Wonder Woman: Amazonia

Wonder Woman: One-Shots

by William Messner-Loebs, Phil Winslade (Illustrator)

In this Elsworlds Tale, Princess Diana leaves Paradise Island and journeys into "man's world" after being kidnapped by Steve Trevor and the royal marines—during the Victorian Era! Trapped in a more misogynistic world, Diana battles against the oppressive reign of King Jack!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Dc Comics, Wonder Woman, Fiction, Fantasy, Superheroes

47 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

William Francis Messner-Loebs (born William Francis Loebs, Jr.) is an American comics artist and writer from Michigan, also known as Bill Loebs and Bill Messner-Loebs. His hyphenated surname is a combination of his and his wife Nadine's unmarried surnames.

In the 1980s and 1990s he wrote runs of series published by DC Comics, Image Comics, Comico, and other comics publishers, including DC's superhero series Flash and Wonder Woman among others. Additionally he has both written and drawn original creator-owned works, such as Journey: The Adventures of Wolverine MacAlistaire.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Elseworlds is brutal. It could have been the inspiration for Bitch Planet . It's set in an incredibly misogynistic Victorian England where women are chained and follow behind their husbands like geishas. Steve Trevor is an utter dirt bag who wiped out the Amazons. But when she's pushed to the brink she reaches her breaking point and fights back. Phil Winslade employs an antiquing line drawing style that looks like the illustrations in old-timey newspapers.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, Elseworlds. Where Batman could be a vampire, Superman could be Russian, and Wonder Woman could be a Gibson Girl. Amazonia is set in an even more misogynistic version of Victorian England, ruled by King Jack. You see, Victoria and her entire family died in a mysterious fire, and her distant American cousin, Jack, took the throne. (I think the less said about the realism of that, the better.) It's really all an excuse to get Wonder Woman to put on a corset and fight Jack the Ripper, while talking like Eliza Doolittle. But it's a fun read, and at less than 50 pages, a very fast one.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to reread this! I recall it being my first exposure to art of Phil Winslade. Wm. Messner-Loebs is always good, and particularly on Wonder Woman, too.
Recommended.

[Zuzu · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm researching feminist utopias/gynotopias so I thought this would be fun but it was boring. It was also sexist in terms of representation of women. I can understand that this is a period piece and women weren't better off back then. However, I would expect more from an alternate history retelling. We could at least have women actually talking more than the narrator, especially during and after their rise to power. Don't they have anything to say? Sometimes how we tell a story speaks more than the story itself. Oh well, at least it was short.

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is Wonder Woman set in an "elseworld" or alternative fictional setting that is horrendously sexist and cruel to women.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good What-if story of a possible Victorian Era other world Wonder Woman. Nice art just adds to the story. Very recommended

[Vigneswara Prabhu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazonia is a weird elseworlds story set in a steampunk Victorian era; one that is increasingly misogynistic. Where women are treated as possessions, and literally have to walk around in shackles.

There is stuff that you would expect; the king being a toxic patriarch misogynist, who is also a vile serial killer and mass murderer on the side, an overall terrible thing that deserves all bad things.

Themyscira/ Amazonia, represent the countless native cultures which encountered European, and soon fell victim to their colonial ambitions.

There is some message there about equality of sexes and mutual respect, but it is blink and a miss in this all too fast resolved one-shot.

Also, there is this confusion as to why Diana, who can literally shatter iron chains in this story, would willingly agree to be a submissive slave to her abusive husband.

But it's good enough for casual reading, nothing more.

[Marlan Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Winslade’s art was better on GODDESS (maybe still worth finding). On this, his hyper-detailed work can’t pull through writing that is mostly bland back story and history (by William Messner-Loebs, whose work occasionally rises above banal, but not this time). This comic is a showcase for Winslade’s art, but it’s lost on a truly flavorless story.

But the production of the book is significant. It's over-sized, much larger than the the average comic issue (though not quite magazine-size), which probably limits the audience (not that not getting on newsstands has been an issue in decades, but that it won't fit in fanboys' comics boxes). If it was a better comic it would be more of a shame it won’t be purchased by more people. But at least DC took the chance of putting the comic in a larger format. Though ought to do more like that (and put Winslade on better projects).

[Thibaut Nicodème · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn about this. On one hand, deconstruction of toxic masculinity. On the other…we probably didn't need a dystopia where women are literally chained to do that. Or to have Diana be a sex slave to her husband evil!Steve Trevor. Plus the art, while interesting and stylized, looks messy and unreadable most of the time.

[Rizzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would be a 1-star if not for the art. Genuinely quite bad, and I say that as a big fan of both Wonder Woman and Elseworlds tales. I wish more characters besides Batman and Superman would get Elseworlds, but stuff like this is the reason we can't have nice things.

[Scott Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very good. Does the impressive hat trick of being among the worst Wonder Woman stories, among the worst Elseworlds stories, and...hm, okay, maybe it's not a hat trick, it's only bad at two things, not three. The art is actually a nice departure from the norm.

[Luiz Santiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

4
http://www.planocritico.com/tag/mulhe...

[Luci · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was just ok. It was an interesting take but a poor execution. I thought that really none of the characters were well fleshed out and the story was very uncomfortable feeling.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was wild... I'm not entirely sure what I just read. I'm definitely interested in reading the other Elseworld books after this one.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wonder Woman is given the Elseworlds treatment in this graphic novel by William Messner-Loebs and Phil Winslade. As the main act for a stage show, the immensely strong Wonder Woman performs for crowds at the behest of her lover, Steve Trevor. When she foils an assassination attempt on the king of England during a performance, the legend of the powerhouse woman begins to spread across the chauvinistic society. Flashbacks to Steve Trevor's domination of Diana's matriarchal home, the attacks of the Ripper on multitudes of women, and the emergence of a world that sees women as little more than meat set the stage for a final showdown between the Wonder Woman and the Ripper himself. While the idea of a Wonder Woman story shattering gender expectations does promise merits, Amazonia attempts to cram its cautionary tale down the throats of readers. Pitting Diana against the historical Jack the Ripper would have more merit if the story was willing to focus more on those events. A majority of the book is sadly taken up with the flashbacks to past events, rather than fully building up the main character and her struggles to live in "man's world." The art by Phil Winslade does not help matters either, as the rough imagery and bland colorization form muddied pages. Despite high hopes, Amazonia is still chained down by is shortcomings as a graphic novel.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a pleasure to re-read something and actually like it better than what you thought you'd remembered.

A nice story dealing with a fictional 18th century England and the mores of the time.
Blatant sexism as a well-known character of the era raises to the throne of England. Women are even more objectified than actual historical events. Even to the point where they wear symbolic chains instead of, or maybe in addition to, their wedding bands. Even Wonder Woman starts out as the submissive wife to her manipulating Steven Trevor spouse who has no qualms about putting her in an exibitive way on stage and profiting from her.

The art is very nice, drawn and inked in an etching style, it perfectly fits the style of the story and is reminiscent of illustrations done in the era. The characters are wonderfully drawn and express their role perfectly. The architecture is so detailed, that I would sometimes stop reading a page simply to admire the details of a floor tyle or a wall tapestry. The colors are also mutted to fit the appropriate mood.

My only qualm, and this is strictly a personal one, would be Diana's hairstyle as, though it may fit the era, I didn't find all that attractive.

[Alice Urchin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, that was awesome. The art is basically in the style of Victorian book illustrations, like the ones in the original Alice in Wonderland and etc., lots of attention to detail and intricate shading (except the memory/dream of Amazonia which has to be Mucha-inspired). The setting was sort of steam punkish, which gave It an unusual (in a good way) twist. Also, the story was pretty fantastic. Not at all traditional Wonder Woman canon, very imaginative. I'm not usually a fan of the battle-of-the-sexes trope because I think that it enforces a flawed binary, but this one was handled very well. I would definitely recommend it for the art in particular.
P.S. I kinda want to live in Kera.

[Lady Entropy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this Victorian/Steampunk era take on Wonder Woman. It was chilling and uncomfortable in some parts (and a bit too much in the nose on the whole "Men=BAD, Woman=GOOD!", but damn if I didn't love it and would have totally buy more issues if this was made into a series.

[Jessica Andersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing Wonder Woman story. It was a fun read. This is what they call a non-canon story. It is kind of a bizarro version of Wonder Woman, although there are a lot of core characters who show up.

I love the steampunk aspects and the Jack the Ripper subplot.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take, but I expected more. The Jack the Ripper as king was far-fetched. Maybe another writer can do better with a Victorian-styled Wonder Woman.

[Seant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know this is an alternative universe story, but it was just a so-so take on one of my favorite characters.

[Punkie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars

[Jason Jeansonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really want to just give it two stars but the art was amazing