Issue 2 of Wonder Woman has more of everything that made its first issue so great, bringing even more character and mythology to bear in its brimstone-and-blood-spattered pages.

Unlikely (for Woman Woman) writer Brian Azzarello has lots of fun with the snarky barbs Strife lobs at her mother, Hera, on Mount Olympus in an opening scene that sheds new light on issue 1's grisly events.

And when Diana arrives on Paradise Island with a wounded Hermes and pregnant-by-(and possibly with?)-Zeus farm girl Zola, the fantasy/horror elements that worked so well in last month's installment unfold with new surprises. (And I'm not just talking about the fact that Hippolyta is blonde now, looking not unlike the gorgeous and voluptuous Virginia Madsen, who voiced the Amazon Queen in DC's excellent Wonder Woman animated film.) Artist Cliff Chiang rocks a dynamic action scene that finds Diana reminding her sisters she's still got what it takes, with colorist Matthew Wilson drenching Strife's jungle siege in colors of blood and fire that feel like Apocalypse Now.

Azzarello and his team continue to instill their action with myth-driven horror, and I loved how Jared K. Fletcher expressed a giant character's dialogue with REALLY BIG LETTERS. Dysfunctional family drama abounds, adding little doses of heart and humor that feel right at home among the story's creepier elements.

DC recently provided the news media with a big spoiler about Diana's new origin that robs this issue's cliffhanger comment of its power, with a mid-issue re-telling of what we know of Diana's current origin (and Hermes's subsequent summation of it) serving only to cement why the new version we'll soon be reading seems inferior when considering who and what Diana is supposed to be. But I won't jump the gun and judge it before we've seen how Azzarello plans to pull it off. If he can. Here's hoping.

Wonder Woman continues to be a fun, outrageous blend of mythology and action, with big twists sure to cause much discussion in future issues. So far, it's certainly an adventure worth taking. -- John Bierly

Grade: A