Story By: Brian Azzarello
Art By: Cliff Chiang
Azzarello opens this issue up in the Weapons Room of Hephaestus. Diana heads to Hell to bring Zola back from Hades and she needs the proper tools to get the job done. She opts to go alone but Hermes forces himself into joining her. Azzarello does a nice job injecting humor into the beginning pages as Hephaestus deems Diana’s choice of weapons archaic and gives her Eros’ Twin Pistols to aid her.
Azzarello creates a very fresh take on Hell. His vision is one of great emptiness. I especially liked that Hermes describes Hell as whatever Hades imagines it to be. There also a moment that reminded me of The Body World Exhibit based on the design of the Demon.I have to speak about Cliff Chiang’s art in this issue. Everything from the page layouts to the character designs and backgrounds are drawn with so much attention to detail its crazy. He has a very clean line when he draws and each panel is a incredible piece of art on its own.Special mention to Matthew Williams on Colors. I really enjoyed his use of bright reds and the contrast in used with cooler blue and grey tones. This is a very beautiful book. As much as I admire what Azzarello has done with Wonder Woman and her Origin story, I can’t imagine another artist who could have executed those ideas as well as Cliff Chiang and Tony Atkins who pencils issues in between Chiang.
Hermes and Diana fight through the lost souls of Hades and eventually find Zola. Unfortunately they also find Hades in the process. Hades makes a deal with Diana. He originally was promised a Bride which is why he took Zola. However he makes a deal with Wonder Woman. Give him Eros’s Twin Pistols and he will let Zola go free and unharmed. Wonder Woman agrees to the deal though she should know it’s not smart to make deals with Hades in the first place. This issue ends in shocking fashion and I assume Wonder Woman is going to need the help of her brother and sister gods come issue 9. This is a great series and another example of why the New 52 works. Go ahead and add this series to your pull list as long as Azzarello and Chiang are on board. You wont be disappointed.
Review Score: 8.5/10
Mike DeVivo
Follow Me on Twitter @pandasandrobots
