Wonder Woman Earth One: Discussion Thread

[Hypo]

Neither my LCS nor the Barnes and Noble where I live had it. Of course by the sound of it, all I have to do is hang around here long enough and read all the spoilers you guys post and I won't have to read it!

Comic book shops got it on 4/6 but stores like B&N won't get it till 4/13.

[robreedwrites]

I just read this. I'm still a relative newbie when it comes to WW, but I enjoyed this. I thought the framework of the book made for an inventive way to package the origin story. Paquette's art is gorgeous as always. Sometimes I thought it played into the male gaze, but that may be on me as a reader. I also thought Morrison handled the intersectional issues of Wonder Woman's bondage and Steve Trevor being black fairly well. Morrison's a smart guy, but sometimes writers can fall into traps when trying to address one issue and being ignorant of another. Glad to see that was avoided here.

[MarvelMaster616]

I just read Wonder Woman Earth One: Vol 1. Overall, I enjoyed it. It was certainly worth the wait, full of a rich, colorful narrative that only Grant Morrison could tell. This version of Wonder Woman definitely sets herself apart from the hardened warrior she's been for decades. It's refreshing in that this Wonder Woman is more open, loving, and naive. I think more than anything, this book captured her heart and her willingness to embrace the world, something that has always set her apart from her fellow Amazons.

That said, this book wasn't as good as the Superman Earth One books. And I wouldn't put it beyond Batman Earth One either. But in terms of quality, it's close. More than anything, this book set Wonder Woman up for a larger story outside Themyscira. Considering how long it took for this volume to come out, that's kind of discouraging because it means we won't see the true potential of this concept until Volume 2 comes out, whenever that might be.

I thought Morrison was actually quite tame in how he handled some of the bondage/submission elements of the Amazons. I'm sure this will offend or dissuade some readers, but I think he handled it in a way that wasn't overly crude. Morrison really plays with the whole concept of loving submission in a way that we don't usually see. We've kind of been conditioned by 50 Shades of Grey to see it on one context. Morrison goes back to some of the earlier, most basic concepts that William Malton explored in the source material. I think he struck a good balance. And he managed to tell Wonder Woman's story without turning it into a generic love story, a generic coming of age story, or a generic mother vs. daughter story. He avoided making anything too basic, which has always been among his strengths as a writer. And I think he's got a great feel for Wonder Woman in this story. I really hope he commits to doing more.

If I had to score this book, I'd give it a 7 out of 10. If Batman and Superman hadn't set such a high bar, I might be inclined to give it a higher score. But overall, I think the potential this series offers and the colorful way Wonder Woman is portrayed in this book makes it worth the money.

[ed2962]

This was a really entertaining book, but it wasn't the wholesale reinvention I was expecting based on the interviews. Morrison was telling the truth when he said he wanted to re-emphasize Marston's ideas of 'loving submission', but most everything else about the book was within the bounds of the established Wonder Woman mythos. I wonder how this story changed from when it was called 'The trial Of Wonder Woman' and they decided to make it an Earth One book instead?

The most controversial changes would be about Hippolyta's characterisation and Diana's birth. I think SiegePerilous is correct: this is framed as a coming of age tale, so Diana's mother is her antagonist, at least for this story. Their relationship is more like that of Thor and Odin in this version. I'm not too fussed by this frankly, because I always feel like it's weird when heroes set out on their journey and their parents aren't dead or missing or disowned - it's like the hero still has a safety net, y'know?

As for Diana's new origin.... I can't really see how this is better than having Zeus as a father. Except maybe that the way it was explained helped establish the theme of this series. Whether this was a good change or not will depend on where Morrison takes this story in the next instalment.

As with a lot of Morrison's books over the last few years, the story and ideas are terrific, but the characters all seem to speak in disconnected soundbites. I don't really feel I have much insight into Diana or Steve or Fat Amy, sorry, 'Beth Candy', as people.

But the art is simply spectacular. Worth buying the book for.

This is pretty much how I felt. Intriguing ideas, but the narrative wasn't compelling and the dialogue was a little clunky

[SiegePerilous02]

As with a lot of Morrison's books over the last few years, the story and ideas are terrific, but the characters all seem to speak in disconnected soundbites. I don't really feel I have much insight into Diana or Steve or Fat Amy, sorry, 'Beth Candy', as people.

I actually didn't have that problem with this one, but I do notice that "soundbite" quality in everything he writes to some degree. I think Final Crisis and the Multiversity are the works he went really overboard with it. Sometimes I just really have to be in the proper mood for Morrison's craziness, otherwise I just roll my eyes every time a character opens their mouths.

[rpi]

I actually didn't have that problem with this one, but I do notice that "soundbite" quality in everything he writes to some degree. I think Final Crisis and the Multiversity are the works he went really overboard with it. Sometimes I just really have to be in the proper mood for Morrison's craziness, otherwise I just roll my eyes every time a character opens their mouths.

