InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "fine take a nap"

bluefall (bluefall) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-04-27 13:42:00

Entry tags:

char: wonder woman/diana of themyscira, creator: bernard chang, creator: gail simone

Wondy #31
Wondy preview time at the DCU blog (and, also, here, I guess).

I would say "Wacky Alkyone's a racist!", but apparently the leader of the Bana is a white chick, so...

Anyway, interesting stuff here, starting with the fact that Ares is still kicking around. Back in war god armor, to boot, which doesn't really mean anything about the status of the Rucka revamp (even after he changed his look, he armored up for ceremony and to impress weak-minded amazons like Cassie, so him showing up in that form for Wacky Alkyone only makes sense), but it's still significant for *not* being the spacesuit the other Olympians are wearing. He doesn't seem lost or confused like the others and appears to be a third (fourth? WHAT IS UP WITH THAT EAGLE?) party in this whole mess. Which would actually make a certain amount of sense - he took over Death, so he should have been in Hades when Olympus got sacked.

Also, Tall!Diana! Watch me squee! I'm astounded by how much that was hurting my perception of Chang's artwork, because quite suddenly his Diana looks amazing to me, where she was extremely meh before. The build, the face, the expressiveness, the awesomely lush hair, all of it was apparently just waiting for those last two inches for me to notice.

And funny how much the objectifying of Tom doesn't bother me. If it were Tom saying that about Diana it would be a really skeezy line. Dogs and parrots, again. (Also, good use of him here. I can't help but contrast this hospital scene to the thing in Byrne's run with Mike Schorr at the funeral pyre - this is far more natural and right. Diana being cheered by Tom just being Tom, there and loyal and happy to see her and cute of ass, actually makes sense to me. This is the first interaction between them I've seen that doesn't feel forced.)

(Post a new comment)

	carylerg 2009-04-27 01:12 pm UTC (link)
	Is Chang our new permanent artist, or is Lopresti coming back? I hadn't heard anything (not that surprising), so I'm just wondering. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	meljeanbrook.livejournal.com 2009-04-27 01:27 pm UTC (link)
	I was wondering about the permanent artist, as well. I like both Chang and Lopresti, so I'd be happy with either, but I appreciate it muchly when the look of a run is the same from book to book. The preview looks good. Can't wait for Wednesday. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	schmevil 2009-04-27 07:53 pm UTC (link)
	I hate when the art changes mid-trade. twitch (Reply to this) (Parent)

	aaron_bourque 2009-04-27 02:15 pm UTC (link)
	Yeaaaaaaaah. Ladies kissing swords will never not be suggestive. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-04-27 02:22 pm UTC (link)
	Ares is not known for his subtlety. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	parsimonia 2009-04-27 02:22 pm UTC (link)
	re: the eagle All I can think of is: (Reply to this) (Thread)

	gargoylekitty 2009-04-27 03:59 pm UTC (link)
	I knew it reminded me of something and now I can't unsee it. :\ (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-04-27 11:23 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, I just went looking for pictures of real eagles, and they ALL have that expression! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	gargoylekitty 2009-04-27 11:44 pm UTC (link)
	(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-04-27 11:51 pm UTC (link)
	HAHAHAHAHA AWESOME! Sam the Eagle is listening to all you say, Ares! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	retro_nouveau 2009-04-27 07:20 pm UTC (link)
	Hee hee! Perfect. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	bluefall 2009-04-27 07:26 pm UTC (link)
	Heh. I knew those overlarge glaring eyes looked familiar. Mostly I'm just bothered by the color hold, though. I think it's supposed to make the bird look more metallic? But all it's achieving is "washed-out." (Likewise Diana's double-double on a later page. Do not fear the black ink, Anderson! Embrace its crisp darkness! It is your friend!) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-04-27 10:54 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, it is looking washed out. Maybe it's supposed be only partly in that dimension/reality/plane of existence. Spy for the Gods? Annnd double-double? Took me a minute of going through the pages with Wondy in them until I realized that meant the "WW". My first thought was "I didn't see her drinking coffee. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-04-28 11:45 am UTC (link)

I call it that all the time. ;_;

I've been speculating on that eagle for the whole arc now and I can't come up with anything that makes sense.

