Wonder Woman: Odyssey, Vol. 2

Wonder Woman: Odyssey

by J. Michael Straczynski, Phil Hester, Don Kramer (Illustrator)

Due to mysterious circumstances, Diana must track down the truth behind what's happened to her timeline and face the biggest stunner of all--Who or what destroyed Paradise Island? To add to her troubles, new versions of familiar foes are introduced as JMS's run with the Amazon Princess comes to a close. All bets are off in this all-new direction for the long-running series that's perfect for new readers as Wonder Woman embarks on an odyssey to find her past and gets a new costume, a new set of foes and a new tone from the ground up!

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

192 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2012

About the author

Joseph Michael Straczynski is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison.
Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009), was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012), and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics.
A prolific writer across a variety of media and former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers and Artisans.
Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show. Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated.

Reviews

[Scott]

"I suppose you expect some sort of prophecy now? To know the will of the gods?" -- the oracle of Themyscira, who literally lives under a bridge like a troll (but certainly doesn't look like it)

"I'm through asking the gods for anything. But if any should be listening in, tell them this -- I'm on my way to kill a few." -- Wonder Woman, prepared to chew bubblegum and kick ass

Continuing from the cliffhanger ending in Odyssey, Vol. 1, this follow-up is a nearly non-stop hyper-violent action-adventure (is that a record use of hyphens in one sentence?) story that has our beloved Wonder Woman fighting a nemesis named . . . well, Nemesis. All faltering attempts at humor aside, the supernaturally-powered and vengeful Nemesis is one tough cookie who brings about a lot of spilled blood and actually causes (via sending the terrible trio of Artemis, Giganta, and Cheetah as ferocious muscle) an ailing WW to spend a brief spell convalescing in an ICU. Things get really weird and the plot occasionally strays in all sorts of directions, but the dialogue did not drag down the momentum (always a hazard in a graphic novel) and actually served to help advance and explain the proceedings. By the finale our title character has acquitted herself quite fiercely in combat and has learned about inner strength, her mystifying background, and ultimately - in a brief scene featuring an earnest mother / daughter conversation - her never-ending responsibilities as a super-heroine.

[Anne]

Wow. The rating for this are all over the place! Re-booting Wonder Woman is evidently a very touchy subject with a lot of people.
From my rating, I think it's pretty obvious that I come down of the side of Loved It!
I'm one of those people who desperately wanted to see the lovely Princess Diana get an update. And like a band-aid, I think it's easier to just get it over with quickly. Using Nemesis to totally alter her reality was a great way to do that, in my opinion. I thought Straczynski did an awesome job remaking her...and then somewhat unmaking his remake.
Don't worry, that sentence shouldn't make sense to you unless you've read this.

The ending leaves you with a nice foreshadowing of the New 52 re-boot, as well.
So, yeah. I'm one of those people who's drooling all over myself while I wait to get my hands on the first volume of Azzerello's new take on her.

[Subham]

wow!

WHAT A VOLUME!

The confusion as to what happened to Diana and her reality is revealed here. We initially follow as she is battling the trinity of Artemis, Cheetah and Giganta and see how her reality has changed and everything and how it leads to the morrigan and what odyssey the Greek pantheon had sent her on and its the final battle of Diana and Nemesis, Goddess of Wraith and its epic and so well done!

I love the way JMS takes time and makes you go through Diana's head process and everything and shows how it has changed her and her confusion and final battle and he does a good job of showing the threat of Nemesis and fleshes out her motivation and there are certain nods to the upcoming (then) reboot of New 52 and its awesomely done and great ending! Its one of the must read books and is truly an odyssey of Diana and her learnings in the end are wow plus the art and covers are just too gorgeous! Also the end of Post-crisis Diana and the coming reboot of New 52!

[Molly™☺]

A visually explosive conclusion that shines through the action but leaves a little to be desired in terms of the revelations. At times, it feels like an overcomplicated route to reset the status quo. However, Straczynski has clearly put care into the craft and deserves credit for trying something so different.

[John Yelverton]

The merciful end to the worst Wonder Woman story that I have ever read.

[Christine]

Good conclusion. I like the use of Greek Myth in the story.

[Crystal Starr]

Crystal's Bullet Reviews:

For much of the graphic novel, I was confused, which could have been the really complicated plot or the amount of time since I read Volume 1. Also, wow, sure a lot of butt/boobs poses and buxom women. Good thing this universe is almost completely filled with sexy women.