I've always thought it came from just how many ideas he has for his stories. I remember the other writers on 52 talking about how he'd have more ideas per page than most creators had in an entire issues. He wants to communicate these concepts and thought worms, and this is how he has figured out how to do it. Quite the opposite from rolling my eyes, I think the way he does this "conceptual dialogue" makes his stories so much bigger and elevated from standard comic dialogue. He has found a way to do massive idea dumps in a single word balloon, where other writers need an entire page of near-useless exposition to achieve the same end goal.

[chachi]

Looking forward to eventually picking this up. Is the Titans Earth One Volume 2, the only other Earth One OGN scheduled to come out this year? I thought I saw maybe Aquaman and Flash year one schedule for 2016?

[Hypo]

Looking forward to eventually picking this up. Is the Titans Earth One Volume 2, the only other Earth One OGN scheduled to come out this year? I thought I saw maybe Aquaman and Flash year one schedule for 2016?

Teen Titans: Earth Volume 2 is slated for August, the other two were announced at SDCC last year but I don't think we got release dates (The Flash didn't even have an artist announced). I doubt Manapul will have time to do Aquaman now that he'll be doing Trinity with Rebirth.

[SiegePerilous02]

I've always thought it came from just how many ideas he has for his stories. I remember the other writers on 52 talking about how he'd have more ideas per page than most creators had in an entire issues. He wants to communicate these concepts and thought worms, and this is how he has figured out how to do it. Quite the opposite from rolling my eyes, I think the way he does this "conceptual dialogue" makes his stories so much bigger and elevated from standard comic dialogue. He has found a way to do massive idea dumps in a single word balloon, where other writers need an entire page of near-useless exposition to achieve the same end goal.

For me though, sometimes this makes his characters seem less like actual people and more like mouthpieces for his crazy ideas. That still makes his comics way more fascinating than the majority of everything else being published by the Big Two, but it can be kind of grating when he goes overboard in certain instances. It works beautifully in his Doom Patrol run, especially as he keeps it grounded with an everyman character like Cliff, and All-Star Superman and this book where things are (relatively) more subdued. But a character like, say, Dr. Hurt is just a mustache twirling loony who is evil for the sake of being evil once you get past all the superficial symbolism attached to him. If and when he brings some WW villains into the next two volumes, I hope he writes them more along the lines of his Luthor than Hurt.

[rpi]

For me though, sometimes this makes his characters seem less like actual people and more like mouthpieces for his crazy ideas. That still makes his comics way more fascinating than the majority of everything else being published by the Big Two, but it can be kind of grating when he goes overboard in certain instances. It works beautifully in his Doom Patrol run, especially as he keeps it grounded with an everyman character like Cliff, and All-Star Superman and this book where things are (relatively) more subdued. But a character like, say, Dr. Hurt is just a mustache twirling loony who is evil for the sake of being evil once you get past all the superficial symbolism attached to him. If and when he brings some WW villains into the next two volumes, I hope he writes them more along the lines of his Luthor than Hurt.

I can see where you're coming from with the crazy ideas thing, but I think that can be said for pretty much any creator. The Dark Knight Returns is maybe the most highly valued superhero comic ever, but that's just an outlet for Miller's crazy ideas. William Moulton Morrison was obsessed with domination and telling the truth, and that's why we have Wonder Woman. All creators channel themselves through their work in one way or another. Morrison's ideas are huge, intelligent, and devoted to these characters, so I'm totally cool with them as they seem to really mesh with what comic books are to me.

Regarding Dr. Hurt, Morrison's Wayne family was told in a modern style, but it still has a lot of the 1920s-1940s New England old money vibe to it, all WASPy and into real estate and a polished public profile. Dr. Hurt is very much a mustache twirling looney because those were the standard villains during the Mark of Zorro era. They even reference his connection with old movie stars. Morrison does it all on purpose, and ties it in with Batman's history as a fictional character in our world. The fact that he was able to take all that and still make Hurt an equally awesome time-travelling demon weapon of Darkseid makes it that much cooler to me, and gives me that much more respect for Morrison as a storyteller who can take these massive, sprawling stories of these characters, combine them with real-world ideas, and tell amazing tales of superhero fantasy.

[Supernature]

I was anxious before reading this but I actually thought this was fine? I'm almost disappointed. I was expecting something scandalous LOL.

I'm curious about what'll be done in the sequels.

[M L A]

Teen Titans: Earth Volume 2 is slated for August, the other two were announced at SDCC last year but I don't think we got release dates (The Flash didn't even have an artist announced). I doubt Manapul will have time to do Aquaman now that he'll be doing Trinity with Rebirth.

This and Manapul did say on twitter a while back that he has Aquaman Earth One outlined but not much else since he's had other stuff to do. So I imagine it'll be a while before he writes all of it, let alone draws all of it

[Shaggy]

So the book should become available on Comixology today, but when exactly?

[Hypo]

It's up now.

[Tayswift]

It's a weird book, mostly badly but there is one interesting concept.

it's obvious that is written by someone that don't understand feminism or even what marston amazons stand for.