What do you think?
Rate this book
Wonder Woman: Earth One #1
Wonder Woman: Erde Eins
Comic-Genie Grant Morrison und Ausnahmekünstler Yanick Paquette interpretieren die zeitlose Geschichte von Wonder Woman auf aufregende Weise neu. Die Amazonen leben isoliert auf ihrer Paradiesinsel. Prinzessin Diana ist damit allerdings gar nicht glücklich und ergreift eines Tages die Gelegenheit zur Flucht in die Welt. Das macht sie in den Augen ihrer Schwestern zur Verräterin… Autor: Grant Morrison Zeichner: Yanick Paquette
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
177 people are currently reading
3682 people want to read
About the author
Grant Morrison
1,792 books4,571 followersGrant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 893 reviews
October 5, 2016
Back in the early 1940’s, William Marston and his wife, Elizabeth created Wonder Woman as proto-feminist icon – exhibiting force, strength and power – not de rigueur in terms of female assets back in the day – but made her more palatable by making her a heroic do-gooder babe. The Marston’s undercut their Amazonian champion by self-doubts…
…and lots of images of bondage and submission
– activities that, along with a polygamous lifestyle – the Marston’s actively embraced. Wonder Woman isn’t the first hero to carry around creepy sub-text and she helped Murica defeat the Nazis, so let’s fast-forward seventy-five odd years and see what’s doing.
So DC, chose Grant Morrison to pen the character’s Earth One book. The Earth One series are re-imaginings of DC characters origins. Morrison has done some masterful work in the past, but chooses, for the most part now, to coast on the fanboy's good graces as he churns out odd books of questionable merit.
Morrison has always had an appreciation for the rich past of comics, but here he twists it through the glass darkly, starting off this volume with the attempted submission and rape of Hippolyta by Hercules. Hippolyta gains the upper hand and after a battle declares Amazonia off-limits to men. All’s not paradise. Amazonia, despite the fact that it’s untainted by testosterone, isn’t the perfect society.
Okay, it’s close to being some twisted fanboys fantasy island, but no cigar.
Diana, her daughter, allegedly was created via magic from a mound of mud and consequently has superior abilities compared to her the other Amazons. Diana chafes at her mother’s rule and uses the accidental presence of Steve Trevor, a dude, on the island to open her horizons.
Morrison decides to make another heavy handed point and make Steve Trevor black. Fie on the comic gods! How can Steve Trevor be black? If you’re using him as some sort of ham-fisted symbol about how the man (the ruling elite i.e. the white man) has had his issues with enslaving his fellow human beings than by gosh who’s to complain?
So you don’t have to be a man, to think like The Man.
Thanks for revisiting the bondage thing in such a classy way, dude.
And, way to mix your metaphors, Morrison.
Or something.
Insert gratis scenes of Wonder Woman sticking it to men in man’s world.
Etta Candy – If you’re going to have a Rubenesque figured female character, who’s apparently comfortable with herself, why pull the rug out from beneath her by making her a booze-addled party girl?
One last kick in the proverbial nut sack: Wonder Woman’s ultimate costume – designed by drunken sorority girls.
Mrs. Jeff’s bottom line: Yep, this was a buddy read with my wife and her response: “It was like being served my favorite meal on a garbage can lid.” Morrison brings nothing to the mythos of Wonder Woman and probably sets back the “positive image of women in comics” thing about twenty years.
Wagging tongue in cheek? Back-handed leering tribute?
Who cares?
Wince-inducing for a whole list of reasons.
…and lots of images of bondage and submission
– activities that, along with a polygamous lifestyle – the Marston’s actively embraced. Wonder Woman isn’t the first hero to carry around creepy sub-text and she helped Murica defeat the Nazis, so let’s fast-forward seventy-five odd years and see what’s doing.
So DC, chose Grant Morrison to pen the character’s Earth One book. The Earth One series are re-imaginings of DC characters origins. Morrison has done some masterful work in the past, but chooses, for the most part now, to coast on the fanboy's good graces as he churns out odd books of questionable merit.
Morrison has always had an appreciation for the rich past of comics, but here he twists it through the glass darkly, starting off this volume with the attempted submission and rape of Hippolyta by Hercules. Hippolyta gains the upper hand and after a battle declares Amazonia off-limits to men. All’s not paradise. Amazonia, despite the fact that it’s untainted by testosterone, isn’t the perfect society.
Okay, it’s close to being some twisted fanboys fantasy island, but no cigar.
Diana, her daughter, allegedly was created via magic from a mound of mud and consequently has superior abilities compared to her the other Amazons. Diana chafes at her mother’s rule and uses the accidental presence of Steve Trevor, a dude, on the island to open her horizons.
Morrison decides to make another heavy handed point and make Steve Trevor black. Fie on the comic gods! How can Steve Trevor be black? If you’re using him as some sort of ham-fisted symbol about how the man (the ruling elite i.e. the white man) has had his issues with enslaving his fellow human beings than by gosh who’s to complain?
So you don’t have to be a man, to think like The Man.
Thanks for revisiting the bondage thing in such a classy way, dude.
And, way to mix your metaphors, Morrison.
Or something.
Insert gratis scenes of Wonder Woman sticking it to men in man’s world.
Etta Candy – If you’re going to have a Rubenesque figured female character, who’s apparently comfortable with herself, why pull the rug out from beneath her by making her a booze-addled party girl?
One last kick in the proverbial nut sack: Wonder Woman’s ultimate costume – designed by drunken sorority girls.
Mrs. Jeff’s bottom line: Yep, this was a buddy read with my wife and her response: “It was like being served my favorite meal on a garbage can lid.” Morrison brings nothing to the mythos of Wonder Woman and probably sets back the “positive image of women in comics” thing about twenty years.
Wagging tongue in cheek? Back-handed leering tribute?
Who cares?
Wince-inducing for a whole list of reasons.
May 2, 2024
This was a disappointment for me on every level. I was not a fan of the artwork (it was not bad, but not to my tastes), the panels are all over the place with the floating Fates putting their 2 pence in ever few pages. The one part I did like was the mixing cultures, and the Amazons are not just stuck with in the dark ages. They are technologically advanced. However, this was not enough to make me like it.
This comic seems to get the have gotten Batman vs. Superman treatment where they used too many comic book stories, thanking chunks out of each and trying to do too much in one story. The Greek mythology stroy of Wonder Woman was done a lot better in the new 52 version. This was a soap operas style story with all the submissions to each other to quote a character from the comic "Sci-Fi lesbians on an island." This comic just was a letdown in the art, the dialogue, and story, or should I say stories, mix together. Very dissapointing considering Wonder was my favourite from the new 52 series.
This comic seems to get the have gotten Batman vs. Superman treatment where they used too many comic book stories, thanking chunks out of each and trying to do too much in one story. The Greek mythology stroy of Wonder Woman was done a lot better in the new 52 version. This was a soap operas style story with all the submissions to each other to quote a character from the comic "Sci-Fi lesbians on an island." This comic just was a letdown in the art, the dialogue, and story, or should I say stories, mix together. Very dissapointing considering Wonder was my favourite from the new 52 series.
June 6, 2017
Seriously what a piece of trash. Everything about it was the opposite of what stands for. From the sexist origin revision that derives her powers/strength from man, to the "women are harpies" & "lesbians are hot pieces of ass" stereotypes, down to the Fat Amy knockoff sorority girl who Diana befriended. Just awful, which sucks cause it could've been so good.
December 11, 2017
The weakest “Earth-One” book so far.
Creative Team:
Writer: Grant Morrison
Illustrator: Yanick Paquette
Lettering: Todd Klein
NOT SO WONDER(FUL) BOOK
In case you doesn’t know, the Earth-One book are graphic novels by DC Comics, presenting classic characters, setting a new origin, redesigning the characters, including new ones, using a parallel dimension, known as “Earth One”.
I already read the two volumes of Batman: Earth-One, which both are truly great; and the three volumes of Superman: Earth-One, that while the first volume of Superman wasn’t that great in comparison to the following superb volumes 2 &3, but even that first volume was far, far better than this book at hand of Wonder Woman: Earth-One.
So, this is the weakest Earth-One book that at least I have read so far.
There isn’t almost any action, just some isolated brief moments of battle, with a too calm climax (if the word applies to that).
After knowing about the humiliation that Hercules submitted to Hippolyta, I can’t believe the kind of “sexual rituals” that the Amazons are used to impose to the ones that they desire to become intimate with.
The creative team put too casually a relationship of Diana, that it should be a major point in the plotline but since they seemed interested to keep the book as “all-ages” reading, the angle is just poorly presented (I guess that not everybody can be Alan Moore who does what he thinks the story deserves and the heck with the consequences).
The Amazons don’t want that the “Man’s World” ever know about their island, but they just send amazons there and even bringing non-amazon women to the island, geez.
And it seems like if Hippolyta thinks that nobody else on Paradise Island would know the laws and rules of the Amazons, pretending to do anything she wants even if they’re things that not even the Queen of Amazons is allowed to do.
Also, the Amazons are not only against men, but it seems that they are now a bunch of snobs that they don’t like other women neither if they don’t match their standards of “excellence”.
BUT HEY, NOT ALL IS BAD!
Of course, not all is bad, since in this re-imagined origin, there are some interesting concepts like getting back to the name of “Paradise Island” (that I like it, I haven’t anything against Themyscira, but since I began on the Silver Age, I tend to prefer “Paradise Island”).
Instead of plotting one too much complicated idea to present other tribe of amazons, here, the island just have other cities, easy, it’s a big island, so it’s logical to have more than just one city in the whole island.
The healing Purple Ray is re-introduced, that it was an element that I was familiarized from the Silver Age era, so I like to find it here again, along with the “magic mirror” of Hippolyta too.
And you can perceive that the creative team really wants to do something wonderful with the book, even if they deviated so many times in the process.
Creative Team:
Writer: Grant Morrison
Illustrator: Yanick Paquette
Lettering: Todd Klein
NOT SO WONDER(FUL) BOOK
In case you doesn’t know, the Earth-One book are graphic novels by DC Comics, presenting classic characters, setting a new origin, redesigning the characters, including new ones, using a parallel dimension, known as “Earth One”.
I already read the two volumes of Batman: Earth-One, which both are truly great; and the three volumes of Superman: Earth-One, that while the first volume of Superman wasn’t that great in comparison to the following superb volumes 2 &3, but even that first volume was far, far better than this book at hand of Wonder Woman: Earth-One.
