Wonder Woman by Mike Deodato (Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman (1987) (Collected Editions) #9

by William Messner-Loebs, Mike Deodato (Illustrator)

Featuring the first part of the incredible Mike Deodato's (Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers) run on Wonder Woman, this collection includes some of the most beautifully rendered Amazons in comics history.

Wonder Woman no more? In her mother's eyes, Diana has not lived up to the task of being Wonder Woman, and now the Queen of the Amazons sets in motion a contest where a new Wonder Woman will be crowned. But Diana sees things differently and decides to defend her position and take on any and all comers! Will she keep her place as Wonder Woman of the Amazons?

Collects Wonder Woman #0, #85 and #90-100; Legends of the DC Universe #4-5.

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

372 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 17, 2016

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]

Some early DC work by Mike Deodato where Diana loses the Wonder Woman title to Artemis. This is from the early 90's when DC was temporarily replacing all of its heroes to create drama. The story by Bill Messner-Loebs was fine, but Jeebus, Deodato draws all the women as strippers and the men as these hulking, roided up monsters covered in chains.

"Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the stage, Queen Hippolyta and Phillipus. Please be generous with your dollar bills."


Wonder Woman's new costume looks like she's working the corner.


This dude really calls himself the Chauvinist.


I remember liking this back when the original issues came out. A lot has changed in comics in 25 years.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a lot better than I thought it would be, the art is very 90s and full of escher girls type poses, but the characterization was very strong. I don't like Deodato's take on Hippolyita, but every other character shines throughout.

The trope of replacing a hero temporarily with a more "modern," but flawed one is nothing new but it's well done here and Artemis is sympathetic for all her rage, and you can feel for her when she realizes she's out of her depth.

There's also a really good Joker story in this collection.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you overlook the 1990's style over-the-top techno villains and outfits, this book is surprisingly fun. Some of it feels a bit rushed but the fast pace does build a forward momentum that can be missing in modern decompressed comic series.

[Ben Mariner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun read. Wonder Woman isn't WW anymore but she's still being a total bad ass. Really fun getting to dive into the WW world a little deeper. It's never not fun.

[ダンカン · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like The Death of Superman & Terminal Velocity of The Flash, Wonder Woman in 1994 had her own highlights then. What brought this trade paperback collection to its importance was none other than the art of Mike Deodato (was known as Mike Deodato Jr. then). Still, written by William Messner-Loebs as how Diana of Themyscira had to give up her crown and pass it on to an introduced character named Artemis. Diana had to don a more skimpy outfit and became a much grittier and tougher person. As like any DC Comics in the 90s where the main characters of Justice League of America had changes, Wonder Woman became part of. Although the writing isn't much, the artwork is a little nice to look at, only the problem is the body proportion is a little too much. Overall, its not bad, just not that great.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

So back in the 90's to spike sales in comics they made the main heroes die or get replaced. Batman, Superman, now Wonder Woman. Diana is replaced by Artemis who becomes the new WW. However, she doesn't really because 70% of the book still focuses on Diana...so what the hell was the point of this replacement?

But either way this book feels weird. A relic of the past. Men who are monstrous are so huge their arms are the size of a car. Wonder Woman, both of them, are dressed to the point they're wearing like a bra and panties. Now I love me some boobs and ass, but this is ridiculous. However, I won't lie, this is a super easy breezy read. Fast paced and some cool commentary. But it's nothing special and we can see why it didn't last long.

A 3 out of 5.

[Carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

not a fan of how sexualized every Amazon was drawn. I also didn't like the way Diana acted. it didn't feel like her. I did like Artemis though. I mainly know her from the Red Hood comics but seeing her origin (so to speak) was interesting.

[Dusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big fan of this book... its a lotta fun. I admit not all of it aged well but I love the over the top art. The stories were great... Artemis usurps Diana as Wonder Woman, Diana learns about her mother's dark past and more of Diana living in the big city. It was a blast. Love it!

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5ish stars?

This to me is the definition of atrocious 90s art. I’m not really a fan of this art era in general, but many are less offensive (John Byrne, for example, still isn’t my favorite but is miles better than this). This, though...was just bad.

Which sucks because the writing was actually pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the Joker story, and I’m looking forward to reading more by Messner-Loebs without Deodato.

[Mara Jade-Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Artemis was who I wanted to be as a little girl! She was everything to me at a time when I didn't even really enjoy reading. Being forced to read Romeo and Juliet was not my idea of romantic. I wanted to be a warrior! The artwork by Deodato is still my favorite, and I am forever in his debt for helping me discover WW, but to become a lifelong fan.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is 90's as 90's could be, it's a pretty good arc. Worth a read.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end of William Messner-Loebs' strange run on Wonder Woman collides with the post-Image era at DC Comics, visually and conceptually. Visually, in that Mike Deodato - at this stage in his career - is very much into drawing hot babes, gnarly demons and 'roided-up musclemen. And conceptually, in that this is Wonder Woman's entry in the "switch the character for a badass new model" sweepstakes, with Diana getting replaced by bow-wielding badass Artemis for a year or so.

