Wonder Woman: Earth One, Volume One

Let's call this review of Grant Morrison's Wonder Woman re-vamp The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good: The artwork by Yanick Paquette, luscious and lavishly detailed, the coloring is also exquisite. In fact for the artwork alone I might give this volume 5 stars if I did not have such problems with the story.

Paradise Island. In the past, this island of Amazons has been depicted as a series of Greek temples with all the women carrying spears / swords. Morrison & Paquette have created a place where the technology has developed, in some ways beyond that of our world. It looks a bit like Barsoom, with air cycles, invisible airplanes, and purple healing rays. The latter two were in the original Golden Age Wonder Woman comics, nice to see Morrison bring them back.

Also, the women on Paradise Island are not all walking around in thongs and bikinis, they are wearing pants, armor, boots. Remarkable! There are different ethnicities. Doesn't Queen Hippolyta's outfit look stunning?

The fact that an island full of women and no men has lesbians is shown in various ways here. DC Comics skirted around this topic for decades and now it's finally shown, although there's no outright pornography or anything, it is mentioned here and there. I believe when DC Rebirth happens this will be part of the regular comic series too.

The Bad: One of Morrison's goals in this Earth One series of graphic novels was to bring Wonder Woman back to basics. Now in the case of this character, that is very complicated. If you have read The Secret History of Wonder Woman you will know that William Marston Moulton was into bondage, practiced it with his wife, and lived in a threesome with his wife and her lover. Bondage themes appeared all throughout the first decade of Wonder Woman comics, which flew over the heads of kids (including myself).

I am not saying bondage is bad per se -- consenting adults, do whatever you like. But in a character that has come to represent female liberation and independence, I don't think it fits in the modern era. The above image is the most tame example from Earth One. Later we find that Diana was supposed to submit to Mala, her lover. Diana asks Steve Trevor, a black man, to put on the collar and become her slave - HELLO, DOES GRANT MORRISON NEED AN EDITOR OR WHAT?

Someone needed to have the guts to tell him no. You can do that to an original character that never existed before. But women and girls need a role model and they are in short supply in modern DC Comics. Don't do that to Wonder Woman, no matter what her roots or history were.

The Ugly: As I explained, the Amazons on Paradise Island wear practical clothing, pretty well designed. When Diana first arrives in Man's World (the United States) she is wearing pants. Diana meets Etta Candy, a real character and also a lesbian traveling to spring break with her friends. They decide Diana needs a makeover, cover her up with makeup and dress her in this ghastly outfit. My first thought was, honest to god, Amazons must shave!

WTF! A group of lesbians would chose to dress Diana up in the most tasteless and revealing costume, why? The thong she is wearing is even more scanty than her traditional costume for the past couple of decades.

I want everyone to see the last few Wonder Woman costumes...



You've the traditional on the left by Alex Ross with the Star Spangled underwear. Kind of revealing, I don't really see a modern woman fighting crime in that, but, OK, it's canon. A great artist like George Perez or Alex Ross can make Diana look buff enough to wear that costume with strength. To the right of those we had a Jim Lee redesign where he tried to give her pants. When this came out there was a huge controversy. People didn't like it; I did like it but I thought the jacket was impractical - they tweaked that later to remove it. You can see Adrianne Palicki wearing a version of that in the aborted David Kelley TV pilot from 2011.  At any rate this redesign was supposed to be shown in the New 52 Wonder Woman series and was even shown on the first cover; at the last minute they switched back to the underwear (though you did see this costume in the Justice League series).

This has been a tough costume to redesign, many people tried and they never stuck too long. But I can't imagine why Paquette and Morrison went in that direction by shrinking everything down further.

I don't think this was a good revamp of Wonder Woman at all, I was terribly disappointed after being such a big fan of Grant Morrison's DC Comics work; he had even done a very good job writing Diana on his JLA series. I did not imagine he would be given carte blanche by DC to do anything he liked and come up with this. Greg Rucka (who originally was supposed to do this Earth One series) is about to relaunch Wonder Woman for DC Comics Rebirth, I hope he is the man to show how to write this character. Nuff Said!

Saturday Evening Post painted covers with Zatanna, Joker, Harley Quinn, Swamp Thing!

I recently discovered the work of a great illustrator, Juan Carlos Ruiz Burgos, and this fantastic series of Saturday Evening Post paintings that the did with DC Comics superheroes! Each one depicts characters in different eras from 1938 to 1971.

