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A review by ladydewinter
Wonder Woman: Rise of the Olympian by Gail Simone
3.0
Hm. I think I liked this one a lot better the first time I read it. The second time, I had quite a few problems, so now it's three instead of four stars.
What I do like about this collection is the introduction of the Olympian. Zeus, deciding that his Amazons have done enough and deserve rest and peace and quiet, grants them mortality and creates Achilles to lead a bunch of men to do what Wonder Woman and the Amazons could never do - finally end all war. I love Achilles, and it was great to see that much of what's to come is already alluded to here.
I did not like Genocide. The fact that her creation was Ares' idea and is tied in with the leader of the Circle is a little more interesting than "just" being the product of yet another villainous society, but at the end of the day Genocide still felt like another of those "unbeatable" and even more terrible foes that so often crop up in comics. And I had some trouble taking Diana's conflict seriously considering what the choices were: kill Genocide or allow her to kill gazillions of people and the people she loves.
That "conflict" - the one that started with Diana's "murder" of Maxwell Lord (I think calling it murder is wrong - yes, she killed him, but she. had. no. choice.) is one I have a bit of a problem with anyway. I can appreciate the way Gail Simone puts it here - it's not the killing that's the problem, but the reasons (revenge would be bad as a motive, for example), but overall the problem is that Diana is a warrior. And warriors do, occasionally, kill people in battle. And to turn that into this huge dilemma is something I don't like, especially the way it's done (just remembering the way Clark and Bruce treated her after killing Max makes my blood boil). It's not an uninteresting conflict, but it's poorly handled, in my opinion.
Anyway, this isn't my favorite of Gail Simone's Wonder Woman books, but despite my niggles and problems, it's solidly written and the art is pretty.
What I do like about this collection is the introduction of the Olympian. Zeus, deciding that his Amazons have done enough and deserve rest and peace and quiet, grants them mortality and creates Achilles to lead a bunch of men to do what Wonder Woman and the Amazons could never do - finally end all war. I love Achilles, and it was great to see that much of what's to come is already alluded to here.
I did not like Genocide. The fact that her creation was Ares' idea and is tied in with the leader of the Circle is a little more interesting than "just" being the product of yet another villainous society, but at the end of the day Genocide still felt like another of those "unbeatable" and even more terrible foes that so often crop up in comics. And I had some trouble taking Diana's conflict seriously considering what the choices were: kill Genocide or allow her to kill gazillions of people and the people she loves.
That "conflict" - the one that started with Diana's "murder" of Maxwell Lord (I think calling it murder is wrong - yes, she killed him, but she. had. no. choice.) is one I have a bit of a problem with anyway. I can appreciate the way Gail Simone puts it here - it's not the killing that's the problem, but the reasons (revenge would be bad as a motive, for example), but overall the problem is that Diana is a warrior. And warriors do, occasionally, kill people in battle. And to turn that into this huge dilemma is something I don't like, especially the way it's done (just remembering the way Clark and Bruce treated her after killing Max makes my blood boil). It's not an uninteresting conflict, but it's poorly handled, in my opinion.
Anyway, this isn't my favorite of Gail Simone's Wonder Woman books, but despite my niggles and problems, it's solidly written and the art is pretty.