Well, this cover alone was a foreshadowing of what was to come. The clay baby origin has been turned on its head. The so called 'perfect' Amazon birth we learn was a lie. Diana suddenly becomes one of us, even though her birth still remains quite something. I mean, she is now the daughter of Zeus himself. That's not normal but the circumstances leading to it is so full of humanity. Triggered by passion and then motivated by maternal love. An affair with a man followed by a desire to protect the child conceived from that affair. Sounds familiar. What makes it now interesting is that man being the King of the gods who has an insanely jealous and powerful wife. The morale of this story so far is you don't get to choose your family. But does that really stop one from being a hero or what they represent? Not at all. Clay or the daughter of Zeus, Diana is still a daughter of Hippolyta, an Amazon and a brave, compassionate, strong, and confident young woman. It is simply right now it hurts. Hurts as any skeleton that comes out of the family closet that changes everything. At least until one come to terms with it.
Strife continues to be insidious. She is turning out to be such a dangerous and yet delightful foe. Stirring trouble and enjoying it. It was actually novel to learn that not all the Amazons liked Diana and she was called "clay". Again that little detail sort of makes any of us who were teased as children understand how that kind of thing can hurt.
Hermes continues to show that he is one of the few gods, so far at least, that truly cares for Diana and the Amazons. And even amidst all this drama, Zola gives us a light chuckle worthy moment.
Chiang's art is so good and really compliments Azzarello's script. The love scene between Zeus and Hippolyta was so well done as was the almost dangerous glint in Strife's eyes when she said "Lets be." Here we see two beings succumbing to passion. Two equals. Hippolyta's character has always been a woman of strong passions and at times she displayed poor judgement as with Heracles in the Perez origin. This was not rape. It was good old fashioned hot sex that they both enjoyed.
It was a beautifully written heartfelt scene here when Hippolyta explains to Diana why she kept her birth a secret and here it seems Hippolyta even allowed Diana to spread her wings because she understood that she needed to. I loved that. She always seemed to want to mollycoddle Diana and keep her in a kind of gilded cage. But Diana is very hurt. And very angry. She leaves the island, vowing never to return, with her little rag tag group. (It is so funny to see Strife casually stroll with them) Where are they going to go and what is going to happen next? I can't wait!
5 out of 5 stars
Best Panel: Hippolyta's anguish. What a difference a day makes.
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