The first time we saw it was during "The Circle," when it flew overhead and warned Polly of the impending attack by the titular bodyguards. At the time, I assumed, "okay, omen of Artemis" - the eagle isn't the most prominent of her associated animals, but a deer wouldn't exactly be practical - and as Polly's midwife, Diana's indirect namesake, and one of the amazons' (and especially Diana's) chief patrons, Artemis sending an eagle to be her presence at the birth and protect the child makes a lot of sense.

That theory doesn't hold for the current arc, though. The events of "The Circle" demand that the eagle represents some benevolent patron. But Diana is pretty much *out* of those during this arc, when the eagle has been most prominent. It can't be Athena; she's dead at the moment, she didn't have the strength prior to her death, and she'd have sent an owl anyway. It can't be Kane; I'm reasonably sure they don't even have eagles in Hawaii, even if we hadn't seen the thing both before he ever knew Diana existed and after his death. It can't even be Ares, who would have still been her straightforward hateful enemy at her birth and who would have sent a vulture. Which leaves us back at Artemis again...

... but that really doesn't make sense either. Her place on Olympus, from Perez on out, has been a laid-back, basically obedient one, following the lead of the other patrons and certainly never challenging Zeus. She's been a complete non-player in the return of the gods so far - we haven't even seen her - which is just good continuity, since she disappeared during Rucka's run and Demeter took over her portfolio. Even before that, she'd have been the *weakest* of the Patrons, because unlike the others, she never reabsorbed her Roman aspect. Her suddenly turning out to be a player in this story on the level of Zeus and Ares (which something as thoroughly teased as the eagle would indicate) would seriously be almost as out of completely nowhere as Granny Goodness being behind Shamazons. (Not as stupid, mind, but nearly as out of nowhere.)

It's driving me batty. We've got Athena (loving and benevolent patron... at least by Batman standards... currently dead), Kane (kind of a hypocrite but nevertheless reliable patron, currently dead), Zeus (antagonist), and now Ares (troublemaking bastard), plus the other Olympians as a group (confused, uncertain, apparently uninvolved). And some unidentified sixth party who's apparently been looking out for Diana since her birth and has yet to make a move on this Genocide stuff apart from watching. AUGH I must have answers!

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	unknownscribler 2009-08-07 09:23 pm UTC (link)
	The missing Artemis? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	bluejaybirdie 2009-04-27 04:00 pm UTC (link)
	I read "awkward angels" as "awkward angles". Repeatedly. I just could not figure out what that was supposed to mean :D (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lieut_kettch 2009-04-27 09:30 pm UTC (link)
	"Awkward angles" is strangely fitting, seeing as Tom's hospital gown was undone. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	stratosfyr 2009-04-28 08:45 pm UTC (link)
	I read a Spider-Man comic once where someone described Peter Parker's photography as having "angels pulled out of Escher" and I swear it took me five years to figure that out. This page on Escher even calls "Angels and Devils" "Angles and Devils". It's almost up there with Rouge. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-04-27 04:05 pm UTC (link)
	According to the solicits, Lopresti was supposed to pencil it. What happened there? I was kind of digging the longer-arc with Lopresti, then shorter arc with Chang. Love them both, but it was nice to have a consistant style. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	colonel_green 2009-04-27 04:33 pm UTC (link)
	This arc is eight parts, so I'm guessing he needed to be swapped out for an issue (and he's solicited as going the first issue of the BC teamup that follows). (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	scottyquick 2009-04-27 04:56 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, I just kind of figured that they were going to do the longer-story, then 2-issue fill in by Chang, then longer-story, then 2-issue fill in by Chang thing that was going on. Consistency, people! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sailorlibra 2009-04-27 05:31 pm UTC (link)
	I heard somewhere that the original artist is in the hospital. Which gives Gail a pretty good excuse to use someone else for this. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	scottyquick 2009-04-27 05:34 pm UTC (link)
	D: NOOOOOOO, LOPRESTI! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sailorlibra 2009-04-27 08:17 pm UTC (link)
	Whoops, brain doesn't work very well. He's not in the hospital, he's out because of a family illness, apparently. You're going to have to excuse my mistake... The words in my head never seem to equal the ones on the computer screen. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-04-27 04:14 pm UTC (link)
	ALSO :D! TAMIKA! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	batcookies 2009-04-27 07:25 pm UTC (link)
	Is Tamika a reference that keeps going over my head? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	scottyquick 2009-04-27 07:33 pm UTC (link)
	Heh, she was this really cool nurse that came in WW #18. There was this hilarious scene where Diana was surrounded by speech bubbles (one that sticks out is "As a gay man I find myself missing your boots with the high heels") until Tamika came in and saved the day. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	batcookies 2009-04-27 07:54 pm UTC (link)
	I remember her, but the way people are reacting here and elsewhere has me going "is there more to this?" Guess not. ^^() (Reply to this) (Parent)

retro_nouveau
2009-04-27 07:15 pm UTC (link)

