Comic Info
Comic Name: Wonder Woman (Volume 4)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Cliff Chiang
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2012
Wonder Woman (4) #10
Reprints Wonder Woman (4) #7-12 (May 2012-October 2012). Wonder Woman is willing to go to Hell to save Zola, but a trip to the Underworld could mean a more permanent vacation for Diana. If Hades has his way, Diana will be his bride and Wonder Woman will live in the Underworld forever. Even if Wonder Woman can escape with Zola, Hera has plans for Wonder Woman and the child that could bring about the fall of Olympus.
Written by Brian Azzarello, Wonder Woman Volume 2: Guts is part of the New 52 relaunch of the DC Universe. Following Wonder Woman Volume 1: Blood, the series is illustrated by Cliff Chiang. The issues were also collected in Absolute Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang.
I am not a fan of Brian Azzarello. I felt 100 Bullets was plotted decently, but I felt as a writer of dialogue, he was bad with ’70s exploitation film conversations (that wasn’t reflective or clever)…it was like he watched one to many Quentin Tarantino films and decided to try it himself. With that in mind, I wasn’t that excited about Azzarello’s Wonder Woman when it was announced in the New 52. It turns out that I was pleasantly surprised by it.
Wonder Woman (4) #12
The story is gritty and simplistic. The story is basically split into two parts in Wonder Woman 2: Guts. The first part involves Wonder Woman’s trip to free Zola from Hades and the second part is Wonder Woman vs. Apollo and Artemis. It is fun and fast and a quick read. I do kind of wish that they had done more to resolve the baby storyline at the end of the twelfth issue instead of dragging it out again (kind of a Twin Peaks mistake).
Wonder Woman is also aided by great art. I love Cliff Chiang’s designs for the characters, and the whole comic definitely has a style. If feels much more like an independent or Vertigo comic than many of the other New 52 titles which take a more traditional approach.
Wonder Woman 2: Guts is an interesting title that in general almost feels like an Elseworlds title. This is bad in that the point of the New 52 was a more integrated world, but it is good in that it is solid storytelling and you don’t really need to be up on the New 52 to know what is going on. The very ending of the story hints at a change in the return of a character, but it will remain to be seen how it affects the Wonder Woman title. Wonder Woman 2: Guts was followed by Wonder Woman 3: Iron.
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