So, this is the weakest Earth-One book that at least I have read so far.
There isn’t almost any action, just some isolated brief moments of battle, with a too calm climax (if the word applies to that).
After knowing about the humiliation that Hercules submitted to Hippolyta, I can’t believe the kind of “sexual rituals” that the Amazons are used to impose to the ones that they desire to become intimate with.
The creative team put too casually a relationship of Diana, that it should be a major point in the plotline but since they seemed interested to keep the book as “all-ages” reading, the angle is just poorly presented (I guess that not everybody can be Alan Moore who does what he thinks the story deserves and the heck with the consequences).
The Amazons don’t want that the “Man’s World” ever know about their island, but they just send amazons there and even bringing non-amazon women to the island, geez.
And it seems like if Hippolyta thinks that nobody else on Paradise Island would know the laws and rules of the Amazons, pretending to do anything she wants even if they’re things that not even the Queen of Amazons is allowed to do.
Also, the Amazons are not only against men, but it seems that they are now a bunch of snobs that they don’t like other women neither if they don’t match their standards of “excellence”.
BUT HEY, NOT ALL IS BAD!
Of course, not all is bad, since in this re-imagined origin, there are some interesting concepts like getting back to the name of “Paradise Island” (that I like it, I haven’t anything against Themyscira, but since I began on the Silver Age, I tend to prefer “Paradise Island”).
Instead of plotting one too much complicated idea to present other tribe of amazons, here, the island just have other cities, easy, it’s a big island, so it’s logical to have more than just one city in the whole island.
The healing Purple Ray is re-introduced, that it was an element that I was familiarized from the Silver Age era, so I like to find it here again, along with the “magic mirror” of Hippolyta too.
And you can perceive that the creative team really wants to do something wonderful with the book, even if they deviated so many times in the process.
April 9, 2016
So… where do I even begin with this one? I requested Wonder Woman: Earth One from NetGalley because I LOVE Wonder Woman. Both her and Batman are my favourite superheroes, but Wonder Woman gets a sad lack of attention from DC. Thankfully, with her new movie coming out, DC is increasing their Wonder Woman output, including finally publishing this long awaited volume from popular author Grant Morrison. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed in his take on my favourite character, and I like this version of Wondy even less than her new-52 counterpart.
Diana Re-imaged: The Petulant Teenage Rebel
Diana the diplomat is the best Wonder Woman, particularly when written by Greg Rucka. I love that she is a tough, warrior woman who can go toe-to-toe with Superman, but chooses peace and dialogue when possible. I appreciate that her work is so different from other superheroes. She spends much of her time acting as a state official, not just a vigilante.
This Diana is… well, she’s an angry teenager. She’s centuries old, but she’s the youngest of the Amazons, and obviously smarting at the rules that she’s being forced to live by. Though I think there are plenty of legitimate reasons as to why she could question the Queen, she just sounds whiny. She never really makes arguments so much as complainants. And that’s just while she’s on Paradise Island. Once Diana gets to Man’s World, she decides to impose all the rules and regulations she rebelled against on the rest of humanity.
Now, I admit that Earth One Diana is young and has plenty of room to grow, and I certainly hope she does as she’s pretty obnoxious right now… So here’s to hoping that she matures a bit in volume two.
Amazons Re-Imagined: So Angry, So Violent
William Marston created the Amazons with a political message in mind. He was very much into bondage and submission as a way of exploring love and compassion, and he believed that women could be better leaders than men. The Amazons were his attempt to explore these ideas. They were meant to represent a utopia where governance was based on patience, compassion, and co-dependence. As time went on, Wonder Woman also became an icon for the feminist movement, representing female empowerment, strength, and equality.
Morrison was definitely inspired by Marston’s work, but he focuses on the bondage and the sexiness rather than the politics of Wonder Woman. The Amazons in Earth One are VERY into bondage. There are all sorts of scenes where they are in chains and converse about submitting to one another. But without the politics, these scenes are just sexualisation without any insightful commentary like the original. They exist to titillate, not educate, and this is a large reason as to why the book fell flat for me.
Morrison’s Amazons are also angry and violent. Paradise Island is not a utopia, but a place that our main character is fleeing from. Stories based on conflict are always going to be more interesting than stories where everything is hunky dory, but the Amazon utopia could have been retained and used to tell good stories. Cranky, isolationists is already a common theme in superhero universes, and Wonder Woman’s peaceful home has always offered something different and important. The Amazons represent not perfection, but a positive representation of the power of women in comics where women are so often marginalised and stereotyped. To see them so sexualised without purpose, and to see the politics that they have come to represent completely stripped out, is disheartening.
Additionally, for a book meant to draw in female readers, the Amazons have some vicious things to say about the women of Man’s World. According to one, we are just “deformed, shrunken, bloated, domesticated cattle.” Not only is this just a douche thing for something to say, it implies that there is literally no variation in body type among the Amazons. In their feminine utopia, everyone looks exactly the same: thin and perfect. Props for Etta Candy for telling these assholes to fuck off, but, for a book that REALLY should be geared to drawing in female readers, having women be so heinous to others because of their bodies is not just off-putting, but actively harmful. Even Wonder Woman makes some of these hurtful comments. Why exactly would I want to continue reading these books where even the hero is being a catty douche?
Steve Trevor Re-Imagined: ARE YOU F$#@NG KIDDING ME?!?!
When I first heard that Steve Trevor was being reimagined as a black man, I thought it was a good way to diversify Wondy’s often very white cast. The original Steve Trevor was very… WWII propaganda, so having the writers decide to rewrite the character with modern sensibilities in mind intrigued me. Until it all went horribly horribly wrong.
Did no one at DC, at any point in the SEVEN years that it took to write this book, say, “hey, maybe it’s a bad idea to have a white lady try to collar a Black man? The gag has some really unfortunate implications, right? Maybe we should rethink it?”
This image is not okay. Sure, it’s fun to play the game of what does the fish out of water do? However, slavery was a real thing that happened in our world. Black people were literally collared by white people. And the bedroom eyes that Diana gives Trevor on the previous page? Slave owners regularly raped their “property”. This isn’t a funny joke. It’s a disgusting, tone-deaf, gigantic mistake that DC needs to apologise for.
Even worse? Steve doesn’t even get to respond directly. The next page features Diana and Etta talking about silly, sci-fi Amazonian bondage girls. Nope. Nope nope nope. If Steve Trevor was still white, I still would have hated the “joke” as it’s lazy, uncreative, and relies on some seriously problematic gender ideals, but when Steve Trevor is Black it plummets into “an editor should get fired” territory.
Steve also barely gets to talk in this book. I’m all for the focus being on Wondy, but when Steve gets to say more than three words, he uses African American experiences of slavery to justify why he wants to protect the Amazons. So… number one, this is a crap comparison. The Amazons are warriors with some pretty interesting tech. They have the Gods on their side. This is also modern day Earth. I highly doubt anyone is going to enslave them in the way that white people systemically enslaved Black people. Secondly, Steve Trevor is a high ranking military official. Please don’t tell me that all his military machismo and camaraderie just… disappeared? It is terrible to ignore who your character is because you want to do something with your plot. I can buy that a military person can be disillusioned and mistrusting of the military. But one who is part of a top secret, high ranking mission? I really don’t think that Steve has such deep fear of his own organisation that he’d betray them in this manner after seeing Diana for like a day. AFTER SHE TRIED TO COLLAR HIM AT THAT!!!
The Art: Porn Face EVERYWHERE
On one hand, the art in Wonder Woman: Earth One is a lot better than what you see in most superhero comics. It is exceptionally detailed, the people have bodies that sometimes make sense, and there are beautiful backgrounds. Sure, everyone is really unbelievably sexy all the time, but this is a superhero comic so I can make some allowances.
What I can’t handle is the “male gaze” filter on EVERYTHING. There are a lot of “hot lesbians being sexy” scenes that don’t really have a place. Busts and crotches are common focal points, and the dreaded BLOW JOB FACE plagues poor Diana.
(She's piloting a plane there. Totally an appropriate expression)
For female readers, Wonder Woman is an icon we tend to gravitate towards, yet this book is so obviously being drawn for a male audience. I like pretty ladies, but there’s a difference between “these female characters are gorgeous” and “these female characters are posing and acting in ways designed to titillate the average male reader”. If you want female readers, give us characters that are not meant to be sexy pin-ups for men. Let them be people. I promise you that people can still be sexy and attractive.
Conclusion
I was intensely disappointed by Wonder Woman: Earth One. As a female reader, the sexualisation frustrated me, and as a long-time fan of the character, I am sick of seeing stories about the Amazons that show them to be angry, violent, bordering on evil characters. I am not against playing with canon, as the Earth One series is supposed to do, but why take the easy route with Wonder Woman? Why not extrapolate more faithfully to the ideas of her creator and create something truly unique in the superhero genre? Alas, if you are looking for some really fantastic Wonder Woman stories, check out the old runs by Greg Rucka and Gail Simone, as well as the currently being released Legends of Wonder Woman mini-series.
Thanks to NetGalley and DC Comics for providing me with an Advance Reader's Copy of this book to review
Diana Re-imaged: The Petulant Teenage Rebel
Diana the diplomat is the best Wonder Woman, particularly when written by Greg Rucka. I love that she is a tough, warrior woman who can go toe-to-toe with Superman, but chooses peace and dialogue when possible. I appreciate that her work is so different from other superheroes. She spends much of her time acting as a state official, not just a vigilante.
This Diana is… well, she’s an angry teenager. She’s centuries old, but she’s the youngest of the Amazons, and obviously smarting at the rules that she’s being forced to live by. Though I think there are plenty of legitimate reasons as to why she could question the Queen, she just sounds whiny. She never really makes arguments so much as complainants. And that’s just while she’s on Paradise Island. Once Diana gets to Man’s World, she decides to impose all the rules and regulations she rebelled against on the rest of humanity.
Now, I admit that Earth One Diana is young and has plenty of room to grow, and I certainly hope she does as she’s pretty obnoxious right now… So here’s to hoping that she matures a bit in volume two.
Amazons Re-Imagined: So Angry, So Violent
William Marston created the Amazons with a political message in mind. He was very much into bondage and submission as a way of exploring love and compassion, and he believed that women could be better leaders than men. The Amazons were his attempt to explore these ideas. They were meant to represent a utopia where governance was based on patience, compassion, and co-dependence. As time went on, Wonder Woman also became an icon for the feminist movement, representing female empowerment, strength, and equality.