However, lots of great female characters, particularly Wonder Woman, and I liked how the story straightened out and wrapped up. Would definitely continue to seek out WW comics and other Straczynski stories.

[Whitney]

I'm still relatively new when it comes to the DC universe, so I apologize for any glaring errors.

This two-volume side story caught my attention for really one reason only. PANTS. I've always enjoyed superhero stories (Batman remains my favorite) but could never get into the female characters all that much. The reason, they're mostly wearing terrible skintight bathing suits. Even if you're a superhero (of either gender) spandex is not the best material to wear for protection against bad guys with a ridiculous arsenal. I always had difficulty suspending my disbelief when Wonder Woman prances onto the scene in knee high boots and a bathing suit. I'm sorry, but no.

Now I know that Wonder Woman, in this incarnation is still wearing skintight clothing, but at least they gave her PANTS. (This might also be the reason why I like Batman, because most of the female superheroes and villains [Poison Ivy aside] have full body outfits.) I loved that though Wonder Woman remained slightly scandalous and sexy, her clothing reflected more of the current times. With more and more females reading superhero comics and becoming bigger fans of Marvel and DC, revamping the costumes the female characters (and yes, some of the males) wear is something they should seriously look into. I love a sexy female lead too, just not one wearing nothing but a bathing suit.

[Gavin]

Well the art is the only reason this isn't a 1-star book for me.
I will grant that I waited a while between Vol 1 and 2, but that's the library's fault, not mine.
Unfortunately, I found this convoluted, verbose, grandiose, and altogether confusing.
It really could have been boiled down to 1 TPB, and I think it would have accomplished the same thing.
I suppose it's also a pointless reboot, since it's not actually much different than where we started, plus that whole New 52 thing...

So I see what people mean when they talk about Straczynski being a horrid writer...I did like Superman:Earth One, but THIS is just tripe.

Also, I think I've concluded I just don't like Wonder Woman stories. Too many different Gods/demigods etc. I can't keep track of the Amazons, Titans, Gods, Demis, Humans and so forth. Ridiculous. Also, which ones are friends and which aren't...I mean why give us more in-fighting characters, we already get that all the time...dysfunctional teams are all we get.
Also when it comes down to it, she just has to kill a shit ton of people...then show mercy to those that don't deserve it? And the internal monologue is so pompous I just wanted to slap it in the face.

So this was a NO for me, if there was doubt. Art is very good, otherwise I would burn this and give my library the money to buy something else.

[Annice22]

I thought this was great. This is the Wonder Woman I wish DC Comics would of kept instead of the current new 52 version.

I love the story of Diana's journey. It was very well written and had amazing art work. The only thing I did not like was Wonder Woman's costume. I didn't think it was that great.

[David]

Intelligent and sophisticated, not often seen in a mainstream comic book. Author Straczynski continues a high note run of his comic writing career with this epic Wonder Woman adventure. Check out his Brave and Bold books and the Superman: Grounded series. All are top-notch comic book writing.

I'm not a huge Wonder Woman fan, I like her, but I mostly know her from Justice League series. I've read her off and on since the 70s but never really in depth. But I must say this 2 volume series is quite impressive and some of the best Wonder Woman material I've come across. Quite accessible to the general reader. Recommended.

[Tim]

Okay, much improved! Diana's unnatural rage/revenge was directly explained, and her need to overcome it turned into the central plot point. Occasionally a little too metaphysical, maybe, but overall that was a huge relief; enjoyable and even moving at points.

[Scott]

Unfortunately, I picked this story up in Volume 2, not realizing that such a thick graphic novel was only half of the story. Still, it is clear that WW's closest friends and Amazons have been killed and she is some alternate version of herself seeking completion. Meanwhile, she is hunted by Artemis, Cheetah (I think that's her name, if not her motif), and Giganta. There's also a lot of interdimensional alternate timelines reality nonsense which I doubt the first volume would have cleared up much. Which is why I rated this down to 3 stars. As a frequent comic reader, I am sick to death of certain tropes such as all the interdimensional continuity crisis in a spaghetti mess garbage. Complexity does not mean quality, but so many of Wonder Woman stories have this planar shift nonsense. Or they become embarassingly obvious diatribes on feminism (while wearing star spangly underwear). Or WW is just a huge emotional mess. My odyssey is to find a Wonder Woman story that I love because I do love the idea of Wonder Woman. In this issue, I even loved the way they drew her (tangent: really not a fan of Terry Dodson's or Adam Hughes' giant-breasted giant-jawed versions or various narrow-shouldered skinnier versions either, I'm sorry). I'm picky. So far the animation versions are my favorites, where she's strong, physically, emotionally, idealistically and pragmatically.

