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Wonder Woman (1987) (Collected Editions) #10
Wonder Woman by John Byrne: Book One
In the 1990s, one of the most celebrated creators in comics history--the legendary John Byrne--had one of the greatest runs of all time on the Amazon Warrior!
Wonder Woman has built herself a fresh start in Gateway City. But when what seems to be an ordinary heist gone wrong turns out to be something much more sinister, Diana finds herself trapped and tortured on the hell planet Apokolips!
Just as terrifying, Wonder Woman learns of a deeper connection between the New Gods of Apokolips and New Genesis and those of her homeland of Themyscira. After escaping and returning to Paradise Island to search for answers, Diana finds her former home under attack, and only Wonder Woman can lead her sister Amazons against the forces of Darkseid himself.
But Diana is still needed in Gateway City. Allies and enemies alike await her return to her new home, as does a new protege in need of Wonder Woman's mentorship--Wonder Girl!
Following up his reinvention of the Man of Steel, acclaimed writer and artist John Byrne (SUPERMAN, X-Men, Fantastic Four) weaves a new beginning for Wonder Woman! WONDER WOMAN BY JOHN BYRNE BOOK ONE collects the classic stories from WONDER WOMAN #101-114.
Wonder Woman has built herself a fresh start in Gateway City. But when what seems to be an ordinary heist gone wrong turns out to be something much more sinister, Diana finds herself trapped and tortured on the hell planet Apokolips!
Just as terrifying, Wonder Woman learns of a deeper connection between the New Gods of Apokolips and New Genesis and those of her homeland of Themyscira. After escaping and returning to Paradise Island to search for answers, Diana finds her former home under attack, and only Wonder Woman can lead her sister Amazons against the forces of Darkseid himself.
But Diana is still needed in Gateway City. Allies and enemies alike await her return to her new home, as does a new protege in need of Wonder Woman's mentorship--Wonder Girl!
Following up his reinvention of the Man of Steel, acclaimed writer and artist John Byrne (SUPERMAN, X-Men, Fantastic Four) weaves a new beginning for Wonder Woman! WONDER WOMAN BY JOHN BYRNE BOOK ONE collects the classic stories from WONDER WOMAN #101-114.
300 pages, Hardcover
First published June 6, 2017
10 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
John Byrne
2,955 books359 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
February 26, 2022
Ever since discovering the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thanks to a random yard sale purchase, I have been consuming superhero stories like crazy. Between comics both old and new, blockbuster movies, television shows both live-action and animated, print novels, and possibly other media, I've seen many of DC and Marvel's beloved do-gooders in various forms.
So, how was this one?
On the plus side, I have to give the writers credit for not adding sex jokes or excessive profanity. True, there were a few expletives, but not nearly as many as there were in most of the comic omnibuses I've read in recent years. Also, the violence was not bloody.
Unfortunately, some of the storylines went on for too long, and the last issue was rather creepy and disturbing.
So, despite it being a bit different than the other modern comic omnibuses I've read, it still was a mixed bag.
So, how was this one?
On the plus side, I have to give the writers credit for not adding sex jokes or excessive profanity. True, there were a few expletives, but not nearly as many as there were in most of the comic omnibuses I've read in recent years. Also, the violence was not bloody.
Unfortunately, some of the storylines went on for too long, and the last issue was rather creepy and disturbing.
So, despite it being a bit different than the other modern comic omnibuses I've read, it still was a mixed bag.
Read
July 8, 2018The book is dated in some ways but still fun if you approach it from that angle. Wonder Woman deals with a number of outlandish foes in this extended tale.
The artwork is brilliantly optimistic and the stories are above average to good (mostly).
The dialogue is painfully on the nose and there's too much on the page. I found myself skimming said dialogue in the latter half of this graphic novel.
Some interesting ideas and character introductions barely make this a 3 star.
MY GRADE: C plus to B minus.
The artwork is brilliantly optimistic and the stories are above average to good (mostly).
The dialogue is painfully on the nose and there's too much on the page. I found myself skimming said dialogue in the latter half of this graphic novel.
Some interesting ideas and character introductions barely make this a 3 star.
MY GRADE: C plus to B minus.
