Thoughts on New 52 Wonder Woman after first 12 issues

I like the Wonder Woman character, but have never really followed her comics other than the first one or two volumes of Golden Age reprints DC put out some time ago. I enjoyed those early stories a great deal, and I also liked what I read of J. Michael Straczynski's run prior to the New 52 (the one where she wears pants) so I decided to give Azzarello's Wonder Woman a try.

I read the first issue about six months ago, and I read the first trade collection, “Blood” a little more recently when my wife got it. I didn't hate it, but I wasn't really impressed. At least, not enough to buy the next trades even at Amazon prices. However, yesterday I snatched up digital copies through issue #24 for $.99 on Comixology thanks to the sale they're running. As of this writing I've read through issue #12, and including #0, which unfortunately was not part of the sale. It's a shame, I really like the simple story of young Diana's trials and training and wish it had been included in this deal.

There are some big changes to the story I know from the Golden Age, and from what others have told me, from other modern takes on the character. The big one is that she is no longer made of clay, but is a true daughter of Hippolyta conceived through a union with Zeus. That's quite a new direction, and appropriate for the New 52. It's a deliberately bold deviation, and I think it works.

I'm less enthusiastic about another change though; the idea that the Amazons have orgies with sailors whom they execute afterwards. Again, I've really only read Golden Age and I understand Paradise Island has been interpreted as a not-so-great place by others before (Amazon's Attack, which I've fortunately avoided, seemed to be this to an absurd degree) but it seems extreme that the Amazons are such cold blooded killers of innocents.

Diana is suitably outraged at this revelation, and the concurrent one about what happens to male children on Themyscira, but it still bothers me. I like her as the fish out of water ambassador from a better world, not the exile from a magical land of murderous psycopaths. And speaking of which, the story's urban fantasy/Greek mythology setting does nothing for me and provides none of the culture clash charm I like in Wondie.

One final oddity in the series is the addition of two male sidekicks who can handle themselves well, and a pregnant damsel who constantly needs saving. What happened to the old “Steve Trevor's been kidnapped by Nazis who are begging for a pummeling” I fell in love with? Sure, the gender flipped dude in distress is a little obvious and corny, but this is a superhero comic, after all, and fun should come first. This isn't necessarily a feminist issue, it's just weird.

Still, the story is suitably exciting with some cool art and action. I'll repeat a final time that I haven't read a whole lot of other Wonder Woman stories, so it's not like I feel really strongly about my expectations for one. I just hope as I move forward through this run some of the changes, back story wise, characterization wise, etc., excite me more and puzzle me less. I'm at the introduction of the New Gods so I'm hoping it will pick up a little.