The showdown at the end with new WW (in long pants) and original WW (in spangled underwear) was good if a bit cliched. Even WW herself recognizes the cliche, saying it always ends like this and she finds it comforting.

As for her new costume with pants, I'm okay with it. It makes more sense for a warrior to be in pants (or at least a battle greaves skirt) then a bathing suit. On the other hand, the bathing suit costume becomes a lot sexier after seeing her in pants most of the time. Plus, the original costume brings to mind female gymnastics uniforms which is certainly part of WW's battle technique as well. Love them both.

[Christine]

Well, this one was up and down for me. I loved the beginning third of this book, and then between 3/4 stars throughout the rest of it. 3.5 overall.

[Seth Kenlon]

The subtitle identifying this book as "Volume 2" is impossibly small on the front cover, so not only was this my first-ever Wonder Woman book but it was also the second in a series. Even with those strikes against it, this book flat out amazed me.

The only thing I [thought I] knew prior to this book was that Wonder Woman was a useless super hero with a silly invisible jet, a lasso, and no super powers. I always had the impression that she was the token female and not a whole lot more.

What I learned instead was that Wonder Woman (let's just call her Diana from here on out) is steeped in a rich mythical history based on Greek mythology and legend. I learned that Diana was an Amazon (not the South American river, but the legendary Greek warriors) princess who has inherited powers from the gods. She wasn't even born: she was formed out of clay and granted life. She's strong both physically and mentally; there were no internal struggles here with how she must balance being a woman and also being a warrior or anything silly like that. This was just a straight up superhero in the style of, say, Superman, but - in my opinion - much better. I'm not kidding when I say that Wonder Woman is quite possibly one of my new favourite comic book characters.

I highly recommend this book (although, unlike me, you might find it better to start with Volume 1). If you know nothing of Wonder Woman, or you think you do and you think she's lame, then definitely read this! It will change your mind forever, and you have no idea what you are missing out on!

[M]

The twisted take on Wonder Woman offered by J. Michael Straczynski comes to its conclusion with this second volume. Rescued from the Amazonian Cheetah, Giganta, and Artemis by Dr. Psycho, Diana learns that her history may not be what she was led to believe. Further encounters with the Fates showcase Diana as a woman divided - literally - and facing her darkest nature. Left for dead after a battle with Nemesis, the Fates weaved a separate strand of history that allowed Diana to stay uncorrupted. Forced to battle herself - possessed by Nemesis - Diana must break the cycle of revenge and blood in order to return to a semblance of normalcy. While the art and initial ideas proved engaging, this soft reboot was swiftly tossed in favor of the new 52 universe. Still, any interpretation that gets my fiancee engaged in comic collecting (again) wins my vote!

[Christopher]

Wonder Woman was never I book I read much during my formative, comic reading years. But as an adult, I enjoy this title more so than many others from that time. Perhaps it's the mythology of the Greek gods I enjoy reading about now. I am not sure.

This collection is the 2nd part of a massive 14 issue story. As such, I was a little confused initially, but that quickly passed.

[Sharon]

Liked it, didn't quite love it. Opening page of the last issue is brilliant.

[Andrew]

More 4.5/5 stars.

I really enjoyed this just as a fun, different WW story.

[Cara]

The second part of Odyssey is another good book, but I have to give it 2.5 stars because everything Straczynski did doesn't amount to much.

The art continues to be both good and troubling. In my review of volume 1, I spelled out what I liked but also the issues I had with Diana's breast size and facial gestures: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... My biggest problem with this volume is the lasso continuity errors. In multiple issues, Diana is depicted for (usually) several panels without it, and then, suddenly, there it is on her hip. Part 8 has some particularly egregious errors. The lasso keeps appearing and disappearing throughout a single sequence. It's such a glaring problem that I wondered if it was deliberate but, if so, the reason is too subtle for me to figure out (and I reread the volume before publishing this).

