answer, like what really happened in the end, ended was a cliffhanger. Nobody knows what happened to her choosing to be killed or lived. And what was the price that the gods wanted to Circe after entering the place of the amazons or the paradise? Too much questions but I'm not interested in continuing reading the other series. I was amazed how Jodi ended it fantastically and with guilt in my own opinion.

A Wonder Woman who reflects upon her previous actions and realizes that what we convince ourselves is right might now, in hindsight, be as innocent as we believed at the time; a Wonder Woman who is strong enough physiologically as well as physically to stand up to her mother and say that there's as difference between love and duty - and who is willing to put her own life at stake to teach her mother that lesson as well. - Wonder Woman: Love and Murder by Jodi Picoult (Introduction)

A fan of Wonder Woman made a Wonder Woman poster using photoshop and she's on the top of the list so far. Megan Fox is dominating the world with her star underwear! You can read the article, here. Not bad for an amateur.

Rating - Wonder Woman: Love and Murder by Jodi Picoult, Terry Dodson, Drew Johnson and Paco Diaz (Illustrators), 4 Sweets and the icon of Womanhood, Wonder Woman! (Some parts are humorous I can't stop laughing last night and my sister was trying to stop me from reading. I can't imagine, Wonder Woman don't what's venti means or don't know what's a pump means and how to ride a bullet train. Anyway, I think I was like her before.)

Challenges:
Book #59 for 2011
Book #35 for Off the Shelf!
Book #7 for Jodi Picoult Reading Challenge 2011

[CS · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bullet Review:

This occurs just before and concurrent with Amazons Attack; this makes Amazons Attack make more sense and clarify major plot elements.

That said, it's still crap.

Some of it admittedly is not Picoult's fault. The plot itself I am sure was a DC creation but the execution is all hers. And it's complete shit.

Hugely disappointing; the only saving grace is the art.

Full Review:

In previous comics, Wonder Woman had to kill a man, Max Lord, because he was forcing Superman to be a horrible person. This made her very unsure of herself and her place in the world (she doesn't typically kill), so this comic is about her wondering who she is as she lives life as Diana Prince, Esteemed Federal Agent who has no clue about credit cards and metropasses.

Now, the metropasses I get, as I am a small town girl and when I went to San Francisco a few weeks past and rode their BART, I was TOTALLY clueless how to operate ANYTHING. But Diana Prince isn't established as small town boy, like Clark Kent. I mean, she's a FEDERAL AGENT. She must be at least SLIGHTLY familiar with technology like social security numbers and birth certificates and CARS. So this goofiness about credit cards and coffee sizing (though, yes, it's weird to pop into Starbucks and order a "tall" as the smallest size) undermines Wonder Woman at every turn.

Otherwise, this just isn't that good of a comic, and I can't blame Picoult. She was brought on as a publicity stunt. That's basically how it went - DC Comics realized they had like ONE regular female author and went, "Oh, sh!t, its the 21st century and 99% of our creators are STILL men! We need to fix that STAT! And that will TOTALLY make everyone buy our Wonder Woman comic (notoriously one of the weaker titles in their line)."

When I got on my Wonder Woman kick and started looking up any and all Wonder Woman, I saw Jodi Picoult's name attached to this and went, "Really?!" I reread the authors, then the blurb, and I STILL couldn't believe that Jodi "Contemporary Novels with Important Messages about Family and Life and Death and Infidelity" Picoult was the one to write THIS, a WONDER WOMAN COMIC. I must assume that the powers that be at DC just scanned the most popular female authors on the New York Times Bestseller and started calling them up.

But you can get surprises from the weirdest places; just because Jodi "I Write Books for Women to Get Them to Cry about Cancer and Family and Infidelity and Being a Woman" Picoult is writing doesn't mean she couldn't do some good for Wonder Woman.

She doesn't, but at least I tried.

I don't know if it's Picoult's inexperience with the medium or her just being an author I don't like (NOTE: I didn't say "bad" author), but I think this was a big, fat belly flop. Wonder Woman walks around, constantly telling herself she is so-and-so, but that she doesn't know what she's doing with her life anymore. I think slugs have confidence greater than she does. There were attempts at "witty banter" that splatted on the floor like a slice of bread, butter side down. And don't even get me started on the "romance" between Wonder Woman and Tresser. I absolutely see NOTHING in Tresser worth saving, and no matter what so-called "witty banter" Picoult gives them, I will NEVER ship these two together. Wonder Woman would be better off in a romantic relationship with her Invisible Plane.