Clark Kent in the year he first appeared, 1938. Love the Siegel and Shuster sign above the shoe sign station! One kid is reading Action Comics #1 while Clark reads the Daily Planet with Superman on the front page.

Wonder Woman in 1945. Love the little girl looking up to her with a copy of Sensation Comics #1 in her hand.

Joker and Harley Quinn in 1942, looking like Bonnie and Clyde on the run. His first appearance was 2 years earlier in Batman #1, and of course Harley came much, much later. But it's fine to imagine Harley in this time period.

Catwoman getting caught on the job. Why 1989? Puzzling, but I figure that is the year the Michael Keaton Batman movie exploded into movie theaters.  The cop arresting Selina Kyle? Chief O'Hara from the Batman 66 TV show.

Zatanna with too many rabbits. Zatanna's first appearance was in Hawkman #4, 1964!

Swamp Thing - my personal favorite of this entire series! Swamp Thing first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in 1971, so there is a nod to that. It's illustrated in black and white since all the classic monster movies were filmed that way. The appearance of Swampy and Abby is most decidedly in the vein of Alan Moore's take on the characters.

Visit Ruiz Burgos' Deviant Art page or his blog for more great artwork. Nuff Said!

Wonder Woman vs Hulk by Mike Deodato

Came across this nifty commission by Mike Deodato on his Facebook page...



Wonder Woman vs Hulk.  Unfortunately, I read that Deodato mailed this to the fan who commissioned the piece and it was lost in transit!  Sob.  Nuff Said.

Wonder Woman, a Greek idol, by Steve Rude

A couple of Wonder Woman pin-ups the great Steve Rude the Dude!

Wonder Woman standing before a series of busts, symbolizing her stature among the Greek gods.

Wonder Woman in flight, tying that gnarly lasso together.   Nuff Said!

Justice League 2012 Commissions by George Perez

Remember the great Gerry Conway / George Perez era of the Justice League?  I love that one and enjoy perusing those back issues when I run across them.  Recently George Perez did some commissions that evoke that era...

Wonder Woman.

Batman.

The Flash.

J'onn J'onnz.

The Atom.  Nuff Said!

Wrightson, Ditko, Romita, Miller, Beck, Infantino on a Golden-Silver-Bronze Age Jam!

C. C. Beck, Rich Buckler, Steve Ditko, Lee Elias, Carmine Infantino, Fred Kida, Frank Miller, Jim Mooney, Irv Novick, John Romita Sr., Joe Staton, Bernie Wrightson and other artists contributed to this fantastic jam illustration that I found on Heritage Comics.

Here is a quick but not complete rundown:

• Black Cat - Jim Mooney
• Martian Manhunter - Rich Buckler & Brett Breeding
• Black Cat (Golden Age version) - Lee Elias 
• Justice Society (Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Dr Midnight - Joe Staton, with an autograph by Gardner Fox
• Adam Strange - Carmine Infantino
• Swamp Thing - Berni Wrightson, Len Wein autograph
• Daredevil - Frank Miller
• Blue Beetle - Steve Ditko
• Airboy - Fred Kida
• Daredevil (Golden Age) - John Romita Sr

This piece must have been owned by Martin Greim, judging from the writing.  A fantastic piece, he was very luck to have all these superstars work on it.  Steve Ditko is a rare one indeed.  Nuff Said!

Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman Commissions

Darwyn Cooke's rendition of Wonder Woman from New Frontier is so good, you wish it was a regular series from DC Comics.  Here are a couple of commissions I ran across recently.

Wonder Woman using her bracelets against a barrage of bullets.

Wonder Woman headshot--notice that eagle popping up there in the middle.  Classic stuff.  Nuff Said!

Wonder Woman versus Ms. Marvel by Mike Deodato

Here is a DC-Marvel fight I wish we could really see one day: Wonder Woman versus Ms. Marvel by Mike Deodato!

Even though he is currently a Marvel guy, I think Deodato has it figured out who would win in this match.  Hey, check out another cool Deodato commission on Giant-Size Marvel with Hulk versus Spider-Man!  Nuff Said!

Gene Colan Commissions: Flash, Wonder Woman, Silver Surfer, Shazam vs Dracula, Howard the Duck

I have been hoarding these scans of various Gene Colan commissions—most of them were done in 2000 or 2001.  I’d like to share them now to celebrate his life and memory.

Shazam! Captain Marvel versus Dracula, the most unlikely battle of all, inked by Jerry Ordway.

The Flash!  After seeing this piece, I think Gene Colan had a very unique method of drawing speed—not only does the character look great, but the background blurs and warps around him.

Wonder Woman. 

