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A review by nmcannon
Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals by George Pérez
4.0
When friends noticed that I was reading Wonder Woman, they steered my rudderless ship to George Pérez, and I have been blessed by both my choice in friends and in reading this volume. This comic lives in a feminist space, though it's lack of characters of color fail to make it fully intersectional.
Pérez returns to not only Wonder Woman's origin, but also the origin of the Amazons in this volume. The writing style harkens back to ye olden times, but instead of coming off as corny, Pérez pulls his sentences off effortless wonder and with startling beauty. The art is fantastic and adds echoes upon echoes to the dialog. A lot of pieces I felt belonged in a museum. Once Diana finds herself on earth, the real fun begins, with a fascinating villain in the form of Decay. I rooted and cheered and loved that Diana used teamwork as well as her individual prowess to confront problems.
As far as diversity, the sheer number of women and the focus on womanhood was exciting. Etta's body type and Julia Kapatelis' age won points with me, because all body types and all ages can stick it to Ares. Philippus & Colonel Hillary were the lone black characters standing though, and this fact was a deep disappointment since the Amazons were supposed to represent the souls of all wronged women. Maybe there are more characters of color later, or George Pérez meant to have more, but was blocked by a higher up. I was still saddened and dropped a star.
Overall, though, this volume was a delight and exactly what I needed to read in these troubled times. Like Diana, I will fight to bring peace and equality and, of course, punch the patriarchy while I'm at it.
Pérez returns to not only Wonder Woman's origin, but also the origin of the Amazons in this volume. The writing style harkens back to ye olden times, but instead of coming off as corny, Pérez pulls his sentences off effortless wonder and with startling beauty. The art is fantastic and adds echoes upon echoes to the dialog. A lot of pieces I felt belonged in a museum. Once Diana finds herself on earth, the real fun begins, with a fascinating villain in the form of Decay. I rooted and cheered and loved that Diana used teamwork as well as her individual prowess to confront problems.
As far as diversity, the sheer number of women and the focus on womanhood was exciting. Etta's body type and Julia Kapatelis' age won points with me, because all body types and all ages can stick it to Ares. Philippus & Colonel Hillary were the lone black characters standing though, and this fact was a deep disappointment since the Amazons were supposed to represent the souls of all wronged women. Maybe there are more characters of color later, or George Pérez meant to have more, but was blocked by a higher up. I was still saddened and dropped a star.
Overall, though, this volume was a delight and exactly what I needed to read in these troubled times. Like Diana, I will fight to bring peace and equality and, of course, punch the patriarchy while I'm at it.