Please forgive me for repeating, but I love the cover with two large, scantily-clad, hot people in combat. ~~All we need now is a couple quarts of olive oil.~~ Looks like Diana forgot her weapon? Dropped it somewhere? But it's ok, she's closed the distance so that his spear is useless anyway. Looks a little like they're showing off their bracers for each other. "No, these are better!" XD

Yay, Alky is back from swimming with the fishes! Heh, with her scratches she looks a little like Luthor and a little like Zsasz. Next item of business now that your unholy deal is done, go spring your three sisters. C'mon, Ares, gear up Alky with some magic stuff!

All this and we still have to rip the lasso out of Genocide. Heh, Diana says she's going to kill G -- not defeat, stop, arrest, banish, englighten, yada yada -- but K-I-double-L. I'm not going to get used to a Justice Leaguer saying, "Well, I'm off to deal some death." With all these people, amazons, zombies and gods at once, I hope Diana doesn't get burned out and end up with a broken back...

And funny how much the objectifying of Tom doesn't bother me. If it were Tom saying that about Diana it would be a really skeezy line.

Agree. I think it was cool that someone else said it, and Diana was kind of "well, now that you mention it..." So we see Diana's dry humor, but also some indication that she has the same raw urges as the next amazon.

Also, good use of him here.

Yes. I liked: Here's a hug, let's go see Etta, hey, what's he doing here, why I oughta. He was kinda cool.

Same for Morrow with his tissue box, for that matter, I love villainous types that are conflicted. It would be great if redemption that sticks happened occasionally whenever Diana is around.

I can wait until Wednesday, I think, since there's no other option open to me.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-04-27 08:18 pm UTC (link)

Morrow has always been kind of bad at the Mad Scientist gig. He just lacks the commitment to evil. His colleagues have been known to comment disparagingly about it.

Though my favorite thing about Morrow being there, even beyond the tissues (admittedly incredibly awesome, particularly Diana's response), was that Tresser is all "whut no" when he sees him and Diana's like "down boy" and Tresser goes "yes'm" and closes the subject. If he keeps acting like this I might actually have to start liking him. (He still wouldn't necessarily be suited to Diana, but he would at least be someone I enjoy seeing around.)

I hope Wacky Alky doesn't get overused - new character burnout is a real problem in comics and perhaps especially in the Wondy mythos (coughDevastationcough) - but I am interested to see how she plays into this. It's very late in the storyline to be tossing yet another ball into the air, but Gail did similar in "Hypothetical Woman" and pulled it off, and Wacky Alky is fun, so I'm on board.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

retro_nouveau
2009-04-27 09:06 pm UTC (link)

I didn't pick up a "down boy" -- "yes'm" thing, I'd qualify it as a little more "trust me on this" -- "ok, good enough for me". Agreed on the effect, instant subject closure.

I'm so glad you said...

If he keeps acting like this I might actually have to start liking him. (He still wouldn't necessarily be suited to Diana, but he would at least be someone I enjoy seeing around.)

...because I don't want to admit it, same here.

It will be quite a while before I'm tired of Wacky Alky, especially because I have serious Ares fatigue to deal with. Zeus would also be getting on my nerves, except for the incredible potential he's brought by creating Achilles.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-04-27 09:47 pm UTC (link)

Well, okay, I reflexively summarize in the way most insulting to Tresser I can manage, so that's not entirely correct, but I do get a faint sense of chiding from her phrasing, or at the very least a firm "this is *my* call" - particularly the emphasis on "help" and the body language of her staying between them even once the hug is over - and his turnaround is pretty dramatically immediate in response to that (from aggressively insulting with serious RAR!angryface to "well in that case hell yes"), which is an easy, prideless ceding to authority that you just don't *see* in superhero comics. Even though it makes perfect sense - if the boy is going to claim to be an amazon, accepting Diana as his superior officer and behaving accordingly with stuff like this is part of the package - it's contrary to the fundamental "no authority but my own morals" philosophy that vigilantes are all about, so it's a pleasant shock for a vigilante to behave that way (particularly a male vigilante in respect to a female one).

