Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Wonder Woman 7, originally released March 21st, 2012.

Shelby: The Greek gods were the comic book superheroes of the ancient world. They are depicted in prose and art. Their stories were used to teach lessons and explain the world, and were filled with action, drama, and intrigue. They have convoluted origin stories and multiple lines of continuity. Is it really any wonder Brian Azzarello has tapped into this rich vein of golden characters to tell Wonder Woman’s latest adventure?

Issue 7 opens up with a guy outside a club, complaining about an obsessed lover to another man who not interested in hearing it, and demonstrates that disinterest by pulling a fancy golden gun. Turns out, this cute little hipster with his deep v-neck tee and skinny jeans is none other than Eros, otherwise known as Cupid the god of love! Wonder Woman, Hermes, and Lennox meet up with Eros and ask him for a favor. You see, they need to talk to Hephaestus the Smith, whom I believe is Eros’ father, about some weapons to fight Hades and rescue Zola. After some pretty civilized chatter, the Smith (which I will refer to him as, because it is much easier to spell) decides to help them, and Hades sends a huge mole alligator creature (molegator) made of lava into the forge. Wonder Woman defeats it with some quick thinking, but not before two forge workers are killed. Even though they look a little like steampunk windups, the other workers are men, specifically the discarded sons of the Amazons. Apparently, the Smith has been trading boys for weapons with the Amazons for years. That news doesn’t sit well with Diana, and she storms out in a huff. That night, she and Lennox team up to free her enslaved Amazon brothers, only to discover that they would have been killed without the Smith; they all look to him like a father. Wonder Woman is pretty embarrassed, but the Smith just tells her to rest up for the fight in Hell. Because one would want to be well rested for that sort of thing.

I like this issue. Not a ton of action, but I’m ok with that; we need some time to set up the rescue mission, and I am a SUCKER for meeting more members of the pantheon. I am once again super impressed with Cliff Chiang’s character design on these new gods. It’s fresh and relate-able, while staying true to to these characters’ origins. First off, there’s Eros: I wasn’t kidding when I called him a cute little hipster.

I totally dig this look, and not just because I find it kind of dreamy. Eros is the male embodiment of love and desire, why shouldn’t he look like a perfect example of what is currently deemed “hip and attractive” for a young guy about town? The Smith is definitely on the other side of the attractive spectrum; he’s squat, crippled, ugly, and apparently partially composed of lava.

Not only has Chiang done a great job with the look of the gods, Azzarello has given them fantastic voices. The Smith, for example, has got something we haven’t seen in any of the gods yet: common sense. He is level-headed and wise. It’s a refreshing change, the rest of the gods are kind of bitchy. Eros seems like a snarky smartass, making booty jokes during his father’s story about the Amazon men, but it suits his character. And how about that story? I don’t know enough about the mythology of the Amazons to know how “accurate” it is, but it’s a solid explanation for what happened to the male children of the Amazons. Plus, it nicely solidifies the Smith as the most reasonable god in the pantheon so far.

All in all, this was a nice issue. A little light on the action, but more than enough character development from Chiang and Azzarello to make up for it.

Man, I LOVE having gods in my comics.

Drew: I really dug the episodic nature of this issue. Not much happens in terms of larger plot, but instead we get a fun little story about the sons of the Amazons. The ending is a little pat, and is only made possible by Diana’s strange leaping to conclusions and stomping off in a huff. (Pfft. Wonder Women, amirite?) Whatever failings the conclusion may have, I appreciate that it’s so self-contained, and the quality of the story of the sons of the Amazons is compelling and well-told enough to forgive a few missteps.

That story takes the form of a very brief flashback, but is depicted creatively and efficiently such that the art would effectively tell the story without any of the narration. Chiang uses heavier lines to depict the flashback, an effect that is enhanced by Matthew Wilson’s more muted color palate for that sequence. There are a lot of great details that really sell the story, but my favorite has to be that one of the Amazons is wearing the captain’s hat during the orgy scene. That’s right: orgy scene.

Outside of that flashback and Diana’s reaction to it, we don’t get much in the way of plot — we knew that Diana would be coming for Zola, and we could have guessed that Hades wasn’t going to be happy about it. The molegator is kind of neat, as are the robo-deep-sea-diver suits the male Amazons (Omazons?) wear, but it doesn’t tell us a whole lot. Actually the detail that got me most excited in this issue was the reference to Eros’s mother, Aphrodite, who Diana refers to as “perfect.” The mere suggestion of meeting more gods gets me pumped (even though there’s no reason to suspect that Aphrodite is going to be showing up any time soon).

Otherwise, there’s not a ton to talk about this issue. Diana’s attempt to save her brothers was over before it started, and was completely unfounded, anyway, so it’s hard to get too invested in it. It’s nice that Hephaestus is so forgiving and generous, especially after Eros and Hermes made such a big stink about how unkindly he takes to guests. This makes it seem like his actions fit whatever is most convenient to the story, including not being entirely upfront about how much the Omazons love him. Still, for a guy who did nothing wrong and doesn’t like guests in the first place, he sure takes being tied up and thrown through his own wall pretty well.

Can we talk for a minute about Wonder Woman’s costume? I get that she comes from a warrior society, so she might be comfortable wearing armor all the time (though we have seen her out of that costume when she wants to blend in), but why-oh-why is she wearing heels? That just seems impractical. Also, she’s like six feet tall, why would she wear heels in the first place? This is up there with Superman’s pointy sleeves as far as impractical costume design goes. Also, why is the group suddenly no longer interested in blending in? They conveniently don’t run into a single soul, even though they’re walking around the streets of Firenze in broad daylight, but weren’t they worried somebody might see Hermes bird feet and freak out, or at least ask some questions when they saw Diana in her American Gladiators uniform? For a group with a plan, they sure aren’t thinking ahead.

Sorry, back to the actual issue. It was fun, but not really as smart as I’ve come to expect from Azzarello. It’s a fine break from the action, but it’s tough to have the carrot of Diana visiting Hades hanging over our heads and not make this story feel like small potatoes. That said, these potatoes are better than a lot of what’s out there, so I’ll take what I can get. It’s not the standard I like holding Wonder Woman to, but I can understand that that’s a hard standard to maintain. Still, how awesome is next month going to be?

For a complete list of what we’re reading, head on over to our Pull List page.  Whenever possible, buy your comics from your local mom and pop comic bookstore.  If you want to rock digital copies, head on over to DC’s website and download issues there.  There’s no need to pirate, right?