Year One: Triumphs and Disappointments

[millernumber1]

It's funny. Before the Wonder Woman movie came out, we saw a large number of Wonder Woman origins stories being put on the market, including Wonder Woman: Year One. With the Aquaman movie coming out, it's a little surprising we haven't gotten more news of some new Aquaman origin retellings. You'd think they'd want to take advantage of the movie.

Agreed. I was so frustrated that DC was letting their artists do all these origins - Grant Morrison, Jill Thompson, even Legend of Wonder Woman - alongside Rucka's main run. And having read all of them, Rucka's is very much the best (unless you really love Morrison's writing, which I do not). The art on all of them was really gorgeous, but I think Nicola Scott really brought something special to it.

I'm hoping that come September, we'll see a push for Aquaman.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I mean, I thought Last Crusade was pretty strong Miller. Much better than anything previous. And his work on Dark Knight 3, though not amazing, was definitely not as crazy as ASBAR or Strikes Again or the other stuff he was doing in the past 20 years..

But how much of that was Miller, and how much was Brian Azzarello?

[Frontier]

It's funny. Before the Wonder Woman movie came out, we saw a large number of Wonder Woman origins stories being put on the market, including Wonder Woman: Year One. With the Aquaman movie coming out, it's a little surprising we haven't gotten more news of some new Aquaman origin retellings. You'd think they'd want to take advantage of the movie.

I've been wondering if they've been holding off on Aquaman Earth One to release it sometime around when the movie comes out.

Agreed. I was so frustrated that DC was letting their artists do all these origins - Grant Morrison, Jill Thompson, even Legend of Wonder Woman - alongside Rucka's main run. And having read all of them, Rucka's is very much the best (unless you really love Morrison's writing, which I do not). The art on all of them was really gorgeous, but I think Nicola Scott really brought something special to it.

I thought Year One was the strongest part of Rucka's run honestly, if only because it remained the most on-point and coherent part of it in my opinion, although I think the finale of the main run was better then the ending with the fake Ares.

[millernumber1]

But how much of that was Miller, and how much was Brian Azzarello?

An excellent question. But I have hope that Miller is still open to the kind of feedback that Azzarello and other collaborators provide.

I thought Year One was the strongest part of Rucka's run honestly, if only because it remained the most on-point and coherent part of it in my opinion, although I think the finale of the main run was better then the ending with the fake Ares.

I loved all of the run, though I think I liked The Lies the least. Year One is the easiest to hold in your head, obviously, but I think the whole thing is a really excellent 26ish issue arc.

[Sam]

Agreed. I was so frustrated that DC was letting their artists do all these origins - Grant Morrison, Jill Thompson, even Legend of Wonder Woman - alongside Rucka's main run. And having read all of them, Rucka's is very much the best (unless you really love Morrison's writing, which I do not). The art on all of them was really gorgeous, but I think Nicola Scott really brought something special to it.

I'm hoping that come September, we'll see a push for Aquaman.

I love Legend of Wonder Woman and would put it on fairly even ground with Year One. There are things Year One does better (especially Steve Trevor) and there are things Legend of Wonder Woman does better.

Are they any currently available Aquaman origin stories that people would recommend out of curiosity? I'm not well versed on his canon.

[MRP]

I love Legend of Wonder Woman and would put it on fairly even ground with Year One. There are things Year One does better (especially Steve Trevor) and there are things Legend of Wonder Woman does better.

Are they any currently available Aquaman origin stories that people would recommend out of curiosity? I'm not well versed on his canon.

Not quite Aquaman, and I am not sure it is even considered for continuty purposes if you are into that, but The Atlantis Chronicles by Peter David and Estaban Maroto is an excellent read looking the history of DC's Atlantis in the Post-Crisis DCU.

-M

[Frontier]

Are they any currently available Aquaman origin stories that people would recommend out of curiosity? I'm not well versed on his canon.

Off the top of my head there's the mini Peter David wrote prior to his run on Aquaman that dealt with one of Arthur's Post-Crisis origins and dealt with his growing up, his public debut as a hero, and his first encounter with Ocean Master.

It's collected in the first volume of the PAD run.

[MRP]

Off the top of my head there's the mini Peter David wrote prior to his run on Aquaman that dealt with one of Arthur's Post-Crisis origins and dealt with his growing up, his public debut as a hero, and his first encounter with Ocean Master.

It's collected in the first volume of the PAD run.