Morrison was definitely inspired by Marston’s work, but he focuses on the bondage and the sexiness rather than the politics of Wonder Woman. The Amazons in Earth One are VERY into bondage. There are all sorts of scenes where they are in chains and converse about submitting to one another. But without the politics, these scenes are just sexualisation without any insightful commentary like the original. They exist to titillate, not educate, and this is a large reason as to why the book fell flat for me.
Morrison’s Amazons are also angry and violent. Paradise Island is not a utopia, but a place that our main character is fleeing from. Stories based on conflict are always going to be more interesting than stories where everything is hunky dory, but the Amazon utopia could have been retained and used to tell good stories. Cranky, isolationists is already a common theme in superhero universes, and Wonder Woman’s peaceful home has always offered something different and important. The Amazons represent not perfection, but a positive representation of the power of women in comics where women are so often marginalised and stereotyped. To see them so sexualised without purpose, and to see the politics that they have come to represent completely stripped out, is disheartening.
Additionally, for a book meant to draw in female readers, the Amazons have some vicious things to say about the women of Man’s World. According to one, we are just “deformed, shrunken, bloated, domesticated cattle.” Not only is this just a douche thing for something to say, it implies that there is literally no variation in body type among the Amazons. In their feminine utopia, everyone looks exactly the same: thin and perfect. Props for Etta Candy for telling these assholes to fuck off, but, for a book that REALLY should be geared to drawing in female readers, having women be so heinous to others because of their bodies is not just off-putting, but actively harmful. Even Wonder Woman makes some of these hurtful comments. Why exactly would I want to continue reading these books where even the hero is being a catty douche?
Steve Trevor Re-Imagined: ARE YOU F$#@NG KIDDING ME?!?!
When I first heard that Steve Trevor was being reimagined as a black man, I thought it was a good way to diversify Wondy’s often very white cast. The original Steve Trevor was very… WWII propaganda, so having the writers decide to rewrite the character with modern sensibilities in mind intrigued me. Until it all went horribly horribly wrong.
Did no one at DC, at any point in the SEVEN years that it took to write this book, say, “hey, maybe it’s a bad idea to have a white lady try to collar a Black man? The gag has some really unfortunate implications, right? Maybe we should rethink it?”
This image is not okay. Sure, it’s fun to play the game of what does the fish out of water do? However, slavery was a real thing that happened in our world. Black people were literally collared by white people. And the bedroom eyes that Diana gives Trevor on the previous page? Slave owners regularly raped their “property”. This isn’t a funny joke. It’s a disgusting, tone-deaf, gigantic mistake that DC needs to apologise for.
Even worse? Steve doesn’t even get to respond directly. The next page features Diana and Etta talking about silly, sci-fi Amazonian bondage girls. Nope. Nope nope nope. If Steve Trevor was still white, I still would have hated the “joke” as it’s lazy, uncreative, and relies on some seriously problematic gender ideals, but when Steve Trevor is Black it plummets into “an editor should get fired” territory.
Steve also barely gets to talk in this book. I’m all for the focus being on Wondy, but when Steve gets to say more than three words, he uses African American experiences of slavery to justify why he wants to protect the Amazons. So… number one, this is a crap comparison. The Amazons are warriors with some pretty interesting tech. They have the Gods on their side. This is also modern day Earth. I highly doubt anyone is going to enslave them in the way that white people systemically enslaved Black people. Secondly, Steve Trevor is a high ranking military official. Please don’t tell me that all his military machismo and camaraderie just… disappeared? It is terrible to ignore who your character is because you want to do something with your plot. I can buy that a military person can be disillusioned and mistrusting of the military. But one who is part of a top secret, high ranking mission? I really don’t think that Steve has such deep fear of his own organisation that he’d betray them in this manner after seeing Diana for like a day. AFTER SHE TRIED TO COLLAR HIM AT THAT!!!
The Art: Porn Face EVERYWHERE
On one hand, the art in Wonder Woman: Earth One is a lot better than what you see in most superhero comics. It is exceptionally detailed, the people have bodies that sometimes make sense, and there are beautiful backgrounds. Sure, everyone is really unbelievably sexy all the time, but this is a superhero comic so I can make some allowances.
What I can’t handle is the “male gaze” filter on EVERYTHING. There are a lot of “hot lesbians being sexy” scenes that don’t really have a place. Busts and crotches are common focal points, and the dreaded BLOW JOB FACE plagues poor Diana.
(She's piloting a plane there. Totally an appropriate expression)
For female readers, Wonder Woman is an icon we tend to gravitate towards, yet this book is so obviously being drawn for a male audience. I like pretty ladies, but there’s a difference between “these female characters are gorgeous” and “these female characters are posing and acting in ways designed to titillate the average male reader”. If you want female readers, give us characters that are not meant to be sexy pin-ups for men. Let them be people. I promise you that people can still be sexy and attractive.
Conclusion
I was intensely disappointed by Wonder Woman: Earth One. As a female reader, the sexualisation frustrated me, and as a long-time fan of the character, I am sick of seeing stories about the Amazons that show them to be angry, violent, bordering on evil characters. I am not against playing with canon, as the Earth One series is supposed to do, but why take the easy route with Wonder Woman? Why not extrapolate more faithfully to the ideas of her creator and create something truly unique in the superhero genre? Alas, if you are looking for some really fantastic Wonder Woman stories, check out the old runs by Greg Rucka and Gail Simone, as well as the currently being released Legends of Wonder Woman mini-series.
Thanks to NetGalley and DC Comics for providing me with an Advance Reader's Copy of this book to review
January 26, 2016
This is a very difficult review to write, mostly because on the surface, I generally enjoyed the book and loved the art - however - I have some pretty major problems with it too.
First off, there seems to be a huge focus on body shaming. Female characters who don't look like Amazons are constantly remarked upon, and this made me very uncomfortable. Secondly, I couldn't help but think that the depiction of Paradise Island is what Grant Morrison thinks a female-only utopia would be like. And I think Grant Morrison has a very skewed idea about women.
In places I found the little touches of misandry quite funny, but then when I stopped to think about it I found it onerous. There is just so much relentless man-hating in this book, and I'm scared that some readers may interpret this as 'feminism'. It's not. A feminist utopia would be where men and women are equal. A world where women are superior is misandrist. Does Grant Morrison understand this at all?
I was also uncomfortable with the 'makeover' scene. Frankly, it was appalling. When holed up in a motel and under investigation from the US army, I don't think any woman would decide that a makeover would be the best thing to do. This is not how women behave. This is not what I want to see in a Wonder Woman book. And going back to Paradise Island - why are there not women of all shapes and sizes and colours? Why is Nubia the only black Amazon? Why are they all so freaked out by Candy's size? This is weird. And disappointing.
Morrison has attempted to tackle the diversity issue in his portrayal of Steve Trevor as black. I have a suspicion that this was done purely to placate an audience searching for diversity. It had no real meaning or impact on the character. In fact, Steve Trevor had no character to speak of. A missed opportunity. What I would have preferred to see was more people of different shapes, sizes and colour throughout the book. In any crowd-scene, the people are all quite blatantly white. If you're going to tackle diversity, maybe do it a bit more consistently?
I have a suspicion that Grant Morrison didn't talk to any women at all when he wrote this book. He has an idea in his head of what women are like, and what they would like to read. Whatever this idea is, it's wrong. Next time, perhaps employ a more sensitive writer? Or, you know what, perhaps employ a woman???
First off, there seems to be a huge focus on body shaming. Female characters who don't look like Amazons are constantly remarked upon, and this made me very uncomfortable. Secondly, I couldn't help but think that the depiction of Paradise Island is what Grant Morrison thinks a female-only utopia would be like. And I think Grant Morrison has a very skewed idea about women.
In places I found the little touches of misandry quite funny, but then when I stopped to think about it I found it onerous. There is just so much relentless man-hating in this book, and I'm scared that some readers may interpret this as 'feminism'. It's not. A feminist utopia would be where men and women are equal. A world where women are superior is misandrist. Does Grant Morrison understand this at all?
I was also uncomfortable with the 'makeover' scene. Frankly, it was appalling. When holed up in a motel and under investigation from the US army, I don't think any woman would decide that a makeover would be the best thing to do. This is not how women behave. This is not what I want to see in a Wonder Woman book. And going back to Paradise Island - why are there not women of all shapes and sizes and colours? Why is Nubia the only black Amazon? Why are they all so freaked out by Candy's size? This is weird. And disappointing.
Morrison has attempted to tackle the diversity issue in his portrayal of Steve Trevor as black. I have a suspicion that this was done purely to placate an audience searching for diversity. It had no real meaning or impact on the character. In fact, Steve Trevor had no character to speak of. A missed opportunity. What I would have preferred to see was more people of different shapes, sizes and colour throughout the book. In any crowd-scene, the people are all quite blatantly white. If you're going to tackle diversity, maybe do it a bit more consistently?
I have a suspicion that Grant Morrison didn't talk to any women at all when he wrote this book. He has an idea in his head of what women are like, and what they would like to read. Whatever this idea is, it's wrong. Next time, perhaps employ a more sensitive writer? Or, you know what, perhaps employ a woman???
May 11, 2016
I’ve been looking forward to this book since I first heard about it at least a couple of years ago now - Grant Morrison reuniting with his Seven Soldiers/Batman Inc. artist Yanick Paquette for a Wonder Woman original graphic novel? Score! Was it worth the wait? Absolutely – it was positively Wonder-ful!
Paradise Island lies hidden away, a utopian all-female society of immortally youthful Amazons led by their Queen Hippolyta. But her daughter Diana is restless – 3000 years is a long time to spend isolated in one place! When American pilot Steve Trevor washes ashore after his plane crashes, Diana sees her opportunity to leave and see the outside world - but what will she make of the lands of men?
Wonder Woman: Earth One, Volume 1 is an origin story but, unlike the Superman and Batman Earth Ones, this one is very close to the character’s original version. Morrison faithfully revisits Wonder Woman’s creator William Moulton Marston and his artist H. G. Peter’s take on the character, touching on the many aspects that make up her bizarre origins. Her mother is a goddess, Greek mythology is real, she has a magic lasso that forces you to tell the truth, she has an Invisible Jet, there’s a healing purple ray and she has a full-figured human bestie called Etta Candy (renamed in this book as Beth Candy).
