My first foray into Wonder Woman graphic novels/comics. I liked the art and the fact that they largely stayed on Paradise Island (?) with the Amazonians. I get what people have said in the comments about stereotypes and anti-feminist rhetoric but, since it was my first WW and I have nothing to compare it to, it didn't really bother me. I was initially offended by the cover (really?? You couldn't think of a more eye-catching and sexist cover, in my opinion) but once you understood why she was in chains, it actually made Diana a very strong character.
I'm reading a WW by Jodi Picoult (who knew!!) so it will be interesting to compare and contrast. So far, I liked the art in WW: Earth One but the plot seems less-focused on the whole sapphic thing.

this is probably one of the worst comics I've ever read. it's pretty demoralizing to men and women.

And yet again, I find myself reading a comic book (seriously, who am I?!) on purpose. This one is more than slightly problematic, so two stars.

It was fine, but nothing happened! Yet another Wonder Woman origin story. It has some interesting contours, but overall the narrative stakes were too low.

Bad writing that jumps around way too much combined with just this side of pornographic illustrations. It's like they decided to dispose of the pretext that anyone will want to read the book before they beat off to it.

I won this book in a raffle at a conference for female business leaders and the youth of tomorrow (aka a feminist conference) and was surprisingly let down by how problematic this book was (though I was not entirely surprised given the history of the Wonder Woman comics). However, I figured that because this was a newer volume that was given at a conference about feminism it would be better. It was and it wasn’t.

I can appreciate the small bits of diversity they did include but I still think they weren’t handled well. Just because you have a black character or a fat character doesn’t automatically make that good representation. There is more to writing divers characters than just having them exist. And of course there was the age old over sexualization of most of the female characters and yes more Wonder Woman bondage.

Here’s the thing. I feel like this book tried to utilize those things (over sexualization, the history of bondage, etc.) as a commentary on the history of Wonder Woman but it was so poorly done that it became just as problematic. **spoiler ahead**

Spoiler

An example is the scene where Diana tries to get Steve to pledge his loyalty through bondage. That was definitely a swing and a miss for me.

(Spoiler over)

In edition, I thought that the plot was weak and that the character development was somewhere between non existent and just plain bad.

Because of all these things, I just couldn’t get on board. But it’s Wonder Woman so I had to like it, at least a little bit, because she holds a dear place in my heart.

How was this even published?? Worst Wonder Woman comic I've ever read. Besides the obvious sexist tones throughout the comic, which disgusted me, the style of writing was so bad.

This book I actually enjoyed, but what made it terrible was a complete sexism throughout the whole book. It was all men vs women, women vs women, it was ridiculous. Taken as the author is a man, he clearly has no idea what women only society would look like. He illustrated it as a society of slut shaming and man hating. Very badly done.

Years after it was initially announced, Grant Morrison, Yanick Paquette, and Nathan Fairbarn’s Wonder Woman Earth One graphic novel is in the wild. It is an origin story for the iconic superhero beginning with her mother’s battle and victory against the violent, lustful rapist Hercules, which led to the Amazons deciding to leave the corruption of “man’s world” and establish Paradise Island. Morrison uses a framing narrative of a trial to flesh out Diana’s personality and background as we get to see her rebel against her mother’s orders and fight in the annual Amazon games as well as meet Steve Trevor (who is African American in this version) and journey to man’s world. The comic is steeped in the Golden Age (Lots of bondage elements are present from the cover onwards.) Wonder Woman stories of William Moulton Marston and the whole idea of loving submission while also riffing on Greek mythology and ancient Greek culture as well as classic science fiction. These influences shine through in Paquette’s artwork as he often uses the lasso of truth as a panel boundary along with juxtaposing actual scenes with the story.

Read the rest of my review at Pop Optiq. (http://www.popoptiq.com/wonder-woman-earth-one/)

Blurg. Wonder Woman as male fantasy, complete with poses women never naturally stand in, outfits an active woman would never wear, rape being a source for a hero, "science fiction lesbian", drunken sorority girls, and the list goes on and on.

I wish I could have my time back.