Wonder Woman, Vol. 02: Guts (edition 2013)

Easy and appropriate read for teens, and another stellar addition to the New 52. ( )

Wonder Woman and Hermes travel to the underworld to rescue Zola, the young woman who is carrying the child of Zeus. Once in hell, Wonder Woman finds herself the bride of Hades. Then, the fighting takes them to Mount Olympus where Apollo and Artemis are determined to take the throne of the absent Zeus.

Once again, I find Cliff Chiang's art fantastic and distinctive. The designs of the gods are unique and interesting. The scenes in Hades are imaginative and exciting. Unfortunately, we still don't get to see a lot of Diana/Wonder Woman's character. There was one line she spoke, in Hades, where I thought "oh yes, this is my Wonder Woman!" but it seemed almost out-of-character for what little we've seen of this new Diana. I think the problem is we don't get to see her thoughts, and she doesn't even get much dialogue, so it's hard to get a handle on her new personality.

My biggest complaint with this new reboot version of Wonder Woman is the treatment of the Amazons. Instead of being a beautiful utopia with lessons of peace and love to give the world, this "Paradise" is full of murderers who periodically attack ships, seduce and murder all of the men on board, and then give their male babies up into slavery. Gone are the immortal, wise and peaceful Amazons of all previous WW incarnations.

I don't hate this arc, but in terms of story and character, it doesn't hold a candle to George Perez's or Greg Rucka's work. ( )