WW's Most Iconic Graphic Novel?

[SecretWarrior]

[Gaius]

"Golden Knight"?

She doesn't really have many traditional standalone GNs so I'd guess I'd say The Hiketeia since I've seen the image of WW with her boot on Bats' head shared a lot.

[Alpha]

"Golden Knight"?

She doesn't really have many traditional standalone GNs so I'd guess I'd say The Hiketeia since I've seen the image of WW with her boot on Bats' head shared a lot.

Hiketeia chose such a godawful image as a cover. It's a celebration of Diana at her worst, using her power in an unecessarily violent and humiliating manner. She has a freaking unbreakable lasso made to restrain others, and yet she chooses to put her boot on top of a mortal man laying on the ground. It's disgusting. The story itself is fine, but that moment is something that stands alongside Geoff Johns Wonder Woman and Zack Snyder as something that I never wanna see again.

Hiketeia is the most celebrated OGN, but my favourite is JLA A League of One. An ancient powerful dragon awakens and a prophecy says that the JLA will defeat him but will die in the process. Diana decides to take down her teammates before the fight so that she alone can fight the dragon and perish, saving the rest of the league. I don't hear people talk about it much so I guess it's not well liked, I don't know why.

JLA_A_League_of_One_HC.jpg

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Gee thats a tough one, theres been some rather nice graphic novels over the years...

Let me think....

Hiketeia
Blue Amazon
Warbringer
True Amazon
Tempest Tossed
Earth One trilogy
Diana Princess of the Amazons
Spirit of Truth
Amazonia
Nubia: Real One

Gosh this is a tough one for me...I know Hiketeia is certainly the most well known, though if I personally had to pick a favorite...I think Warbringer was a solid one

[Pinsir]

100% Hiketeia

[Psy-lock]

The Hiketeia I guess, though I never particularly cared for it myself.

[Celgress]

The Hiketeia I would think.

[Robanker]

Hiketeia chose such a godawful image as a cover. It's a celebration of Diana at her worst, using her power in an unecessarily violent and humiliating manner. She has a freaking unbreakable lasso made to restrain others, and yet she chooses to put her boot on top of a mortal man laying on the ground. It's disgusting. The story itself is fine, but that moment is something that stands alongside Geoff Johns Wonder Woman and Zack Snyder as something that I never wanna see again.

Hiketeia is the most celebrated OGN, but my favourite is JLA A League of One. An ancient powerful dragon awakens and a prophecy says that the JLA will defeat him but will die in the process. Diana decides to take down her teammates before the fight so that she alone can fight the dragon and perish, saving the rest of the league. I don't hear people talk about it much so I guess it's not well liked, I don't know why.

JLA_A_League_of_One_HC.jpg

Never read A League of One, but frankly the two stories I see heralded as Diana's best (Hiketeia and now Dead Earth) are not my favorites. I outright dislike Dead Earth.

I don't know that Diana has a seminal work. She needs her DKR (and it kills me that this is Bruce's, but it is) or All-Star Superman. Hoping KSD's upcoming book will be the one.

[Perseus]

Hiketeia chose such a godawful image as a cover. It's a celebration of Diana at her worst, using her power in an unecessarily violent and humiliating manner. She has a freaking unbreakable lasso made to restrain others, and yet she chooses to put her boot on top of a mortal man laying on the ground. It's disgusting. The story itself is fine, but that moment is something that stands alongside Geoff Johns Wonder Woman and Zack Snyder as something that I never wanna see again.

Hiketeia is the most celebrated OGN, but my favourite is JLA A League of One. An ancient powerful dragon awakens and a prophecy says that the JLA will defeat him but will die in the process. Diana decides to take down her teammates before the fight so that she alone can fight the dragon and perish, saving the rest of the league. I don't hear people talk about it much so I guess it's not well liked, I don't know why.

JLA_A_League_of_One_HC.jpg

I'm sorry but what??? this is such a hypocritical take to me. In A League of One Diana uses violence to systematically take down every league member (except for Superman because she apparently physically can't *bleh to that*). Some of them are humiliating too like... Flash gets tripped and given a kick in the head, Kyle gets a head-butt after his ring is removed, poor Aquaman gets thrown into Charybdis. Even Batman who is hit on the head with a piece of marble then upper-cutted. Batman is also pulling a massive Bat-God moment having him some how stand even the slightest chance against Diana who is actually trying to put him down vs. in Hiketeia where Diana has no intention of actually hurting Bruce. Now I some what like A League of One call me disgusting but I do think Diana should humiliate every league member in combat (even Superman) because she's that good.

Also, Diana has her warrior side in this story even killing Dragul Karfang, isn't this something you complain about constantly?

Diana putting her boot on Bruce's head isn't violence to me?... its a power move, she literally says it "Don't. Get. Up." And Batman responds with "You win. I yield." and she steps off of him. Lassoing him would still be humiliating just not as impactful or frankly memorable. Also, what truth is Diana gonna get from this? Batman's motives? a thing he told her already.

