Underrated/Lesser Known Wonder Woman comics that you love?

[Lex Luthor]

I have read pretty much all the big name Wonder Woman titles or at least given them a try. I was hoping there were some lesser known issues, Graphic novels, etc. that I should look into because its been a while since I have actually read a Wonder Woman comic.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

I think the Messner-Loebs run is very, very underrated. I don't really see it talked about in discussions about good runs on Wonder Woman and in DC history in general.

[SJNeal]

I think the Messner-Loebs run is very, very underrated. I don't really see it talked about in discussions about good runs on Wonder Woman and in DC history in general.

Agreed!

It's one of my top 3 favorite runs, despite people grimacing or rolling their eyes when I tell them. I've come to realize that most of the people that bash that run haven't actually read it in it's entirety (if at all!). They simply point to #73's infamous "Taco Whiz" cover as evidence that the whole run sucked.

[kjn]

Bit tricky since you don't list actual names or runs, but Hiketeia by Rucka should be a must-read for any Wonder Woman fan, as should JLA: A League of One by Moeller.

I like Wilson's current run (despite having a rotating door of artists of widely varying quality), but I seem to be in the minority with that opinion here. Tynion's current run on Justice League Dark however feature Diana very prominently, and has been very well received, but it requires an appreciation for horror at times.

Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman had a focus on short out-of-continuity tales, and there are more than a few gems there.

[Psy-lock]

I think the Messner-Loebs run is very, very underrated. I don't really see it talked about in discussions about good runs on Wonder Woman and in DC history in general.

Yup, hugely underrated. I think the art let it down quite a bit, but the stories themselves were (mostly) great. I even liked the Taco Whiz thing.

[The I.A.D.C.]

I love the Roy Thomas / Gene Colan run from the early ‘80s.
It starts with a preview story in “DC Comics Presents” #41 and runs from WW (vol 1) #288-297 and the anniversary #300 issue.
Introduces the original Silver Swan and brings back Dr. Psycho.

[SJNeal]

Yup, hugely underrated. I think the art let it down quite a bit, but the stories themselves were (mostly) great. I even liked the Taco Whiz thing.

Yeah, the art was pretty bad in any issue not drawn by Moder or Deodato.

[SiegePerilous02]

I bought the Deodato collection the other night. From that, I think Loebs' run was pretty good. I don't care for how he wrote Hippolyta, but Diana was fine and it's important for at least the introduction of Artemis. And while White Magician was lame, he at least did some kind of interesting things with Circe and Cheetah. Deodato's art was an eye sore though, it kind of undermines Artemis's death by making it look so porny lol.

What is the consensus on Byrne? I generally dislike anything by him aside from his original X-Men run, and I know he has the time traveling Hippolyta and Dark Angel stuff which I loathe based on reputation. But the modern "Wonder Family" (Diana, Hippolyta, Donna, Cassie and Artemis) seems to be cemented there so I kind of want to read that.

[SJNeal]

What is the consensus on Byrne? I generally dislike anything by him aside from his original X-Men run, and I know he has the time traveling Hippolyta and Dark Angel stuff which I loathe based on reputation. But the modern "Wonder Family" (Diana, Hippolyta, Donna, Cassie and Artemis) seems to be cemented there so I kind of want to read that.

IMHO, the Byrne run sits firmly toward the bottom of the barrel of WW history. He tossed most of what Perez had established (and Messner-Loebs built upon) out the window. He made a Diana a guest star in her own book for much of the first half of the run, then killed her in favor of making Hippolyta the star for the second half. And yes, somewhere in there he found time to further muddy Donna's backstory.

Maybe see if your local library has copies of his collections to rent; I wouldn't recommend spending money on them unless you're a die-hard completist.

[Jim Kelly]

Different strokes for different folks. I liked the Byrne run--and I had actually quit WW when he came on board, because I wasn't feeling too good about Byrne at that point, but I was lured back in and found the comics quite good (and then I had to try to find back issues to fill in what I missed).

