Wonder Woman #9

Well this is a weird wedding ritual.

Wonder Woman was tricked into accepting Hades' proposal last issue. Let the wedding commence! I wonder if I should have a few drinks to get me in the party mood! That's probably a pretty good idea. Too bad Cliff Chiang is missing out on this shindig! We're back to Tony Akins doing the art. The only real problem I have with Tony is that he's not Cliff. I really, really like Chiang's style.

I take it back. I have other problems with Tony Akins. This, for instance, is his Zola. *shudder*

Regarding the above and its caption, it's not as if Tony Akins work wouldn't be extremely awesome in another context. But after what Cliff has set up and the images he's created of the characters, that is not Zola. That is not even close to being Zola. Sure, she can be silly and whimsical in the face of all of this God madness. But she isn't a fucking cartoon.

Um, anyway, it's not as big a deal as I just made it sound! His version of the Gods are pretty accurate. The less human looking ones, anyway. It took a few seconds of contemplation before I could figure out who Cupid was while they all sat around the table arguing about what the next step was going to be. Zola thinks they need to go to Hell to save Wonder Woman. Hermes feels he needs to keep his promise to Wonder Woman and protect Zola which means they are not going to rescue Wonder Woman. Cupid is a bit miffed at the loss of his guns. Hephaestus seems nonplussed that his plan for Diana to take the guns backfired. I'm pretty sure that's because he's in league with Hades. But Lennox is all gung-ho and on Zola's team for the raid into Hades' Hades. I imagine most of them are going to be there for the wedding where an attempt will be made to save Diana.

After another page of conversation, I take back my thoughts about Hephaestus working with Hades. He seems to be working on a plan of his own. I'm positive that the guns being used against Wonder Woman was something he'd hoped would happen, possibly because now he has an invitation to Hell for the wedding. He's planning on bringing Lennox as his guest and he's preparing some wedding gifts. Those gifts will probably be bullets. Or grenades. Or, you know, something that explodes and causes lots of fire and death. But what he wants of Hades, I can't guess. Perhaps some hellfire for his forge?

Meanwhile, Diana currently preps herself for the wedding in Hades.

Oh, ha ha, jolly good hole innuendo!

Diana's handmaiden is Persephone, Hades' first wife. She bleeds all over the room while helping Diana get ready because she's slit her own wrists up the arm. I'm not exactly sure what that was supposed to accomplish. Can you escape the afterlife by suicide? Well, I guess you can't since Persephone is still in Hades. That sounds like a strap-on joke. I guess she's just depressed and saddened by her marriage to Hades because he abducted her and forced her to marry him. Just like he's doing to Diana! Poor, ugly, candle-headed dwarf just can't get a girl to notice him.

I love the cape of chains.

In attendance at the wedding are Hephaestus, Strife, Cupid and Lennox. War has a policy to only attend the first wedding of any of his siblings. I think that's a terrific policy which has probably saved him a lot of money on gifts over the centuries. And I think most of the other Gods and Goddesses feel a bit awkward attending yet another wedding of Hades where he's marrying a bride against her will. Although after Wonder Woman was shot with Cupid's love bullets, I suppose it isn't technically against her will.

Still, Hades is a bit worried that Wonder Woman doesn't really love him and she's just going along with the plan to free Zola from Hades' grasp. Hades has a plan and that's where the cover of this issue comes in.

This was all Strife's idea, I'm sure. She's still a little bit miffed about Wonder Woman shoving a wine glass through her hand.

My main question is this: Does Wonder Woman's lasso force even her to tell the truth? Or is she immune from its power? And didn't she use it earlier (perhaps in Justice League?) where the person she tied up told her the power wasn't in the lasso but in her ability to intimidate? I doubt that's true since she kept making Green Lantern say embarrassing things but I like the idea of it.

Wonder Woman #9 Rating: No change. Short commentary and quick read but a good one. It's just that I've been moved more by Aquaman lately, so Wonder Woman won't be getting her spot back at #3 this month. Sorry girl!