so what did you guys think of this issue

strife was a total b!tch

where did Cassandra get that tech from?

WW did nothing, again... Managed to save her brother this time, though. May call that a progress. But wait, she didn't... She could really use some grey cells. Time to study the enemies and make plans!

This issue highlighted the biggest problem I've had with Azzarello's run (and I don't hate Azzarello - some of his run has been great, but some of it is deeply flawed) - this wasn't a Wonder Woman comic it was an Orion comic. The first several pages feature him, he makes all the successful moves, he makes the sacrifice at the end, and Wonder Woman just kind of shows up and does the one thing that Milan didn't want her to do. DC really needs to let Azzarello write a New Gods comic so he can get back to making Wonder Woman the focus of her own book.

@dmessmer: disagree that this wasn't about WW you have strife causing Zola to leave which put her in harm cause dio show up at the end who is working for Apollo who is planning to get rid of GoW know Diana will go to hell(literally) to rescue her and Zeke which would make easier for him to get rid of Diana.Both Orion and WW made dumb decision Orion ran in head 1st causing so much havoc and WW well she told Cassandra where 1st born is at but Milan was going to be killed so i guess you can say she was in character when she did that but i still didn't like it

@hastalavista: no time to make a plan when some idiot(orion) went Leroy Jenkins

@darknightspideyfanboy: I mean after all these things happen. She should at least try to figure out what is going on and what's Strife's plan. She seemed so clueless.

@hastalavista: dude i don't think anyone knows what strife is planning for all we know she proly want Diana to fully accepted being the GoW and only by putting Zeka and Zola in danger well strife accomplish that for what reason i have no clue but i kinda like that about strife she can keep u guessing

@darknightspideyfanboy: But in your entire description of what happened, the only verbs associated with WW were her making a dumb decision and her telling Cassandra where 1st born is (which is the dumb decision). I'm not saying the events don't affect Wonder Woman, just that she doesn't actually do very much, and that's been one of the weaknesses of Azzarello's run in general. Far too often (not always, but often), she's overly passive while other characters (especially Orion) take the lead.

Out of curiousity I counted the number of panels that Wonder Woman actually appeared in this book. Of the 105 panels she's only in 32 of them and she's only taking significant action in five of them (compared to 15 for Orion). I'm not saying she isn't relevant, but she isn't the focus of the book, and that's a problem in a book titled Wonder Woman.

@dmessmer: dude that some curiosity also Orion taking lead is not your best example he pretty much Leroy Jenkins the whole thing got himself capture and hurt also almost getting poor Milan shot in the head if it wasn't for wonder woman crashing in.WW decision to tell where the 1st born is at something i dont like and also dumb unless the next issu show the reason was because diana doesn't believe Cassandra can free the 1st born cause Apollo is there then i might forgive this decision until then dumb decision

@darknightspideyfanboy: She should at least rise her suspicion. The book is so plot-driven and it has kept us in guessing for 2 long, long years!

@hastalavista: True im still wondering why Diana left strife in charge i mean it strife that girl is practically a female Loki. next issue are when the amazon are returning right so where is hera did she get her power back when strife gave her back the peacock cloak? did strife knew that would happen?

Great points; if anything, Orion's reckless behavior foiled any plans Wonder Woman might have been able to set into motion. One thing I found curious was Hermes' blanket statement that Wonder Woman tries to see the good in humanity; it was very rushed and forced, as there's just little evidence of that, primarily due to the pace of the story, and primarily due to the plot devices used to demonstrate any such blanket statements by Hermes; such a plot device has never been properly developed since issue 160 of volume 1, and than only ever so briefly; the New 52 Wonder Wonder updates just really strains credulity in this area; you can't claim that Wonder Woman was updated feat wise to appear weak, but somehow retained her pre-crisis abilities to be compassionate and virtuous; post-crisis Wonder Woman was a really big question mark in this area, while the updates made to in the New 52 makes the claim even far less likely.

Yeah, Hera appears to have just disappeared. I really feel for Zola. Zola's leaving and Wonder Woman trying to cope with it should be a lot like the events leading up to the Taco Wiz arc, in terms of showing a type of adversity that Wonder Woman might not be able to just conquer; interested to see how Zola gets along without Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman growing to accept it; now that I think about it, the events leading up to the Taco Wiz story arc and Zola's leaving would appear to be the type of things that are Strike's specialties and I'm surprised she hadn't started using them to defeat Wonder Woman quite sometime ago.