August 21, 2020
This actually held up better than I thought it would. Wonder Woman moves to San Francisco (I mean Gateway City.) after Artemis dies while Wonder Woman. The initial arc where she takes on Darkseid is actually pretty great. Then she meets a lot of obscure mystical characters while facing Morgan Le Fey. The third arc about a kid who is brought back as a computer program is terrible. Cassie Sandsmark makes her first appearance as Wonder Girl in this, dressed in a goofy homemade costume. She was super annoying. Byrne's art is reliably good.
January 28, 2018
This is not a great run for our Amazon heroine.
Let me get one thing out the way: I really don’t like the way Diana is drawn. A lot of that is probably due to a general dislike for the 90s style of drawing superheroes, including the billowing hair that grows longer or shorter, depending on how much room there is in the frame. But there’s something weird to me about Diana’s face—her lips are overlarge for her face, and she ends up looking slightly shifty in several panels. She is also highly sexualized.
Byrne’s characterization starts off shaky. Diana has relocated to Gateway City, a place that seems down on its luck, and it appears that she’s going to be more like a Batman-type vigilante—intervening in street battles between thugs and cops. That in itself is weird, as that is not how Diana saw herself or her mission. Then, when one of the thugs won’t talk, she carries him off from police custody and coerces him using her lasso. The scene felt like one of those ones where Batman threatens a thug with physical harm in order to get information. Then she does a little “undercover” work in an underworld bar (she’s in plainclothes but doesn’t hesitate to use her supernatural strength), and rescues a cop who is himself undercover. As she moves to reveal the release for a hidden vault, the bartender, from about a foot away, pulls out a shotgun. Instead of having Diana disarm him, as she could easily do, Byrne has the cop shoot the bartender. Diana thanks the officer, saying that she didn’t think she could have blocked the bullets with her bracelets (?), and then just ignores the bartender, who is lying either dead or wounded behind the bar. This is NOT Diana.
Byrne launches into a story of Darkseid invading Themiscyra, which goes nowhere. We learn a new, if somewhat unclear, origin for the Olympian gods, the same energy that destroyed the old gods, resulting in the creation of the New Gods, New Genesis, and Apokolips, created the Olympians (or altered humans in a way that permitted their descendants to obtain god-like powers—I think that’s the upshot of the revision, but it wasn’t all that clear). So Darkseid tries to torture Diana for the Olympian’s location and, when that doesn’t work, invades Themiscyra. Why does he want to know? We never find out. And the battle doesn’t go anywhere. Diana arrives to find the capitol city in ruins, no Amazons in sight. She then slaughters most of Darkseid’s troopers, while he just stands around doing nothing. Then the Amazons appear, Darkseid summons an armada of heavily armed flying ships, and there’s a lot more death and destruction. Byrne’s narration suggests that Themiscyra is being completely devastated, but, in fact, it’s a stalemate. And then Darkseid leaves. And that’s pretty much that.
Oh, and we learn the name of the officer, about 3 issues in. He’s Mike Schorr, and he’s just not that interesting. He is given the most conventional things to say (for example, when Darkseid and Desaad are torturing Diana, he tells them to torture him, instead, and calls them “creeps”). And Darkseid decides he’s amusing and doesn’t immediately crush him like a bug. So bad characterization on the part of a new character results in bad characterization on the part of an established one, all because, otherwise, Byrne would have to kill off someone no one has any allegiance to and come up with a more interesting character.
There’s a story about Morgan Le Fay trying to make herself immortal, and another about an AI that doesn’t realize that it’s affecting reality. The latter storyline is an excuse to have Diana fight heroes and villains (Flash, Sinestro, Doomsday) without any consequences. It’s lazy writing—it does nothing to advance the character.
Probably Byrne’s most lasting contribution to the WW legacy is the introduction of Cassandra Sandsmark, who, eventually, becomes the new Wonder Girl. I’ve liked how the older Cassie is portrayed (in the Gods of Gotham and Rise of the Olympian arcs, for example), but, here, I just find her irritating. She’s the plucky 14 year old who is weirdly drawn (way too short in comparison to the adults, her face is sometimes drawn like a boy’s and sometimes like she’s much older than she is), and is far too overconfident (she always wants to run off and join Diana in whatever monumental battle WW is engaged in). And what’s bizarre is that Diana encourages this. Diana was always protective of Vanessa Kapatelis, and she appreciated the maternal concerns and fears shown by Julia, so it makes no sense to me that she’d let Cassie try out the sandals of Hermes without getting Helena’s permission or advocate to Helena that Cassie should be trained as a warrior.