The art was decent, probably the saving grace of this comic. I absolutely love Wonder Woman's look in here!

But a pretty picture can't make up for the stupid Amazons Attack! storyline! While Picoult does attempt to bring light to WHY Hippolyta becomes such a man-hating warmonger, the story is as stupid as it was when I was reading Amazons Attack. It makes ZERO sense for the peaceful people of Paradise Island to get all trigger-happy about Wonder Woman being captured by the government. Even if they did decide to pursue war, WHY when Wonder Woman approaches her mother, does Hippolyta INSIST on attacking the people who are attacking her because SHE, HIPPOLYTA, started attacking first?! It goes from, "I WANT MY DAUGHTER BACK" to "WE MUST FIGHT AGAINST THESE AGGRESSORS!" but makes ZERO sense because the Amazons STARTED IT!! It's preschool if the parents and teachers all took a coffee break at the same time!

One of the worst Wonder Woman comics I've read and worst comics period. If my mind weren't still reeling from Katana and Amazons Attack, I'd be harsher. My biggest consolation is that I did NOT buy this, only checked it out from the library.

Not recommended.

[Sarah Churchill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mmm. I'm not sure Jodi Picoult has found her calling here. I love superheroes in spandex but there comes a point where there's too much cheese even for me. Clichés galore, scenes plucked out of a romantic comedy... nope. Even the cameos couldn't redeem this one for me. I enjoyed it enough because... well WW, but not great.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

To get this out of the way: having Jodi Picoult write Wonder Woman was a blatantly obvious publicity stunt on DC's behalf. But that's fine, because most of the issues here probably have little, if anything to do with who was writing it. This crap came from on high.

To start with, we have Diana taking up the Diana Prince alternate identity for the first time in this continuity. (Damn Crisis.) I need to point out, though, that Wonder Woman has been publicly going as Diana all along, so maybe not the best pseudonym? But it works, and this is the same universe where glasses are a cunning disguise. Diana is bizarrely, unrealistically naive about normal life. She's been living in "man's world" for years, she should at least know what a credit card is.

The real problem here is the horrific Amazons Attack! storyline. (God help me, that's the actual title.) Nothing about this is good, or makes sense. There's no reason for Hippolyta to insist upon taking over the world entirely. It's entirely out of character for her (and so is most of her dialog) and it's out of character for the Amazons to go along. And then the killer bees come out.

Probably most of that is nothing to do with Picoult. I'm guessing that it wasn't her cherished idea to start the Amazon war, then leave halfway through. But I can lay the dialog entirely at her feet. It's not good. Some of it is irritatingly cheesy, like virtually everything Circe said. The flirtation between Diana and Nemesis was flat and more irritating than anything else.

There's some good art here, and a few good scenes at the beginning. But overall, this just isn't good.

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I like the art. I feel like this is mostly Wonder Woman. I also feel like she knows who she is and doesn't need need to ask. Wonder Woman ends up fighting her dead mother after she comes to rescue her from government bondage. This is a good book, not a great one. Our library doesn't have the one previous or after so this will be all I read. I would at least read the others if they were available.

I liked the character of Tom. He was interesting and a good fit for Diana.

[Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full disclaimer: I do not follow Wonder Woman's monthly adventures, and only read about her on comics web sites. I picked this up because I was intrigued that Jodi Picoult was writing an arc. I have to say that I was greatly underwhelmed. The plot--shape shifting, resurrections--was nothing new, so the writing style should elevate it, right? Wrong. Picoult throws a few pop-culture bones to the audience, and the banter between WW and her agent-partner is cliched romantic tension. The ending is a total cop-out, and is not interesting enough for me to seek out the next TPB.

The artwork was solid, but not my cup of tea. The Dodsons tend to draw the exact same woman in any comic book they work on. (I used to HATE that back in the days when they were on Generation X.) Seriously, Circe and Wonder Woman could be twins.

Now a general comic book rant: This book collects 5 issues of WW's monthly series, and I BLEW through it in 30 minutes! I remember when a single comic book would be full of dense plotting and twisty subplots that required extended scrutiny. I really miss that in these days of "writing for the trade paperback." I can't imagine being a monthly comic book buyer with all this story decompression. (Am I becoming a bitchy troll??)