The villains aren't that interesting. The Morrigan boils down to, "we like the suffering produced by war, and we're evil." Nemesis is somewhat more interesting; she, at least, has a terrible dilemma in terms of her purpose, so her end game makes sense. I think Straczynski could have done a more interesting/nuanced take on Nemesis, but she did have some motivation that went beyond "it's my nature to be bad."

Straczynski does a good job with new takes on classic characters--especially Artemis, Cheetah, and Giganta. But I'm not persuaded about what he did with Dr. Psycho. I'm familiar with the character from the runs of John Byrne, Greg Rucka (the first one), and Gail Simone. Each portrayed him as sadistic. So what Straczynski does here doesn't work for me. This Dr. Psycho knows who he was and who Diana should be. He wants the world to return to the way it was, with them as enemies, because then, at least, he would be a part of her life, he would be "close" to her. This treats his previous conduct towards her and those she loves as part of a romantic/stalkerish obsession. I just don't see that in the character that I've read.

The biggest problem, however, is the resolution. In fairness to Straczynski's vision when he started this story, he probably didn't know that DC was going to reboot yet again immediately after he finished. That alone diminishes the impact of the saga. But, even if Flashpoint hadn't happened, the story isn't a gamechanger. The WW we know and love was possessed by Nemesis after a battle with the Morrigan. The Fates rescued a "sliver" of Diana's soul and, essentially, reincarnated her to preserve her innocence and hope. In the first climax (because, like the multiple villains, there are multiple climaxes), Diana merges with the possessed WW, freeing the latter and integrating the two versions. Now Diana is the WW of before and the Diana of our story. But the final scenes on Themiscyra don't show a different Diana than what was in continuity before Odyssey began. Yes, Diana is grateful that Paradise Island is restored and the Amazons are alive. She'll never forget that she is both Amazon and WW. But the Diana of Gail Simone's run (which immediately preceded Straczynski's) had also been separated from her mother, her people, and her homeland. She, too, had to find a way to navigate her grief. She, too, never forgets that she is Amazon and WW. So what makes Straczynski's Diana different? Nothing really. So what was the point of this reboot? There wasn't one.

If the ending wasn't such a letdown, I'd give this at least 3 stars, maybe even 3.5. But, for all that this is an interesting take on Diana's evolution into WW, it ends up feeling more like a "What if" story than an important part of Diana's history. So, 2.5 stars.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García]

Bueno, pues terminado el segundo volumen de Odyssey, llega el momento de comentar la saga... que para empezar, no es muy allá, la verdad.

Joe Michael Straczynski había sido el guionista en Marvel de dos etapas muy representativas de Spiderman y de Thor. En Spiderman había sido muy polémico por su decisión de sacar a la luz un romance pasado entre Gwen Stacy y el mismísimo Norman Osborn, y en Thor, se ocupó de una de las etapas más llamativas del Dios del Trueno, con su regreso después del Ragnarok que había coincidido con Vengadores Desunidos. Fue Straczynski quien situó a Asgard sobre un pueblo de Oklahoma, con grandes historias que trajeron momentos grandiosos de relación entre los dioses asgardianos y los habitantes del pueblo... Pero salió de Marvel cabreadísimo. JMS había pedido independencia para sus historias, había pasado mal por Invasión Secreta... y cuando Marvel puso a Thor y a todo Asgard en el centro del siguiente gran crossover, Asedio, Straczynski salió con cajas destempladas de la editorial.

Y se fue a DC. Recuerdo que en su momento esto me hizo mucha gracia, porque DC tenía en aquel momento una política de crossover aún más numerosa que Marvel, pero en fin, llegó para relanzar Wonder Woman, que desde el final de la etapa de Rucka en Crisis Infinita, había ido dando tumbos, teniendo su mejor momento en manos de Gail Simone, aunque probablemente fuera mucho más llamativo JMS... Más llamativo puede, pero mejor no, eso es lo que demostró el tiempo. Y es que el trabajo de JMS con Wonder Woman terminó convertido en algo anecdótico, por lo mismo que había ocurrido en Marvel, la llegada de un gran crossover que iba a cambiarlo todo: Flashpoint. Así que de hecho, la etapa de Wonder Woman de JMS se convirtió en redundante, pues repite un esquema muy parecido al que luego utilizaría Azzarello con el mismo personaje. Después de La Noche Más Oscura, Wonder Woman parece haber sido olvidada por el resto del Universo DC, y nos encontramos a una Diana muy diferente, no sólo en aspecto sino en historia. Las amazonas no se refugian en Themyscira, sino en un templo abandonado en Turquía, y ella y varias de las suyas viven en un refugio en Nueva York, donde comienzan a ser atacadas por una entidad triple: la diosa Morrigan.