That said, like changing Etta’s name to Beth, Morrison has made some small changes in his retelling to modernise the origin for contemporary readers. To be more diverse, his Steve Trevor is black and he’s also more rugged than the original white foppish Steve Trevor who was always being saved by Wonder Woman. Steve’s also not a love interest – Diana uses him as a means to get away from Paradise Island and see the world rather than fall over herself chasing after his affections. In fact there’s no real chemistry between the two as Morrison’s Diana is matter-of-factly gay.
I liked that Morrison stuck so closely to the source material because this is a Wonder Woman who’s all but disappeared nowadays. If you saw Batman v Superman (commiserations if you did) and were asked to describe Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman without saying that she’s “someone who enjoys a fight”, you’d be stumped as to what her character was because there wasn’t one. Yet that’s the modern Wonder Woman: jumping into battle at the drop of a hat, sword and shield at the ready, eager to kill.
Morrison’s Wonder Woman goes back to Marston’s vision of a pacifist who had no sword or shield but used bracelets to deflect projectiles and believed love - through submissiveness - to be a better way to resolve conflict. Except for a playful joust (on kangaroos!) on Paradise Island, Diana doesn’t fight anyone, instead using shows of strength and other rituals from her culture to keep violence at bay throughout. It makes for more creative scenes rather than falling back on having her punch/stab people who get in her way.
I also liked how Paradise Island is clearly influenced by Greek culture but the women have also moved past it and developed technology. It feels like it’s evolved into a real society rather than remained an antiquated barbaric one focused only on warfare which is just boring and unimaginative.
And though Diana’s 3000 years old, she’s written like a teenage girl: energetic and curious, eager to engage with and see the world - a rebellious princess some part of which younger readers will find relatable. She’s guileless but clever - escaping her overbearing mother and Paradise Island’s guardians to make it to America with Steve - kind but can handle herself, proud of her culture but also critical of it, which leads her to try to change it into a more progressive, open society, and she has a sophisticated personal philosophy. In other words she’s a strong female character - yes, physically, though the label’s emphasis is always meant to be on the “character” part, and she certainly has that. She appears in chains on the cover but she’s free in her heart and mind. (The chains thing also goes back to the original comic where only chains/rope could take away her powers which led to the symbolism of breaking those chains - emancipating her from the men who tied her up - whenever she inevitably freed herself.)
Knowing a little about Marston’s personal life goes a long way to understanding the creation of Wonder Woman, including her kinkier side. Marston was a proto-feminist who believed women should rule the world and also believed love and submission were intertwined. He also invented the lie detector. Put the two together and it’s easy to see where the lasso of truth came from! Marston also had a wife and mistress both of whom lived with him (he fathered children with the two women and, after his death, both women continued living together). The likeness of Marston’s mistress - Olivia Byrne - also informed the original character design.
The early Wonder Woman strips are very racy and subversive which is surprising given that they were published in the 1940s! Bondage played a big part in those comics and that’s why, given that Morrison is slavishly (heh) adhering to those comics, that theme is replicated here. I don’t think Morrison intends it to be skeevy though but rather as an extension of Marston’s love/pacifist approach to the character. Also if you throw in the fact that this is an extremely closed society who’ve only known Sapphic pleasures for 3000 years then some of the stuff they get up to is bound to be a bit weird!
My favourite part of the book is the reason why it’s taken so long for it to be released: Yanick Paquette’s fucking gorgeous artwork. The opening scene sets up the creation of Paradise Island as Hippolyta takes on Hercules with Paquette framing the pages with classic Greek shards. Later when Medusa appears, parts of the pages have patches of weird latticed-stone as if the book itself is turning to stone after Medusa’s gaze has passed across it.
I loved the ridiculously stunning design of Paradise Island and that the Invisible Jet’s new look is lady parts as a plane! And basically casting Rebel Wilson as Beth Candy was genius - if the character appears in the Wonder Woman movie (and she probably won’t because she’s too fun and fun is outlawed in DC movies!), that’s exactly the actor to play her. The book has page after page of remarkably detailed artwork with beautiful colours from Nathan Fairbairn - even if you don’t take to Morrison’s Wonder Woman, the art is among the best this character’s ever had.
I think Morrison did a terrific job of gathering all the strange aspects of Wonder Woman’s origin and putting it together into a coherent book for modern readers to familiarise themselves with. The more provocative parts might overshadow the nuance though and lead people to reject it entirely which would be a shame as this is a really good Wonder Woman book (and there aren’t many of those!). But I can understand some of the critiques - in making all the pieces of her origin hang together as one long introduction to the character, Morrison hasn’t written the most engaging story. A second volume has been announced though and Morrison/Paquette are aiming for a trilogy so hopefully now that the table-setting has been done, there could be some more interesting stories to follow in future volumes.
I’ve mentioned the original comics a lot but really anyone, particularly those who’ve never read a Wonder Woman comic before, could pick this one up which is good as that’s a goal of these Earth One books; it’s very accessible, the references are just there for the fans to spot. But because so much of this is Golden Age Wonder Woman, it comes down to whether you’re willing to embrace the weirdness of the classic origin of the character, or whether you prefer the raging warrior she’s become today. For me, I really liked it - Morrison has done for Wonder Woman what he did for Batman and Superman in reaching back to their beginnings and used that material to craft a fresh, clever comic for modern audiences; couple that with Paquette and Fairbairn’s artwork and you’ve got something special.
Diana’s never had a Year One or All-Star of her own but this Earth One book comes close to giving her a very good and complete version of her origins for readers new and old.
Paradise Island lies hidden away, a utopian all-female society of immortally youthful Amazons led by their Queen Hippolyta. But her daughter Diana is restless – 3000 years is a long time to spend isolated in one place! When American pilot Steve Trevor washes ashore after his plane crashes, Diana sees her opportunity to leave and see the outside world - but what will she make of the lands of men?
Wonder Woman: Earth One, Volume 1 is an origin story but, unlike the Superman and Batman Earth Ones, this one is very close to the character’s original version. Morrison faithfully revisits Wonder Woman’s creator William Moulton Marston and his artist H. G. Peter’s take on the character, touching on the many aspects that make up her bizarre origins. Her mother is a goddess, Greek mythology is real, she has a magic lasso that forces you to tell the truth, she has an Invisible Jet, there’s a healing purple ray and she has a full-figured human bestie called Etta Candy (renamed in this book as Beth Candy).
That said, like changing Etta’s name to Beth, Morrison has made some small changes in his retelling to modernise the origin for contemporary readers. To be more diverse, his Steve Trevor is black and he’s also more rugged than the original white foppish Steve Trevor who was always being saved by Wonder Woman. Steve’s also not a love interest – Diana uses him as a means to get away from Paradise Island and see the world rather than fall over herself chasing after his affections. In fact there’s no real chemistry between the two as Morrison’s Diana is matter-of-factly gay.
I liked that Morrison stuck so closely to the source material because this is a Wonder Woman who’s all but disappeared nowadays. If you saw Batman v Superman (commiserations if you did) and were asked to describe Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman without saying that she’s “someone who enjoys a fight”, you’d be stumped as to what her character was because there wasn’t one. Yet that’s the modern Wonder Woman: jumping into battle at the drop of a hat, sword and shield at the ready, eager to kill.
Morrison’s Wonder Woman goes back to Marston’s vision of a pacifist who had no sword or shield but used bracelets to deflect projectiles and believed love - through submissiveness - to be a better way to resolve conflict. Except for a playful joust (on kangaroos!) on Paradise Island, Diana doesn’t fight anyone, instead using shows of strength and other rituals from her culture to keep violence at bay throughout. It makes for more creative scenes rather than falling back on having her punch/stab people who get in her way.
I also liked how Paradise Island is clearly influenced by Greek culture but the women have also moved past it and developed technology. It feels like it’s evolved into a real society rather than remained an antiquated barbaric one focused only on warfare which is just boring and unimaginative.
And though Diana’s 3000 years old, she’s written like a teenage girl: energetic and curious, eager to engage with and see the world - a rebellious princess some part of which younger readers will find relatable. She’s guileless but clever - escaping her overbearing mother and Paradise Island’s guardians to make it to America with Steve - kind but can handle herself, proud of her culture but also critical of it, which leads her to try to change it into a more progressive, open society, and she has a sophisticated personal philosophy. In other words she’s a strong female character - yes, physically, though the label’s emphasis is always meant to be on the “character” part, and she certainly has that. She appears in chains on the cover but she’s free in her heart and mind. (The chains thing also goes back to the original comic where only chains/rope could take away her powers which led to the symbolism of breaking those chains - emancipating her from the men who tied her up - whenever she inevitably freed herself.)
Knowing a little about Marston’s personal life goes a long way to understanding the creation of Wonder Woman, including her kinkier side. Marston was a proto-feminist who believed women should rule the world and also believed love and submission were intertwined. He also invented the lie detector. Put the two together and it’s easy to see where the lasso of truth came from! Marston also had a wife and mistress both of whom lived with him (he fathered children with the two women and, after his death, both women continued living together). The likeness of Marston’s mistress - Olivia Byrne - also informed the original character design.
The early Wonder Woman strips are very racy and subversive which is surprising given that they were published in the 1940s! Bondage played a big part in those comics and that’s why, given that Morrison is slavishly (heh) adhering to those comics, that theme is replicated here. I don’t think Morrison intends it to be skeevy though but rather as an extension of Marston’s love/pacifist approach to the character. Also if you throw in the fact that this is an extremely closed society who’ve only known Sapphic pleasures for 3000 years then some of the stuff they get up to is bound to be a bit weird!
My favourite part of the book is the reason why it’s taken so long for it to be released: Yanick Paquette’s fucking gorgeous artwork. The opening scene sets up the creation of Paradise Island as Hippolyta takes on Hercules with Paquette framing the pages with classic Greek shards. Later when Medusa appears, parts of the pages have patches of weird latticed-stone as if the book itself is turning to stone after Medusa’s gaze has passed across it.
I loved the ridiculously stunning design of Paradise Island and that the Invisible Jet’s new look is lady parts as a plane! And basically casting Rebel Wilson as Beth Candy was genius - if the character appears in the Wonder Woman movie (and she probably won’t because she’s too fun and fun is outlawed in DC movies!), that’s exactly the actor to play her. The book has page after page of remarkably detailed artwork with beautiful colours from Nathan Fairbairn - even if you don’t take to Morrison’s Wonder Woman, the art is among the best this character’s ever had.