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

YESSS. Wonder Woman is drawn strong, statuesque, and even her fibbie suits can't quite conceal her defined muscles. I was wary that getting Picoult to write a comic about a lady superhero was a marketing gimmick, and perhaps it was. I don't much care why they got Picoult to write this trade; I'm just glad we got a series of WW in which her morality, her strength, and her relationship with the Amazons took precedence over her love life or the latest godawful title-spanning "epic" crisis. Let WW stand on her own!

The plot itself is a bit fuzzy (though really, no worse than what I read in most titles), but the dialog is funny and realistic, the art is great and dynamic, and the characterization coherent and interesting. Well worth a read.

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Wonder Woman and my first Jodi Picoult. I can't say I was overly impressed.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhh...I haven't read a Wonder Woman episodic since I was a kid, so I was suprised to find that what looked like a stand-alone volume was actually just a part of a greater story arc. I also haven't read any Jodi Picoult, so I can't judge this against her other works. I could definitely feel that it was the work of somebody who hadn't written a comic before. The pacing wasn't right.
I liked the infusion of humor, and I liked that a woman's take on Wonder Woman would include some analysis of the impracticality of her costume. That said..the plot was confusing, there was way too much dialogue, and the art was fair to middling.
Or maybe it's unfair to judge it given that I read it in the hour after the premiere of Lost Season 4, when anything might pale by comparison.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jodi Picoult is only the second female writer to take on the Wonder Woman saga, and I enjoyed her take on this classic heroine. She addresses the impracticality of Wonder Woman running around fighting crime in an outfit without straps. She addresses Wonder Woman's inner turmoil as she wants to fit into the human world but can't shake the vestiges of her Amazon blood.

This made me laugh and made me appreciate the comic as an art form and made me want to read more comics.
I might be hooked.
Plus, you can read it in about an hour or two.

[Geraldine · Rating 1 out of 5]

The artwork is very impressive, but the storyline is lacking.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I picked this up at the library, I assumed that this was a stand alone Wonder Woman (WW) story. Boy was I wrong.
The quick one page prologue outlines what events came before, namely the murder of Maxwell Lord at the hands of WW after he had mind controlled Superman. Ironically, these events aren't even told in a WW graphic novel, but in the Superman/WW crossover "Superman: Sacrifice" which is part of the greater "Infinite Crisis" story Arc. Confused? Yeah me too. It took extensive google searches to find this information. Now, onto the main story.
Diana is working with a character named Nemesis and for the Department of Metahuman Affairs. Their assignment is to capture WW and bringing her in for questioning for the murder of Maxwell Lord. That in itself would have made for a good read, but no, a supervillain was "needed" to up the ante. Enter Circe. After being soundly defeated by Wonder Woman, Circe escapes to Themyscira where she suddenly has the power to bring Hippolyta back to life? Who even knew the Queen of the Amazons was dead? Not I. With Hippolyta back amongst the living, she immediately declares war on humanity to save Diana and attacks Washington D.C. Now enter the Justice League and we get a full on JLA vs Amazon fight with Wonder Woman stuck in the middle.
I wish I could say that we get a satisfying conclusion to this story, but no, it's left on a cliff hanger to be continued in "Wonder Woman: Amazons Attack" by Will Pfeifer.
In all, I would give this a 2.5 for the wonderful artwork, but the plot leaves a lot to be desired.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are a number of major issues at work here, all of which come together to produce a colossal train wreck of a book.

The first problem is that, as I mentioned in my review of Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Who is Wonder Woman?, this 'soft' relaunch is based around the erroneous premise that Diana is so far removed from humanity that she can't relate to ordinary people, and that she needs to get a secret identity (as a very ordinary and relatable high-tech metahuman-fighting secret agent) in order to get in touch with her humanity. Given that one of Diana's most defining characteristics has always been her compassion and ability to relate to people from vastly different walks of life -- and that she's a one-time goddess of truth who has always been open about her identity -- this is utterly ridiculous. But DC wanted to boost sales and somebody really wanted to bring back the white-suited martial artist Wonder Woman of the 1960s, so here we are.

The second problem is that this story is intimately tied to DC's other brilliant plan to boost readership: the execrable Amazons Attack crossover storyline, in which the straw feminists Amazons of Themyscira storm Washington DC for nonsensical reasons and nobody behaves remotely logically or in-character. And there's really nothing more I can say about that without dissolving into expletives.

