Absolute Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang, Vol. 1

Wonder Woman (2011) #1-3

by Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang (Illustrator)

In these tales from the start of DC-The New 52, Wonder Woman learns that Queen Hippolyta has kept a secret from her daughter all her life-and when Diana learns who her father is, her life will shatter like brittle clay. The only one more shocked than Diana by this revelation? Bloodthirsty Hera-so why is her sinister daughter, Strife, so eager for the truth to be told? This Absolute edition collects WONDER WOMAN #1-18 and #0.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Fantasy

421 pages, Hardcover

Published February 28, 2017

About the author

Brian Azzarello (born in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. He and Argentine artist Eduardo Risso, with whom Azzarello first worked on Jonny Double, won the 2001 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for 100 Bullets #15–18: "Hang Up on the Hang Low".

Azzarello has written for Batman ("Broken City", art by Risso; "Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire", art by Lee Bermejo, Tim Bradstreet, & Mick Gray) and Superman ("For Tomorrow", art by Jim Lee).

In 2005, Azzarello began a new creator-owned series, the western Loveless, with artist Marcelo Frusin.

As of 2007, Azzarello is married to fellow comic-book writer and illustrator Jill Thompson.

information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Az...

Reviews

[The Lion's Share · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily the best Wonder Woman story created. (That I’ve read)

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well put together book (typical for the Absolute line). Decent writing though some of the significant back story changes drew criticism from long reading fans. Not sure I'm a fan myself but willing to read the rest of the run to see how some of the issues resolve.

The art was fine with a slight cartoonish look. Frankly I think the Perez omnibus and this book would have worked well switching formats with the Perez art on the Absolute pages and the Chiang art in omnibus form.

[Stephanie (aka WW) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a slight obsession over Wonder Woman and have read several author/installments. This series is by far the best, for story AND illustration. I had read the individual volumes, so was drawn to the anthology (volumes 1 to 18). It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it. Absolute Wonder Woman brings it on, in creative depictions of the Gods (so much better than American Gods) and slick, gorgeous colorations. I’m saving my pennies now for volume 2.

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice mix of Superhero stuff and Mythology, with a kickass fast story and amazing Artwork by Cliff Chiang. Also reading this in Absolute form makes it so much better and make the artwork work even better. Recommended reading. And also a great starting point.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. Despite some of the artwork being on the cartoonish side, it was was ... "grittier" as well. It was quite a bit bloodier than I expected it to be - not used to seeing that in Wonder Woman comics (not that I read them regularly; I haven't read many of her stories in years and times do change). It makes some huge changes in Wonder Woman's lore/backstory, but I felt the changes were believable.

The story: Zeus is actually Princess Diana's father? She's not "just" a lump of clay that Zeus breathed life into? (She's not just a retelling of Adam but with Eve replacing Adam?) I don't really care that her "original origin story" is that her mother molded a lump of clay into a baby and that Zeus honored her request to have a baby girl by breathing life into the lump, although it does take away a bit of Diana's "uniqueness" of not having been born of a man's seed impregnating a woman. I suspect this "revelation" will be undone at some point "in the future" (in terms of when this storyline was written - back in 2011), but it was both a shock and not a shock to me when her "true heritage" was revealed.

It is a bloody, violent, graphic story. I was not expecting it to be so bloody and violent. It's funny, too, because of the amount of graphic violence in it (like the horses getting their heads cut off so that they can turn into centaurs, or the son of Zeus who had been buried for 7,000 years eating the heads/brains of humans to gain knowledge before brutally killing the "monsters"/deities attacking him in Antarctica), and yet Aphrodite's and Hera's "private parts" are hidden from view (as is the first born son of Zeus whose name I cannot remember) as they walk around nude (or Hera being mostly nude in Olympus). But, yeah, I was not expecting the amount of blood shed in this book. The use of the color red throughout this book is pretty fitting. We get semi-graphic images of Zeus and Hippolyta copulating, which is a "funny" contrast to the images of bodies being torn apart through various acts of violence.

It was also interesting how Hephaestus acquired his "workers" to man his forges and other devices used to make weapons. I remember reading a story (and maybe it was in a movie, too?) in which the Amazons would meet a neighboring army once a year to engage in sexually in order to become pregnant and bear female babies. The male babies would be either returned to their fathers or thrown off a cliff (a la the Spartans, I guess?), so I was not surprised to see a variation of that story told here. Except in this case, the Amazons seduce male sailors and then murder them after a night of wanton debauchery, and any male babies were then traded to Hephaestus in exchange for the weapons he created for them. So it was cool to see a Greek god actually trying to save humans instead of just using and abusing them like they usually do (not that Hephaestus didn't have his own reasons for doing so, but he is still presented in a decent light in this storyline). It also painted the Amazons in a not-so-nice light because of how they would replenish their numbers with no men allowed to exist on their island. And it was also good to see Diana's world getting rocked a little bit more in this series as she realizes she misread the situation regarding these castaways saved from a gruesome death by Hephaestus.

