Wonder Woman: Earth One Volume 3

[Shimbo]

I would still like a Villainy Inc installment, perhaps in between the two timelines of this book.

The future shows that even though WW won, there are still some issues.

Villainy, Inc. could maybe even work in the future utopian time. Rival worlds or dimensions of despotic lady rulers to further distinguish and reconcile these Amazons as a believable, if somewhat flawed, ideal. It looked like the Venturians were part of the Amazon united force. What if Clea decided to make a power play? I can still see a Priscilla or Barbara appearing 1,000 years in the future. Morrison definitely has ideas for the Wonderverse and characters so I'm sure they'd give us something interesting. Even the little he gave Donna was fascinating and set up some cool distinctions between her and Diana.

[Vordan]

It is interesting how Morrison's Batman #700 story shows Batman still waging never ending war one thousand years later, while here WW just wins.

To the list of things that should be moved into main continuity I'd add Golden Age planets as different Earths.

It’s fascinating to compare this with Morrison’s other runs on Batman and Superman (as a Morrison fanboy).

Batman utterly loses in the end, it’s one of the bleakest and most grim endings Morrison has ever written. Damian’s dead and the ending is nihilistic as hell. Bruce is trapped in a cycle he’ll never escape, “Batman & Robin will never die!” isn’t a rallying cry, just a grim acknowledgement that Batman will never get to move beyond what Miller turned him into. Why? Because people don’t want him to. They like dark and gritty Batman, and so he’ll never move beyond that, he’ll never be happy, he’ll never be able to win his war.

Superman in Action is more mixed. Clark beat the devil and chooses to move forward with his life rather than revive his parents and try to reboot himself (funny how that worked out). It’s a bittersweet ending, Clark gets to save the day and bring the dead Martian astronauts back to life that he failed to save, but it costs him his parents, it cost the Legion their selves, and that’s something Clark will have to live with. But it’s still very upbeat and hopeful.

Diana in WWEO though? Despite the “Miracleman” undertones this has one of the happiest endings she’s ever gotten. Patriarchy is overthrown, the Amazon Way is held supreme and Diana even brings her mother Hippolyta back to life. It’s a utopia if a rather odd one. Marston’s utopia anyway lol.

[chachi]

Anyone else feels like each new volume was better than previous one? Kinda wonder what could we get in Vol. 4.

Agree. Going thru my second read through now. Each volume was an improvement on the previous. Like others have said a few messy parts, but overall a great read and some great art. I would put WW EO books second to the excellent Green Lantern books, with Batman (so far) right behind WW. Looking forward to what Johns has in store for volume 3 of Batman in a few months.

[zvrk]

I don't know what is the right word for this... but I'll use awkward. Wonky, maybe? Disjointed?

How can I explain? GMo locked down the themes for the Wonder Woman, but to me, they didn't really let it develop organically. They didn't hammer them down enough to reveal the beautiful sculpture inside that rock of marble that is the white page. It felt like jigged and zagged to get to the points they wanted to make. There were some beautiful word flourishes and word games that I loved, for example

- They fear their bodies and their minds.
- Here, then, is our hystery - history
- In the heart of love all's not lost, but the starting words/echo are all's not lost, the art's in the heart (beautiful variation and word play on a beautiful mantra)

I also love his concept of Hades and Persephone and the underworld.

I have to commend Paquette on his design work, which was obviously laborious and long, even though his character's don't vibe for me. His future utopia is so bright and whimsical and airy.

And this is only my first reading of the book. I'm sure I'll find some good nuggets of warmth when I reread it in the future, but for the most part the wall of expectations I have built for this, I cannot climb over with this book.

[WonderScott]

I need to reread it before commenting. Maybe it’s me, but this part felt more all over the place than the other installments without being clear on the points that it wanted to make about Wonder Woman... or maybe I didn’t like the points... or maybe it was me and when I read it.

Beautiful art though and I really love the development of Amazon culture in it.

[AlexLyo]

This volume was a complete surprise for me. I was lukewarm about the first one, partly due to the Hercules origin, and partly due to what feels like a typical Morrison trait of writing dialogue that doesn't quite feel like what people would actually say.

I was then really not a fan of the second volume the first time I read it, because seeing Diana susceptible to the poor anti-feminist arguments of a really obvious "pick-up artist" analogue was an uncomfortable read, but the second time I read it that element didn't come through as strongly.

So, then I was just prepared to be "ok" with the third volume, and completely not expecting to love it, but I did! I didn't get the same dialogue issues, I found the story more coherent, and the high feminist sci-fi just read as really on point. There was so much humour and fun woven throughout, with beautiful word play. I found the recurring thematic discussions really satisfying, from querying the alternatives to war, to the extent of the power of compassion and love, and the lines between an invitation to a different way of being, coercion, and outright force.

