Maybe Ares has secret plans of his own.

@lilben42 said:

Maybe Ares has secret plans of his own.

let's see if wonder woman does something relevant this time and not other fight where the other characters help her.

@lilben42: if issue 24 cover anything to go buy i think he want a replacement

I have this questions, why Hephaestus looks like ogre, why Ares looks like some granpa, why Hades looks like small child?

The strands of hair on Ares' beard is thick as spaghetti.

@bigcimmerian: who knows. I think I'll make a thread on that

So,wonder woman become War of God?

@bigcimmerian: It's because in greek mythology, the gods children were monsters sometimes so I guess Azarello wanted to expand on that. Ares looks like Azzarello.

@gokuwarrior: She always does something relevant.

If you look into ancient greek statues of their gods, you can see that they looked like normal humans, ripped and fit, but still humans.

@bigcimmerian: Probably artistic expression. My guess is that Azzarello/Chiang wanted them to look different and incorporate different personality traits in the way they look.

This is true, but they also had a tendency to change shape at will (usually in the interests of having sex with someone), so I assume they could take any form they choose - as we've seen when Strife made herself huge on Themyscira.

Personally I think the redesigns of the Greek Pantheon have been the best parts of the New 52 run - the designs are all really original and yet immediately recognizable in most cases.

To offer an answer to @bigcimmerian's question more directly, it's hard to say exactly what Azzarello/Chiang had in mind, but here are my interpretations:

1. On the one hand Hades is the most uncompromising of Gods, wanting to keep all of his kingdom under control at all times, like a petulant child, but he is also innocent in the sense that he has little understanding of the emotions and complexities of the living. The wax covering his eyes represents the blindness of death - it comes for everyone regardless of who they are.
2. I took Ares' appearance to be ironic - that the world has so much war in it that the god of war is aged and withered from all the work he's had to do.
3. Hephaestus is supposed to be lame (in the literal sense that he is physically handicapped) and unattractive - hence his wife, Aphrodite, is always so quick to cheat on him. Chiang seems to have taken that to an extreme, making him look like an ogre to contrast him with Aphrodite, who always appears naked (and slightly off panel, as if her beauty is too great for the artist capture) since she is the goddess of love.

@dmessmer: you forgot poiseidos

@bigcimmerian: Ares represents what War is today, an old and unwanted idea that was once celebrated in the past(hence his youthful appearance in issue zero). Ares is just tired of being the god of War and has gone into self loathing.

Um, he's a big fish because, you know, he's the god of the ocean.

@powerwoman: I hope this is the case

@dmessmer: also eros

@theovoxo: great explanation. I think you're right. Ares is just tired. War is different and less "glorious" today.

Wonder woman become Gods of War