She didn't had a reason to defeat WW before. She only want to destroy WW now, because she killed her brother Ares.

for sure Strife knew the magic power from the peacock cloak.

That's true, but what happened to Zola and bringing things down around herself should just be like the odor from a citronella candle for Strife; it's like the nature of her odor; no matter how much she tries otherwise, Strife is just bad news to be around; having her consider you an enemy just turns her focus towards you.

I don't really see why some claim this suddenly turned into a Orion comic. Because he acts impulsively while Diana (for some reason) has to be the one to make plans with no time? Orion in this issue did just about nothing other than removing himself and Milan from the board.

Btw, is Diana actually aware of how close Strife was to Ares? Other than knowing they accompany each other often.

It just made me think that Azzarello needs to hurry up and leave.

And fast

@outside_85: I'm not basing that all on this one issue. Orion has gotten a lot of attention for a year now. This issue just highlighted that - sure, what he did was stupid, but that stupid move is the main focus of the first 2/3rds of the book. What he's doing might not work, but at least he's doing something. Except for stabbing Ares (granted, that's a pretty big deal), Wonder Woman has hardly done as much as her surrounding cast, especially Orion, which I don't get. Wonder Woman already has a pantheon of gods to work with, so I'm not sure why Azzarello is so insistent on making New Gods, especially Orion, such a huge part of this book, often at the expense of focusing on Wonder Woman.

At least we got a speed feat out of this issue...

I am looking forward to about issue #29 or #30 when the trades are normally wrapped up and when it gets really good and when most the shit goes down. For example -

#6 - Zola get taken to hell

#12 - Zeke get taken by hermes and orion first appears

#18 - WW get Zeke back

#23 - WW become the god of war and they defeat first born (for now!)

also what does everyone think of Superman/WW?

Would you recommend it if you like the solo WW book?

@dmessmer: I wouldn't say that it's at the expense of Wonder Woman, since nearly everything Orion has done so far has proven to be a negative, because it's either been stupid or rude. Also what you are saying about him being the catalyst for action... well that's like saying Morrison made Julian September the main character of a JLA story because he started tampering with probability to be lucky.

@outside_85: When I say "at Wonder Woman's expense" I mean in terms of the focus of the story. If you gave a copy of the current Snyder Batman comic to someone who knew absolutely nothing about the story and didn't tell that person the title, it would still be pretty obvious that the book is a Batman book. If you did the same with the several (not all) of the Wonder Woman issues since Orion showed up, it wouldn't be completely clear. Issue 26 in particular is one that, if I didn't know it was a Wonder Woman book, would be difficult to tell who the star of the issue is supposed to be. Neither does anything heroic, but Orion gets a whole lot more time on the page and emphasis on action. Compare it to the issue where Wonder Woman kills Ares - Orion attacks, gets knocked out, and then Wonder Woman takes over from there, and is clearly the central focus. That wasn't the case here.

@dmessmer:

The issue in this book with Orion s actions is that all he does is show why rushing headlong into action with no plan other than 'save friend' and 'crack skulls' is stupid. The focus is at Orion's own expense, he shows loyalty to Milan by reacting like he does, but that's it and then he abruptly leaves the book and we don't follow him, that makes it clear he is not the main character. Finally, Frodo Baggins is the main character of LotR, but he book devotes 2/3 of the pages of book two and three to what is essentially his supporting cast when they are a hundred miles away from him.

@outside_85: I don't want to get too off topic, but have you read "The Hobbit"? The movies have done what you describe, but the book never leaves him. Ever.

And I would just point out that in all of your last description, you didn't mention Wonder Woman once, which supports the only point I'm trying to make - Wonder Woman isn't the central focus of the book.

Yes I have, and the reason it never leaves Bilbo, is because the company stays together.

And I don't mention Wonder Woman, because I am debunking your reasons for saying Orion is the issues main character.

@outside_85: Ah, my mistake. I read "Frodo" as "Bilbo" for some reason (I guess the movies have caused me to have The Hobbit on the brain). Anyway, we'll just have to agree to disagree.