There must be more to Hippolyta than I realize? Or more to her story or lineage in DC Comics? If she is "only" human, then I truly cannot see her surviving a fight with Zeus to the point of his being impressed enough with her fighting skills to copulate with her and impregnate her with his child. My understanding in Greek mythology is that she is the daughter of daughter of Otrera and Ares (and Otrera is the daughter of the nymph Harmonia and god of war, Ares - just gotta luv the amount of incest amongst the Greek gods! Sickos), so it would seem reasonable to believe she must be some kind of demigod or something (not just her, but the other Amazons as well).

Diana's using Eros's gun to shoot Hades in the heart - that was a crazy, incredible shot! And it will be interesting to see what, if anything, becomes of that shot. Will he start to truly love his first wife Persephone? Will he start to love other people? His brothers?

It will be interesting to see how this storyline ends regarding Zeus's first born seeking to kill his aunts and uncles (I assume) as well as the baby boy born to Zola that Diana has sworn to protect.

The characters: It was funny to see how Hera acted as a mortal, how she became even more petty and vindictive and even childish once her "godhood" was removed from her. She was highly amusing as she began to experience different aspects of the mortal world (especially NYC) with Zola by her side. In some ways, it reminds me of a story about Thor (I think it was his graphic novel Whom The Gods Would Destroy?) in which he talks about how he know longer enjoys food or how it tastes as an immortal, how "life" no longer has any meaning for him because he "cannot die" (or die of old age, anyway), yet as Donald Blake he is (was) able to enjoy various foods such as pizza, spicy foods, and certain drinks. I think he was speaking with the Lady Sif about this. In any case, we get to see Hera trying out new foods, beverages, and clothing as a mortal, and it was a fun twist to her as a character (especially in relation to how she is in the beginning of the story - filled with revenge and vengeance against the women who copulated with Zeus and their offspring). I also enjoyed her interactions with Zola - they were quite funny.

We see some other siblings of Diana appear in this story - Lennox, Sirraca (sp?), and Milan. Then you have the First Born and the child that Zola carried. So an interesting mix of characters.

The Greek gods were portrayed quite strangely. I have always seen them portrayed in the most beautiful ways possible - bet it statues, carvings, images, or pictures. In this story, they are hideous caricatures of humans at best; some of them are downright hideous and non-human in appearance (i.e. - Poseidon appears mostly fish-like in nature, maybe a cross between a fish and a whale, and Hades is very odd-looking - like his head was made of wax and melted or something on the body of a child. Apollo is supposed to be beautiful but looks like a humanoid charcoal of some kind. Artemis looks like living lightning. Demeter looks tree-like. Hermes is like a humanoid bird-thing. Hera looks the most "human" out of the bunch, as does Aphrodite. Ares' appearance has changed - he goes from looking like a heavy metal barbarian in the "one-off issue" to an extremely old man.

I am not sure how I feel about Diana in this series so far. I originally did not think she should have been as good as she was portrayed at fighting the various gods, but then we had the issue where she was trained for a long chunk of time by Ares himself, so I guess that made all the difference in the world for her in terms of her ability to not just hold her own against some of the gods but even be able to defeat them (like Hermes and Artemis). As I am thinking about it, though, her entire world-view has been rocked and destroyed. She discovers that her entire existence is based on a lie - that her mother lied to her about "her origin" (even if it was to save Diana from Hera's wrath). She learns she is not as special as she believed herself to be, that she has a father after all and this father is Zeus. She has learned that her mother has lied to her for over twenty-three years. She learns she has other siblings she knows nothing about as well as that she is a member of Zeus's family and thereby related to various gods. Her mother is turned into stone because of her affair with Zeus. Her sister Amazons are turned into snakes. She learns how the Amazons are able to replace those lost in battle as well as how the Amazons increase their numbers as desired (seducing sailors and then murdering them and THEN originally murdering the male offspring before they began trading them to Hephaestus in exchange for his weapons he built for them). Her world has been turned upside down, and she is trying to cope with this new information about her past, her identity, while saving the life of a young woman and her (unborn) child. So I would have to say the author is doing a better job with aspects of her character and "development" than I originally thought, but I still think her character is a bit rocky in this series so far. We shall see how it goes in the second Absolute volume.

Lennox was pretty cool. I enjoyed his introduction in this series. I don't know what will happen to him, but I do like him so far.

Orion was a fun entry into the story. I don't know if he sticks around (or returns) on volume 2, but I enjoyed his part in this story. Diana gets tired of his innuendos (which I must have missed) and disrespect and threatens to castrate him, which was a bit of a shock to me, but his response to the effect of "What a woman!!!!" was very reminiscent of Namor's response to Sue smacking him down and subsequent eyeroll to his "my ---, what a woman!" So her knocking him on his butt was both deserved and hilarious. Cannot lie, though - part of me hopes she gets some kind of comeuppance, on the one hand, but I don't know what kind of comeuppance can beat the shock of Hephaestus's "slaves" coming to his defense and knocking the arrogance out of her sails at that moment. That was priceless. The only thing that would have made it better would have been Batman getting both humbled and schooled like that. His friendship/relationship with Milan was interesting to follow in this story, so hopefully that remains a part of the subsequent issues of this storyline.

