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Wonder Woman (1987) (Single Issues) #1
Wonder Woman (1987-2006) #1
Master comics storyteller George Perez (NEW TEEN TITANS) revitalized Wonder Woman in the mid-'80s with this stunning new origin for the Amazonian Princess! What terrible event led to the birth of the Amazons, and how will Wonder Woman fare as their agent against the vile Ares? Find out here!
36 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 1, 1987
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76 people want to read
About the author
George Pérez
1,496 books208 followersGeorge Pérez (June 9, 1954 – May 6, 2022) was an American comic books artist and writer, known for his work on various titles, including Avengers, Teen Titans and Wonder Woman.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 9, 2024
Absolutely amazing reimagining of wonder woman’s origin. It really has set the bar for Wonder Woman as we know her today, and has such deep and fleshed out story weaved through Greek myth.
In this story we follow the Gods on Olympus as Artemis, Athena, and a few of the female gods, aided by Hermes and Apollo, have a plan to reinvigorate human’s belief in them by creating a new race of mortals. For too long they have seen the women of the Earth fall to men’s insecurity and folly and have a plan to combine their powers to create something new. But ares is completely against the idea, and believes they would be better to conquer the humans instead. Zeus refuses to take sides in the matter and storms off instead. This leaves Artemis, Athena, and the others to band together themselves. They make their way to Tartarus, and the ferryman takes their group where they need to go…the cavern of souls. From here they are able to take the lights, the souls of women cut short due to man’s fear and ignorance, and give them a new life. Raining from the heavens gives birth through Gaea, and the amazons are born. Their purpose is to lead humanity in the ways of virtue and to teach men to worship the Gods and to know them better. Athena grants them wisdom, Artemis grants them the skill of the hunt, Demeter shall a make their fields fruitful, Hesita shall build a warm city, and Aphrodite shall grant the gift of love. They will find strength in these gifts as their sacred birthright. Hippolyte shall be queen with Antiope ruling by her side.
As this new race of humans are born, Ares continues to plan in the shadows, and as such brings about the Amazon atrocities. Through the tempting of Hercules and his army, Hercules is convinced that the growing power of the amazons is in direct contention to his own and that they continue to belittle his power. As such he decides to show up and wipe them all out. Through their oracle Menalippe, she foretells of the army that will reach their gates. As such the queen meets with Hercules at the border of their lands and asks for peace instead of a foolish war. Hercules cannot believe that a woman would try and lead him. The queen admits he is stronger in brute force, but her wisdom and art of battle will show she is superior. As such Hercules attempts to take her down head on, which allows her to parry and throw him aside. Using the strength of Zeus he then uproots a tree and attempts to use that instead. She is again able to get the upper hand and swiftly knock him out. Hercules concedes and appears to be impressed by her action, and decides to take them as allies. It would appear that ares plan failed, until later that night when Hercules poisons the queens drink then uses his army to enslave all of the amazons. This is the darkest point of our heroines, they have been enslaved, beaten, raped and now that Hercules has won he moved on and leaves his men to deal with them.
Within the cells the queen begs the goddesses for forgiveness, and Athena appears to her within the cell. Athena tells her that they have forgotten their purpose and instead of leading humanity they have withdrawn from it. Hippolyte asks for freedom and the strength for revenge. But Athena tells her that vengeance is now the answer. As Athena leaves the guard sees the light from the room appear and disappear, when he goes to investigate, the queen uses her strength to rip her chains del. The wall and take out the guard. Leading to her breaking free and freeing the others with her and inciting a large revolt. When it is finally done the enemy has been silenced and they are free. Antiope enjoyed the battle and is ready to ride on and take on Hercules himself. But Hippolyte disagrees, they can never have vengeance like that again, Athena waits for them on the shores of the Aegean. But Antiope and her followers disagree, they would rather follow in the way of ares in order to survive, and as such the group splits.
When our remaining amazons reach the sea they are met with the image of the goddesses. They have failed in their task and as such must now penance. They are to go to an island of paradise that will not be easily discovered by men and no man shall step foot on, and act as jailers for eternity with their newfound immortality. Also as a sign of penance they are forced to wear the gauntlets that once shackled them for their time on the island. Poseidon clears a path for their three month journey. Once they arrive they set out to build, plan, and clear the area. Building halls and sculptures to honor the gods. Centuries pass and although they are immortal, many have died protecting the evil contained on the island.
The amazons know nothing about how life has changed beyond the seas, and in their 30th century of existence the queen goes to the one oracle left that can talk to the gods, Menalippe. Hippolyte feels a yearning within her that she does not understand. The oracle reveals that is the calling of a great destiny. Before they became amazons, they were all women who died in life before. The queen was the only one to die while bearing an unborn child. The yearning is for her child to be born. As instructed the queen goes down to the shore during sunrise, and forms her child out of clay. The last remaining light in the cave of souls is called upon and the power of certain gods and goddesses are put into it. Demeter grabs power and strength of the earth itself. Aphrodite gives her beauty and a loving heart. Athen grants wisdom. Artemis grants the eye of the hunter and unity with beasts. Huesitos grants her sisterhood with fire and that it may open men’s hearts to her. And Hermes gives her speed and the power of flight. All of these powers will be with her and she grows, and she is finally granted the gift of life, and Diana is born!
