- Awesome Art: Cliff Chiang's art during Azzarello's run is one of the only things both fans and critics of New 52 Wonder Woman can agree on.
- Bile Fascination: There are many Wonder Woman fans who've only read this series to see just how badly Brian Azzarello and later Meredith Finch handled the mythos of the Amazons, due to turning them into a culture of unrepentant rapists and murderers. Which isn't even getting into its handling of Diana herself by making her loathed by her society before revealing she's the bastard daughter of Zeus, on top of Donna Troy's controversial new origin as a psychotic clay doll meant to usurp Diana's role as queen.
- Broken Base: In general, this run is probably the most polarizing run in Wonder Woman's long history, with fans either loving it for being a much different take on the character and her mythos or hating it for those very reasons.
- Many of the New 52 costume changes, Superman's in particular, have come under a lot of fire from fans. Likely to curb these complaints, Wonder Woman's costume had the Painted-On Pants shown during the reboot's promotion removed. However, many fans actually prefer and defend the costume with the pants, partly due to reasons like Diana being too dignified to wear a one-piece swimsuit around and the pointed subduing of out-of-place American flag elements (remember that the character is from an isolated society with far more in common with the ancient Greek city states than the US and is introduced to the United States late in life), and this time around was not sent to the US as a spy smasher, nor as an ambassador, or even to return one of their soldiers, having basically none of the previous In-Universe reasons for the red white blue and stars/eagle. Or that Amazons were often called the inventors of pants by the Ancient Greeks...albeit not in a complimentary way, as pants were the clothing of barbarians to the Hellenistic societies. It helps that the pants look much better drawn by Cliff Chiang, while the fuss-raising promotional artwork was by Jim Lee
◊. - Wonder Woman being characterized as the only one of the "Big 3" to kill, not the least because of how Depending on the Writer it is, how she was the only one of the three that actually started off with a no killing rule, and how she can easily be as Thou Shall Not Kill as Superman and Batman. In the previous two volumes her willingness to kill was usually limited to extreme situations and characterized her as a warrior who is willing to make the tough calls. While some accept this, other feel that it has opened the door to the same Darker and Edgier antics that DC has been criticized for, and that too many writers make her either too violent or crowbar in too many Shoot the Dog situations for bloodshed.
- Wonder Woman being the biological daughter of Zeus in the New 52 also proved to be quite the hot button topic among fans. Some see it as an interesting twist and updating of the character while others see it as a violation of everything Wonder Woman was ever meant to represent (what women can achieve on their own without the interference of men). It also destroys the associations between Diana and her former patrons (Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hestia and Hermes), while softening, Zeus who was a borderline villain for her in volumes two and three. Likewise, her not being made of clay anymore (instead being a normal birth) is a heavy topic but not nearly as contested as making Zeus her father and the source of her powers. Years after volume four had ended, and thus could be more objectively analyzed as another episode in Wonder Woman's long history rather than the current status quo, Zeus as her father remains the single most controversial element, spilling into later volumes as writers tried to make a clean break from volume four only for more writers to try and reinstate elements of the New 52 era, Zeus as her father chief among them.
- Many of the New 52 costume changes, Superman's in particular, have come under a lot of fire from fans. Likely to curb these complaints, Wonder Woman's costume had the Painted-On Pants shown during the reboot's promotion removed. However, many fans actually prefer and defend the costume with the pants, partly due to reasons like Diana being too dignified to wear a one-piece swimsuit around and the pointed subduing of out-of-place American flag elements (remember that the character is from an isolated society with far more in common with the ancient Greek city states than the US and is introduced to the United States late in life), and this time around was not sent to the US as a spy smasher, nor as an ambassador, or even to return one of their soldiers, having basically none of the previous In-Universe reasons for the red white blue and stars/eagle. Or that Amazons were often called the inventors of pants by the Ancient Greeks...albeit not in a complimentary way, as pants were the clothing of barbarians to the Hellenistic societies. It helps that the pants look much better drawn by Cliff Chiang, while the fuss-raising promotional artwork was by Jim Lee
- Fridge Horror: The Amazons tried to abandon or outright murder any newborn child they believed were male. That's horrific enough as is, but gets even worse if you stop to think about the possibility that any of those children might've been transgender. If any were transgender women, they basically grew up not understanding why they were abandoned because they aren't men. If any were transgender men, they had to live in fear of their lives 24/7 because their own mothers and sisters would've most likely abandoned or killed them if they expressed who they really were.