This is a disappointing run on a great character. I guess some things eventually paid off in the hands of other writers, but this isn’t worth reading for its own sake.
Let me get one thing out the way: I really don’t like the way Diana is drawn. A lot of that is probably due to a general dislike for the 90s style of drawing superheroes, including the billowing hair that grows longer or shorter, depending on how much room there is in the frame. But there’s something weird to me about Diana’s face—her lips are overlarge for her face, and she ends up looking slightly shifty in several panels. She is also highly sexualized.
Byrne’s characterization starts off shaky. Diana has relocated to Gateway City, a place that seems down on its luck, and it appears that she’s going to be more like a Batman-type vigilante—intervening in street battles between thugs and cops. That in itself is weird, as that is not how Diana saw herself or her mission. Then, when one of the thugs won’t talk, she carries him off from police custody and coerces him using her lasso. The scene felt like one of those ones where Batman threatens a thug with physical harm in order to get information. Then she does a little “undercover” work in an underworld bar (she’s in plainclothes but doesn’t hesitate to use her supernatural strength), and rescues a cop who is himself undercover. As she moves to reveal the release for a hidden vault, the bartender, from about a foot away, pulls out a shotgun. Instead of having Diana disarm him, as she could easily do, Byrne has the cop shoot the bartender. Diana thanks the officer, saying that she didn’t think she could have blocked the bullets with her bracelets (?), and then just ignores the bartender, who is lying either dead or wounded behind the bar. This is NOT Diana.
Byrne launches into a story of Darkseid invading Themiscyra, which goes nowhere. We learn a new, if somewhat unclear, origin for the Olympian gods, the same energy that destroyed the old gods, resulting in the creation of the New Gods, New Genesis, and Apokolips, created the Olympians (or altered humans in a way that permitted their descendants to obtain god-like powers—I think that’s the upshot of the revision, but it wasn’t all that clear). So Darkseid tries to torture Diana for the Olympian’s location and, when that doesn’t work, invades Themiscyra. Why does he want to know? We never find out. And the battle doesn’t go anywhere. Diana arrives to find the capitol city in ruins, no Amazons in sight. She then slaughters most of Darkseid’s troopers, while he just stands around doing nothing. Then the Amazons appear, Darkseid summons an armada of heavily armed flying ships, and there’s a lot more death and destruction. Byrne’s narration suggests that Themiscyra is being completely devastated, but, in fact, it’s a stalemate. And then Darkseid leaves. And that’s pretty much that.
Oh, and we learn the name of the officer, about 3 issues in. He’s Mike Schorr, and he’s just not that interesting. He is given the most conventional things to say (for example, when Darkseid and Desaad are torturing Diana, he tells them to torture him, instead, and calls them “creeps”). And Darkseid decides he’s amusing and doesn’t immediately crush him like a bug. So bad characterization on the part of a new character results in bad characterization on the part of an established one, all because, otherwise, Byrne would have to kill off someone no one has any allegiance to and come up with a more interesting character.
There’s a story about Morgan Le Fay trying to make herself immortal, and another about an AI that doesn’t realize that it’s affecting reality. The latter storyline is an excuse to have Diana fight heroes and villains (Flash, Sinestro, Doomsday) without any consequences. It’s lazy writing—it does nothing to advance the character.
Probably Byrne’s most lasting contribution to the WW legacy is the introduction of Cassandra Sandsmark, who, eventually, becomes the new Wonder Girl. I’ve liked how the older Cassie is portrayed (in the Gods of Gotham and Rise of the Olympian arcs, for example), but, here, I just find her irritating. She’s the plucky 14 year old who is weirdly drawn (way too short in comparison to the adults, her face is sometimes drawn like a boy’s and sometimes like she’s much older than she is), and is far too overconfident (she always wants to run off and join Diana in whatever monumental battle WW is engaged in). And what’s bizarre is that Diana encourages this. Diana was always protective of Vanessa Kapatelis, and she appreciated the maternal concerns and fears shown by Julia, so it makes no sense to me that she’d let Cassie try out the sandals of Hermes without getting Helena’s permission or advocate to Helena that Cassie should be trained as a warrior.