And the third problem is that Picoult's writing is a mess. In every way.

Another thing I mentioned in my review of Who is Wonder Woman? was that Allan Heinberg's writing was all show and no tell. Picoult makes him look downright subtle. Like Heinberg, her method of reinforcing the theme of Wonder Woman's search for identity is to have Diana constantly tell us that she doesn't know who she is. Ditto, every issue Tom Tresser reminds us that his code name, Nemesis, means "enemy", before going on to muse about the thematic significance of this.

For reasons I don't understand, she also writes potential-love-interest Tom Tresser as the most unlikeable, boorish, sexist perv possible, and I think it's intended to be endearing.

Her take on Diana is mostly defined by (a) Diana's feeling of being alooooone and removed from humanity and unsure of who she is, and (b) her hilarious lack of understanding of how modern technology and society works (ha ha! she's so wackily archaic! good thing Wonder Woman hasn't been living in Man's World and interacting with modern society for years or this would make absolutely no se-- waitaminute.)

There's also this running "joke" that Wonder Woman is an unpopular superhero who's never gained the same level of following as Batman and Superman, and her merch doesn't sell and people think she’s kind of a lame superhero. Which... while I get that it's supposed to be meta, it mostly comes off as mean. And honestly, fuck off, Wonder Woman has always been portrayed as an individual who inspires. In fact, the very issue before the beginning of Picoult’s run was literally all about how Wonder Woman is an empowering and inspiring role model to ordinary women in the DC universe.

So, we've got anvilicious writing, bad characterisation, a weirdly creepy love interest-- and then three quarters of the way through the story Picoult completely loses track of the plot and ends up contradicting what she'd established only one issue before.

And ultimately, there's not even any proper resolution. The book ends on a cliffhanger, and an ultimatum which was them promptly swept away and ignored by the next writer. And everything is overwrought writing and dead Amazons and bees.

BEES. MY GOD.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not a DC guy at all (when I say "make mine Marvel" I really mean it), and I have never even read a Wonder Woman comic, so my opinion can't be taken too seriously if you're planning on reading Jodi Picoult's take on the big breasted Amazon, but here it is anyway: Love and Murder was an okay introduction to Wonder Woman, but not much more than that.

There was some nice tension between Wonder Woman and the man she loves, Nemesis, and there was the added low level tension of Wonder Woman's estrangement from the Justice League of America after killing some federal agent (from the sound of things it was necessary, but Superman and Batman were all disapproving, and it put Wonder Woman on the outs with them).

So Circe comes to mess with Wonder Woman and conquer Themyscira (the home of the Amazons), or destroy them both, and she does everything she can to mess with the Lady with the truth lasso. She kidnaps WW's boyfriend, raises WW's Mom from Hades and pits daughter against mother, aims a nuclear bomb at a portal to Themyscira, brings war to Washington DC, and generally makes a real nuisance of herself.

Picoult seems too bound by the rules of the DC Universe and WW's ethics, so that nothing interesting really comes out of the story -- although she gives it a solid effort.

There is too much cheesy banter for my taste, particularly between Nemesis and WW, and there is too much violence from WW directed at Nemesis, which we are supposed to believe is cute (but it isn't). The story also ends with a fairly deftly handled but still gratingly cliche moment of sacrifice.

Picoult does a decent job within the limits she is set, and I saw enough in Love and Murder to actually make me consider reading one of Picoult's novels (any suggestions would be appreciated), but this particular graphic novel (which I suspect was really a cycle within the WW series proper) didn't excite me at all.

Too bad too, 'cause I rally wanted to be excited.

[Aryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, this is technically a second story arch in a series. There is however a "Previously on Wonder Woman" page, where you can read what happened in the first novel. Basically, Wonder Woman did something that society and the other heroes don't particularly agree with, and she has to go into hiding. She is working as Diana Prince and is given the assignment to bring Wonder Woman in for her crimes.

It's interesting to see how Wonder Woman handles a "normal" human life. There is very little that she understands intuitively. Amazons are obviously an entirely different sort of culture and that was the last time she was "normal." At one point her mother is brought back, and the kinds of issues she has with her mother are very human. She's struggling to differentiate herself as well as to learn who she is in this human world.

