Wonder woman is a classic example of a strong female hero. Unfortunately, many times her storyline is repeated over and over with little variation. I am happy to say that this story is different. We are reintroduced to Wonder Woman in a way that gives reader's a new perspective of our beloved character.

As soon as I read the title I knew I had to read this one. I mean come on who doesn't love Wonder Woman? Anyway I wasn't disapointed at all. The storytelling and artwork were perfection as always and I can't wait to read vol. 2!

What can I say? It's Wonder Woman. There's nothing not to love.I'm looking forward to catching up on the newer volumes.

The idea of a life lived without challenges is the focus at the center of "Wonder Woman - Earth One Vol. 1" [Grant Morrison/DC Comics/144pgs]. The notion of a protected royalty is balanced with the lore of the Athenian. The angle of the psychology and relationships that these Amazonian women have with no men around come into play and actually very much integrate the socialization of how they present themselves. Diana as the daughter of a goddess is very much protected but because of how her father is (Hercules), there is a sense of wanton adventure and perhaps a need to prove herself. She, in fact, goes against her betrothed of sorts and bests her in battle to gain use of the infamous invisible jet, which is almost her mainstay. What causes problems is the essence of fate which has a man landing on the island by chance after his fighter jet crashes. Diana's mother always was able to see the ways of man through a magic portal showing television signals. Diana ends up taking the man secretly back to modern civilization but does not understand the structure of a patriarchal society. What is decidedly interesting is the hard edged element of Diana as Wonder Woman here. She sees the entire modern civilization as uncivilized and, by extension, unpure. This identity of almost Aryan proportions using a gender standard gives a different spin. The Amazonians and especially the world has a heightened almost Alex Ross vivaciousness that gives a lurid unworldly feeling to the proceedings even as everything is bathed in an intrepid light. As a bridge story to a modern Justice League, this is an interesting myth that very much works well despite its anti-thesis to many other comics exploring this realm. This however is a darker characterization which truly reflects Wonder Woman as she would see the world.

B+

By Tim Wassberg

Grant Morrison is a difficult writer to review as an admirer of his work. It's not a refusal to recognize faults or failings in his titles (I had no interest in reading more 'Klaus' after its first issue), but rather a respect for his particular exhaustively multi-layered take on the craft that makes drawing quick judgements on works that don't immediately grab me feel premature and reductive. Giving artists I respect the space to fully elaborate their ideas has served me more than not in the past (cheers to Warren Ellis's very slow starting 'Injection') and I'm not in the camp of believing that art has to tug you by the balls or the heartstrings to be worthy of inspection. That said, when I hold Morrison's presumable attempt at a definitive Wonder Woman story in my hands and notice the cover artwork is dated from two years ago, it leaves me feeling a bit deflated, imagining how long a continuation of this controversially loaded and equally tame Wonder Woman origin will take to develop into something greater. I can credit some of this initial response to both the hype Morrison himself poured into the book, ages ago the last time DC seemed to be it, and Morrison's history with superhero revision itself. Morrison's Batman, Superman, and X-Men are some of the greatest, or in the very least most challenging, takes on those heroes in this era, cutting to the core of what the character is in a way that feels both alien and somehow true to spirit. Wonder Woman, while elevated as an icon, has rarely been understood in comics, too weird to live and too rare to die. Her origins as a pre-counter-culture bisexual pacifist BDSM Uber-womenschen seemed a perfect fit for the writer who dug Jimmy Olsen's 1950's brushes with transvestitism into the 2000's and who deemed Batman a psychotropic superhero; the potential seemed endless. In the end, my expectations got the best of me, as what we have is a fairly straightforward origin that comes off surprisingly staid when it comes to both its more bizarre elements and the immediately relevant feminism.

WWE1v1_CASE_LARGEThe story's framing device is a trial in which Queen Hippolyta, ruler of the Amazon utopia of Paradise Island, accuses her daughter Diana of breaking ancient tradition and traveling to the outside land of men. We then partake in Diana's origin story, which plays out like a Disney Princess fantasy, only really missing an 'I Want' song to pull it all together. When Prince Eric—I mean Steve Trevor—washes up on their man-free shores, Diana is drawn out into the mysterious outside world to discover what lies beyond her blemish free utopia.

I can't imagine the feminist themes used here will be very popular with most audiences. The Amazon's are portrayed as blind, if not entirely unjustified, misandrists and the world of men is portrayed as a bland sickly land of mansplainers with little to recommend saving it. We also get a barely modernized Etta Candy who tries to inject the book with some human-centric girl power and body positivity, but in a way that came off wincingly tone-deaf compared to what modern comics have to offer now. I could hear the disgruntled keystrokes from the blogosphere of both sides of the gender politics divide from the opening few pages, but beyond the notorious weight of the author's name, frankly the feminism here comes off too weak to really get that upset about. For the first time in ages (some might say ever) feminism in comics is a publicly discussed, passionately flourishing, and hotly competitive field, which makes it harder to tell a story like this without saying anything particularly new. I'd be curious to see what feminist scholar's reactions are to this title, but seeing as the book had a review embargo on it and I hadn't heard hide-or-hair promotion for it since last year, I'm wondering if the title may just fly under the radar.

Yanick Paquette's artwork is what you'd imagine a glossy Earth One Wonder Woman book would look like, not as memorable as his solid work on Morrison's 'Batman Incorporated'. The paneling is a bit distracting at times, especially when using themed panel borders in the shape of ropes and chains, something I've been noticing a lot in modern comics (see 'Fight Club 2' for the most egregious example), and combined with Morrison's arch language and variable pacing, makes the rather straightforward story a slow read as you pick your way over the uneven terrain. Part of me wished Morrison had gone with a less conventional artist to match his language a bit more, but I suspect it may just as much be me wishing the story had been equally less conventional.

Look, I've been very dismal this whole review, but I should say it's not a terrible comic. There are some intriguing beats, especially an eyebrow raiser where Diana tries to define her relationship to this new incarnation to Steve Trevor, but were it not for my extension of trust to Morrison as an author, I probably wouldn't have invested the money I paid for this book (I declined a review copy as I had been pre-ordered for months) or would hold out hope for future installments in the series. It's clear Morrison put thought into his interpretation of Diana and his ambition to realign her to her original pacifist origins keeps me intrigued, but who knows how long it will take to follow this story up, or if DC will continue investing in the Earth One line as they scramble and scrape for sales (“You want to call the imprint what? Young Animal? Oh, who gives a shit, just please don't lose too much money, we're already auctioning off office equipment...”). I am cautiously optimistic that all of this was set up for something more interesting down the road, I'm just not sure why we needed that many pages and a hardcover format to set up so little.

Seriously what a piece of trash. Everything about it was the opposite of what Wonder Woman 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 befriended Wonder Woman. Just awful, which sucks cause it could've been so good.