This is a disappointing run on a great character. I guess some things eventually paid off in the hands of other writers, but this isn’t worth reading for its own sake.
July 20, 2024
Awespome
Truly john Byrne a favorite of mine and always will be. Next volume 2.
I was you now.old. thanks john.
Truly john Byrne a favorite of mine and always will be. Next volume 2.
I was you now.old. thanks john.
August 26, 2022
Wanted to like this more than I did. Hopefully the next one is better.
August 21, 2020
These stories were not bad. But man, they sure were not good.
First John Byrne brings in New Gods and Apocalypse. His twist on it is the New Gods didn't come from the Old Gods, but the Old Gods and New Gods all came from the same power source at the same time and Darkside wants their power.
Then a boring story where a computer that, well, it's a kid makes clones of Flash, Sinestro, and Doomsday to fight wonder woman. But he thinks it's a game.
And they introduce Cassie Sandmark as wonder girl, but nothing about her resembles the Cassie Wonder Girl from Titans or other books I've seen her in over the years. I would skip unless you are a Huge Byrne fan or want to see where the current wonder girl came from.
First John Byrne brings in New Gods and Apocalypse. His twist on it is the New Gods didn't come from the Old Gods, but the Old Gods and New Gods all came from the same power source at the same time and Darkside wants their power.
Then a boring story where a computer that, well, it's a kid makes clones of Flash, Sinestro, and Doomsday to fight wonder woman. But he thinks it's a game.
And they introduce Cassie Sandmark as wonder girl, but nothing about her resembles the Cassie Wonder Girl from Titans or other books I've seen her in over the years. I would skip unless you are a Huge Byrne fan or want to see where the current wonder girl came from.
February 7, 2025
Never read any Wonder Woman comics so I picked this up at the library. I like over the top cosmic/magic type superhero stuff so I figured I'd give Wonder woman a go since she fits the bill with magic/gods/darkseid etc...after reading this I've come to the conclusion that DC just doesn't do Cosmic well. Because both Superman and Wonder Woman are just bland. I'm going to try one more time with Green Lantern but I'm not optimistic.
DCs street level stuff is top notch but their over the top stuff is just not great.
DCs street level stuff is top notch but their over the top stuff is just not great.
November 8, 2020
John Bryne is a pretty fantastic artist. I first ran into his penciling through the work of She-Hulk which arguably was a very different comic than Wonder Woman -- although there was much in common (an Amazon with amazing strength) -- the main difference has to do with how She-Hulk often broke the 4th wall, presenting odd twists in the story, as She-Hulk had a dialogue with the "author"
Most of this doesn't really challenge Wonder Woman as she is not a "dark" character, nor does she face crisises of consciousness. Rather, she upholds the ideals of a superhero, being kind, gentle, and yet aggressive in her humanism. The result is a comic that is fairly light to read, and enjoyable with many "classic" adventures.
I also like the penciling, as it is dynamic and keeps my interest on the page despite the fairly standard kind of stories presented here.
Most of this doesn't really challenge Wonder Woman as she is not a "dark" character, nor does she face crisises of consciousness. Rather, she upholds the ideals of a superhero, being kind, gentle, and yet aggressive in her humanism. The result is a comic that is fairly light to read, and enjoyable with many "classic" adventures.
I also like the penciling, as it is dynamic and keeps my interest on the page despite the fairly standard kind of stories presented here.
August 13, 2025
Es una run genéricaa de superhéroe , no se siente como Wonder Woman, no sé sí continuar con esta run. Son tipo mini arcos "épicos" muy de superheróes, pero sin la sustancia de Wonder Woman. La historia no lleva a ningún lado. No sé si las runs de Byrne con otros personajes sean buenas, pero ésta en particular no mucho. Es un cómic más de un vigilante "callejero" que una portavoz y embajadora de la paz. Es un: ¿Cómo sería wonder woman si fuera una vigilante?
January 14, 2025
I love John Byrne, he is a comics Icon. However, these Wonder Woman stories felt pretty generic.
November 27, 2023
Having read the Loebs Wonder Woman run and its very abrupt ending I thought to myself, OK, I wonder how they followed that up. And the answer is this mid-90s John Byrne run, which is a great deal worse, but is also bad in quite interesting ways.
