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A review by davidareyzaga
Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Gods and Mortals by Greg Potter, John Costanza, Tatjana Wood, Drew Johnson, Devin Grayson, Stephen Sadowski, Michael Bair, Justiniano, Sean Phillips, George Pérez, Ray Snyder, Len Wein, Shane Davis, James Raiz, Bruce Patterson, Jerry Ordway, Walt Simonson, Geoff Johns, J.M. DeMatteis, Greg Rucka, Phil Jimenez, Rags Morales, Andrew Currie
5.0
A movie is coming, and you know what that means.
I know Wonder Woman indirectly. Unlike Batman—and the amazing set of characters that live within his almost self-contained universe within DC that pretty much stands on its own—, whom I met by reading every single comic book I could grab, to only consume other adaptations later, my experience with Wonder Woman has been through her appearances in Infinite Crisis and Crisis on Infinite Earths (I know, it's complicated), the occasional Justice League comic, and of course her animated version from the Justice League series from the 90s (plus her Injustice story). More recently, I met her in the shape of Gal Gadot in Batman v. Superman, and I'm looking forward to watching her stand-alone movie in a couple of months.
From what I've read about Wonder Woman, her story has S&M roots, and I've perceived her sometimes tricky relationship with feminism, depictions of women in media, and so on and so forth. A female character in a medium that was first addressed towards men, and now has more and more female readers (on the one hand, it's great, because I'm tired of the male-gaze on female characters, but on the other hand, it's problematic because it's what has also led to a sense of hatred towards male characters, leading to modifications that serve no purpose whatsoever), is obviously going to be complicated.
What I like about this volume, included in a selection of some of her best stories for the 75th anniversary, is that it provides an understandable, and quite engaging reboot to a character after she was killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths. The best part is that here the overall theme of equality between men and women doesn't seem biased or intangible. There's a striking balance between the male and female sidekicks of Wonder Woman on Earth. Plus, characters from her homeland tackle very real problems regarding the desire for power in an interesting way. However, the reason why I like this volume the most is because of the way George Pérez designed Mount Olympus. That's straight up amazing!
This volume is probably one of the main sources that Patty Jenkins used for the movie (I assume, given the villains and sidekicks found here), but I know the movie takes place on a different setting, so I'm excited to be surprised again by the upcoming movie... as long as it isn't a travesty like Suicide Squad, but that's another topic altogether.
I know Wonder Woman indirectly. Unlike Batman—and the amazing set of characters that live within his almost self-contained universe within DC that pretty much stands on its own—, whom I met by reading every single comic book I could grab, to only consume other adaptations later, my experience with Wonder Woman has been through her appearances in Infinite Crisis and Crisis on Infinite Earths (I know, it's complicated), the occasional Justice League comic, and of course her animated version from the Justice League series from the 90s (plus her Injustice story). More recently, I met her in the shape of Gal Gadot in Batman v. Superman, and I'm looking forward to watching her stand-alone movie in a couple of months.
From what I've read about Wonder Woman, her story has S&M roots, and I've perceived her sometimes tricky relationship with feminism, depictions of women in media, and so on and so forth. A female character in a medium that was first addressed towards men, and now has more and more female readers (on the one hand, it's great, because I'm tired of the male-gaze on female characters, but on the other hand, it's problematic because it's what has also led to a sense of hatred towards male characters, leading to modifications that serve no purpose whatsoever), is obviously going to be complicated.
What I like about this volume, included in a selection of some of her best stories for the 75th anniversary, is that it provides an understandable, and quite engaging reboot to a character after she was killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths. The best part is that here the overall theme of equality between men and women doesn't seem biased or intangible. There's a striking balance between the male and female sidekicks of Wonder Woman on Earth. Plus, characters from her homeland tackle very real problems regarding the desire for power in an interesting way. However, the reason why I like this volume the most is because of the way George Pérez designed Mount Olympus. That's straight up amazing!
This volume is probably one of the main sources that Patty Jenkins used for the movie (I assume, given the villains and sidekicks found here), but I know the movie takes place on a different setting, so I'm excited to be surprised again by the upcoming movie... as long as it isn't a travesty like Suicide Squad, but that's another topic altogether.