Zeus would also be getting on my nerves, except for the incredible potential he's brought by creating Achilles.

Really? He was really only barely a presence in Rucka's run - more a story device, an obstacle for Athena, than an actual antagonist; was significant for his *absence* in Byrne's; was an antagonist for like, two issues of Perez; and that's just about it for his meaningful pagetime in this entire incarnation of Diana, up until now.

Ares suffers from the same ailment as Circe - being used too frequently by writers with no understanding of the character's current DC canon - so being worn out on him I sympathize with. His personality here seems quite promising, though, so Gail gets the benefit of the doubt (not that she usually doesn't anyway). Plus, I really don't like the status quo with the gods being up in the air like this (if you hadn't noticed ^^) so the more we see of all of them and therefore the closer we get to a resolution on that, the happier I am.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	retro_nouveau 2009-04-28 12:15 am UTC (link)
	Really? Yeah. Um, dickish god fatigue spillover? Heracles only had the twelve labors, Diana has had to take on Ares every time she turns around. I just vaguely remember that Zeus hasn't been a cool guy. ~~And Kane Milohai was hot while he was alive, before Zeus ripped his heart out.~~ (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-04-28 12:01 pm UTC (link)

~~Ah, now I see. It's just that you're shallow.~~ ^_^

Diana really does have dickish gods coming out her ears - hell, she's gotten shit from Apollo - twice! - but that is, after all, traditional. Still... put it in the "blame WML" column, because Ares is not supposed to be a bad guy past that very first arc. He actually helps Polly during the Challenge of the Gods thing, and he's the one who gave Diana her mission in the first place. So we really shouldn't have seen Ares as a black hat ever again. But right out of the gate he was WML's BBEG, and we've been stuck with that ever since.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

retro_nouveau
2009-04-28 01:40 pm UTC (link)

Just to be clear, I meant that another reason to be annoyed with Zeus is for ruining one hot guy so that he could make a new hot guy. Zero net gain/loss on hot guys, but Kane was a sweetie. Shouldn't Diana have some obligation to restore him? I'm not going to try to deny the shallow.

*sigh* I didn't know Apollo's been there too. Good thing Diana's fireproof, I guess. Must have been nice for Diana to have the God of War on her side while it lasted. So if it weren't for Hermes...? Please don't tell me, I don't want to know.

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	retro_nouveau 2009-04-28 12:42 am UTC (link)
	Oops, also meant to agree with your take on Tresser's reactions earlier, but talking about Ares made me see red. Sorry. It does seem like a surprise now that you put it that way. I would expect deference out of awe from most people who get a request from Diana or Clark, but is Tresser too cocky. So Tresser did ok today. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	unknownscribler 2009-04-28 10:07 am UTC (link)
	Re: icon. Shorthaired Diana is hot (Reply to this) (Parent)

	It needs to be said batcookies 2009-04-27 08:06 pm UTC (link)
	Alkyone: I keep my oath or this partnership is over!" Ares: ...You mean the oath where you go "Me and all my friends will die before an enemy hurts the queen"? That oath? Oh, don't worry, you won't break that oath. Alkyone: Yay! There's no possible way this could go wrong! Alkyone? You're a fuggin idiot. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	also, uninformed bluefall 2009-04-27 08:20 pm UTC (link)
	Considering Polly's been a beat-on hero in Man's world and also, more significantly, dead for a decent stretch, I think that sun chariot has risen and set already anyway. (Though... a decent chunk of current continuity would work much better if that were no longer true, so perhaps it isn't?) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Re: It needs to be said warpedhand 2009-04-27 08:46 pm UTC (link)
	Also the whole "So, exactly how badly is she going to fail?" "Oh she totally needs you and will fail without you. Just look at her! Moving right along..." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: It needs to be said bluefall 2009-04-28 11:47 am UTC (link)
	Well, Wacky Alkyone is clearly a fairly straightforward person, even before you factor in that she's not the sharpest spear on the rack. Sneaky word games are going to be a little beyond her, poor crazy dear. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	janegray 2009-04-28 08:23 am UTC (link)
	Good to see Alkyone is back. Imo, she is definitely a very interesting character. Not necessarily likeable, but interesting. And I still hope Diana rips Zeus' heart out and uses it to bring Kane back. (Reply to this)