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A review by apageinthestacks
Wonder Woman: Earth One, Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison
3.0
3.5/5ish?
I love Wonder Woman. However, because I am fairly new to the comic book world, as well as because of limited funds and whatnot, I unfortunately haven’t read as much Wonder Woman as I’d like. But after seeing Batman v Superman, I really re-fell in love with her. I was disappointed with a lot of the film, but Wonder Woman’s treatment was extremely well-done, and just got me insanely excited for her solo film (same with Affleck’s Batman). It also made me want to immediately re-read Wonder Woman comics I had already read, and get more comics that I hadn’t.
After finding out a year plus ago that Grant Morrison was writing an Earth One book featuring Wonder Woman, I was excited. And when I found out it was coming out shortly after BvS, I simply couldn’t wait because of how much I just loved Wonder Woman in the film.
So, super hyped up for a new Wonder Woman book? Check. A Grant Morrison book, no less? Check. A self-contained story because it’s in the Earth One universe? Check. Art from someone as great as Yannick Paquette? Check. Coming out at the perfect time when I’m already more hyped about Wonder Woman than usual? Check.
To say I was excited would be an understatement. And, as such, I had extremely high expectations.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the greatest comic ever like I had hoped. Instead, it was just pretty good.
In terms of technical details it was really good. Morrison knows how to write a story, and he showed that once again here. Paquette is a great artist, and he too showed that here. So from purely a technical standpoint, it was great.
However, some of the details didn’t work for me. In terms of writing, there were a few parts that seemed a bit heavy-handed to me. As if Morrison was trying create a very showy, super feminist book, rather than just writing a feminist story. Now maybe that’s just me, but I think it’s better writing when there’s female character and the writer doesn’t scream at you “hey I’m a strong female character.” Just let Wonder Woman be Wonder Woman, who is a strong female character. This is something done perfectly in Mad Max: Fury Road, I think. It features an incredibly strong female character but it doesn’t have to yell at you to point it out—she simply is a great character.
Which, I do have to mention, despite what I just said, Wonder Woman’s characterization here is near perfect (a few things she says are troubling). I’ve always loved her character, and this book was no exception; in the end, it definitely got me excited for the next chapter after being introduced to this version of her, as I can’t wait to see her in action after the end of this story.
There were a few other parts of the story I just didn’t care for either—the culture of Wonder Woman’s people felt a bit forced sometimes instead of being natural, and her “adapting” to the English language was downright cheesy at times.
And there were also some art issues I had. Now, as I said, Paquette is an amazing artist, but as is almost always the case with Wonder Woman, I didn’t like the way she was drawn (the exception being Cliff Chiang who I think did it very well, as well as one of the more recent runs with David Finch drawing her re-designed costume). Now I get that Diana herself wouldn’t care (nor does she really need much protection of any kind, just like Superman doesn’t), so it “shouldn’t” matter, but the unfortunate fact is that it does—because our world has been objectifying and sexualizing women forever, and this comic, unfortunately, continues that, at least IMO. I just wish that she could be the amazing character she is without being drawn in ways that amplifies certain parts of her body, because of how much women are objectified still today.
As I mentioned, I really like the way Chiang drew her, and I also love her BvS costume, as I don’t think either are objectifying, even though they’re still obviously her costume. I just wish more people could follow their lead, including Paquette/Morrison in this book.
Otherwise, in terms of art, it was very well done. As I said, Paquette is an amazing artist and he always has a great artistic relationship with colorist Nathan Fairbairn, both of whom always deliver together a book that’s very nice to look at.
Overall, it was simply not as amazing as I was expecting (though to be fair I had incredibly high expectations), but it did make me very excited for the next book in the series, which I suppose is far more positive than negative, even with the problems I had.
I love Wonder Woman. However, because I am fairly new to the comic book world, as well as because of limited funds and whatnot, I unfortunately haven’t read as much Wonder Woman as I’d like. But after seeing Batman v Superman, I really re-fell in love with her. I was disappointed with a lot of the film, but Wonder Woman’s treatment was extremely well-done, and just got me insanely excited for her solo film (same with Affleck’s Batman). It also made me want to immediately re-read Wonder Woman comics I had already read, and get more comics that I hadn’t.
After finding out a year plus ago that Grant Morrison was writing an Earth One book featuring Wonder Woman, I was excited. And when I found out it was coming out shortly after BvS, I simply couldn’t wait because of how much I just loved Wonder Woman in the film.
So, super hyped up for a new Wonder Woman book? Check. A Grant Morrison book, no less? Check. A self-contained story because it’s in the Earth One universe? Check. Art from someone as great as Yannick Paquette? Check. Coming out at the perfect time when I’m already more hyped about Wonder Woman than usual? Check.
To say I was excited would be an understatement. And, as such, I had extremely high expectations.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the greatest comic ever like I had hoped. Instead, it was just pretty good.
In terms of technical details it was really good. Morrison knows how to write a story, and he showed that once again here. Paquette is a great artist, and he too showed that here. So from purely a technical standpoint, it was great.
However, some of the details didn’t work for me. In terms of writing, there were a few parts that seemed a bit heavy-handed to me. As if Morrison was trying create a very showy, super feminist book, rather than just writing a feminist story. Now maybe that’s just me, but I think it’s better writing when there’s female character and the writer doesn’t scream at you “hey I’m a strong female character.” Just let Wonder Woman be Wonder Woman, who is a strong female character. This is something done perfectly in Mad Max: Fury Road, I think. It features an incredibly strong female character but it doesn’t have to yell at you to point it out—she simply is a great character.
Which, I do have to mention, despite what I just said, Wonder Woman’s characterization here is near perfect (a few things she says are troubling). I’ve always loved her character, and this book was no exception; in the end, it definitely got me excited for the next chapter after being introduced to this version of her, as I can’t wait to see her in action after the end of this story.
There were a few other parts of the story I just didn’t care for either—the culture of Wonder Woman’s people felt a bit forced sometimes instead of being natural, and her “adapting” to the English language was downright cheesy at times.
And there were also some art issues I had. Now, as I said, Paquette is an amazing artist, but as is almost always the case with Wonder Woman, I didn’t like the way she was drawn (the exception being Cliff Chiang who I think did it very well, as well as one of the more recent runs with David Finch drawing her re-designed costume). Now I get that Diana herself wouldn’t care (nor does she really need much protection of any kind, just like Superman doesn’t), so it “shouldn’t” matter, but the unfortunate fact is that it does—because our world has been objectifying and sexualizing women forever, and this comic, unfortunately, continues that, at least IMO. I just wish that she could be the amazing character she is without being drawn in ways that amplifies certain parts of her body, because of how much women are objectified still today.
As I mentioned, I really like the way Chiang drew her, and I also love her BvS costume, as I don’t think either are objectifying, even though they’re still obviously her costume. I just wish more people could follow their lead, including Paquette/Morrison in this book.
Otherwise, in terms of art, it was very well done. As I said, Paquette is an amazing artist and he always has a great artistic relationship with colorist Nathan Fairbairn, both of whom always deliver together a book that’s very nice to look at.
Overall, it was simply not as amazing as I was expecting (though to be fair I had incredibly high expectations), but it did make me very excited for the next book in the series, which I suppose is far more positive than negative, even with the problems I had.