Wonder Woman vol. 5: Flesh
Brian Azzarello has taken Wonder Woman on a unique journey over the course of his tenure as the writer of her ongoing series. Eschewing nearly all connections to the DC Universe at large, he’s embraced the character’s mythological side and given us a modern tale of the wrath and pettiness of the Greek gods pitted against a character who embraces neither of these things. It has made for a lot of good drama over the course of the writer’s run, with things taking an interesting turn after Wonder Woman assumed the mantle of the God of War in the previous volume. Those of you expecting to see how the title character reacts to her new position may be surprised at how conventional her arc turns out to be here even as things are effectively moved into place for the finale of Azzarello’s run.
Wonder Woman became the God of War when she killed the previous one to stop the rampage of the First Born, Zeus’ original child who was struck from history for his crimes. Thing is, she has no intention of taking his seat on Olympus. That’s something she makes abundantly clear to Apollo, the current king of the gods, when they meet early on in the volume. While the Sun God’s oracles have told him that a war is looming, he feels that it will never arrive without a god to manage it. In the meantime, Apollo work on getting the First Born to submit to his rule. Though the First Born may be in chains at the moment, his followers are not. Their leader Cassandra is making her plans to secure a base of power that will lead her into direct conflict with Wonder Woman.
Given that the character has never been about senseless violence or causing destruction on a massive scale, it’s not surprising that Wonder Woman turns her back on her duties as the God of War. After all, she was the embodiment of love as an honorary Violet Lantern during “Blackest Night.” It’s also not hard to see this as being another in a long line of big twists in comics that didn’t result in anything really changing in their aftermath. Frankly, I would’ve liked to have seen Wonder Woman stepping up to put her own twist on the nature of war. Maybe she finds a way to make the act transformative, something that leaves both sides with a greater understanding of each other and a need to never fight again.
That’s not what we get here as Azzarello has his protagonist follow the time-honored tradition of rejecting their role in things until circumstances dictate that they finally accept their position. For what it’s worth, I couldn’t actually see the writer arranging the pieces of his narrative to get the title character into that position until the very end. When he does, however, I’ll admit that it’s actually pretty satisfying to see. Not only does it culminate with Hera’s growth as a mortal over the past few volumes, but it’s also to oppose the growing power of the First Born as well. So yes, the arc Wonder Woman’s character takes in this volume is very familiar. It’s also handled by someone who knows the formula well and what to invest in it in order to make it work.
A large reason the formula works here is down to the work Azzarello puts into developing the First Born as a worthy antagonist for Wonder Woman. Introduced back in vol. 3 as the original Son of Zeus, he gets a fully fleshed-out origin here that includes all of the hallmarks of Greek myth. Namely: Prophecy, Zeus being a dick, Hera being angry at him, kids being left to die but rescued by unlikely sources, and a whole lot of death. It’s the story of someone who was born to godhood and whose hate consumed him to the point where he used his gifts to wage war on life itself. The First Born’s acts are suitably mythic in scope, as is the Gods’ response when they finally take notice of him. Reading his origin, it’s easy to see how Apollo’s efforts to get the First Born to submit read more easily as “digging his own grave.” Even when confronted with the enormous power of the Sun God, the First Born manages to not only survive but thrive in the end. This makes him into a worthy antagonist and villain, but not one who is completely without sympathy due to the absence of any kindness or love in his life. That being said, I think I have a pretty good idea how Wonder Woman will be taking him down in the end.
Though Wonder Woman and the First Born are the characters around which the plot revolves in this volume, there’s still plenty of room given over to the colorful supporting cast that has been developed over the course of this series. To uneven results, it must be said. The good parts can be found with Hera, as she comes to terms with her mortal-ness and even manages to engender some sympathy with her ongoing struggle. Strife is entertaining as always in her cattiness and Hermes even manages a kind of redemption as he joins up with Wonder Woman again to fight the good fight. Apollo also makes for an engagingly smug presence as he comes off as someone who acts like he’s holding all the cards, until he finds out that he doesn’t.
On the other hand, Orion has generally come off as a one-dimensional brute since his introduction in this series. I originally thought that the integration of the New Gods into this title would make for an interesting clash with these old gods, but Azzarello has made it clear that’s not a plot thread he has any interest in developing. Then you’ve got Zola, tricked into thinking she’s a burden to Wonder Woman and her companions, who decides to go off on her own even though there are Gods after her and she’s just a mortal. As for Cassandra, she’s just there to be a figurehead for the First Born’s power base, and the most entertaining thing involving her was seeing the character get told off by her boss near the end of the volume.
The art in this volume is credited to three people: Regular artist Cliff Chiang, Goran Sudzuka, and ACO. To the credit of all three, there’s some impressive stylistic consistency present in this volume. It’s as if Sudzuka and ACO took Chiang’s style to heart and did their best to make it as hard as possible to tell that there were other artists working on this volume. This is an approach that we don’t often see in most superhero comics, but I like seeing it here. Chiang established a look for this title that was effortlessly stylish and easy to follow, and Sudzuka and ACO maintain that standard quite well here.
Though the buildup is satisfying, I wouldn’t say that the momentum for this series has reached critical mass even though Wonder Woman has her army with which to wage war at the end of the volume. There’s also the fact that I have a pretty good idea about how things are going to play out in the final act, and any surprises it has will depend on to what extent my expectations are upended. Even so, this volume of “Wonder Woman” is still another satisfying one in the Azzarello, Chiang, and co. run. If the finale is as good as what we got here, then I think the run’s status as one of the best involving the character is assured.