Pero a mitad de la publicación, después de revelarse el reboot que iba a ocurrir en DC después de Flashpoint, JMS dejó la serie, que recayó en manos de Phil Hester, su coguionista, que había desarrollado las ideas del guionista original y que sería quien llevara la saga a su final. Y bueno, en fin. La verdad es que, sin culpar a Hester, la historia es bastante pobre y perfectamente prescindible, y de hecho, con premisas muy parecidas, Azzarello haría un trabajo mucho mejor en todos los sentidos (incluyendo el gráfico, con un Cliff Chiang en estado de gracia que trajo una imagen nueva y muy llamativa de la princesa amazona). Aunque en fin, esto ya sería otra historia.

[Kira Nerys]

Here is my review of volume 1. I still agree with everything I wrote. I actually liked this better than the first half of the story, because I could kind of follow the plot (no comment on how clichéd or not it happened to be). In that first volume, I went in with high expectations and found myself very disappointed; in this, my expectations were very low, and therefore much easier to exceed. A few points:
* I still love her new costume
* Like, favorite part of these volumes, love it
* I still loathe all these idealized women
* (but I guess I was used to it and didn't feel as nauseous/upset/objectified/offended/pissed)
* this Willis comic tho
* seriously what size boobs are all these ladies? like, F?

Another review pointed out that the writing is bad, and my head went "thank you! I thought I was the only one thinking that!" It lacks any form of subtlety. It lacks humor, too, and sometimes it lacks grammar. I kept thinking I'd read this exact dialogue somewhere else, it felt so repetitive of other superhero comics. Except it was worse: it over-explained, it lacked emotion (how?), it felt confusingly complicated. She-Hulk, Volume 1: Deconstructed relied on subtext, not immediately revealing anything, and meshed thoroughly with its illustrations to provide visual cues to Jennifer's emotions and trauma. Perhaps Straczynski could have flourished if he wasn't trying to keep dozens of Amazons clear and distinct, but I really think a different author could have handled Diana's story better. And by "better" I mean "with less confusing complication."

Despite it all, I did kinda enjoy this story. I mean, it recovered well from the impossible-to-understand first volume. I appreciated some of its tributes to past depictions of Wonder Woman. I'm still a Lynda Carter kind of girl, but I value DC's attempts at feminism. Maybe next time, they'll hire a woman to write and a woman to draw, and all the die-hard fans will shriek but I'll love it.

[Eduardo]

Alright, so I said last time, in Volume One of “WW: Odyssey”, that while this take on Wonder Woman is very different from what you usually get, I kind of like it because it’s still an interesting story, and I never quite know where it’s going. And it takes the Greek mythology thing head-on, which unfortunately a lot of Wonder Woman stories don’t do. This one…

For starters: I think that these two volumes should have been one. This is a problem you see with trade paperbacks a lot.

The main thing that bothered me, though, was that “Wonder Woman: Odyssey” sets up an entirely new version of Wonder Woman, a completely different take on her story… only for the ending to set it back to (mostly) the status quo that we had before. That’s kind of annoying? I guess I knew that this version wouldn’t last, given I’m aware of, and have read some of, both the New 52 and DC Rebirth. I still felt like it felt like a bit of a letdown.

The story’s still good, though. It has some unexpected takes here–a surprise appearance from Dr. Psycho of all people, not in the way you’d think he would appear. Also Etta and Steve are medical professionals here? I don’t know what to do with that, and neither does the story, really.

This story is also definitely trying to reconcile two different versions of Wonder Woman, while using Greek myths in modern day to do it: the hyper-violent, more modern version of the character that had become more common, and the beacon of idealism that she was originally intended to be. That’s not an easy thing to try to put back together, and Straczynski knows it. So yeah, it gets a bit rough at times, but it has to be to make this point.

It gets dark, because Diana has to go through the darkness to get back to the light.

Does that story entirely work? I don’t know. It was an interesting journey, though, and maybe in comics where the status quo is often afraid to change, that’s the best we can ask for.

[Joshua Adam Bain]

I've been meaning to read this book for a while now as I'm a big JMS fan.