The cliffhanger at the end of this volume involves Diana being told that she's hardening, gradually turning back into clay - if you'd followed Byrne since the 80s, you'd be forgiven for feeling the same had happened to him. Always a "back to basics" kind of writer, his approach had hardened by this point - scour the character of the encumbrance of recent continuity and fix the 'mistakes' of others, while restoring them to a basic, robust form. Destroy in order to recreate. So Wonder Woman gets a fresh start in a new location (Gateway City, a DC version of San Francisco) with a new supporting cast, the Loeb run goes almost unmentioned, and Byrne makes it clear that the internal politics of Themyscira will play no more part in his run by having Darkseid reduce the island to rubble. It feels a bit brusque but it's deck-clearing for Byrne's own vision of Wonder Woman which is...
...well, here's the problem. He's getting the character back to her essence and it honestly feels like he has no idea what that is. I don't get any sense that Byrne has a vision for Diana, her motivations, her mission, or why she exists as a character at all. In a way that's a relief - in his Fantastic Four run, Byrne had a liking for the kind of "character development" in which female characters are abused and humiliated to breaking point then 'come back stronger'. There's some of that in these stories - she spends an issue on Desaad's torture rack - but in general the problem is her passiveness as a lead character, because Byrne simply doesn't appear to have much interest in her.
It's an unusual situation: a creator determined to take a character back to basics but with no sense of what those basics might actually be*. Fortunately (for him if not us), Byrne has a fallback strategy - if in doubt, turn to Jack Kirby. Kirby didn't write or draw Wonder Woman, but he *did* fill the DC Universe with his characters, and Byrne's book is at its liveliest when he's writing Darkseid or The Demon, with Diana essentially a spectator.
On an artistic and storytelling level, Byrne is a seasoned pro and the book is an enjoyably easy read: personally I don't think Byrne inking himself looks great, and as his art's progressed since the 80s his compositions have got simpler (very effective in action scenes) but his detail work has got scratchier and fussier (maybe there really was a 90s quota of extraneous lines to fill). Still, "highly readable" should be a minimum bar to clear, not an item of praise. And it's easy to see why this run wasn't well received, waning creator star power or no, after Perez' loving re-creation of the character and Loebs' thoughtful explorations of her philosophy. Its workaday blandness stands as an indictment of the flaws and risks of the whole "essence of the character" method of comics writing, one which would become increasingly dominant at DC as the decades progressed.
*The one hint as to a wider plan we get in this volume is the introduction of a new Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, who has gone on to be 90s John Byrne's one standout contribution to wider DC continuity. In this volume she's a generic spunky kid and not a little irritating, but as with Darkseid, the book sparks into flickering life during her scenes in a way it doesn't elsewhere.
The cliffhanger at the end of this volume involves Diana being told that she's hardening, gradually turning back into clay - if you'd followed Byrne since the 80s, you'd be forgiven for feeling the same had happened to him. Always a "back to basics" kind of writer, his approach had hardened by this point - scour the character of the encumbrance of recent continuity and fix the 'mistakes' of others, while restoring them to a basic, robust form. Destroy in order to recreate. So Wonder Woman gets a fresh start in a new location (Gateway City, a DC version of San Francisco) with a new supporting cast, the Loeb run goes almost unmentioned, and Byrne makes it clear that the internal politics of Themyscira will play no more part in his run by having Darkseid reduce the island to rubble. It feels a bit brusque but it's deck-clearing for Byrne's own vision of Wonder Woman which is...
...well, here's the problem. He's getting the character back to her essence and it honestly feels like he has no idea what that is. I don't get any sense that Byrne has a vision for Diana, her motivations, her mission, or why she exists as a character at all. In a way that's a relief - in his Fantastic Four run, Byrne had a liking for the kind of "character development" in which female characters are abused and humiliated to breaking point then 'come back stronger'. There's some of that in these stories - she spends an issue on Desaad's torture rack - but in general the problem is her passiveness as a lead character, because Byrne simply doesn't appear to have much interest in her.
It's an unusual situation: a creator determined to take a character back to basics but with no sense of what those basics might actually be*. Fortunately (for him if not us), Byrne has a fallback strategy - if in doubt, turn to Jack Kirby. Kirby didn't write or draw Wonder Woman, but he *did* fill the DC Universe with his characters, and Byrne's book is at its liveliest when he's writing Darkseid or The Demon, with Diana essentially a spectator.
