Wonder Woman #23.2: First Born – Review

By: Brian Azzarello (story), Aco (art), Matthew Wilson (colors)

The Story: Needless to say, First Born has a well-deserved chip on his shoulder.

The Review: After introducing the First Born and building up to what was supposed to be a huge battle with Wonder Woman, their actual confrontation turned out a little disappointing.  To be clear, the fighting itself was fine, but the oomph wasn’t there; something definitely felt missing.  In retrospect, it just comes down to how new First Born is to the scene.  Not only does he lack a long, personal history with Wonder Woman, he doesn’t have much history at all.

The timing of Villains Month couldn’t have better under such circumstances.  I don’t know if Azzarello is clever or lucky or what, but he’s been able to use both of DC’s promotional campaigns to his narrative advantage.  Just as #0 developed a connection between Diana and Ares that proved crucial to later arcs on this series, this issue feels very much like a natural coda to last month’s events as well as a strong prelude to the next.