Happily I can say this run didn't let me down. Although to begin with I was left wondering if I had missed something essential beforehand, as it starts as if you should know the scenario. Alas that's just how the story begins, later unfolding what events had occurred.

This is a pretty daring story, getting awfully close to being convoluted, but somehow managing to pull it all off. I just wish there was more of the side characters from the first half. All the Amazon sisters and the safe houses and whatnot, I wanted more of it. If only JMS had a good 30 issues to drag this story out and delve into Diana's situation right before the story begun, but I suppose I can't be picky. This was actually the first Wonder Woman story I've found compelling enough to hold my interest.

Was this perfect? No. Did some parts feel rushed? Sure. Did this take me out of the experience? No. Like I said, I enjoy JMS, so it was a pretty high probability I was going to like this a lot.

I'm only upset they moved straight into New 52 from here. It felt like this version of Diana had so much untapped potential. I only wish this run was longer.

[The Sapphic Nerd]

I read Vol 1 a long time ago so I don't remember anything that was going on there, and maybe that's why I was so confused for the first half of this book.

It's probably intentional but I find Diana's character so hard to understand in this. I see the beginnings of the war brute Diana that becomes the Azzarrello/Chiang run, I see traces of the loving/compassionate Diana that I'm used to from Gail Simone's run... and then there's a lot of Diana being confused about her own identity. Which I guess is the point of this run: to deconstruct Wonder Woman's identity/character and leave you in an uncertain place for when the New 52 starts.

Did it serve its intended purpose? Yeah??? I think so?

Did I enjoy it? No. Frankly, I had to force myself to finish this because I didn't like it.

[Nicole]

I picked this up immediately after finishing volume 1. This explains more about what exactly happened to Diana. I thought it was interesting how the writers used Dr Psycho, a Wonder Woman villain and turns him into an ally to Diana. I only saw him in the previous graphic novels as a sleazy creep who sexually assaults women. Seeing familiar names from the WW world and greek mythology was fun. It felt satisfying once I got to the end. Yes, the content can be blood and graphic but the storyline was compelling. The art was good and varied between the issues, I liked Eduardo Pansica's drawings the best. I did not have much expectations when I picked this duology up but as long time WW fan, I enjoyed his new take on my favourite heroine.

[Jason Tanner]

So, the second half was better than the first. For a plot that was so dependent on Diana's humanity, we saw shockingly little of it until Hester took up the scripting duties. This story was dense, complicated, and weird, and the first volume did little to explain itself, leaving this one to do extra duty. I imagine that if Straczynski was left to his own devices, this would have been 36 issues of meandering that may or may not have come together brilliantly. As it is, Hester did a commendable job with what he had. Kramer's art, at its best, was better than vol. 1, but it was pretty inconsistent in this volume. He could range from brilliant to garbage in a single issue, but settled towards the end on passable but probably rushed.

[Joanna]

Most of my comments on this are about the plot so they don’t really make sense out of context. Anyways
- I was worried for a minute that Diana’s attitude towards gods and their authority was just gonna go out the window at the end of this volume but it circled back really well imo !
- I LOVED the twist and the fight at the end between Diana and the big bad (even if there wasn’t actually much fighting)

The only reason this isn’t a 5/5 review (which I was considering) is because idk how I feel about some design choices… like the parts where Nemesis and one of the Morrigan kind of take a new form…? I don’t wanna say exactly what it was and also I’m aware there was a relevant explanation but it just seemed… weird. Off.

Whatever besides that I REALLY liked this! :)

[Dan]

Vol. 2 of Straczynski's WW story continues her journey through a world filled with people from her "other life" who seem familiar to her yet are acting strangely. From Etta Candy and Steve Trevor to Clotho of the fates and Dr. Psycho, they all help her on her odyssey back to herself - even her sometimes enemies Artemis, Giganta, and Cheetah help her in this journey. In the end Wonder Woman prevails because she embraces the power of love and forgiveness rather than give in to the temptation of rage and revenge.

[Ron]

Not the best straczynski work by any means

I am in the minority in liking this costume look. I do have some faith in the writer however this story is something of a let down. The use of the villains seems to be so obscure it makes little sense in the story. With so many different options for a driving villain why choose that group. A little more research into mythology I feel could have lead to much better. So not bad, but not great. The artwork is a BIG savior in this case. Great job there