I think Morrison did a terrific job of gathering all the strange aspects of Wonder Woman’s origin and putting it together into a coherent book for modern readers to familiarise themselves with. The more provocative parts might overshadow the nuance though and lead people to reject it entirely which would be a shame as this is a really good Wonder Woman book (and there aren’t many of those!). But I can understand some of the critiques - in making all the pieces of her origin hang together as one long introduction to the character, Morrison hasn’t written the most engaging story. A second volume has been announced though and Morrison/Paquette are aiming for a trilogy so hopefully now that the table-setting has been done, there could be some more interesting stories to follow in future volumes.
I’ve mentioned the original comics a lot but really anyone, particularly those who’ve never read a Wonder Woman comic before, could pick this one up which is good as that’s a goal of these Earth One books; it’s very accessible, the references are just there for the fans to spot. But because so much of this is Golden Age Wonder Woman, it comes down to whether you’re willing to embrace the weirdness of the classic origin of the character, or whether you prefer the raging warrior she’s become today. For me, I really liked it - Morrison has done for Wonder Woman what he did for Batman and Superman in reaching back to their beginnings and used that material to craft a fresh, clever comic for modern audiences; couple that with Paquette and Fairbairn’s artwork and you’ve got something special.
Diana’s never had a Year One or All-Star of her own but this Earth One book comes close to giving her a very good and complete version of her origins for readers new and old.
February 18, 2021
These Earth One books have generally been great and the Wonder Woman one is no exception. Grant Morrison has incorporated all of William Moulton Marston's (the creator of Wonder Woman) weird sexual predilections into the Amazonian culture. Yannick Paquette's art is beautiful, settling in somewhere between Adam Hughes and Kevin Nowlan.
Received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 6, 2019
I've read lots of negative reviews about this volume here on Goodreads, but this was for me a funny retelling, decent and deliberately provocative, of classic version Wonder Woman comics from her Golden Age creator William Moulton Marston, filled with cheesy weirdness, ridiculous bondage scenes, and so far different from her more famous and recent ultimate warrior woman incarnation.
Visionary author Grant Morrison made something similar previously in his long run on DC's Caped Crusader and it worked well, and Yanick Paquette's gorgeous and hyper-detailed artworks are so good here that Grant Morrison is almost pushing the brake on dialogues and storyline, leaving the images tell the story.
Not bad at all if you take it not too much seriously, and sooner or later I wanna watch Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, the 2017 movie about the unconventional lifestyle of the man who invented an early prototype of the lie detector and created Wonder Woman.
May 24, 2016
This was fine. Not as great as Batman E1 or as good as Superman E1 but better than Teen Titans E1.
August 18, 2016
I was looking forwards to this Wonder Woman story by Grant Morrison. Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. The story is not a bad one, but neither is it the "big picture" type of plot that I have come to expect from Grant Morrison.
The story starts out with Hercules (is he the same Hercules that we see in later DC time lines?) forcing himself on Hippoloyta, Queen of the Amazons. Hippoloyta frees herself and the Amazonians. After agreeing to a deal with Aphrodite the Amazonians settle on an island granted to them. There they grow strong and powerful and no men are allowed. Now strangely, Diana is the Princess and the most powerful of the "Wonder Women", but her mother will not allow her to participate in anything other than ceremonial roles. Diana rebels and one day runs into Capt. Steve Trevor whose jet has crashed and his body washes up on shore. Trevor and Diana work together to prove to her mother that the time to change the old ways has come.
This one just never clicked for me. Why Hippoloyta knowing Diana's power would seek to limit her I do not know. I didn't really care for the silly rivalry between Diana and her "Champion" lover. How can one be a Champion if there is someone far more powerful (in this case it's Diana) representing your people? The whole segment with the chubby blonde sorority girl who kept yelling "woo-hoo" was also annoying. It made a story about Greek gods and their progeny descend into some silly female version of Revenge of the Nerds.
The artwork is just ok. It's not bad, but neither would I rave about it. I was looking for a good Wonder Woman story. This is not it. There was so much GM could have done with this character and the story, but the vision he had for Diana was just not that exciting. Also I thought Diana was the daughter of Zeus and not Hercules. Did this change for the Earth One timeline? Who knows...shame this didn't turn into something better than what it ended up being.
The story starts out with Hercules (is he the same Hercules that we see in later DC time lines?) forcing himself on Hippoloyta, Queen of the Amazons. Hippoloyta frees herself and the Amazonians. After agreeing to a deal with Aphrodite the Amazonians settle on an island granted to them. There they grow strong and powerful and no men are allowed. Now strangely, Diana is the Princess and the most powerful of the "Wonder Women", but her mother will not allow her to participate in anything other than ceremonial roles. Diana rebels and one day runs into Capt. Steve Trevor whose jet has crashed and his body washes up on shore. Trevor and Diana work together to prove to her mother that the time to change the old ways has come.
This one just never clicked for me. Why Hippoloyta knowing Diana's power would seek to limit her I do not know. I didn't really care for the silly rivalry between Diana and her "Champion" lover. How can one be a Champion if there is someone far more powerful (in this case it's Diana) representing your people? The whole segment with the chubby blonde sorority girl who kept yelling "woo-hoo" was also annoying. It made a story about Greek gods and their progeny descend into some silly female version of Revenge of the Nerds.
The artwork is just ok. It's not bad, but neither would I rave about it. I was looking for a good Wonder Woman story. This is not it. There was so much GM could have done with this character and the story, but the vision he had for Diana was just not that exciting. Also I thought Diana was the daughter of Zeus and not Hercules. Did this change for the Earth One timeline? Who knows...shame this didn't turn into something better than what it ended up being.
August 15, 2016
Sooo Wonder Woman is going to reshape man's world by waltzing in in her vulva jet and body shaming all the women? Let's not forget to have a lesbian orgy in the middle of all this! I can't tell if Morrison is honestly trying to misrepresent the feminist concepts from which Wonder Woman was born, or just... ugh what is this book even trying to be?
Oh right. It's an origin story. Because if there's one thing superhero stories--especially DC Comics superhero stories need to do, it's remind you of where said superheroes came from. Because it's so easy to forget that Kal'El crashed on the Kent's farm and that Bruce's parents are dead. DEAD I TELL YOU! Oh but wait. Those are the boys. The women of DC, well their origins aren't quite so set in stone--or clay as Wonder Woman's once was. Gone is the origin story of Hippolyta shaping a babe from the earth and the gods granting her wish to make it real. Nope. We gotta stick some penis in there! Otherwise, how can men relate to the man-hating world of Themiscrya!? Previously, the penis belonged to Zeus (because Zeus gets all the babies). This time, it's Hercules.
Then toss in a black Steve Trevor, apparently for the sole purpose of having him make a speech about slavery so that we can see how he and Diana are so alike.
The only good thing about this book is the smug look a chained Diana wears on the cover, but now, having read it, I have to wonder what she's really being smug about.
www.bibliosanctum.com
Oh right. It's an origin story. Because if there's one thing superhero stories--especially DC Comics superhero stories need to do, it's remind you of where said superheroes came from. Because it's so easy to forget that Kal'El crashed on the Kent's farm and that Bruce's parents are dead. DEAD I TELL YOU! Oh but wait. Those are the boys. The women of DC, well their origins aren't quite so set in stone--or clay as Wonder Woman's once was. Gone is the origin story of Hippolyta shaping a babe from the earth and the gods granting her wish to make it real. Nope. We gotta stick some penis in there! Otherwise, how can men relate to the man-hating world of Themiscrya!? Previously, the penis belonged to Zeus (because Zeus gets all the babies). This time, it's Hercules.
Then toss in a black Steve Trevor, apparently for the sole purpose of having him make a speech about slavery so that we can see how he and Diana are so alike.
The only good thing about this book is the smug look a chained Diana wears on the cover, but now, having read it, I have to wonder what she's really being smug about.
www.bibliosanctum.com
March 28, 2021
Ugh.
So, basically, you may have seen Anne's review (link to a web archive, original review was taken down) of this piece of trash. If you haven't, you've got to read it. It's all true, folks. I don't want to bother with full review of this shitty comic, especially since Anne did such a thorough and wonderful job with it, but I just want to add a couple of things.
There are a lot of apologists for this book who state that you should know the complete history of Wonder Woman to appreciate all the idiocy that is happening in it, because all of the weird stuff was always part of her rich history. Well, that's bullshit for many reasons. First of all, this book is supposed to be an origin story by itself, it's a Volume 1 in a new series. It should take you up to speed with the story, regardless of your previous knowledge. I didn't read a lot of WW before, and I was really confused at times, much like Anne, who, by the way, knows a lot more about WW than I do. But the main problem with this argument is that origin stories for every more-or-less major superhero get rewritten, modernised and revised, like, every year. And to take the female character who came to be in the 1940's, and actually make her story a lot more tone-deaf and borderline porn-fantasy sexist? In 2016? That's just wrong.
But really, the worst thing about the whole book is the writing. It's just very badly written. There is no plot, there is no story, there is no point that Grant Morrison tried to prove with this book. It's not even one of those books where Grant Morrison is tripping balls. It's just a series of random events to excuse yet another sexy image. Don't bother trying to understand it all, just look how hot Diana's lesbian lover's butt looks when she falls off a kangaroo.
Honestly, after reading this book, the creators' dedications in the beginning feel like cruel mockery.
Grant Morrison can write a lot of characters right. Wonder Woman definitely ain't one of them.
So, basically, you may have seen Anne's review (link to a web archive, original review was taken down) of this piece of trash. If you haven't, you've got to read it. It's all true, folks. I don't want to bother with full review of this shitty comic, especially since Anne did such a thorough and wonderful job with it, but I just want to add a couple of things.
There are a lot of apologists for this book who state that you should know the complete history of Wonder Woman to appreciate all the idiocy that is happening in it, because all of the weird stuff was always part of her rich history. Well, that's bullshit for many reasons. First of all, this book is supposed to be an origin story by itself, it's a Volume 1 in a new series. It should take you up to speed with the story, regardless of your previous knowledge. I didn't read a lot of WW before, and I was really confused at times, much like Anne, who, by the way, knows a lot more about WW than I do. But the main problem with this argument is that origin stories for every more-or-less major superhero get rewritten, modernised and revised, like, every year. And to take the female character who came to be in the 1940's, and actually make her story a lot more tone-deaf and borderline porn-fantasy sexist? In 2016? That's just wrong.