Unfortunately, the crap that happens after she's in her Wonder Woman gear is simply ridiculous, and poorly done. It felt like Jodi Picoult gave DC her ideas to make Wonder Woman more relatable, and they said "Gee, Picoult wants to make Wonder Woman more relatable to real women. I guess we could do that. Especially since then we can go right back to her being a sex object and never think of her as anything more ever again." It was bastardized Picoult.

It was interesting, (especially because I am a Picoult fan) but not awesome.

This review is also posted on RATS.

[Gabs · Rating 1 out of 5]

SO BAD. SO DAMN BAD. Whoever thought, "you know what would be a good idea? Jodi Picoult writing a DC comic" needs to be fired.

This was basically just a romance between Wonder Woman and some guy who was so boring I forgot his name. I don't really read graphic novels by DC, and I'm not sure if I was supposed to know who he was...I probably was. Maybe he's great in other comics, but if so, he was really resting on his laurels in this one. Also, the art wasn't all that amazing.

[Alaina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This took me forever to find! I almost gave up on my search - but I finally found it guys!

And after reading it, I'm kind of disappointed. I don't know, ever since I read Wonder Woman: Warbringer I feel like nothing can top that, ya know? But it could just be me. Plus, this is like my second ever graphic novel to read? The first being Wires and Nerve, Volume 1, which I loved every second of and I'm super pumped to read Volume 2!!

Maybe I didn't love it like I thought I would because Jodi Picoult kind of made Wonder Woman/Diana Prince like super dumb? How the fudge does she not know what a god damn credit card is? Hasn't she been on Earth for a while now? Hell, 3 year old's have cellphones now. I'm sure WW knows all about credit cards.

Then there's the whole romance thing that kind of made me want to barf and light this book on fire. Nemesis? REALLY? Le Sigh! I don't even want to talk about that horribleness.

I'm glad that I got this book off my TBR.
I'm sad that I read it because I didn't really like it.
WHY JODI WHY?! We had a good thing running and now.. idk.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried liking this one, I genuinely did. But there's only so much you can do, and in the face of a really oddly paced plot and more than erratic characterization all I can say that I, um, didn't like it.

Now, I haven't read *that* much of Wonder Woman, but if that book had been the first I read? It would have been my last. A lot of it is just Jodi Picoult being Jodi Picoult, that is, her taking an issue (like finding out who you are, or trying to show your mother you're grown up, but that latter bit kind of came out of the blue and you never really got the sense that actually was her mother) and milking it for all the melodrama it's worth and then some. (Yes, I am still bitter about the ending of My Sister's Keeper.)

It did have some fun moments, like the ones in the villain bar, but even they felt out of place. For me, this just lacked coherency. And decent characterization. And I mean, sure, Tom is hot and all but that flirting/ attraction didn't feel very organic, it felt forced (which is even more weird because it could have felt organic). In the end, though, this is just part of me catching up on what Diana's been up to, and I doubt I'll read this one again.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok i will admit this is something new for me and to be totally honest I picked it up to read as it was in such good condition at the charity book shop I help out in. I know there are a lot of reviews of he book some good some bad but this was the first foray in to the realm of Wonder woman (still think of Linda Carter - now thats showing my age) as well as the world of DC comics (I normally stay in the confines of 2000AD where I grew up - or not at the case maybe) but I really enjoyed it - now I am going to show my ignorance here but there was a lot going on and references to books before and after the series which I now want to read to see what was and has gone on, I guess the marketing guys have done there work there. And the characters were all new to me - not in name - those I recognise but no in what they do who they are working for and even as far as what their powers are - I guess popular TV has a lot to answer for in my perception of the DC comics universe.
I think more research is called for - shame !

[Carmyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this but I didn't love it. There was a bit too much "soul searching" in the midst of the action and it started to wear a bit on me. The story features Circe who is bent on destroying Wonder Woman and all the Amazons in the process. Wonder Woman must also battle her own mother, returned from the dead. The appearance of the graphic novel and the artwork was fantastic. I was happy to read a copy of this one at Barnes and Noble and not have to spend the $20.00 for my own. Unlike Frank Miller's "Batman: Return of the Dark Knight" this book read incredibly fast. I think there were actually more images and less text. It could have been twice as long and I was actually disappointed with the cliffhanger ending. Even books in a series should conclude.