Silver Surfer.

X-Men.  I love how he put romantic touch here with Jean Grey and Scott Summers in the center of all the chaos.

Howard the Duck on a skateboard! 2001.

There you go, I thought all of these commissions by Gene Colan were remarkable.  Nuff Said!

George Perez Commissions: Superman, Wonder Woman, and 1970s Avengers

Here are two wonderful recent commissions from George Perez!  First up is this nifty illustration of Superman and Wonder Woman flying together.  They are the royal couple of the DC Universe.

Next is this great pen and ink drawing of the 1970s era Avengers team.  The Vision, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Beast, and Wasp are all represented.  Along with a few characters who made very brief appearances, like the Falcon.  Can’t recall Mockingbird being around at the time, but it’s nice to see her alongside Hawkeye.  Check out the George Perez Facebook Fan Page for more good stuff.  Nuff Said!

Introducing the NEW Wonder Woman

Introducing the NEW Wonder Woman, circa 1968!  You didn’t think I actually meant Adrianne Palicki, did you?  The firestorm that erupted over ABC’s latest Wonder Woman and her Frederick’s of Hollywood costume somehow put my mind back to this incarnation of Diana Prince.  Imagine the internet firestorm that would have erupted in today’s marketplace if Mike Sekowsky and Denny O’Neill stripped the character of her super-powers, costume, and Justice League membership.  Diana Price became a Modesty Blaise type of character, traveling around the world with I-Ching and battling bad guys with martial arts instead of bracelets and magic lassos.  My very first Wonder Woman comic that I ever bought featured the “new” version, while I still read the costumed WW in Justice League of America Giant reprints.  The differences between the two didn’t bother me at all—I could tell that these tales were happening at two different eras.

There have been many articles written about the Diana Prince era, so I won’t recap the history here.  After perusing the comics for this article, they offered a lot more creativity and goofy fun than I remembered.  It makes me wonder if the new TV show should have considered using the look and some of the ideas here.  I think Wonder Woman, in the comics, works as a visual icon (great for merchandising), but fundamentally she is a flawed character.  WW was created by William Moulton Marston to bring a female superhero into comics—a good intention—but Marston was also expressing some mature sexual themes (bondage, S&M, etc) in the strip.  WW comes from an island inhabited by women where no men are allowed—but lesbianism is never discussed.  WW represents female liberation, but her costume has shrunk throughout the ages—today she dresses like a Maxim model.  She has super-powers and a Justice League membership, but doesn’t have a solid supporting cast and no life outside of being a super-hero.  Any attempt to bring Wonder Woman into TV or movies must do something to fix these problems for a modern audience.  The 1968 era Wonder Woman at least put her in different clothes and gave her a buddy to share adventures with.  There were nice romantic sub-plots as well, and it was great to see them jettison Steve Trevor.  I always hated Steve Trevor with a passion.  I couldn’t imagine why Wonder Woman would pine for that clown when she would have had more in common with Superman, Batman, or even Aquaman.

However, even with the New Wonder Woman, the editors resorted to old tricks, by putting Diana in bondage scenes on the covers.  Issue 196 from 1971 stands out in my memory as a shocking cover for a kid to see: Diana’s shirt torn, a target painted on the back, while she is bound, utterly helpless in chains.  I remember buying this just to see what would happen next, so that cover worked, but it is interesting that Marston’s Id always finds a way to return to the character.

Three issues later, DC again put Diana in chains, but this time they had Jeffrey Jones, a contemporary of Berni Wrightson and Barry Smith, to do the cover.  I remember this particular issue fetching a slightly higher back issue price for a time, since Jones did few covers and he made this one look more like a gothic horror cover.

As controversial as the New Wonder Woman became in comics history, it was definitely interesting to me as a young reader.  I remember that I bought almost all these issues featuring Diana Prince, but oddly enough, when she went back to her old star spangled costume in 1973, I stopped buying the series completely.  The Diana Prince version seemed daring and different, in the same vein as Green Lantern / Green Arrow, the new Supergirl, the modern Lois Lane, and the new era of Batman.  When Diana returned to her old costume, it seemed like a giant step backward.  I’m crazy, I know, but when Diana went back, the creative team changed and the stories  just seemed old fashioned and dull.  It would take George Perez to get me interested in a superhero type Wonder Woman after Crisis on Infinite Earths.  Nuff Said!

Brian Bolland Wonder Woman cover from Amazing Heroes 197

Following up yesterday’s Flash covers by Bolland with this classic portrait of Wonder Woman, which was originally featured on Amazing Heroes #197 from 1991. 