But really, the worst thing about the whole book is the writing. It's just very badly written. There is no plot, there is no story, there is no point that Grant Morrison tried to prove with this book. It's not even one of those books where Grant Morrison is tripping balls. It's just a series of random events to excuse yet another sexy image. Don't bother trying to understand it all, just look how hot Diana's lesbian lover's butt looks when she falls off a kangaroo.
Honestly, after reading this book, the creators' dedications in the beginning feel like cruel mockery.
Grant Morrison can write a lot of characters right. Wonder Woman definitely ain't one of them.
May 25, 2016
The Wonder Woman Earth One graphic novel completes the main DC Comics trinity that Morrison, at one time or another has revitalized by merging various of aspects of each characters from their storied pasts. This revitalization was done with Superman in All-Star Superman and Morrison had lengthy run on Batman that gave us Damian Wayne, Batman R.I.P., and Batman Inc.. The writer has also defined the Justice League for a generation with a seminal run on JLA. Now, it's the turn of the third JLA co-lead to get the Morrison treatment, Diana the Wonder Woman.
This Wonder Woman has an edge to her that I felt missing from or prior versions. She's more grounded with the mythological trappings stripped but she still feels mythic. This is quite true with her revised origin. She's no statue animated by magic by the Greek Gods; she has a more biological beginning and here is where it gets tricky in the interpretation. Hippolyta stated that she took Hercules' seed to conceive Diana. However, this reader finds it more plausible that she was product of Hippolyta's rape, as what happens to female prisoners during war time.
The writer attempts what no other writer since her creator has done, and that is to reconcile her feminist and bondage origin as her creator, William Moulton Marston, once envisioned her, in to a more modern interpretation. Originally, the creation of the character was spurred by the overwhelming masculinity of superheroes in the comic books. Wonder Woman was to bring a more feminine influence to the genre.
The art is gorgeous. Yanick Paquette draws a sexy, powerful Wonder Woman. The entire book, with the exception of a single spread, was done in its entireity digitally. The colors by Nathan Fairbairn, complement Paquette's lines beautifully.
There was a lot of hype prior to the release of this book but it delivers. I would be waiting for the second volume.
This Wonder Woman has an edge to her that I felt missing from or prior versions. She's more grounded with the mythological trappings stripped but she still feels mythic. This is quite true with her revised origin. She's no statue animated by magic by the Greek Gods; she has a more biological beginning and here is where it gets tricky in the interpretation. Hippolyta stated that she took Hercules' seed to conceive Diana. However, this reader finds it more plausible that she was product of Hippolyta's rape, as what happens to female prisoners during war time.
The writer attempts what no other writer since her creator has done, and that is to reconcile her feminist and bondage origin as her creator, William Moulton Marston, once envisioned her, in to a more modern interpretation. Originally, the creation of the character was spurred by the overwhelming masculinity of superheroes in the comic books. Wonder Woman was to bring a more feminine influence to the genre.
The art is gorgeous. Yanick Paquette draws a sexy, powerful Wonder Woman. The entire book, with the exception of a single spread, was done in its entireity digitally. The colors by Nathan Fairbairn, complement Paquette's lines beautifully.
There was a lot of hype prior to the release of this book but it delivers. I would be waiting for the second volume.
March 15, 2022
Whilst Morrison's take is imperfect in many ways, he does the most important thing right, and that's making Diana a likeable protagonist. There's just something innately charming about Wonder Woman which manages to lift Morrison's rather indistinct origin retelling. With plenty of comedic moments, beautiful art and clear potential for the future instalments, this is a solid beginning to Wonder Woman's Earth One run.
February 29, 2024
The artwork was fabulous, but the character designs and the dialogue were too sexed up. This is definitely not Wonder Woman as I've come to expect her.
May 29, 2016
I've never really liked Wonder Woman and had yet to read a WW comic I liked, until this one. She's never appealed to me, with her Greek mythology, punchy attitude, and morality even more rigid than Superman's. And yet, Morrison makes her interesting even without much fighting. If that's what you're looking for, well, maybe you'll get it in volume 2. But volume 1 focuses on her origin on Paradise Island. While it isn't exactly action-oriented, I somehow found it fast paced and read it furiously, wanting to know more. I have to give Morrison huge credit for producing a highly restrained and focused story. Although it can be fun to go completely off the rails into different dimensions or an alinear narrative, this is Morrison at his subtlest.
Morrison's Wonder Woman is also by far the most entertaining and human. She's curious, naive, loving, yet omnipotent, prideful, and altruistic to a fault. She isn't the hot headed, punch first ask questions later Wonder Woman we've all come to know and loathe. And this coming from...Morrison? Nothing short of a genius accomplishment. And Yanick Paquette's artwork is downright amazing, staggeringly beautiful. Here's something I've never said before of a WW comic: looking forward to volume 2.
October 23, 2017
This was kind of weird. It was a skewed version of the Wonder Woman origin story, but instead of their patron goddess being Hera, it's Aphrodite. You can imagine how that could change a few things. It has a lot more overt sapphic tones than I've seen with Wonder Woman (but hardly surprising or shocking). I mean its a Utopian all female society, so why wouldn't the women pair up together as partners and lovers? I was fine with that. I think some of their rituals were on the verge of kinky if I'm honest. I've always been leery of sex and violence together thought.
I did like that Steve Trevor was black in this version. The relationship that Diana has with him is undefined. Since Wonder Woman has a lover already, I wasn't sure that there were any romantic undertones in her relationship with Trevor as it was written.
When Diana comes to the world of men, she is portrayed as very dominant with an edge of cruelty. I didn't love that about her characterization. I don't see Diana as being that kind of person.
The storyline where she encounters the sorority girls on a wild spring break trip and bonds with a particular girl was a bit odd. I know it was a way to group Diana and teach her the ways of the modern world. I didn't much care for it.
Honestly, I was glad this is Earth One. While I didn't mind the aspect of Diana being queer, and I liked that Steve was black, I didn't care for other aspects of the storyline. It wasn't terrible, so I would still give this three stars.
I did like that Steve Trevor was black in this version. The relationship that Diana has with him is undefined. Since Wonder Woman has a lover already, I wasn't sure that there were any romantic undertones in her relationship with Trevor as it was written.
When Diana comes to the world of men, she is portrayed as very dominant with an edge of cruelty. I didn't love that about her characterization. I don't see Diana as being that kind of person.
The storyline where she encounters the sorority girls on a wild spring break trip and bonds with a particular girl was a bit odd. I know it was a way to group Diana and teach her the ways of the modern world. I didn't much care for it.
Honestly, I was glad this is Earth One. While I didn't mind the aspect of Diana being queer, and I liked that Steve was black, I didn't care for other aspects of the storyline. It wasn't terrible, so I would still give this three stars.
December 2, 2023
Probably the best Wonder Woman reboot since George Perez' run back in the 80's. As always, Morrison writes in broad strokes, trusting the reader to fill in the necessary details. He'll just kind of splash a concept up on a single page, a concept that another writer might take pages to explain in detail. Meanwhile, Morrison is already skipping ahead to the next mind blowing concept. Sometimes, it can get out of hand, but, fortunately, this book is not one of those times. I particularly like this version of Steve Trevor, who seems as though he'll be less prone to needing to be rescued than Moulton's original. And this version of Etta Candy bears more than a passing resemblance to Rebel Wilson. The art, by Yannick Paquette, is lovely, though some of the page layouts get a bit confusing. I definitely enjoyed this version of Wonder Woman, and look forward to reading more.
2023 update:
Not much to add. Morrison makes this look easy. Everyone has believable motivations. And I'm really impressed by how much this version of Etta Candy resembles the 1940's original–Morrison even kept the “Woo woo!”--while still managing to be a believable modern woman.
2023 update:
Not much to add. Morrison makes this look easy. Everyone has believable motivations. And I'm really impressed by how much this version of Etta Candy resembles the 1940's original–Morrison even kept the “Woo woo!”--while still managing to be a believable modern woman.
March 10, 2021
This was quite fun! A retelling of the origins of Diana as it has been done many times before but it changes quite a few things like the history of Amazonia (Paradise Island) and how it came into being, we pick up with Diana as she wants to participate in some festivities on the "Day of diana" and after some arguing she does, its of 3 days, she disappears in the 2nd day and meets Steve and later we have her battle her girlfriend Mala whose usually the victorious one but here she loses and we find out why and then escapes, goes to man's world and sees the conditions there and meets Etta, fights gorgons and other amazons, comes back to Paradise Island, more revelations about her origins and a good mother-daughter moment and the fates ordain her as WW! This was a fun one nothing new but with some interesting twists and I like how Diana is portrayed but there were certain scenes like bondage and all that and that was super weird and the book would have been better without it, those choices kinda make you weird out. And Steve being a bit different here was a welcome change and I like how Hippolyta was also portrayed here!
July 3, 2018
A disappointment, especially when reading it on the heels of DC's really good two-volume Batman: Earth One. (I know there were different crews responsible for each title, but come on . . .) I would love to write a great review, but there was just too much weirdness and mood whiplash.
September 17, 2018
While I appreciate the flashback trial testimony structure and I enjoyed the new ideas involving the mixture of science and magic on Paradise Island, this was pretty unremarkable. None of the characters were compelling at all and I struggled to identify even the slightest bit of motivation for Diana to leave the island beyond just obnoxious teen angst and boredom. Overall, she seems pretty damn useless actually. Add to the fact that there was a major missed opportunity in barely using Medusa as a villain (I mean it's Medusa dammit, she's awesome!), and I'd say I was pretty disappointed in this one.
October 4, 2018
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
As part of DC Comics’ Earth One graphic novel line-up, a brand-new retelling of Wonder Woman’s origin story is presented to fans by the one and only Grant Morrison. With the help of artist Yanick Paquette, colourist Nathan Fairbairn annd letterer Todd Klein, the first volume of Wonder Woman’s tale draws inspiration on her vast and colourful lore, but also implements a heavy dose of feminism to turn it into one of the most provocative story within this series. Although Grant Morrison is known for his non-linear storytelling and his talent to go against the currents, he never fails to surprise fans and force them to see beyond the walls of their comfort zone. This project however depicts a Wonder Woman that is not easy to acquaint with, and almost impossible to admire with the direction it takes and the messages it pushes down your throat.