[Sketching Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the unique storyline for Wonder Woman, and finding her trying to fit in with humans, and actually try to discover her own identity, and answer the question we all ask ourselves at some point in our lives: "Who am I?". It is a good story, I just wish this book fully completed the story. We are left on a cliffhanger, and the story feels incomplete. We might only have needed one more comic issue included in this collection to finish it. If this story had finished itself off, I would have given it a 4-star instead of a 3-star rating.

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't care for this one. The writing seemed awkward and the action not very well done.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay

[Mads ✨is balls deep in the Animorphs reread✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a load of soulless drivel. It begins loudly claiming to be an exploration of Diana's human side and identity, and Picoult makes a big deal about this in the forward. In the first issue, the bones for a small-time, emotionally driven story involving Circe psychologically tormenting Diana are laid down. But then DC use and abuse Picoult's talent for character study and throw out all that's promising, twisting it into a farting mess of hot air. A major battle arc is cramped into three issues flat, splattered with painfully pretentious dialogue, lazy JL cameos, and a completely undeserved world war.... all for the sake of setting up Amazons Attack. Yep, that's right, the whole Picoult thing was never really an opportunity to give this well regarded novelist creative control over a new storyline and reveal a new side to Diana. They just wanted to put the name of "A Famous Womenz" on the front of a hack job with a plot like the cobbled together cast offs of FF issues #1-7, but minus the vintage charm. FeMiNism!!! Sorry DC, the standard of superhero graphic novels is just so freaking high these days that pulling this sort of crap is unacceptable, not to mention insulting to a big-name hero.

Hippolyta's character gets fully steam rollered as she's turned into a plot device who decides to create WW3 for reasons noone knows, other than the writers of Amazon Attack. Circe's motivations become increasingly inconsistent, swinging between teasing Diana and calling her "darling", to trying to kill her to trying to "teach her a (utterly impenetrable) lesson". But again, she's just a plot device, and that's before she gets unceremoniously deleted from the story. Everyman turns up for a page, then instantly vanishes. Is this explained? LOL you'd be so lucky. All that matters now is the Amazons and some unacknowledged rando cyclops' (again, why??) smashing up downtown DC.

An abysmal #dramatic romance subplot with Tom the #TotalJackassButHeCuteTho partner is shoehorned in at the last minute, along with the DEADLY, WORLD DESTROYING WEAPON of BEES (!!! a single sting can kill you in HOURS!!) a NUCLEAR BOMB (!!) and some particularly pathetic and desperate grasps to the fans in the form of #Witty! #SelfAware! gags about Batman being a detective and Diana saying 'great Hera' (but not any more now guys cos the 90s happened and they're DARK!! right guys????) ...and on that note, for crying out loud, even name dropping Frank Miller.

Tom tries to steal the #UltimateWeapon (bees?) so that Hippolyta can't use it...and then....USES IT. WTF. So then he gets stung (#ohnoes) and Diana weeps over his body (HOURS to live, mere HOUrs...) because he only insulted her intelligence and objectified her like, solidly for three issues, so I guess he's bae now? PUHLEEZ.

I'm only giving this 2 stars because some of the inking is genuinely great, the issue cover pages are really stylish, and WW looks like a babe. But the pressure of horrific editing really comes to bear in the later panels which are over stuffed with action to try and give background substance to you know, lickle ol' WW3. Everything is woefully undeveloped, not least because what counts for a storyline has to compete for space with dialogue bubbles of Diana and Tom having limp "banter" whilst simultaneously announcing their grand inner monologues (WHO AM I?? I AM NOT A HERO??!! AM I A HERO??!! #DEEP) over and OVER and OVERRRrrr again. The inking of Diana and Hippolyta's faces becomes so messy and lopsided in the final issue that some pages definitely should have been redrawn. That's some serious rushing, only making it more obvious that this is band has no purpose other than to rapidly set up the following, main arc.

There's a particularly embarrassing couple of panels where Superman catches the entire pentagon monument which Hippolyta just smashed with a big fricking trebuchet (OH!! DRAMA!!) and then Green Lantern turns up from ACTUALLY NOWHERE to zap a bee with the power of his magic zappy green pecs (pls mek it end). Whilst he watches his friends debase themselves, Batman stands around holding a telescope, his chin as immobile and eyes as dead inside as Affleck's in Dawn of Justice as he delivers the punchlines to dreary and innapropriate mid-battle jokes. "I know I shouldn't find that funny, but I do," he says, as for some reason Black Canary gets knocked over in the background. I'm pretty sure he's lying. But whatever, who cares, because we're certainly not finding it it funny either.

