I know it’s blasphemous, as a comic book nerd, to ever admit that you like a character’s costume redesign. But I wholeheartedly endorse Wonder Woman’s new look in Odyssey. Gone are the unflattering, high-waisted hot pants, the heeled boots, that super-in-your-face-patriotism that makes you think she just might fart out eagles. (Which I never really understood… She’s an Amazon. So, if we have to put a nationality to her, wouldn’t it be Greek? I don’t know. I probably just caused at least two people to suffer rage strokes before they could get to the comment section to tell me how WRONG I am because I don’t know all my WW lore.)
This is not the New 52 Wonder Woman, though. So it doesn’t matter if I like it or not, it’s already null and void. But still, she’s got her little tactical jacket, in case it gets cold. She has practical pants and flats. I just love it.
Odyssey is a quasi-origins story. Judging by some flashbacks/dreams Diana has in the first volume, this is probably going to be a parallel universe. In this universe, the Amazons’ island was attacked when Diana was young. Her mother died trying to defeat the invaders. Toddler Diana and a few Amazons manage to make it to our world and go into hiding. Diana is now coming into her own; she’s got fancy powers (including flying), a cool little outfit (I don’t think I’ve mentioned that yet) and someone wants her dead, which is so much more than I had going for me when I was 24.
Now, some have complained that this Diana is not good, not “heroic” enough. Because Diana only gets to be the stuffy moral compass in the normal DC-verse, I guess. In one scene in Odyssey, Diana is trying to pawn an Amazon artifact and when the gold buyer won’t give her enough for it, she goes into aggressive negotiations, smashing his cash register, breaking the baseball bat he pulls on her. For some people, this is prime pearl clutching territory. Diana would never! Heroes would never! To which I say, have you read Batman and Robin under Frank Miller’s run? He was the goddamn Batman and it was a disappointing day if only twenty police officers died as collateral damage during some bat-antics. Now that was some un-heroic hero shit.
My major quibble is the over-reliance of certain poses in several frames. Facing head on, Wonder Woman’s left leg bent to indicate running, boobs leading the charge, some slightly off facial features. I quit counting after about the tenth panel. It gets repetitive and slightly boring. And in comic books, where each panel counts, it’s kind of lazy story telling too.
You are on fire. I’m really enjoying your reviews. I agree that the hot pants and eagle cleavage were silly.
*preens*
“Have you read Batman and Robin under Frank Miller’s run?”
I have not. I started to but the second Batman slapped Robin I said, “Nope. Fuck you, Frank Miller, I’m out.” It probably didn’t help that I’d just finished The Dark Knight Returns, which I really, really hated.
But I also have no problems with different interpretations of characters OR costume changes, so can my opinion really be trusted?
I finished the first volume because I’m a masochist. It was horrific and unpleasant. The one and only high point is when they cornered Green Lantern in a room completely painted yellow and offered him lemonade. That’s a dick move I can get behind. Slapping children and killing police officers (really, Batman killing ANYONE is character assassination) is not.
Was this the outfit they used for the tv show that didn’t get past a pilot? I like it, seems a lot more conducive to kicking ass.
Have you read Gail Simone’s run on Wonder Woman? (starting with “The Circle”). It is my gold standard for WW, so I was just curious as to how this one compares.