I'm not trying to be rude, just... this is a weird take for me considering our previous discussions.

[Perseus]

On topic, Hiketeia is my favorite Wonder Woman graphic novel.

[Alpha]

I'm sorry but what??? this is such a hypocritical take to me. In A League of One Diana uses violence to systematically take down every league member (except for Superman because she apparently physically can't *bleh to that*). Some of them are humiliating too like... Flash gets tripped and given a kick in the head, Kyle gets a head-butt after his ring is removed, poor Aquaman gets thrown into Charybdis. Even Batman who is hit on the head with a piece of marble then upper-cutted. Batman is also pulling a massive Bat-God moment having him some how stand even the slightest chance against Diana who is actually trying to put him down vs. in Hiketeia where Diana has no intention of actually hurting Bruce. Now I some what like A League of One call me disgusting but I do think Diana should humiliate every league member in combat (even Superman) because she's that good.

Also, Diana has her warrior side in this story even killing Dragul Karfang, isn't this something you complain about constantly?

Diana putting her boot on Bruce's head isn't violence to me?... its a power move, she literally says it "Don't. Get. Up." And Batman responds with "You win. I yield." and she steps off of him. Lassoing him would still be humiliating just not as impactful or frankly memorable. Also, what truth is Diana gonna get from this? Batman's motives? a thing he told her already.

I'm not trying to be rude, just... this is a weird take for me considering our previous discussions.

There is no shame in losing. Wonder Woman is quite agressive with her teammates in A League of One but she literally does the least harm she can with each of them, just enough to knock them out or incapacitate them all separately.

On the other hand in Hiketeia the woman that can lift trucks puts her herculean foot on top of the very human head of Batman while he is already spread on the ground and slowly says "Don't...Get...Up". Not only does she neglect her main tool, she also says those 3 words in the most pompous way possible. She is doing everything to make Batman feel small in this situation. Like you said, it's a power move, with someone that she outclasses by far in this situation. It has no purpose. She can tie her lasso and batman wouldn't be able to escape, but instead she literally threatens him unecessarily.

As far as the League of One Warrior critique, I have no problem with Diana killing, what I dislike in the warrior archetype is her combat becoming about war and attacking instead of dominating. And Diana despite being misguided in this book happens to also be very just. When she faces the big bad dragon she even bargains with him at first because she doesn't want to fight or kill him and just wants his heart. He is the one that attacks her and forces her to fight.

[Alpha]

Never read A League of One, but frankly the two stories I see heralded as Diana's best (Hiketeia and now Dead Earth) are not my favorites. I outright dislike Dead Earth.

I don't know that Diana has a seminal work. She needs her DKR (and it kills me that this is Bruce's, but it is) or All-Star Superman. Hoping KSD's upcoming book will be the one.

KSD's book has every reason to be a fascinating piece, but I don't think it will do much for Diana herself since it doesn't seem like Diana will appear beyond maybe the last two issues. It's supposed to be about the history of the amazons themselves, not Diana. And it ends with Steve Trevor arriving on the island so Diana should appear, but not for long.

[I'm a Fish]

Never read A League of One, but frankly the two stories I see heralded as Diana's best (Hiketeia and now Dead Earth) are not my favorites. I outright dislike Dead Earth.

I don't know that Diana has a seminal work. She needs her DKR (and it kills me that this is Bruce's, but it is) or All-Star Superman. Hoping KSD's upcoming book will be the one.

People heralded Death Earth as Diana's best?

Wasn't the whole point of Death Earth to show Diana as horrendously flawed? She got so mad she caused humanities genocide.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Also im quite confident that Wonder Woman Historia will be this once it comes out

[kjn]

Hiketeia, without a doubt.

It puts Diana's values and ethics front and center, and crashes them into the modern world. It crashes classic mythology into the modern world as well. It is one of the few stories which dares to pull away and question Batman's moral hegemony, and exposing its classist and sexist core (Brubaker also did it, with "Joy Ride", but there are very few other examples). The stakes and tension are real, because even if Diana's life is never in danger, her values, her honour, and her integrity very much is. It is one of the few examples of a modern story that is built on the template of a classic Greek tragedy.

And it manages all of that exceedingly well.

As for the boot on the head rather than simply lassoing Batman, there is nothing simple about Diana's use and non-use of the lasso in Rucka's narrative. Batman is an irresistible force, and the Lasso of Truth will not change his mind. It is also, from a narrative standpoint, both over-used and over-kill. As a weapon, it is a thing of last resort for Diana, not to be used lightly. Diana has been shown far too often tying people with it, that showing a bound Batman would have any real impact on the reader. The boot on the head, however, has that real visceral symbolic impact that the narrative calls for.