She grew up on paradise island around the Amazons as the princess. And as she grew older the more powerful and wise she became. But one day tragic news was delivered to the oracle. They are not sure what the power is, but with it ares may consume the earth and even paradise itself, and the gods are not even powerful enough to stop it. They are instructed to choose a champion, proven through a tournament, to head out into the world of man and combat this evil. Diana overheard this conversation and asked her mother to be involved, but the queen refused. But that night will sitting near Athena’s temple, Diana heard her voice and was instructed to join the tournament secretly. All of the amazons in the tournament wore helmets to hide their faces so that no one would act out of emotion in combat with another. And through all the trials one Amazon was the clear victor and more powerful than the rest. And of course that victor was Diana. She was given silver gauntlets to set herself apart. The queen had to her over her initial shock and trust this was the will of the gods. As her final test to prove she was ready to go into the world of me. She was faced with what they call the flashing thunder. In reality it’s a handgun, and seeing Ana Amazon oracle wielding it is a hilarious image, but it gives Diana a taste of this power and how to deflect it. It does still raise a tease and question about how it got to the island in the first place, but that will be answered later. Now it is time for Diana to claim her armor and head into the word of man as the Amazon’s champion! What an amazing start!
In this story we follow the Gods on Olympus as Artemis, Athena, and a few of the female gods, aided by Hermes and Apollo, have a plan to reinvigorate human’s belief in them by creating a new race of mortals. For too long they have seen the women of the Earth fall to men’s insecurity and folly and have a plan to combine their powers to create something new. But ares is completely against the idea, and believes they would be better to conquer the humans instead. Zeus refuses to take sides in the matter and storms off instead. This leaves Artemis, Athena, and the others to band together themselves. They make their way to Tartarus, and the ferryman takes their group where they need to go…the cavern of souls. From here they are able to take the lights, the souls of women cut short due to man’s fear and ignorance, and give them a new life. Raining from the heavens gives birth through Gaea, and the amazons are born. Their purpose is to lead humanity in the ways of virtue and to teach men to worship the Gods and to know them better. Athena grants them wisdom, Artemis grants them the skill of the hunt, Demeter shall a make their fields fruitful, Hesita shall build a warm city, and Aphrodite shall grant the gift of love. They will find strength in these gifts as their sacred birthright. Hippolyte shall be queen with Antiope ruling by her side.
As this new race of humans are born, Ares continues to plan in the shadows, and as such brings about the Amazon atrocities. Through the tempting of Hercules and his army, Hercules is convinced that the growing power of the amazons is in direct contention to his own and that they continue to belittle his power. As such he decides to show up and wipe them all out. Through their oracle Menalippe, she foretells of the army that will reach their gates. As such the queen meets with Hercules at the border of their lands and asks for peace instead of a foolish war. Hercules cannot believe that a woman would try and lead him. The queen admits he is stronger in brute force, but her wisdom and art of battle will show she is superior. As such Hercules attempts to take her down head on, which allows her to parry and throw him aside. Using the strength of Zeus he then uproots a tree and attempts to use that instead. She is again able to get the upper hand and swiftly knock him out. Hercules concedes and appears to be impressed by her action, and decides to take them as allies. It would appear that ares plan failed, until later that night when Hercules poisons the queens drink then uses his army to enslave all of the amazons. This is the darkest point of our heroines, they have been enslaved, beaten, raped and now that Hercules has won he moved on and leaves his men to deal with them.
Within the cells the queen begs the goddesses for forgiveness, and Athena appears to her within the cell. Athena tells her that they have forgotten their purpose and instead of leading humanity they have withdrawn from it. Hippolyte asks for freedom and the strength for revenge. But Athena tells her that vengeance is now the answer. As Athena leaves the guard sees the light from the room appear and disappear, when he goes to investigate, the queen uses her strength to rip her chains del. The wall and take out the guard. Leading to her breaking free and freeing the others with her and inciting a large revolt. When it is finally done the enemy has been silenced and they are free. Antiope enjoyed the battle and is ready to ride on and take on Hercules himself. But Hippolyte disagrees, they can never have vengeance like that again, Athena waits for them on the shores of the Aegean. But Antiope and her followers disagree, they would rather follow in the way of ares in order to survive, and as such the group splits.