See this review on my blog!

[Jace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor Wonder Woman. She's my favorite DC hero, though it's been years since she's had decent writers, engaging storylines, or epic adventures. And this book does little to buck that unfortunate trend. In the wake of recent events, I was hoping for a good story dealing with the consequences of Wonder Woman's [justified] murder of Maxwell Lord and an exploration of her humanity, but this book failed to provide any real depth or clarity on those fronts.

I have a number of issues with this book, not the least of them being that this is not a book at all, but rather a collection of issues 6-10 of the current Wonder Woman monthly comic series. The reader is dropped into the middle of an ongoing plot with little introduction or frame of reference. This book ends abruptly, but the conflicts introduced in this story continue on in the monthly series, so readers are left without any resolution to the story. This wasn't a problem for me [I don't read her monthly series, but I know enough to follow along], but I have a problem with the way the book is being sold. There is little indication that it's not a complete story, and seems to be marketed toward Jodi Picoult fans even more so than comic book readers.

Which brings me to my next issue: Jodi Picoult. I have nothing against her. In fact, I know very little about her, but she strikes me as one of those writers of "Mom" novels--like Mary Higgins Clark or Janet Evanovich--the kind who write semi-trashy murder mysteries for beach reading. Surprisingly, Picoult is the first woman to take the helm as the regular series writer in Wonder Woman's nearly 70 year history. In accordance with this momentous occasion, I was hoping she might have some unique female insights into the character. Nope. The plot is new, but a lot of the dialogue and themes are rehashed drama about WW's difficulty and confusion trying to fit in among humans. There are a few good lines (usually involving the Golden Lasso of Truth), but those are few and far between.

My biggest gripe has to be with the jumpy and inconsistent plot. She's a best selling author, so I have no doubt the Picoult can write a coherent novel. I'm not sure how she approached writing a comic book, but I can only imagine it went something like this: She sat down, wrote out the complete story, then threw out every fifth paragraph. That's the only explanation I can come up with for why this story is so full of holes. Settings change at the blink of the eye, characters appear and alter the story with no explanation, and entire plot lines are abandoned and never addressed again. Some of them are small enough to be excused, but for the most part they make for a shaky a confusion read.

In all honestly, this book deserves only 1 star, but I added another in honor of the real star: Wonder Woman. Regardless of how poorly she's written, there's something endearing and heroic about her that always seems to shine through.

[planetkiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started out with high hopes for this book because Wonder Woman is one of my favourite characters. However, this is a book for casual Wondy fans who care little or not at all for her backstory.

The artwork didn't disappoint. Terry Dodson, Drew Johnson, and Paco Diaz hit it out of the park. Each page is beautiful, and the full-colour splash page is worthy of a print. When the Amazons and Hippolyta attack, you feel the same awe-struck terror of the characters. They even managed to keep me from confusing Diana and Hippolyta; not all artists manage this. Their work alone would garner five stars.

However, the plot arc was a disaster. It started out well and had quite a bit of meta-humour with how Wonder Woman always gets the worst toys and always sells less than Superman and Batman. Nemesis is funny and just the right blend of charming and smart ass. Their romance seems a little forced, but I could believe that he would eventually become a worthy partner for Wonder Woman. However, toward the end, it got too confusing to keep track of. There are no less than three shapeshifters, all of whom portray multiple people. People keep bringing up the possibility that Hippolyta isn't the real queen, but it's never adequately settled. The reason for the continued attack made little sense to me as well. I can buy Hippolyta deciding to attack Man's World to save her daughter. But when her daughter is standing in front of her saying, "I'm fine, Mam. Call off the attack." why does she then attack her? It makes no sense if she is Hippolyta, and if she isn't, then that wasn't adequately explained (as I previously mentioned). The entire arc ends on a cliffhanger that leads to Wonder Woman's lowest point: "Amazons Attack."