Just because some fans don't like something, that doesn't mean others will feel the same. Or just because others do like something, that doesn't mean others will. I started out being enthusiastic about Phil Jimenez and ended up disappointed. I would never presume to tell someone not to read a comic, just because it didn't happen to please me.

Most of the argument against Byrne seems to be on principle. I agree with most of that--on principle, he did everything wrong--and yet I still found those comics completely entertaining. So while the principle might dictate that you shouldn't want those comics--for entertainment, I think Byrne delivered. Maybe principles aren't all they're cracked up to be.

[SJNeal]

What is the consensus on Byrne?

Different strokes for different folks. I liked the Byrne run--and I had actually quit WW when he came on board, because I wasn't feeling too good about Byrne at that point, but I was lured back in and found the comics quite good (and then I had to try to find back issues to fill in what I missed).

Just because some fans don't like something, that doesn't mean others will feel the same. Or just because others do like something, that doesn't mean others will. I started out being enthusiastic about Phil Jimenez and ended up disappointed. I would never presume to tell someone not to read a comic, just because it didn't happen to please me.

Most of the argument against Byrne seems to be on principle. I agree with most of that--on principle, he did everything wrong--and yet I still found those comics completely entertaining. So while the principle might dictate that you shouldn't want those comics--for entertainment, I think Byrne delivered. Maybe principles aren't all they're cracked up to be.

So perhaps the consensus is... there is no consensus.

[kjn]

Most of the argument against Byrne seems to be on principle. I agree with most of that--on principle, he did everything wrong--and yet I still found those comics completely entertaining. So while the principle might dictate that you shouldn't want those comics--for entertainment, I think Byrne delivered. Maybe principles aren't all they're cracked up to be.

I believe it's been demonstrated more than once that people are generally terrible at articulating what they want (or prefer). I believe the classic study was for car dealerships, where it was noted that trying to ask buyers what they wanted out of the dealers failed miserably, while the guidelines taken from studying successful dealers were quite different and helped to increase sales.

For entertainment, there are plenty of terms like guilty pleasure, popcorn reading, and so on: stuff that's not necessarily "good literature", but it's fun and engaging to follow. Then you can add in ethics (as in if you agree or not with the values evoked by the story), and if you agree with them or no.

Part of being a conscious reader is being aware of all these fault lines and of your own taste.

[Bound4olympus]

Legends of Wonder Woman is, imo, one of the best Wonder Woman stories ever told. The revamp of Etta as a plucky, beautiful, confident leader was genius and has really informed my own fanfic on how the character should be written. I also loved the combination of Amazon training, magical artifacts and mystical powers that Diana used throughout the story. The romance between Steve and Diana felt real and I really loved the Duke of Deception as the villain of the story. There were some problems I had with specific characters but overall I loved this story. It's too bad we will never see Renae de Liz write the main title or a sequel to the book. I suggest giving it a read!

[SteveGus]

The period immediately after she got her powers back in the 1970s, that led into the 12 Labors storylines, and interesting art from Buckler and Estrada among others, is at this remove pleasingly surreal and richly imagined. Probably the best stuff Kanigher ever turned in on the character. If someone like Gaiman had written it people would be gushing over how deep and imaginative it was.

[witchboy]

I love the Roy Thomas / Gene Colan run from the early ‘80s.
It starts with a preview story in “DC Comics Presents” #41 and runs from WW (vol 1) #288-297 and the anniversary #300 issue.
Introduces the original Silver Swan and brings back Dr. Psycho.

I also love that run. Colan's art gave things a really different feel from what I was used to.
It introduced the WW breastplate which seemed like such a big deal at the time, and continued with the alternate universe Steve being brought into Earth 1. There was also a three parter with Diana teaming up with the other heroines of DC, and that 300 issue nearly had Diana marry Steve, introduced Lyta Trevor and showed a bunch of alternate universe stories. A lot was going on in the book at the time.