Wonder Woman Reviews: Historia: The Amazons #3
By Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer), Nicola Scott (artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer), Annette Kwok (colorist).
---
Incredible.
It's very fitting this book had a tribute to the tragically late-George Perez in the previous issue because now having read the concluding part of this story, it's the same kind of mythic reinterpretation of Wonder Woman's world that Perez's 80s reboot of the character was. Something DC often tries to poorly with the character, or when they don't just shoe-horn the character back into bog-standard superhero tropes.
While this isn't really a story about Wonder Woman herself, DeConnick definitely joins the great tier of Wonder Woman creators for a variety of reasons but probably first and foremost being her depiction of Hippolyta here.
As I've said in previous reviews, Hippolyta isn't a character many writers try to go deep on outside of a select few (Perez, Jimenez, Simone to name some), and even then it's rarer to see a story about her that isn't ultimately about her relationship with Diana. But other than she's almost always just "Wonder Woman's Mom" and the imposing Queen of the Amazons.
So while this story has retreaded some similar ground before, it's quite refreshing to have a story where Hippolyta is largely the central focus and allowed to stand as a character on her own. And that includes having her questionable decisions that we and in-universe characters are given reasons to doubt, as we see at the end of book. And unlike previous times this has been done, it comes off as a questionable decision that character actually would make and not just character assassination like making her bang Zeus.
Another bit of praise DeConnick deserves praise in this series for is her handling the pantheon. Unlike previous depictions of them in DC's comics, these depictions of the pantheon don't sway to hard in the direction of HBO/CW rejects or the more traditional togas and robes speaking in faux-Shakespeare. They actually look and speak as if the way you'd assume deities would but have some bits of dialogue here and there that don't make them to stuffy to a modern reader.
The scene between Ares and Hera would probably be my favorite "Olympus scene" in the issue. Shows a side of the two (one of which is traditionally the Big Bad of Wonder Woman media) that we don't often see in modern depictions of the Greek pantheon. Though any scene with Artemis is also pretty great.
Much like Jimenez, Scott was a fan favorite Wonder Woman artist for many prior to this book so I was interested when I saw her name attached to this book how this stuff would compare to her prior work on the character in Rucka's run. And unsurprisingly, this was as much of a level up for her as it was for Jimenez when he did the first issue. A certain scene with Heracles was masterfully well done and it'd like be my favorite scene in the book for both her and DeConnick if it wasn't for the ending.
After 10 years, Wonder Woman's true origin finally gets the lovingly rendered modern depiction it deserves. I know this isn't the first instance DC's done the clay origin since making Diana another offspring of Zeus but it's always to nice to not only see it get used but also treated with the respect it deserves in such a high profile project. Especially as DC otherwise blows on with the Daddy Zeus origin. This is just one page but the whole sequence probably surpasses George Perez's depiction of the event back in Gods and Mortals.
I've become fairly uninterested in the direction of DC's comics as of late, especially with the direction of Wonder Woman given what they've already announced. So this makes appreciate this book all the more as just great standalone WW-verse story without being shackled to the rest of the DC Universe. I can only hope the series has done well enough so far to greenlight the sequels.
do yourself a favor and pick up the DC Comics book "Historia". I can't really describe how much this work succeeds in form and function as a moving graphic narrative.
Pick up from your Local Comic Shop, but also available soon at Amazon
one of my absolute favorite things from wonder woman historia is how they waste no time on heracles. No romance, no betrayal, the amazons kill him as soon as he shows up, then send him back to zeus in pieces
Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons #3
finally read through Wonder Woman: Historia Book Two today now that Book Three is out and HELLO??? Gene Ha, can I talk to you about your absolutely insane Golden Ratio Hera spreads???
Wonder Woman Historia The Amazons #3 Review
Wonder Woman Historia The Amazons #3 Review
Wonder Woman Historia The Amazons #3 Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick Art by Nicola Scott Colors by Annette Kwok Letters by Clayton Cowles The Rundown: The Amazon’s freedom will lead to war and a sacrifice that changes their fate. The tribe of Amazons is getting bigger and Demeter pays a visit to Hera to tell her of the danger the Amazons face from Zeus. As the tribe gathers food and prepares…
finally read through Wonder Woman: Historia Book Two today now that Book Three is out and HELLO??? Gene Ha, can I talk to you about your absolutely insane Golden Ratio Hera spreads???
When September Ends - Tallulah Louise on drums, Taba on backup vocals.
#Repost @philjimeneznyc
・・・
Designing #armor for #Io. Shared this on Twitter; wanted to show the numerous designs I’ve been playing with and tweaking, trying to find the “right” one — to honor these amazing characters best 8 can. Inspired by real armor, fantasy armor, the Amazon armor from the Wonder Woman films, fashion, and more. Some permutations are just variations on a theme, with small adjustments here and there, others are bigger changes/alterations; all are attempts to use costume to help articulate character (which I love). Enjoy! #Historia #Amazons #goddesses #queens #GN procreateapp #digitalinks @dccomics @kellysued
Source: instagram.com
ok so Wonder Woman Historia is about to be legitimately insane