It may be that this volume just hit for me exactly at the right moment, where here in the UK over the weekend I'm faced with the image of women protesters being suppressed by police while they're holding vigil for a young woman, and all the young women, who are taken by men's violence. With that as the backdrop over the weekend, the Themysciran revolution felt like it couldn't come soon enough.

Diana herself felt leaps and bounds more enjoyable to read in this volume too. I found myself laughing aloud at the obvious fun they write her having in this volume while she changes the world.

If I had any niggles at this early point, it would concern a double page interaction between Diana and Steve which worked in some ways, but raised interesting thematic questions for me I haven't quite made up my mind about.

[Gaius]

This volume was a complete surprise for me. I was lukewarm about the first one, partly due to the Hercules origin, and partly due to what feels like a typical Morrison trait of writing dialogue that doesn't quite feel like what people would actually say.

I was then really not a fan of the second volume the first time I read it, because seeing Diana susceptible to the poor anti-feminist arguments of a really obvious "pick-up artist" analogue was an uncomfortable read, but the second time I read it that element didn't come through as strongly.

So, then I was just prepared to be "ok" with the third volume, and completely not expecting to love it, but I did! I didn't get the same dialogue issues, I found the story more coherent, and the high feminist sci-fi just read as really on point. There was so much humour and fun woven throughout, with beautiful word play. I found the recurring thematic discussions really satisfying, from querying the alternatives to war, to the extent of the power of compassion and love, and the lines between an invitation to a different way of being, coercion, and outright force.

It may be that this volume just hit for me exactly at the right moment, where here in the UK over the weekend I'm faced with the image of women protesters being suppressed by police while they're holding vigil for a young woman, and all the young women, who are taken by men's violence. With that as the backdrop over the weekend, the Themysciran revolution felt like it couldn't come soon enough.

Diana herself felt leaps and bounds more enjoyable to read in this volume too. I found myself laughing aloud at the obvious fun they write her having in this volume while she changes the world.

If I had any niggles at this early point, it would concern a double page interaction between Diana and Steve which worked in some ways, but raised interesting thematic questions for me I haven't quite made up my mind about.

Yeah, I'm in a bit of a similar boat where I was rather mixed/lukewarm about the previous volumes but some read world stuff has given me a bit more of an appreciation for what Morrison was going for here.

[SiegePerilous02]

Does anyone else feel like the Hercules origin was kind of retconned out or altered in some way?

With Diana creating Arda Moore with the traditional clay birth, it makes me wonder how the Hercules thing even played out. It came across as if Diana discovered the same process that her mother used to create her.

[HsssH]

Does anyone else feel like the Hercules origin was kind of retconned out or altered in some way?

With Diana creating Arda Moore with the traditional clay birth, it makes me wonder how the Hercules thing even played out. It came across as if Diana discovered the same process that her mother used to create her.

Didn't she use the heart of her mother? As I understood something "real" is needed for process to work.

[Shimbo]

Does anyone else feel like the Hercules origin was kind of retconned out or altered in some way?

With Diana creating Arda Moore with the traditional clay birth, it makes me wonder how the Hercules thing even played out. It came across as if Diana discovered the same process that her mother used to create her.

That's the impression I also got. Maybe if not a retcon but a deliberate, origin altering reveal and discovery made by own heroine? Early in the book, Artemis makes a mean joke about science experiments not being allowed to be Queen. Then, later, Hippolyta is cremated but her heart can't be burned, seemingly explained later in the book because of the power of love unique to the Amazons or something haha. That's because Hippolyta used Hercules sperm to birth Diana, right? But her genetics were involved as well? But Hades says she's a child of clay and blood made in mother's workshop, with clay being that which bridges the inorganic and the organic, life and death. So...not sure. Ferk, man.

What I find interesting is that Hippolyta uses the materials of man and woman to create Diana. To rebirth Hippolyta, though, she doesn't use anything from man. True parthenogenesis. Unless, of course, it IS the same process that Hippolyta's mom used. Two or so pages before the end, the fates are seen saying " So new life from the old is born and nourished a cycle ever turning with no ending a thread unbroken!". I feel like that supports the reading that whatever Diana discovered or did was what her mother did, but perhaps that's a shallow reading of it considering Morrison's positioning of Diana as "change" incarnate.

I guess if she had her mom's heart, that contains all the genetic material she'd need to replicate or rebirth her mother. So clay, "blood" from her mother's heart and wonderous magi-sci means parthenogenic resurrection. Maybe.

[superduperman]

Haven't read it yet but read a spoiler review and it sounds they've confirmed that the Superman and Batman books don't take place on this Earth.