It's called Time and Tide I believe.

-M

[millernumber1]

I love Legend of Wonder Woman and would put it on fairly even ground with Year One. There are things Year One does better (especially Steve Trevor) and there are things Legend of Wonder Woman does better.

I'm a big fan of Legend of Wonder Woman - I just think the writing, especially at the end, got a bit wonkier, and I didn't come out as moved as I was by Year One. But the art was completely gorgeous! Very sad we never got the second volume.

[Frontier]

Very sad we never got the second volume.

That really was a big disappointment. Really wish DC had handled that better .

[millernumber1]

That really was a big disappointment. Really wish DC had handled that better .

Yeah. It was a bummer all round.

[responsarbre]

Totally forgot to add the wonderful short story "Oracle: Year One - Born of Hope" written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale, drawn by Brian Stelfreeze, inked by Karl Story, in Batman Chronicles #5. I haven't read a lot of the "Year One" annuals from 1995, and I don't think most of them were very lasting, but this short story in the Batman Chronicles anthology format is truly an excellent use of the Year One branding. Beautifully crafted writing, sketchy but deeply thoughtful art (not always appealing, but incredibly emotionally effective) by an artist who had a deep love of Babs as Oracle (Stelfreeze also drew one of Oracles first solo stories). I'm fortunate to have the issue signed by Stelfreeze (he comes to my area a lot, and I keep asking him to sign tiny bits of work he did long before he became a super famous artist. But he's super nice about it!)

I was about to mention that this wasn't in the OP! I love that story both as a pairing/intro with BoP and with Ostrander/Yale's Suicide Squad. Awesome that you got it signed!

As for the Legend of Wonder Woman vs. Year One, I would also give Rucka and Scott the edge.
But I think that it was very smart that "Legend" took slightly more of a golden-age influence to its stories while "Year One" had more of a Post-Crisis influence. I also love how "Legend" made Diana's origin work as a slow burn, decompressed story. I think it would be perfect to adapt into a kids' animated series.

[millernumber1]

I was about to mention that this wasn't in the OP! I love that story both as a pairing/intro with BoP and with Ostrander/Yale's Suicide Squad. Awesome that you got it signed!

As for the Legend of Wonder Woman vs. Year One, I would also give Rucka and Scott the edge.
But I think that it was very smart that "Legend" took slightly more of a golden-age influence to its stories while "Year One" had more of a Post-Crisis influence. I also love how "Legend" made Diana's origin work as a slow burn, decompressed story. I think it would be perfect to adapt into a kids' animated series.

It's a truly awesome story! Wish I could have gotten Ostrander's signature as well as Stelfreeze, but I don't think he's made it to my side of the country lately. Stelfreeze was such a nice guy, though.

I absolutely agree that Legend being in WWII and Year One being in the modern day (well, 10 years ago) was a smart choice. It delves into some of the rich territory that Bombshells got into, but I felt like I could appreciate it a bit more.

I really wish we got more serious Diana stuff. DC Super Hero Girls is fun, but I'd love a serious Adventures of Wonder Woman, like we got for Batman and Superman. Though I'm hopeful that the new DCSHG cartoon will be more than just the cute clips we've been getting so far.

[Vakanai]

It's funny. Before the Wonder Woman movie came out, we saw a large number of Wonder Woman origins stories being put on the market, including Wonder Woman: Year One. With the Aquaman movie coming out, it's a little surprising we haven't gotten more news of some new Aquaman origin retellings. You'd think they'd want to take advantage of the movie.

Agreed. I was so frustrated that DC was letting their artists do all these origins - Grant Morrison, Jill Thompson, even Legend of Wonder Woman - alongside Rucka's main run. And having read all of them, Rucka's is very much the best (unless you really love Morrison's writing, which I do not). The art on all of them was really gorgeous, but I think Nicola Scott really brought something special to it.

I'm hoping that come September, we'll see a push for Aquaman.

*adds Wonder Woman Year One and Legend of Wonder Woman to Amazon wish list*

Been meaning to get some Wonder Woman origin stories. Any others?

[Raijin]

Lord knows, i hate Barbara Gordon. But Batgirl: Year One is incredible. Same with Green Arrow and Black Lightning. Been meaning to get around to JLA Year One. But Waid's attitude is such a turn off that i can't even be objective with his work. I also hear that he writes a terrible Barry, which is a bit disappointing yet expected.

I like Metamorpho. Does anyone recommend his Year One series?