When our remaining amazons reach the sea they are met with the image of the goddesses. They have failed in their task and as such must now penance. They are to go to an island of paradise that will not be easily discovered by men and no man shall step foot on, and act as jailers for eternity with their newfound immortality. Also as a sign of penance they are forced to wear the gauntlets that once shackled them for their time on the island. Poseidon clears a path for their three month journey. Once they arrive they set out to build, plan, and clear the area. Building halls and sculptures to honor the gods. Centuries pass and although they are immortal, many have died protecting the evil contained on the island.
The amazons know nothing about how life has changed beyond the seas, and in their 30th century of existence the queen goes to the one oracle left that can talk to the gods, Menalippe. Hippolyte feels a yearning within her that she does not understand. The oracle reveals that is the calling of a great destiny. Before they became amazons, they were all women who died in life before. The queen was the only one to die while bearing an unborn child. The yearning is for her child to be born. As instructed the queen goes down to the shore during sunrise, and forms her child out of clay. The last remaining light in the cave of souls is called upon and the power of certain gods and goddesses are put into it. Demeter grabs power and strength of the earth itself. Aphrodite gives her beauty and a loving heart. Athen grants wisdom. Artemis grants the eye of the hunter and unity with beasts. Huesitos grants her sisterhood with fire and that it may open men’s hearts to her. And Hermes gives her speed and the power of flight. All of these powers will be with her and she grows, and she is finally granted the gift of life, and Diana is born!
She grew up on paradise island around the Amazons as the princess. And as she grew older the more powerful and wise she became. But one day tragic news was delivered to the oracle. They are not sure what the power is, but with it ares may consume the earth and even paradise itself, and the gods are not even powerful enough to stop it. They are instructed to choose a champion, proven through a tournament, to head out into the world of man and combat this evil. Diana overheard this conversation and asked her mother to be involved, but the queen refused. But that night will sitting near Athena’s temple, Diana heard her voice and was instructed to join the tournament secretly. All of the amazons in the tournament wore helmets to hide their faces so that no one would act out of emotion in combat with another. And through all the trials one Amazon was the clear victor and more powerful than the rest. And of course that victor was Diana. She was given silver gauntlets to set herself apart. The queen had to her over her initial shock and trust this was the will of the gods. As her final test to prove she was ready to go into the world of me. She was faced with what they call the flashing thunder. In reality it’s a handgun, and seeing Ana Amazon oracle wielding it is a hilarious image, but it gives Diana a taste of this power and how to deflect it. It does still raise a tease and question about how it got to the island in the first place, but that will be answered later. Now it is time for Diana to claim her armor and head into the word of man as the Amazon’s champion! What an amazing start!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2021
Karen, Greg and George really went in deep with Greek mythology (which I love but unfortunately, precisely because of that, I was thinking more about that mythology itself than Wonder Woman’s).
Another pet peeve: they went with the “cavemen were misogynists” idea -which, please, no. It’s more likely that your average Joe nowadays is.
Seeing Philippus use a gun also threw me off since it stands out *a lot* in the Ancient Greece setting.
But I gotta hand it to Pérez, the art tells the story beautifully.
Another pet peeve: they went with the “cavemen were misogynists” idea -which, please, no. It’s more likely that your average Joe nowadays is.
Seeing Philippus use a gun also threw me off since it stands out *a lot* in the Ancient Greece setting.
But I gotta hand it to Pérez, the art tells the story beautifully.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2023
The word I keep returning to is "inspired". Both visually and narratively, this is clearly a work of passion and attention to detail.
I think everything (that I understand to be) new to the Wonder Woman origin story is really smart and only serves to strengthen the characterization of Diana and the Amazons.
I think everything (that I understand to be) new to the Wonder Woman origin story is really smart and only serves to strengthen the characterization of Diana and the Amazons.
October 5, 2023
The star here is Perez’s fine line and hyper detailed art as they reinvent Wonder Woman who doesn’t even appear until towards the end of this first issue. Potter and Perez dig into Greek myth and Ares becomes the big bad if this story sowing the seeds of treachery and violence as Diana proves her worth to eventually combat him.
October 21, 2018
I'd watched the 2009 Wonder Woman movie right before reading this, so I got some of the same stuff again, which in hindsight should be expected from an origin story. Still could be considered an essential read, though.
March 13, 2023
The Birth
This comic is about the birth of the Amazons, and of their best warrior, Diana, also known as Wonder Woman.
The art work is well drawn and definitely worth the five stars alone. This is an older comic and has transferred well to digital format.
This comic is about the birth of the Amazons, and of their best warrior, Diana, also known as Wonder Woman.
The art work is well drawn and definitely worth the five stars alone. This is an older comic and has transferred well to digital format.
May 18, 2019
The Princess and The Power
June 7, 2020
بخاطر مدرسه مجبور شدم بخونمش. در حال حاضر کامیکبوک و کتابایی که منطق ندارن رو اصلا درک نمیکنم. شاید در آینده نظرم عوض شد! ولی فعلا کامیکبوک کسشره :))
April 24, 2022
Great origin story! 🙌🏻
September 30, 2025
Nice writing
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews