Review: Hmmmmm.......... I'm not sure where to start here... Okay, here goes. There were 5 stories told in this comic by 5 different writers. To be perfectly honest, the first 4 stories didn't really matter, because they were all from the past. It's the final story by new series writer J. Michael Straczynski that needs to be spoken about. Basically Straczynski has decided that Wonder Woman as she was sucks and that WW needed a HUGE revamp. And that's exactly what he did. Forget everything you knew about Wonder Woman, because apparently it never happened... Somehow the past 20 years have been altered and Themyscira has destroyed long ago and WW's mother was killed off. WW was smuggled from the island as an infant and has lived in the world of man ever since. The bottom line is that WW wants to find out who destroyed Themyscira and why.
What I Thought: This was HORRIBLE!!! What the hell happened here?! The first four stories were all pretty flawed, but I wasn't expecting much anyway. I mean let's face it, this was an anniversary comic, so I expected lots of filler. But the fifth story... That was a travesty. What I don't understand, and probably never will understand, is why a writer would take on a character if said writer hates that particular character... I mean, if Straczynski didn't want to write Wonder Woman, then why not let him do an Elseworlds WW story, or better yet, how about an All-Star Wonder Woman comic? That way he could take the character in whatever direction he wanted. I mean really, would you take Superman and suddenly say that he's actually not from Krypton, but that got his powers after being bitten by a radioactive orangutan? No, of course not! That's how I feel about what I read here. There was absolutely NO reason to tear up the past 60(? 70?)years of Wonder Woman because some writer felt that was the way to go... One last thing before I hop off the soapbox. If Straczynski thinks this version of WW is going to last then he's either delusional or flat out insane. Once he leaves this series(if not before)I'm sure WW's origin will be right back where it was before this, and we'll all look back at the Straczynski years the same way we look back at WW's costume back in the 90's, with a collective, “What the hell were they thinking?!?”.
Score: 2 out of 10. I was tempted to just give this comic a 0, but some of the artwork was amazing, so that 2 is for the artwork and nothing else.
The only good thing about this comic? The artwork.
I agree with EVERYTHING. I'm not an avid Wondy fan but annoyed me. So much doesn't make sense. So is she in the trinity still? Was Max Lord never killed? Shouldn't he run the world then? I don't see what the point of any of this proved, especially when one issue in I already love JMS on Superman so why completely re-route Wonder Woman?! And yeah, the art work is phenomenal!
ReplyDeleteGreat points mi amigo. You stated the Max Lord thing is SO perfectly too. So if history was altered, or some such nonsense, does that mean everything WW did never happened? Was she even a member of the JSA? Was that someone else? What about Donna? Her history is so entwined with WW, what does that mean for her? Does she not exist at all? I don't get it... BUT, I will say that I am a fan of the new costume. I never really understood why you'd want to fight crime in a swimsuit...
ReplyDeleteIt's probably like when they dissolved the Spider-Marriage (another JMS related story!), and they'll somehow "retro-fit" history as needed.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the issue, but I heard they leave the door open for the story to be undone as well, is that true?
Yeah, in the back of the comic JMS gives an interview(I think it was him anyway)where he says something along the lines that the timestream is messed up and that WW will be working to fix it. Or something like that. I read this comic a few days ago and I can't say with certainty what I read... Regardless of what happens, I can't say this first glimpse into the JMS era of WW was very pleasing...
ReplyDeleteExactly, that's what I hated because it causes so much confusion with Donna, Max Lord, the JLA and everything. I saw a solicit for some comic that was coming out in a few months and it had the JLA and WW but she was in her new costume. So now I'm even MORE confused.
ReplyDeleteLMAO....X I think this may be the FIRST time you've hurt my feelings when it comes to a WW review. Lol. I-I don't know what to say. Lol. And I don't know why my feelings are hurt....a little. lmao.
ReplyDeleteI kind of liked the new WW story line...lol...man...you've left me speechless! All of you! Yeah You JT, Kello!
Lmao. Jk...But I am speechless.
Wonder Woman's origin has been screwed around with a good deal in the past, but never like this. It sounds absolutely ridiculous. In fact, the new origin sounds like kind of a rip-off of Superman's origin!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with it in principle quite so much as I have a problem with it taking a giant, steaming dump on a whole lot of great Wonder Woman stories. And more than that, it retcons a bunch of non-Wonder Woman stories out of existence too. Just ridiculous.
Wow, really Falisha?!? I'm legitimately surprised! I figured you, being a big fan of WW would be as angry as I was over the new direction! It bugs me because it just went and erased EVERYTHING that has come before! All of Gail's work, Allan's work, Jodi's work, it's all been erased! All gone! All the time I spent reading WW comics these past three years or so have all been for naught, because it all never happened! Gah, the whole thing just leaves me exasperated!
ReplyDeleteThat's the EXACT same thing I said X. All the stuff Gail did, all the past WW stories are just worthless, it's like, "Hey wanna go read Amazon's attack?" "Why, it never happened!" Lol
ReplyDeleteHA, exactly JT, exactly!
ReplyDeleteYou know X, at first I was like aw wth? But I don't know, I guess I'm just open to new things.
ReplyDeleteYeah everything is not irrelevant but I don't know...We'll see how this goes. Hell, I think more people are upset bout her new costume over anything. lol. at least that what the big whoop was about on message boards. lol.
Maybe it'll all go back to the norm once they see it sucks lol.
And JT, why it gotta be Amazons attack?! huh?! Naah jk. I don't care. I can re read all the issues I have if I want to remember the past. Lol.
Good points Falisha. It's the continuity nut in me that hates when a comic company radically changes a character. It's like, I KNOW WW's story, why change it now?! But I'll still give it a shot, keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.
ReplyDeleteI really didn't mind the costume change. The old costume was classic, but it never really seemed that practical to me. Who wears a bathing suit into battle? :P
The old costume was pretty silly really, but the new one is a little bit too 90s. At least it has dignity.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the change in her past, but I don't read WW anyway, and it'll all be back to the status quo next year anyway...
Yeah, that seems to be the consensus with this whole changed past deal... Give it a year, 18 months tops, and it'll all be put back to normal. There's really no doubt in my mind there.
ReplyDeleteI can see how you would like be upset, you've been reading comics for some time now. And me being new to it, I'm just reading and taking in everything I can. Lol.
ReplyDeleteAnd I always wondered why she wore the american style swim suit as you call it anyways lol.