Month 1: I thought it would be good, but...

Wonder Woman #1 W: Brian Azzarello A: Cliff Chiang

Aldo's book of the week, in an admittedly pretty shitty week but that doesn't mean this isn't any good

I read an interview with Brian Azzarello before this started where he said we had to think of his version of Wonder Woman as a horror book and not a hero book. Now I was no fan of his Hellblazer run, so this worried me, but you know what? I GET IT completely.

Show me a regular hero book where people cut the heads off horses to make centaurs. YOU CAN'T, CAN YOU?

This is a fantastically worked piece of fiction, reconstructing the Gods of Olympus as the fantastic creatures they SHOULD be - I mean, Zeus convinced Leda to have sex with him by disguising himself as a swan. A SWAN, FOR FUCK'S SAKE. So in this book we have Hermes looking more like a winged messenger than anyone's ever captured him before, and expressions of raw, unbridled power.

I didn't like the cover, thought it was too stylised, but over the course of the book the art really grows on you. Yes, there are arguably similarities with Guy Arcudi and some of the other Hellboy universe artists but Cliff Chiang pulls it off really well.

BUY THIS BOOK. I can't stress it enough. The highlight of the relaunch. Bet it gets cancelled soon.