- Harsher in Hindsight: Orion is relieved to find out Highfather didn't task him with killing Zeke, as going after babies is a line he doesn't want to cross. Cue The New Gods (2024), and Izaya will, in fact, order Orion to kill an Earth-born baby New God—and this time he will have no other choice but to comply, although he tasks Mr. Miracle with saving the baby from him.
- Jerkass Woobie: Hera is a complete jerkass, but losing her husband and getting turned mortal has really put her through the ringer.
- Moment of Awesome: During the battle with The First Born, Ares arrives late and with utter weariness tells his nephew he's going to stand against him. The First Born mocks him, asking what good a worn down War God like him can do, and what soldier would follow him. Ares throws open some doors... revealing the souls of every soldier from every war ever fought.Ares: ALL of them.
- Nausea Fuel: The First Born tortures Cassandra by starving her for days. He then offers her a slice of raw meat, which she ravenously devours, only to find out that it was actually the flesh from one of the members of her team. Horrified, Cassandra vomits.
- Replacement Scrappy:
- The New 52 Amazons as a whole are loathed by Wonder Woman fans due to them being rewritten as a bunch of unrepentant serial rapists and murderers who spent centuries propagating by raping sailors and killing them, and then trying to kill or sell into slavery any baby that had the misfortune of being born male. Their entire society completely undermined what Wonder Woman stood for, because how could she be a champion who stands for love, peace and equality when she comes from a place built on rape and murder?(By making her a pariah who eventually leaves the place after one slight too many)
- New 52 Donna Troy is hated by pretty much every Donna Troy fan who knew any previous version of her, and the biggest reason why Meredith Finch's run was so loathed. While Donna's backstory has historically been a convoluted mess, Finch's attempt to simplify things turned Donna into an Empty Shell murderous psychopath created to usurp Diana as the queen of the Amazons, and resulted in Donna leading a massacre on the Amazon men. Donna also being reintroduced as a clay golem felt like an obnoxious dig at Diana's original "born from clay" origin story and those who wanted it back. And unlike the New 52 Amazons who were erased in the Rebirth volume, Donna's New 52 origin somehow stuck, despite that it makes no sense as to why she'd still exist in that capacity when the Amazon witch who created her was established to be an illusion(It was eventually explained as her having false memories, the experiences of this Donna specifically, with all of volume 4 being an Alternate Universe from volume 5 and almost everyone in Wonder Woman's volume 5 cast having some degree of Fake Memories imposed on them)
- Seasonal Rot: Despite many controversial changes to Wonder Woman's lore that polarized older fans of the franchise, Azzarello's run has overall enjoyed a great degree of critical acclaim, with many critics considering it one of the best New 52 series. In contrast, Finch's run which immediately succeeded it was panned, with the main criticisms being the undoing of prior character developments and the poor handling of the new cast, namely the unsympathetic characterization of fan favourite Donna Troy.
- Ship-to-Ship Combat: Between those who prefer Wonder Woman being with her usual love interest, and once happily married husband, Steve Trevor and those who prefer her with Superman.
- Squick:
- Some of the creatures in the First Born's army are human-hyena hybrids. As revealed in the Villains' Month issue, said warriors came into being after the First Born mated with the hyenas who had raised him since he was a baby.
- Apollo tortures the First Born by ripping out his spleen. As if that wasn't enough, he has Dionysus serve the organ to him as an exotic dish.
- Tear Jerker: The Minotaur's backstory and eventual fate. He is hunted down by Diana under Ares' orders, but grows to respect her when she chooses to spare his life. Years later, he is captured by Cassandra, who breaks his horns and tortures him into becoming an obedient slave. The First Born then seizes control of the Minotaur and sics him on Wonder Woman, but the creature remembers how she had offered him mercy in the past and refuses to kill her. This enrages the villain, who calls him useless and beats him to a bloody pulp. The last thing the Minotaur sees before succumbing to his wounds is Wonder Woman weeping for him.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Ymmv/WonderWoman2011
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