I did not expect Hermes to steal the baby, so that was a bit of a shock to me and well-done.

Neither did I expect Ares to save the boy and return the boy to Zola. That was cool, too, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out (especially since Ares said Diana now owes him).

Hephaestus kinda reminded me of Tony Stark in that they like to tinker with their creations and improve upon them. He was a fun character in this story; it will be interesting to see what part he plays (if any) in volume 02.

This was a relatively fast read for me. It was a lot more graphic and violent than I expected or anticipated it to be. I am not sure how I felt about it, but it was still interesting to see Diana fighting Greek gods and monsters in this compilation as opposed to "human villains" or whatever. Perhaps that is why the book is so much bloodier and violent - she is not killing humans herself but Greek deities and monsters, which makes it "okay"(?) because they are not humans. I may thumb through it again to decide if I want to keep the copy I bought, but I think I am glad that I read it at least once. I may or may not change my mind after finishing volume 02. I would probably say 2.5-2.7 stars for the artwork rounded up to 3 stars, but 3.3-3.5 stars for the twists in terms of retconning Diana's backstory - those were some solid twists. I think the graphic violence and deaths kinda took away from the story, in some respects, despite being as shocking as they were (which I am sure was the intent, but I felt it became a distraction to the story itself) - so maybe 2.3-2.5 stars for that, rounded down to 2 stars. It is frustrating - I feel like it was better, overall, than 2 stars, but am not quite sure it was good enough for 3 stars. I will be generous and give it 3 stars (for now - I reserve the right to come back and knock it down to 2 stars). In any case, I am glad I took a chance and read it at least one time (if only for the reconning of Diana's origin story if nothing else).

[Vasilis Manias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το είχα σημαδέψει καιρό στο Amazon, περίμενα σαν τρελός να πέσει η τιμή του, έκανε ΔΥΟ ΜΗΝΕΣ να έρθει, αλλά ΧΑΛΑΛΙ όλη αυτή η φασαρία! Απίστευτη παραγωγή, δεν είχα ιδέα για το μύθο της Ελληνίδας Αμαζόνας Wonder Woman, το ξεπέταξα αχόρταγα μέσα σε ένα διωαράκι και τώρα είμαι πολύ μα πολύ όμως ευχαριστημένος...

Σημείωση: 4 αστεράκια και όχι 5 όχι γιατί βρήκα κάποιο ψεγάδι, αλλά δεν ήταν και Sandman.

[Jason Holtzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was decent, but it moves very fast. I really like the art, and the story is entertaining, but I do worry this would be a little inaccessible to readers who don't know too much about Greek Mythology. This first volume was fun, but it will remain to be seen if I decide I enjoyed it enough to spring for the second volume.

[Yuiko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woah this comic is so thick man toke me over 4 hours to read this!!!! Its huge and felt uncomfortable in my hands length wise. Pretty good story i liked it and thats coming from some one that doesn't really like wonder woman.love the art style!! Check it out

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.2/10

[Joshua]

Been rereading my favorites.

The mighty Cliff Chiang.

[Zachary Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Absolute edition that I have purchased from DC as the amount of issues contained usually do not justify the hefty price for me. I now understand the love for these editions as the quality of the book is fantastic. Chiang's art is meant for an over-sized format such as this and I love the case the book comes in over the dust jacket of your standard omnibus.

I am not a purist when it comes to Origin stories with the superheroes. I like to see creators take liberties with re imagining the origin stories for new generations. The use of mythology weaved through the Wonder Woman run is great and refreshing and I can't wait for the second Absolute to come out which will finish collecting this run. One of the stand out runs of the New 52, let's hope DC releases the rest of Snyder's batman run in this absolute format as well.

[shartyrant]

To begin with I was open to the massive changes to Wonder Woman including the origin and the art was pretty cool and matched the story. However, as the story progressed I got more and more annoyed with the whole Zola character and storyline. She seemed worthless and the whole constant rescuing of the baby was getting old, predictable and repetitive. I enjoyed the Greek God mythos beings being updated, but they seemed heavily influenced by Neil Gaiman's run on Sandman and the way he interpreted the gods and goddesses as being like now so it did not read as "fresh" as most new readers would view it for me. I will admit, my daughters who loved the new Wonder Woman movie and Greg Rucka's first run on the title had no interest in this version of Wonder Woman. The Greek gods/goddess changing mythos and the way that Zola and the baby were being used in it turned them off it before it got far and felt that Wonder Woman was almost a side character in an ensemble book. In my opinion the story seemed aimed at more the vertigo crowd type readers. It does read like an elseworld story. It has some interesting moments, but I admit i was not happy with the ending and the cost of these Absolutes are more for the fanatics of the story run than someone who just wants to read it all in one sitting. I'll be selling my version since i don't see it as a re-read or a favorite though i admit the art by Chiang (not the fill in artist later) almost made me rethink this. Recommend for those who prefer Brian Azzarellos work or fans of Gaiman's take on mythology or even American Gods. Not sure if i would recommend for all Wonder Woman fans and definitely not for kids under 13 due to some of the more gruesome battle scenes with First Born later and there is definitely mature material in this storyline dealing with Zeus and his affairs among other things.