The stunt worked - enough that it made Deodato into a star, and it's his name that gets top billing on the cover. For a long time this was the only part of the Messner-Loebs run in print, which didn't make a lot of sense - it's very much a third act of a longer story. In the first section, Diana decides to experience Man's World from ground level, living - as much as she can - an ordinary working woman's life in Boston and dealing with street level problems (the kind Loebs always preferred to write about anyway) largely by being kind to everyone. In the second, the limits of this approach become clear as her opponents take advantage of her apparent weakness to escalate, and Diana meets their escalation with violence in turn. And this third part introduces Artemis as a character whose only approach to problem-solving is direct action and violence.

(Reading the earlier parts of the Loebs run is also useful for understanding the White Magician, the run's arch-villain, who is a male ex-superhero who used to have Boston to himself, became lazy and corrupt and who, when upstaged by a woman, reacts by completely and obsessively losing his shit. By this point we're very much in the phase where the shit has been lost.)

So both the introduction of Deodato and of Artemis work with the story Loebs was telling. Deodato's penchant for thongs and butt shots is a menace, but Loebs leans into his new artist's desire to draw big guys with big guns and has Artemis fight a succession of them, with names like The Chauvinist and The Exploiter. Loebs is making a deliberate point here and giving us a big piece of the plot jigsaw too: the problems Artemis is "dealing with" (sweatshop labour, environmental exploitation, domestic violence) aren't ones you can solve by punching a supervillain, but Artemis doesn't work like that, so the White Magician magics up bozos she CAN punch and she walks away assuming the job has been done. It's not subtle (or at least I thought it wasn't until I read some of the reviews here) but it's funny, effective, and neatly lets Loebs have his 90s artistic cake and take the piss out of it.

Loebs is also smart in how he deals with the other problem he's handed - how to make a "replacement hero" story work when the audience has surely wised up to the overall arc of these things. His solution is to pretty much ignore Artemis until the plot requires him not to. When Batman and Superman took an enforced break, the replacements got long-running solo series, so in that commercial sense, Artemis must have been something of a let-down. But the fact she's so useless as Wonder Woman is important in a plot and theme sense, and Loebs keeps the focus firmly on Diana - while Artemis is off being suckered by The Chauvinist, Diana is tangling with The Joker. It's obvious even to curious new readers who the actual star is here.

For all that, this ends up being not an entirely satisfying arc and resolution. Artemis' own personality never really settles - there's plenty of hints in the initial "The Contest" storyline where she becomes Wonder Woman that she's more than a trigger-happy idiot, but that's also what the Boston story needs her to be, so it's difficult to get too invested in her redemption arc, even if her final scenes are done well. The point about problems not being resolved by punching out musclebound dudes is undercut by the final resolution being exactly that. And there's a general sense that things are being crammed in to end the storylines by issue 100, so a really critical subplot involving Circe comes out of almost nowhere.

Worst of all, there's no real resolution for Diana. Not in a plot sense - it's obvious at the end that she can be Wonder Woman again. But Loebs has spent a three-year run exploring questions about kindness and force and their limits, and establishing a life and supporting cast for Diana on the kindness side of the equation as well as a rival and new villains on the force side. The ending is all force and fury and leaves a lot of emotional work undone: it's spectacular, but horribly rushed. A frustrating end to a run with bags of ideas and potential which often never quite realised themselves on the page.

[Arthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was talking to an acquaintance about my love for the Dark Trinity (Jason, Artemis and Bizarro) and they informed me that Jason and Artemis actually have a lot in common, including he fact that they've both died, gone through hell and come back to life. I didn't know much about Artemis beyond RHATO volume two, so I was excited to learn more about her in this volume of Wonder Woman.

The writing in this book, is pretty great. If it was a novel, it would be an easy four stars. Hippolyta strips Diana of her title as Wonder Woman and hosts a competition on Themyscira for the mantle. This competition shines a light on the sisterly bond Themysciran Amazons have with each other, as well as their respect for Diana. It also shines a light on how mistreated the Amazons of Bana Mighdall were, and how heavy a role Hippolyta played in that rivalry.

