Diana, Princess of the Amazons by Shannon and Dean Hale

[Digifiend]

Preview and info about Diana: Princess of the Amazons, from the DC Zoom line:
https://www.romper.com/p/tween-wonde...story-16814241

It's out in January 2020.

[Frontier]

Does she have a pet cheetah ?

Art looks really cute .

[kjn]

Newsarama has posted a first look at DC Zoom's Diana, Princess of the Amazons, due out January 7, 2020. Written by Shannon and Dean Hale and art by Victoria Ying.

Cut off from the rest of the world, Diana had an idyllic childhood on Themyscira. But now 11-years-old, she's beginning to feel more and more isolated. Though she has many "aunties" and a loving mother, she is an only child. THE only child, in fact.
After an escapade goes wrong, Queen Hippolyta chastises Diana for not living up to the Amazon standard. Diana just can't seem to measure up, no matter what she does! Literally every other person on the island is an adult proficient in their trade and mighty in body, while she is gangly, sometimes clumsy, and not particularly proficient in anything. She's not Wonder Woman yet. What Diana needs is a friend; someone her own age whom she can talk to. But when she decides to take matters into her own hands--she may just make a monster instead.

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(Images attached because Newsarama's image viewer is seriously wonky.)

[kjn]

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[Gaelforce]

That is both so sweet and so sad at the same time! I'm looking forward to this!

[kjn]

Romper.com has more sensible previews and some soundbites from the creators.

Dean has his own memories of Wonder Woman and other superheroes. "It started when I read a reprint digest that had Wonder-Tot stories in it," he recalls. "Here was a kid my age (probably younger, but I felt like she was my age), and she was competent and powerful and yet still a kid. I was reminded of this in the recent Wonder Woman film when we see young Diana on Themyscira. That girl was SO cool. This is who little me wanted as a friend."

"We really wanted to explore what it would be like to be the only child in a community," says Shannon. "Surrounded by immortal warriors, artists, scholars, and her mother the beloved queen, Diana is the only person on Themyscira who doesn’t really have a place. What would it be like to have no one your own age? Her desperation for a friend leads her to do risky things with monumental consequences."

"It’s been a dream come true to get to draw Diana as a child," Ying tells Romper. "She reminds me of myself in a lot of ways and watching her struggle with the same kinds of things I struggled with made me feel very close to the character in a way I never had before."

[Largo161]

Does anyone know Diana’s origin in this version?

[kjn]

The book is out now, and I took a quick look.

Overall, I liked it. It's a tale about Diana as a child, and arguably aimed at a younger age than Ignite (about Black Canary), but still manages to carry some emotional and moral heft. The Amazons and the island of Themyscira are centered throughout—other writers should do well to pick up some of the characters and ideas that Shannon Hale introduces and develops here. I especially liked Lysa the Potter.

The art is simple, and at times overly cute, but always expressive, and it supports the emotional beats of the story well.

Doom's Doorway, Diana's connection with animals, Philippus, the clay origin, kangas, and the Magic Lasso are all here. We even get a little hint of shipping between Philippus and Hippolyta.

spoilers:

Of course, Diana's newfound clay friend turns out to be anything but. Instead it turns out to be Circe in disguise, intent on getting into Doom's Doorway to get her MacGuffin.

end of spoilers

In the end, I think it's clear that both Hippolyta and Diana learnt something, both about themselves and each other.

[Konja7]

Does anyone know Diana’s origin in this version?

The clay origin is mentioned. However, there is a hint near the end that this origin is not true.

[kjn]

The clay origin is mentioned. However, there is a hint near the end that this origin is not true.

I took another look, but must have missed it. What were you thinking of?

ETA: Ah, found it (page 116). Though I must say the hint is very open-ended.

[Konja7]

I took another look, but must have missed it. What were you thinking of?

ETA: Ah, found it (page 116). Though I must say the hint is very open-ended.

Yeah. It's a very open-ended hint.

If there is a second volume, they may expand on that (or not).

[kjn]

Via Bleeding Cool comes this quote from Dan DiDio:

I’m happy to say that we’re very comfortable with what we’ve seen from the young [reader] line. We had two breakout hits: Diana, Princess of the Amazons and Teen Titans: Raven performed very strongly for us.

Good news, and I'm not surprised that a kid-friendly well-told Wonder Woman tale was a hit. Only real surprise is that DC is already in a position to call the story a hit, when it was just released this week.

[Digifiend]

Must've had high pre-orders.