In this story, the Amazons of Paradise Island is safe from the vile presence of men and their despicable ways. Unable to thrive and convinced that there is more to the world than what her mother Hippolyta unveils to her, Diana, Princess of the Amazons, roams around the island in isolation and frustration. It is the unfortunate—or fortunate—crash-landing of Air Force pilot Steve Trevor that Diana sees an opportunity for change. The injured Afro-american—nothing like a ethnicity change to spark some discussion in what is already controversial—also finds himself in a sticky situation with political issues festering in what is called Man’s World. The story hence develops to slowly reveal the verdict of the trial Diana faces among her people for breaking their law, a law that forbids them to embrace a world filled with a gender that had wronged them.
The underlying politics that were highlighted and intentionally extravagant left a sour taste in my mouth. I’m open-minded to all ideologies, but when they are pushed to their extremes and showcase evident flaws that don’t respect any form of equality or justice, I start to question their basis. In this volume of Wonder Woman: Earth One, feminism reaches new heights and Diana serves as the platform to deliver the message. If looked at objectively, the idea is not impossible considering what kind of stories she was fed by her mother throughout her whole life and the values that were implanted within her women-only society. But the execution and Wonder Woman’s display of her authority and sense of rightness gave it an edge that cut too deep into the philosophy to make me want to feel any admiration for her behaviour and beliefs. It was even less appealing when other themes were also integrated, such as fat-shaming, for no other purposes but to distinguish women from one another, to establish the strong from the weak, those who were tainted by the presence of men in their lives from those who lived without their repulsive personalities and ideologies. Eh…
The story is also told in an non-linear style with flashbacks being the main narrative technique to unveil the main action scenes. While the idea isn’t bad at all, it is the execution through the artwork that didn’t leave any lasting impression. Too often I found myself confused by the reading order and wondered if it was just me or an issue with the story-telling style. Speaking of artwork, it isn’t necessarily bad at all, but with the dialogue that conveyed a pretentious and know-it-all vibe, the artwork helped put a face towards whom I could direct all the hate it was mustering out of me. I particularly had a hard time looking at Diana’s face that remained poised, rested and overconfident. Too often it felt like she thought she knew better than everyone else, and that’s not exactly the kind of leader I’d want to follow.
Did I mention the excessive sexual innuendo that permeates throughout the story? From bondage to groping, it was safe to say that this graphic novel wasn’t just looking to provoke in terms of ideas, and in all honesty, I was surprised that it didn’t venture into pure nudity even if it was sometimes very close to it. Wonder Woman: Earth One was clearly the worse volume of this series, and a bit too disappointing considering the respect I have for Grant Morrison. I’m praying the next volume will do better, but something tells me I’m in for a surprise.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
As part of DC Comics’ Earth One graphic novel line-up, a brand-new retelling of Wonder Woman’s origin story is presented to fans by the one and only Grant Morrison. With the help of artist Yanick Paquette, colourist Nathan Fairbairn annd letterer Todd Klein, the first volume of Wonder Woman’s tale draws inspiration on her vast and colourful lore, but also implements a heavy dose of feminism to turn it into one of the most provocative story within this series. Although Grant Morrison is known for his non-linear storytelling and his talent to go against the currents, he never fails to surprise fans and force them to see beyond the walls of their comfort zone. This project however depicts a Wonder Woman that is not easy to acquaint with, and almost impossible to admire with the direction it takes and the messages it pushes down your throat.
In this story, the Amazons of Paradise Island is safe from the vile presence of men and their despicable ways. Unable to thrive and convinced that there is more to the world than what her mother Hippolyta unveils to her, Diana, Princess of the Amazons, roams around the island in isolation and frustration. It is the unfortunate—or fortunate—crash-landing of Air Force pilot Steve Trevor that Diana sees an opportunity for change. The injured Afro-american—nothing like a ethnicity change to spark some discussion in what is already controversial—also finds himself in a sticky situation with political issues festering in what is called Man’s World. The story hence develops to slowly reveal the verdict of the trial Diana faces among her people for breaking their law, a law that forbids them to embrace a world filled with a gender that had wronged them.
The underlying politics that were highlighted and intentionally extravagant left a sour taste in my mouth. I’m open-minded to all ideologies, but when they are pushed to their extremes and showcase evident flaws that don’t respect any form of equality or justice, I start to question their basis. In this volume of Wonder Woman: Earth One, feminism reaches new heights and Diana serves as the platform to deliver the message. If looked at objectively, the idea is not impossible considering what kind of stories she was fed by her mother throughout her whole life and the values that were implanted within her women-only society. But the execution and Wonder Woman’s display of her authority and sense of rightness gave it an edge that cut too deep into the philosophy to make me want to feel any admiration for her behaviour and beliefs. It was even less appealing when other themes were also integrated, such as fat-shaming, for no other purposes but to distinguish women from one another, to establish the strong from the weak, those who were tainted by the presence of men in their lives from those who lived without their repulsive personalities and ideologies. Eh…
The story is also told in an non-linear style with flashbacks being the main narrative technique to unveil the main action scenes. While the idea isn’t bad at all, it is the execution through the artwork that didn’t leave any lasting impression. Too often I found myself confused by the reading order and wondered if it was just me or an issue with the story-telling style. Speaking of artwork, it isn’t necessarily bad at all, but with the dialogue that conveyed a pretentious and know-it-all vibe, the artwork helped put a face towards whom I could direct all the hate it was mustering out of me. I particularly had a hard time looking at Diana’s face that remained poised, rested and overconfident. Too often it felt like she thought she knew better than everyone else, and that’s not exactly the kind of leader I’d want to follow.
Did I mention the excessive sexual innuendo that permeates throughout the story? From bondage to groping, it was safe to say that this graphic novel wasn’t just looking to provoke in terms of ideas, and in all honesty, I was surprised that it didn’t venture into pure nudity even if it was sometimes very close to it. Wonder Woman: Earth One was clearly the worse volume of this series, and a bit too disappointing considering the respect I have for Grant Morrison. I’m praying the next volume will do better, but something tells me I’m in for a surprise.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
January 10, 2022
Too much. Everything was too much.
May 23, 2017
I was so pumped to read this but it ended up being a hot mess. Not only was the story line confusing, I couldn't figure out what was a flashback and what was present day, but the body shaming and the sexism was very disappointing. Wonder Woman, in my mind, is supposed to be empowering. Not make people feel bad about themselves. One character said women of "Man's world" are “deformed, shrunken, bloated, domesticated cattle" and what just wasn't okay.
This comic was just all kinds of problematic. There was scene where Diana collared Steve Trevor (who is black) and that felt really wrong.
To be totally honest, I could tell this comic only had men involved in its creation. It felt like it was written for men by men.
Unfortunately, I spent money on this comic and if I could return it, I would. There's a lot of well written reviews that show examples of the problematic nature in this comic so if you're curious about knowing more, I'd recommend reading this review and this review
This comic was just all kinds of problematic. There was scene where Diana collared Steve Trevor (who is black) and that felt really wrong.
To be totally honest, I could tell this comic only had men involved in its creation. It felt like it was written for men by men.
Unfortunately, I spent money on this comic and if I could return it, I would. There's a lot of well written reviews that show examples of the problematic nature in this comic so if you're curious about knowing more, I'd recommend reading this review and this review
January 20, 2016
Well...
I fully admit I went into reading this not expecting to like it. I read the first 40 pages or so and didn't think it was so bad, the remaining hundred or so fixed that for me.
wow.. This was terrible. This was so one-sided and heavy handed making men look like pure evil and such. The bondage, the Rape, Wonder Woman having to dominate Steve Trevor, The Fat Amy like side-kick that was incredibly annoying to me just added to my dislike of this book. I'm honestly not a huge Grant Morrison fan, and this didn't help. I do wanna say the Artwork, Pencils, inking, color, were all well done and quite beautiful, unfortunately the storyline and dialogue was not. I understand some will love this just because it's Grant Morrison, But I also believe there will be many who strongly disliked this, for the way Wonder Woman was presented.
My review is just my opinion, read the book if You want to.
I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley.com and the publisher.
I fully admit I went into reading this not expecting to like it. I read the first 40 pages or so and didn't think it was so bad, the remaining hundred or so fixed that for me.
wow.. This was terrible. This was so one-sided and heavy handed making men look like pure evil and such. The bondage, the Rape, Wonder Woman having to dominate Steve Trevor, The Fat Amy like side-kick that was incredibly annoying to me just added to my dislike of this book. I'm honestly not a huge Grant Morrison fan, and this didn't help. I do wanna say the Artwork, Pencils, inking, color, were all well done and quite beautiful, unfortunately the storyline and dialogue was not. I understand some will love this just because it's Grant Morrison, But I also believe there will be many who strongly disliked this, for the way Wonder Woman was presented.
My review is just my opinion, read the book if You want to.
I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley.com and the publisher.
Read
November 4, 2017Başlamadan söylemem gerekir ki Wonder Woman sevdiğim süper kahramanlar arasında çok da yukarıda değil. Bu yüzden DC bu karakter için bir Yeni Dünya (Earth One) hikayesi yayınlayacağını duyurduğunda pek de heveslenmemiştim. Ancak okuduktan sonra farkına vardım ki Yeni Dünya hikayelerinin en iyisiyle karşı karşıyayız!
Grant Morrison’ın neredeyse her işini sevmeme rağmen, o bile bu ciltte kendini aşmış. Hikaye bildiğiniz gibi karakterin köklerine iniyor. Ancak Morrison sadece bununla kalmayıp cesur bir adım atarak çizgi roman endüstrisinde günümüze kadar değişen şeylere de ışık tutmuş. Ancak özgürlüğünü kullanmamış ve karakterin hikayesini olduğu gibi anlatmayı seçmiş.
Çizgi romanlar için Altın Çağ olarak adlandırılan döneme sadık kalınarak yapılan anlatım, içinde bulundurduğu öğeler yüzünden kimilerimiz için biraz itici olabilir. Çoğunlukla bondage öğesinden bahsediyorum elbette. Eski çizgi romanlarda Wonder Woman birileri tarafından bağlanmadan birkaç sayfa gidemezdi. Bu sebeple negatif bakanlar karakterin günümüzde değil de 1940’larda oluşturulduğunu unutmazlar ve çizgi romanların geçmişten günümüze gösterdiği gelişimi düşünürlerse daha çok keyif alabilirler.