On an artistic and storytelling level, Byrne is a seasoned pro and the book is an enjoyably easy read: personally I don't think Byrne inking himself looks great, and as his art's progressed since the 80s his compositions have got simpler (very effective in action scenes) but his detail work has got scratchier and fussier (maybe there really was a 90s quota of extraneous lines to fill). Still, "highly readable" should be a minimum bar to clear, not an item of praise. And it's easy to see why this run wasn't well received, waning creator star power or no, after Perez' loving re-creation of the character and Loebs' thoughtful explorations of her philosophy. Its workaday blandness stands as an indictment of the flaws and risks of the whole "essence of the character" method of comics writing, one which would become increasingly dominant at DC as the decades progressed.
*The one hint as to a wider plan we get in this volume is the introduction of a new Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, who has gone on to be 90s John Byrne's one standout contribution to wider DC continuity. In this volume she's a generic spunky kid and not a little irritating, but as with Darkseid, the book sparks into flickering life during her scenes in a way it doesn't elsewhere.
May 5, 2022
For fans of George Perez's Wonder Woman, I think John Byrne's take will be much more digestible than William Messner-Loebs' was. That's because Byrne takes aspects of the 1980s Wonder Woman and incorporates them into his work --- his Diana is very proud of her Amazonian heritage to the point of holding lectures on ancient Greek history at a museum, and she finds the time to change out of her armor every once in a while to don more suitable clothes for everyday life.
The book starts off with a out-of-the-blue attack from Darkseid that leaves Paradise Island and the Amazon population in ruins (again...). Byrne's desire to wreck Themyscira and kill a major chunk of the population was just plain disrespectful. Does he think I want to see thousands of innocent warrior women get killed in one chapter, then see Diana go to work at a museum with a smile on her face in the next? At least make an event THAT disastrous actually affect the story and not just be an eye-catching first chapter for his series. It felt like something Sid from Toy Story would write.
Byrne's psychopathic side comes out again in the last issue which features Julia and Vanessa Kapatelis. The entire chapter is just Doctor Pyscho making Vanessa live nightmare after nightmare until she finally figures out how to break out of his control and come back to reality (this exact plot took place in a George Perez WW issue...just saying). The art in this issue was outstanding! But again...Vanessa Kapatelis is such a beloved character. What's the point of recycling an old plotline just to write an entire issue of her being tormented and tortured for no reason? I mean, at least have Wonder Woman show up at the end and spend some time with her. I guess Wonder Woman is just too busy with her Vanessa replacement, Cassandra, in Gateway City, huh?
On that note, I find it frustrating that Byrne completely recycles the characters of Julia and Vanessa from Perez' run. In my opinion, if Diana is going to get all soft and fuzzy with a mom and daughter in patriarch's world (I love it when she does <3), I'd rather it be with Julia and Venessa and not a cheap, younger copy. However, I did enjoy the Wonder Girl/Cassandra origin story.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable read. The art was great (much better than Mike Deodato's), and the story after the first few chapters was really exciting! I'm planning to read the next book as soon as I can find it.
The book starts off with a out-of-the-blue attack from Darkseid that leaves Paradise Island and the Amazon population in ruins (again...). Byrne's desire to wreck Themyscira and kill a major chunk of the population was just plain disrespectful. Does he think I want to see thousands of innocent warrior women get killed in one chapter, then see Diana go to work at a museum with a smile on her face in the next? At least make an event THAT disastrous actually affect the story and not just be an eye-catching first chapter for his series. It felt like something Sid from Toy Story would write.
Byrne's psychopathic side comes out again in the last issue which features Julia and Vanessa Kapatelis. The entire chapter is just Doctor Pyscho making Vanessa live nightmare after nightmare until she finally figures out how to break out of his control and come back to reality (this exact plot took place in a George Perez WW issue...just saying). The art in this issue was outstanding! But again...Vanessa Kapatelis is such a beloved character. What's the point of recycling an old plotline just to write an entire issue of her being tormented and tortured for no reason? I mean, at least have Wonder Woman show up at the end and spend some time with her. I guess Wonder Woman is just too busy with her Vanessa replacement, Cassandra, in Gateway City, huh?