I was thinking of Wonder Woman because of Rich Johnston’s story on Bleeding Cool about David Kelley’s pilot script for the TV pilot.  This show will either by an Ally Beal sized hit or a great disaster, we will have to see.  Any TV show would have to change Wonder Woman’s story somewhat—the comic series itself has never been consistent in giving her a private life and supporting cast of characters.  The biggest thing I find troubling in Kelley’s script is this bullet point from Johnston’s article:

Long ago, government man Steve Trevor crashed onto Wonder Woman’s island and brought her back to New York, but now they’ve split up. She still loves him, though, and it’s obvious that their relationship is going to be a focus.

Very troubling.  Wonder Woman should be about independence and self-reliance, not pining away after Steve Trevor, who hasn’t been featured at all in the comics for over a decade.  Nuff Said!

New Justice League, Wonder Woman, Black Canary pin-ups by José Luis García-López

José Luis García-López has a nice Facebook gallery, where I found this great new Justice League cover that did recently for Hero Initiative.  Not sure if this is a old or new Hero Initiative cover project, but covers like this one will certainly do well.

José had a few more pin-ups that I really liked, especially this downward angle shot of Wonder Woman flying in the air.  It’s just astonishing to me how well García-López portrays this character, with classic grace and beauty.

This one of Black Canary in her original costume is butt-kicking beautiful.  An upward angle shot, just the opposite of the WW pic.  As Nancy Sinatra said, those boots were made for walking all over you!

I’m not quite privileged enough to José’s friend on Facebook, but super-fan Jerry Whitworth is and Liked his picture so that his friends could see it.  Thanks, Jerry, you helped bring some Silver Age freshness into my day.  Nuff Said!

George Perez: Post-Crisis Wonder Woman cover from Amazing Heroes

Concluding our look at the Post Crisis on Infinite Earths covers from Amazing Heroes, the last hero featured was Wonder Woman.  The big excitement for most fans was that Wonder Woman was getting one of the hottest artists in comics, George Perez!



Perez relaunched Wonder Woman for a brand new DC Earth. This cover for Amazing Heroes 106 that Perez drew displays all the classic elements of the character, the tiara, bracelets, and lasso.  But Perez also contributed a lot to the Amazon mythology of Wonder Woman.  Her battle armor was a great addition and used by other people (Alex Ross) in later years.



The cover to Wonder Woman V2 #1 was the best out of all the DC Comics reboots.  Perez populated this cover with all the epic moments from Diana's origin: the Amazons, Hercules, Ares, and her own birth out of clay.  This is probably my favorite run on the character.  Nuff Said!

Wonder Woman 600 pin-up by Francis Manapul

Here is Francis Manapul's pin-up that appeared in Wonder Woman #600, sans color.

If you are digging Manapul's Flash run, you should check out his interview with John Siuntres on Word Balloon.  Nuff Said!

Link: Francis Manapul's Homepage.

A Cute Wonder Woman Drawing by Neal Adams

Here's a nice little drawing that Neal Adams did of Wonder Woman.  I believe I found this on Facebook or the Neal Adams store.

I can't imagine this pose working as well in the WW pants suit, can you?  Now I'm hoping Diana Prince will show up in Batman Odyssey.  Nuff Said!

Jim Lee's Comic-Con 2010 Scavenger Hunt for Original DC Comics Sketches

Jim Lee is a fun guy to follow on Twitter.  He loves doing sketches for fans.  Some pros have stopped doing them at cons, because some guys just turn around and auction the sketch on eBay for a quick profit.  Last Sunday, he hid a bunch of great sketches of DC Comics characters (Green Lantern, Batman, Catwoman, Superman, etc) at various places around the convention.  He's left them in all kinds of places, including the women's restroom at C2E2 earlier this year.  Usually people find these sketches within minutes of Jim's tweet.  What a fun idea!

Note: Some of these scavenger hunt sketches were from the C2E2 con, where Lee played the same game.

Batman.  I am sure Jim Lee can draw Bats in his sleep.  Classic.

Flash.  This is the one I wish I could have found.  Definitely if I ever meet Jim Lee in person, and he's willing to do a sketch, I will ask for the Flash!

Wonder Woman.  Jim Lee's wife @Joke2Far hid this one in a women's restroom.  They asked the guys not to go in there, probably hoping a female fan would pick it up.

Here are some of the lucky winners!  The Wonder Woman winner is on the third pic, a cute couple who braved the restroom for the sketch. Nuff Said!