And worst of all, this is the book that introduced the bee weapon. ("Bees. My God.") A "Stygian hornet weapon" is even stupider than a "Purple Power Ray," but at least the text has characters call out the latter. Super heroes the likes of Batman treat the Stygian hornet weapon like it's a legitimate concern and not something incredibly hokey. If "Love and Murder" had been a silly, throw back to the Golden and Silver Ages, I would've loved it. But the whole book had been a serious look at whether Wonder Woman was an Amazon or a super hero. The deadly bee weapon just derails the whole story.

Like I said, if you're a casual fan of Wonder Woman or a massive fan of Jodi Picoult, this book is well worth your time. But if you're a Wonder Woman fan who knows (and enjoys) her backstory, buy it for the art and don't bother reading it.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Today’s term ‘wonder woman’ is used to refer to women who do it all...and usually feel like they’re not doing any of it well enough! What if Wonder Woman continue to be the strongest, smartest female on this planet...but had some doubt in other areas of her life? Not in a way that weakened her…but that made her, well, more human? What if she worried, like the rest of us, about not fitting in with the people we like the most? What if she struggled with being who she wanted and needed to be…and not just who her parents intended? What if our parents’ wishes strike at the core of who we are? These are universal battles, and it seemed to me that Wonder Woman was plenty strong enough to take them…a Wonder Woman who is strong enough psychologically as well as physically to stand up...and say that there’s a difference between love and duty—and who is willing to pull her put her own life at stake to teach...that lesson as well.” Picoult’s first (and finest!) graphic novel Love and Murder intertwines both the literary and figurative dialogue between mother and daughter and how we come to define our identity.

Wonder Woman (Daughter): “Once upon a time, I thought it was a hero. They called me wonder woman… As if I were a wonder of the world. That context has changed with the decisions I’ve made. Now, I just wonder who I am. Life is strange that way… Every so often, you awaken from the act of simply living...With new questions screaming through your head…Questions like: ‘Who am I?’ Questions like: ‘What have I done?...Suddenly something inside me explodes… And I feel alive… I want to scream until my voice is raw… And laugh until my heart bursts... My blood is on fire… As if someone else, someone new…is tearing out of my own skin, and it’s not the person my mother raised me to be…but someone entirely different I don’t understand yet.”

Hippolyta (Mother): “Humans are afraid of us. We’re outsiders – we’re powerful women – and what we fight for is hidden beneath the blood on our hands.… Who’s really the hero here, and who’s the villain? The girl who fights for good because it’s her duty…or the girl who fights for what she wants no matter what it takes to get it? Don’t you get it? What’s considered right today could be wrong tomorrow. And what looks wrong now…might turn out to be right all along. Because love and murder are the only things that matter. They’re what it means to be human. And if that’s the case, I will always be more human than you.”

Longtime fans and first time readers alike will devour this graphic novel.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating of 3 is an average of Story: 2 and Art: 5. I have weighted it more heavily towards story because I feel that's more important, especially since the marketing strategy for this was pretty much Story by Jodi Picoult = $$$.

*Full Disclosure: I do not regularly follow Wonder Woman comics, nor do I know much about her background.

Jodi Picoult's rather prominent name on the cover was what led me to read this. I had high hopes after reading her foreword, but finishing the book left me feeling rather underwhelmed.

Maybe it's because she's not used to writing for graphic novels, but the story gets downright messy at points and I found myself flipping back and forth constantly while reading. That rarely happens to me with other graphic novels.

The interaction between Wonder Woman and the other (male) protagonist felt stilted at times. You can tell that Picoult had plans for his character, but in the short span of a few issues there didn't seem to be enough space for that to happen. What results is a character who starts out very one-dimensional, but before his character changes are explored more deeply the story's already over. He felt awkward and slightly unbelievable.

Plot is nothing to write home about; it's actually pretty lame if you think about it (but then again, many other comics are too). I especially didn't like how so much time was dedicated to Wonder Woman being upset about not being as popular as Superman and Batman/general fall-from-grace scenes, but they were just left as that, and there was no actual building up of pathos: nothing to make me feel sorry for her. Quite the opposite, actually - I kept getting annoyed after no explanation was given* (the "Previously in Wonder Woman" section hinted at it a little).

Art-wise, this keeps up the high standard I've come to expect of both DC and Marvel. I especially enjoyed the artwork by Terry (pencils) & Rachel (inks) Dodson and Alex Sinclair (colors). They did all the covers as well. The art in the last chapter by Paco Diaz (pencils and inks) was in a markedly different style from the rest of the book - more spotted blacks than the rest and such.