Themyscria tek bir mottoda yürüyor; zorla güzellik olmaz. Ama sevgiyle, hoş görüyle, tatlılıkla tabii ki güzellik olur. Ancak bir sorun var ortada. Buradaki ‘güzellik’ zorlanmıyor tabii ki ama herkesten ‘güzel’ olması bekleniyor. Bu da bir zorlama değil midir sayın okur? Diana Themyscria’ya gönüllü olarak girmeyip orada doğduğu ve dış dünyayı hiç görmediği için de insanlığın en temel özelliklerinden birine fazlasıyla sahip; merak. Bu merak onun ‘sahiplerine’ meydan okumasına neden oluyor. Onun için yasak olmasına rağmen savaşıyor, dış dünyayı arzuluyor ve hatta kız kardeşlerine inat olsun diye Herkül kostümü bile giyiyor!
Morrison yazdığı bu çizgi romanda sevdiğim bir diğer nokta ise Yanick Pacquette’nin çizimleri ve panel geçişleri! O olmasaydı bu çizgi roman çok şey kaybederdi. Hikaye kadar çizgilerin kare kare geçişleri o kadar güzel ve ayrıntılı olmuş ki zaman zaman durup film izlediğinizi düşünebilirsiniz.
Her şeye rağmen elbette çizgi romanın eksileri var. Bunlardan en belirgini hikayenin bir cilde sığmaması. Gönül isterdi ki sayı sayı okuyalım, yıllarca devam etsin. Ancak Morrison hikayeyi bir cilde sığdırmak için oldukça aceleye getirmiş. Başlarda bu çok belli olmasa bile hikayenin son bölümüne geldiğinizde tüm bu olanların çat diye sonlanması biraz kötü bir deneyim sunuyor. Diğer bir sorun ise Diana dışındaki karakterlerin neredeyse bir anlam ifade etmemesi.
Tüm bunlara rağmen bu çizgi romanın herkese göre olduğunu söylemeliyim. YKY’den çıkan Wonder Woman – Yeni Dünya’yı gönül rahatlığı ile okuyup arkadaşlarınıza önerebilirsiniz!
- Burak İPEK
İncelemenin tamamı için: http://kayiprihtim.com/inceleme/wonde...
Grant Morrison’ın neredeyse her işini sevmeme rağmen, o bile bu ciltte kendini aşmış. Hikaye bildiğiniz gibi karakterin köklerine iniyor. Ancak Morrison sadece bununla kalmayıp cesur bir adım atarak çizgi roman endüstrisinde günümüze kadar değişen şeylere de ışık tutmuş. Ancak özgürlüğünü kullanmamış ve karakterin hikayesini olduğu gibi anlatmayı seçmiş.
Çizgi romanlar için Altın Çağ olarak adlandırılan döneme sadık kalınarak yapılan anlatım, içinde bulundurduğu öğeler yüzünden kimilerimiz için biraz itici olabilir. Çoğunlukla bondage öğesinden bahsediyorum elbette. Eski çizgi romanlarda Wonder Woman birileri tarafından bağlanmadan birkaç sayfa gidemezdi. Bu sebeple negatif bakanlar karakterin günümüzde değil de 1940’larda oluşturulduğunu unutmazlar ve çizgi romanların geçmişten günümüze gösterdiği gelişimi düşünürlerse daha çok keyif alabilirler.
Themyscria tek bir mottoda yürüyor; zorla güzellik olmaz. Ama sevgiyle, hoş görüyle, tatlılıkla tabii ki güzellik olur. Ancak bir sorun var ortada. Buradaki ‘güzellik’ zorlanmıyor tabii ki ama herkesten ‘güzel’ olması bekleniyor. Bu da bir zorlama değil midir sayın okur? Diana Themyscria’ya gönüllü olarak girmeyip orada doğduğu ve dış dünyayı hiç görmediği için de insanlığın en temel özelliklerinden birine fazlasıyla sahip; merak. Bu merak onun ‘sahiplerine’ meydan okumasına neden oluyor. Onun için yasak olmasına rağmen savaşıyor, dış dünyayı arzuluyor ve hatta kız kardeşlerine inat olsun diye Herkül kostümü bile giyiyor!
Morrison yazdığı bu çizgi romanda sevdiğim bir diğer nokta ise Yanick Pacquette’nin çizimleri ve panel geçişleri! O olmasaydı bu çizgi roman çok şey kaybederdi. Hikaye kadar çizgilerin kare kare geçişleri o kadar güzel ve ayrıntılı olmuş ki zaman zaman durup film izlediğinizi düşünebilirsiniz.
Her şeye rağmen elbette çizgi romanın eksileri var. Bunlardan en belirgini hikayenin bir cilde sığmaması. Gönül isterdi ki sayı sayı okuyalım, yıllarca devam etsin. Ancak Morrison hikayeyi bir cilde sığdırmak için oldukça aceleye getirmiş. Başlarda bu çok belli olmasa bile hikayenin son bölümüne geldiğinizde tüm bu olanların çat diye sonlanması biraz kötü bir deneyim sunuyor. Diğer bir sorun ise Diana dışındaki karakterlerin neredeyse bir anlam ifade etmemesi.
Tüm bunlara rağmen bu çizgi romanın herkese göre olduğunu söylemeliyim. YKY’den çıkan Wonder Woman – Yeni Dünya’yı gönül rahatlığı ile okuyup arkadaşlarınıza önerebilirsiniz!
- Burak İPEK
İncelemenin tamamı için: http://kayiprihtim.com/inceleme/wonde...
February 16, 2019
This is what happens when a man reads an idiot's guide to feminism and then attempts to mansplain it using Wonder Woman. I don't know what in the world Morrison thought he was doing here, but it's a disservice to everything about Wonder Woman.
We get another retelling of Themyscira's origins, including the detail that pretty much everyone there is millenia old, and it's a paradise (which means lots of all-female debauchery and partying, in as much detail as they could get away with in a mainstream title), complete with speeder bikes and the amazing purple ray of health. Into this is thrown Steve Trevor (who, in one of the better decisions for the series, is now black, which allows it to briefly touch on some deeper topics, at least for a frame or two), and suddenly Diana is yelling 'Hola' at everyone and decides to visit man's world.
There is so much stupid here, I don't know where to start. Using the language barrier to foment conflict is trite, the use of a trial to set up the story never really pays off, and every character (including Diana) comes off unlikable. Including Etta Candy (now Betsy, I think it was), who is the sorority girl from hell, and who the Amazons try to fat shame multiple times (yeah she claps back on it, but it's still in bad taste). And then we get Diana's real origin story (she's not made from clay) in too much detail, and it's just tacky too.
I was wincing from the second or third page, and it just never got better. I'm giving it two stars solely because the art is well done. On the story front, it's a mess. Grant Morrison has provided some of the most insightful and intriguing looks at DC characters in the past few decades, but he completely misses the target with this one. I'm amazed they made further volumes; I won't be bothering to read them.
If you want some good Wonder Woman stories, find the Gail Simone era, or Greg Rucka's recent interpretation. Even with the art, don't bother with this.
We get another retelling of Themyscira's origins, including the detail that pretty much everyone there is millenia old, and it's a paradise (which means lots of all-female debauchery and partying, in as much detail as they could get away with in a mainstream title), complete with speeder bikes and the amazing purple ray of health. Into this is thrown Steve Trevor (who, in one of the better decisions for the series, is now black, which allows it to briefly touch on some deeper topics, at least for a frame or two), and suddenly Diana is yelling 'Hola' at everyone and decides to visit man's world.
There is so much stupid here, I don't know where to start. Using the language barrier to foment conflict is trite, the use of a trial to set up the story never really pays off, and every character (including Diana) comes off unlikable. Including Etta Candy (now Betsy, I think it was), who is the sorority girl from hell, and who the Amazons try to fat shame multiple times (yeah she claps back on it, but it's still in bad taste). And then we get Diana's real origin story (she's not made from clay) in too much detail, and it's just tacky too.
I was wincing from the second or third page, and it just never got better. I'm giving it two stars solely because the art is well done. On the story front, it's a mess. Grant Morrison has provided some of the most insightful and intriguing looks at DC characters in the past few decades, but he completely misses the target with this one. I'm amazed they made further volumes; I won't be bothering to read them.
If you want some good Wonder Woman stories, find the Gail Simone era, or Greg Rucka's recent interpretation. Even with the art, don't bother with this.
May 16, 2016
I received a free copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I ABSOLUTELY loved this until the following happened:
-Diana used "girl" as an insult. Which especially coming from her is just WRONG.
-Diana fat-shamed a woman. Who in turn totally stood up for herself and her body, which was awesome. Still, I was disappointed in Diana's character in this instance.
Apart from those two instances, which I totally need to call out and acknowledge, I FREAKING LOVED THIS. I love Wonder Woman's character, I loved Paradise Island. I really liked Captain Trevor, and BETH IS THE MOST PRECIOUS THING. I LOVE HER. She's a feminist woman calling out the patriarchy in a comic book, and it is NOT portrayed as a negative thing. GO YOU, Beth Candy. I loved Captain Trevor's calling out racism and slave trade, trying to make Diana's mother understand he's on their side. I loved Diana's obvious interest in both genders and I hope for her to be canonically bisexual as this series progresses. Definitely recommend this!
Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 comes out April 12.
I ABSOLUTELY loved this until the following happened:
-Diana used "girl" as an insult. Which especially coming from her is just WRONG.
-Diana fat-shamed a woman. Who in turn totally stood up for herself and her body, which was awesome. Still, I was disappointed in Diana's character in this instance.
Apart from those two instances, which I totally need to call out and acknowledge, I FREAKING LOVED THIS. I love Wonder Woman's character, I loved Paradise Island. I really liked Captain Trevor, and BETH IS THE MOST PRECIOUS THING. I LOVE HER. She's a feminist woman calling out the patriarchy in a comic book, and it is NOT portrayed as a negative thing. GO YOU, Beth Candy. I loved Captain Trevor's calling out racism and slave trade, trying to make Diana's mother understand he's on their side. I loved Diana's obvious interest in both genders and I hope for her to be canonically bisexual as this series progresses. Definitely recommend this!
Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 comes out April 12.
February 6, 2017
2.5 stars. I wanted to read this because I loved Wonder Woman when I was a kid. So naturally, I expected to love this and I didn't. The characters are just cardboard cutouts. The action isn't especially exciting. Guess I'll find another way to get my WW fix.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 893 reviews