And the heavens will tremble.
The new king of Olympus, Apollo, captured his brother The First Born whom had just suffered a humbling defeat to Wonder Woman. Soon Apollo learns of a coming war and this leads him to gather the other gods in his family and welcomes Wonder Woman into the ranks as the new God of War. In the mean time, one of their members is very unhappy with Wonder Woman's recent decision and plots revenge against her. -summary
Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman run had been pretty shaky across its first three volumes to me, and I think it was on Volume 4: War, when Azzie finally found his footing as he brought the previous story arc involving Zeus' newest child to a close. The previous volume was good, really good, and the greatness definitely carried over into this story arc dealing with the aftermath of the last event, as it plunges full throttle into a new storyline that feels so promising. I want to give this new story arc a read so bad that I'm thisclose to following this series by the issue again. Wonder Woman Vol. 5: Flesh contains issues 24-29 and #23.2: First Born.
Azzie introduces a very complex plot as he juggles several sub plots that all lead to a confrontation fated to take place on Mount Olympus, where Apollo's holding the First Born prisoner and torturing him in some of the most twisted ways. Meanwhile, his sister Cassandra is searching for him frantically, and she's using whatever dirty tricks necessary to get what she wants. In addition, Wonder Woman and crew begin searching for one of their family members whom were kidnapped. I seriously expected some type of a cool down moment after the previous event which was rather long, but Azzarello comes out with guns blazing as he begins to craft what seems to be his most ambitious work in some time.
While the story does pretty well in suspense regarding its multiple plots and continued character development for already established characters such as Hera, whom has suddenly become a very likeable character as she now deals with her mortality. Along with Strife showing a different side to her personality as well, when all she came off as was a sexy little she-devil. It's the backstory concerning the First Born that really steals the show. If it wasn't due to him being such a ruthless monster one could actually feel sorry for him. Azzarello dabbles heavily into Greek mythology as well as combining it with horror elements, to develop and explain the First Born's tragic upbringing and sinister personality. He even uses this to delve into the arrogance of Zeus whom comes off looking like a monster as well.
Although his upbringing feels too cliché, Azzarello makes up for this and many other things with quality, detailed writing using various themes and subtle character development. It's very possible some people will only see The First Born battle against a dragon and other species but others will see something more, due to the dialog adding a great deal of depth to these segments, as it even tosses out their bestiality that occurred solely through anger. The writing is a lot stronger than some people would have you believe, even going so far to touch on forgiveness amongst family members no matter how bad they may have wronged you.
This chapter is nowhere near as action packed as the previous volume, however there is something here to arouse interest. Many of the battles exist mainly to move the plot and not really resolve anything. If they do accomplish something then they establish the First Born as a serious threat which is really cool. Wonder Woman doesn't only get a character with a lot of depth, but also a total bad dude whom is capable of killing a god with brute strength alone.
Goran Sudzuka's art may be slightly better than the issues Cliff Chiang draws but the punch is about the same. The panels provide a scene by scene feel and are easy enough to follow. I'm definitely guilty of taking Chiang's artwork lightly and I will admit that I'm still not a fan of his, but his and Sudzuka's work complements the flow of Azzarello's narrative perfectly which makes the story so easy to coast through. Matthew Wilson's sharp coloring brings everything into focus, and the night time segments are every bit as pretty as day time. I especially loved the hellish backgrounds and scenery that took place during the First Born's flashback. On top of this, at least one of the battles felt very intense, and it left me wanting a little bit more.
Despite ending on a cliffhanger and developing newer story elements that were introduced in the last minute, as well as not being too heavy on action. This is a very solid volume that keeps Wonder Woman moving in a positive direction. This is the best I seen the artwork complement the narrative at this point. Now as for new readers, this volume wouldn't be that bad of a starting point because there are traces of a fresh beginning; still, I highly advise to track down the first 4 volumes to get the full benefit of this title. In any case, I'm looking forward to the next volume.
Pros: Strong cohesion between narrative and artwork
Cons: Not very action packed and may be too dialog heavy for some