Artemis's time as Wonder Woman was a great way of introducing us to the character and of demonstrating Diana's strengths and shortfalls as WW. Artemis was much more action-oriented than Diana, which was great in terms of accomplishing goals, but much less diplomatic. She was brash and her more black-and-white world view sometimes put the people she was trying to save in danger. Artemis's death was also done really well in this volume. Messner Loebs did an excellent job generating pathos for her and I was truly sad when she let go. Diana proved to be a worthy friend as she comforted her estranged sister as she died.

You also learn a lot about Diana's mother Hippolyta in this volume, and she does not come off well at all. She sacrificed her sisters' lives for Herakles, a man she was in love with. She also found out that Wonder Woman was set to die and so manipulated the BM Amazons into competing to take her place because she considered them more disposable. She's really quite despicable and I do not like her.

The greatest pitfall of this volume was the art. It was genuinely atrocious. All of the women seem to be suffering from scoliosis, as their backs are arched in ridiculous postures in effort to make their breasts and buttocks more prominent. It's foul. Furthermore, they are sexualized IN EVERY SINGLE PANEL. Regardless of whether they're in the midst of battle or relaxing with friends, the artist's priority seems to be making them as sexually attractive as possible. This is also accomplished through costume design. The Amazons wear precious little to protect them in battle. The Amazons of Bana Mighdall are as covered up as Starfire in the dreaded original RHATO series and once Diana loses her title of WW, her costume basically consists of a bra and shorts. I seriously considered putting the book down and not finishing it solely because of the art.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested to pick this up because of much of the art and panels is featured in the Wonder Woman illustrated guide I bought and enjoyed as a child. It features an unusual storyline where Diana loses the title for awhile and Artemis takes over.

As I was looking at the art, it is very pretty and this volume collects all the issues by Mike Deodato in one place. It is a pretty thick book too.



But I found the way women are drawn is quite male-gazey. With alot of skin showing, unrealistic body type where the females are drawn with big boobs, tiny waist, super long stick thin bodies. It is almost R rated if not for the women's nipples and private parts being barely covered up.

Like in the scene where Artemis dies, which is very emotional. Why is her mons pubis half showing?!

The story line is abit confusing and the dialogue at times felt inaccurate especially for the Amazons. It felt like the writer slips up and puts modern dialogue in for these ancient, isolated women. It was nice to see greek mythology out into the story of the Contest.

Diana gets a new costume and I realised that she is wearing biker shorts which is coming back into trend now in 2021. These comics where published in 1994 and 1996. Nostalgia!



Diana was fine, if not confused about her mother's decisions and trying to help everyone around her.

The characters of Hippolyta and Artemis are not likeable. The queen is cold and frankly quite cowardly?



In flashbacks, the reader sees that she naively believes that Heracles loves her and that almost leads to the downfall of the entire island. Then for Artemis, she is hotheaded and defensive. She lashes out easily and does not believe that Diana has good intentions towards her. Though, the Bana Magdall have alot to be angry about because of Hippolyta banishing them.

The villains are caricatures, these larger than life, over muscled scary looking men. Especially those like the Chauvinist. Right.



This volume collects 2-part Moments which again is confusing because it happens before the whole issue with Diana losing her title.

Still an interesting part of the Wonder Woman character.

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pure feminist fantasy. You know for a place that's supposedly a feminist utopian refuge from the evils of men like violence...they sure do fight a lot. They fight invaders, they fight amongst themselves...they talk of waging imperial wars to bring the rest of the world under their rule. And yeah if you were expecting the feminist brand of anti-male sexism you wont be disappointed.

And what was with DC in this era and bringing down all their heroes. Azrael had replaced Bruce Wayne as Batman, Superman was dead and replaced by Superboy,Steel,Eradicator and Cyborg Superman. And Wonder Woman for no reason at all is being replaced by Artemis because her mom said so.

Then there are moments of pure unfiltered cringe. Like when a masturbatory feminist strawman named "the chauvinist" bursts through a wall at a womens shelter to punish abused women for leaving their husbands. It's so ridiculous it's hysterical how out of touch and bad it is. They had to retcon it in a later issue because they must have realized how goofy it was. And then there's "The exploiter" not so much villains as they are unneeded hamfisted political messages. It's insulting as a reader to think the writer thinks anyone needs propaganda to convince us that beating up women for trying to escape abusive relationships is a bad thing. I mean the villains are so lame they had to borrow Batman villains just to try to balance it out by bringing Poison Ivy and The Joker into it.

While it's the first and likely the last Wonder Woman that I'll read I will say the art is really good though.

[Roland Baldwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art style completely eclipses the story in this. Deodato’s women are lads mags pinups and his men are even bigger than anything Leifeld ever drew. He can draw hands though. The story is completely drowned out by the extreme 90s of it all. There’s a decent story in there somewhere but only just decent.