On that note, I find it frustrating that Byrne completely recycles the characters of Julia and Vanessa from Perez' run. In my opinion, if Diana is going to get all soft and fuzzy with a mom and daughter in patriarch's world (I love it when she does <3), I'd rather it be with Julia and Venessa and not a cheap, younger copy. However, I did enjoy the Wonder Girl/Cassandra origin story.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable read. The art was great (much better than Mike Deodato's), and the story after the first few chapters was really exciting! I'm planning to read the next book as soon as I can find it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2018
John Byrne does double-duty as writer and artist on this volume of WW, which finds the sensational Amazon facing off against Darkseid and the might of Apokolips, a few long-dead adversaries, Morgaine Le Fay and an ensorcelled Etrigan, and even the fearsome Doomsday! As if Diana weren’t busy enough, Byrne takes the time to introduce Cassie Sandsmark, the new Wonder Girl. This book is an action-packed delight, almost a “Brave and the Bold” style team-up book for Wonder Woman. I do hope DC continues to collect the rest of this run!
August 7, 2023
I hate that I like this book so much because John Byrne is an awful person but I just couldn’t help it. The first arc with Darkseid was a joy to read and moving WW to a new city was a breath of fresh air. The book isn’t perfect, I hated Diana’s ‘sorta’ romantic interest with the police officer, and I found it weird that Byrne basically just recreated the dynamic of Perez’s run with his OC’s at the museum but overall this book had some really fun superhero stories with some really great art! I’m excited to read vol 2!
September 2, 2018
Containing Wonder Woman #101-#114, numbering from post Crisis on Infinite Earths. John Byrne takes over the writing and penciling chores. Diana sets up in Gateway City, stumbles upon Darkseid, fights Morgan LeFey, and battles super powered heroes and villains powered by a kid's imagination. One of the key things here is the introduction of Cassie Sandsmark who slowly takes on the role of the new Wonder Girl.
April 28, 2020
As far as I am aware this is my first John Byrne. And...it was okay. 🤷♂️
It’s sorta typical 90s art style that I’m not a fan of, but it’s on the better side of 90s art, at least. There’s some weird writing too that’s also a product of its time.
Overall it was fine. Nothing revolutionary or anything so I’m really interested to read his Man of Steel if the hardcover ever gets released to see how that compares.
It’s sorta typical 90s art style that I’m not a fan of, but it’s on the better side of 90s art, at least. There’s some weird writing too that’s also a product of its time.
Overall it was fine. Nothing revolutionary or anything so I’m really interested to read his Man of Steel if the hardcover ever gets released to see how that compares.
May 2, 2025
I dont enjoy the first page of each issue, where Byrne does a text heavy recap and tries his hand at being poeticly descriptive.
darkseid is a great addition here. tying Olympian gods to fourth world/new gods is interesting. I dotn feel they need explaining but when characters and worlds exist for so many decades it's inevitable that people will want to exposit.
not sure if it is the inks or colours, or scans, but it's a dirtier look to the art. still strong art by byrne but not his best.
darkseid is a great addition here. tying Olympian gods to fourth world/new gods is interesting. I dotn feel they need explaining but when characters and worlds exist for so many decades it's inevitable that people will want to exposit.
not sure if it is the inks or colours, or scans, but it's a dirtier look to the art. still strong art by byrne but not his best.
May 7, 2020
John Byrne's '80s-style approach to comics may seem a little dated by modern standards, but nevertheless these are perfectly serviceable stories. But the real treat here is Byrne's masterful artwork. His command of anatomy and perspective is utterly flawless, and his faces (often a source of criticism) are varied and expressive.
June 25, 2017
Good story with some stunning art.
July 8, 2017
When he's not destroying beloved characters are running his mouth acting the crazy fool, John Byrne is a pretty good comicbooker.
September 18, 2017
Decent, not fantastic.
November 4, 2017
An enjoyable read. There some good stories here but not so great.
February 23, 2020
Love the style and stories !
May 4, 2020
John Byrne is a legend but this didn't age well.
June 29, 2020
Probably not the best Wonder Woman collection but I am a Byrne fan so I enjoyed it well enough.
April 15, 2021
Wonder Woman by John Byrne fun action packed adventure stories.
August 22, 2025
Wildly weird stories that are all over the place at times but very enjoyable.
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