This is loud, brash and the direct opposite of the Perez era. The Amazons are unlikeable and this especially applies to Hippolyta who is very un-Queenly, it doesn’t make sense and even Diana is extremely lacking in any sense of morality at times.

This is a bad run and I think Wonder Woman should always maintain a more muted and elegant art style to convey her character. Even Death Metal kept her core despite the Heart on Tour stylings of her costume in that story. It’s a loud assault on the eyes and I quite frankly need two paracetamol after that overcooked mess.

Messner-Loebs writing is at times cringeworthy and weak. Barely passable at most.

Only purchase as part of a sale on Comixology or from a bargain bin. Not worth full price in the least.

[T.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, the '90s! Or should I say - Ah, '90s comic book art! Even Wonder Woman ended up in a thong, with thighs bigger than her torso, fighting misshapen musclemen. It's a bit much. But I like the way Mike Deodato draws faces. He's great with expressions. William Messner-Loebs brings back the White Magician and ties several dangling plots together while introducing an arrogant new Wonder Woman, Artemis, and a tragic twist on why she must take Diana's place. An epic of its decade alongside The Death of Superman and Knightfall.

[Joshua Landeros · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little hammy and definitely very showy at times, but overall a great story. I actually enjoyed the brief 'biker' look for Wonder Woman but of course you can't beat the original costume design. In the same vein as Death if Superman and Knightfall, this is a story where the main protagonist falls from Grace and fights their way back to the throne.

Fun read.

[Kaitie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a partial reread.

The art in many spaces feels a lot like Deodato never saw a woman up close before starting the project, which really took away from the story. The writing was lacking in a number of places, and I definitely wanted more from than was available. I don’t know if I’d ever need a re-reread again. Just a middle of the road story with a not so great art style.

[Shawna Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a book originally written the year I was born I really connected with this. The artwork may be silly, the side villains WAY over the top but it's essential reading for Artemis fans and really demonstrates the struggle of bringing Amazonian ideals to the modern world. Highky recommended!

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reprint of a selection of Wonder Woman comics that chronicle Diana's loss of her title.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Messier-Loebs is one of my favorite comic writers, but I find it difficult to understand why Deodato’s art has ever been popular.

[Jason Tanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can get past the hypersexualized depictions of nearly every female in the book, it's actually a pretty good story.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on the origin of WW

[Viktoriya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comic book. Very interesting. Do not need a lot of background information to understand the story line, however, you will need to know who Wonder Woman is and some of her origin storiy.

[Rocco Ricca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was straight up 90s fun. I simply had too much fun reading this book. Is it very good? No, but that’s kinda why it’s good, maybe?

[Ektor1714 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Muy mala caracterización de los personajes y el diseño de las personajes son literalmente un copia y pega entre sí. Al menos se lee rápido:/

[Victor Orozco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty Hot.

Wonder Woman by Mike Deodato collects the William Messner-Loebs collection of stories, in particular, the Contest which leads into Artemis of Bana-Mighdall's brief turn as Wonder Woman. But Mike Deodato's art takes precedence and it shows in this 300 plus pages of Wonder Woman comics from the mid-1990s.

Mike Deodato, once employed by noted comic book artist Rob Liefeld, who's notable for his, well how can I describe it - unbelievable renderings of the human body. Humans with anatomy that are supremely unwieldy. Men with large muscled chests, arms, and legs. Women demurely posing their curvy long legs, large breasts, slim waists and wearing next to nothing. I think I remember Mike Deodato once having said that he noticed that the fewer women wore one issue, the greater the comic book sales. Hence his heroines wore thong leotards showing cleavage and posing sexy while doing something ordinary. Not really complaining but I can understand why he was chosen, especially with a great story-writer in Messner-Loebs.

The story itself is a very good one. Coming around the time after Superman was killed and challenged by four men claiming to be Superman and Batman's injury and his own replacement, this story recounts Wonder Woman having trouble as she herself is replaced by another.

Basically, it is around the time Wonder Woman has completed 50 years in comics and approaching 100 issues into her Post-Crisis version. Something's got to give and that something has got to be special. In this case its an interesting revelation over Hippolyta's past involving her sister's actual reason for exiling herself from Themiscyra.

A tribe of Amazons known as the Bana-Mighdall, are a group of female warriors that aren't immortal and must live amongst mankind with hostility and savagery but are finally given a chance to prove themselves to their ancient tribe on Themiscrya with a new contest to determine the next Wonder Woman.

Its a very good story and one that I have always hoped would become a collection. The art is fantastic and the story is magnificent. There are some flaws here and there but it truly is a jewel among other great Wonder Woman stories and I am glad to have it.

Absolutely Wonderful.