Grant Morrison

From the masterful minds of Grant Morrison (FINAL CRISIS, THE MULTIVERSITY) and Yanick Paquette (SWAMP THING, BATMAN, INC.) comes the most provocative origin of Wonder Woman you've ever seen--a wholly unique retelling that still honors her origins. For millennia, the Amazons of Paradise Island have created a thriving society away from the blight of man. One resident, however, is not satisfied with this secluded life--Diana, Princess of the Amazons, knows there is more in this world and wants to explore, only to be frustrated by her protective mother, Hippolyta. Diana finds her escape when Air Force pilot Steve Trevor, the first man she has ever seen, crashes onto their shores. With his life hanging in the balance, Diana ventures into the long forbidden world of men. The Amazons chase after her and bring her back to Paradise Island in chains to face trial for breaking their oldest law--staying separated from the world that wronged them. Thought-provoking yet reverent, thoroughly modern but still timeless, the power and courage of Paradise Island's greatest champion--Wonder Woman--is introduced in this new addition to DC Comics's New York Times best-selling Earth One original graphic novel series.

Wonder Woman: Earth One

Maggie Gordon

So… where do I even begin with this one? I requested Wonder Woman: Earth One from NetGalley because I LOVE Wonder Woman. Both her and Batman are my favourite superheroes, but Wonder Woman gets a sad lack of attention from DC. Thankfully, with her new movie coming out, DC is increasing their Wonder Woman output, including finally publishing this long awaited volume from popular author Grant Morrison. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed in his take on my favourite character, and I like this version of Wondy even less than her new-52 counterpart. 

Diana Re-imaged: The Petulant Teenage Rebel

Diana the diplomat is the best Wonder Woman, particularly when written by Greg Rucka. I love that she is a tough, warrior woman who can go toe-to-toe with Superman, but chooses peace and dialogue when possible. I appreciate that her work is so different from other superheroes. She spends much of her time acting as a state official, not just a vigilante. 

This Diana is… well, she’s an angry teenager. She’s centuries old, but she’s the youngest of the Amazons, and obviously smarting at the rules that she’s being forced to live by. Though I think there are plenty of legitimate reasons as to why she could question the Queen, she just sounds whiny. She never really makes arguments so much as complainants. And that’s just while she’s on Paradise Island. Once Diana gets to Man’s World, she decides to impose all the rules and regulations she rebelled against on the rest of humanity. 

Now, I admit that Earth One Diana is young and has plenty of room to grow, and I certainly hope she does as she’s pretty obnoxious right now… So here’s to hoping that she matures a bit in volume two. 

Amazons Re-Imagined: So Angry, So Violent

William Marston created the Amazons with a political message in mind. He was very much into bondage and submission as a way of exploring love and compassion, and he believed that women could be better leaders than men. The Amazons were his attempt to explore these ideas. They were meant to represent a utopia where governance was based on patience, compassion, and co-dependence. As time went on, Wonder Woman also became an icon for the feminist movement, representing female empowerment, strength, and equality.

Morrison was definitely inspired by Marston’s work, but he focuses on the bondage and the sexiness rather than the politics of Wonder Woman. The Amazons in Earth One are VERY into bondage. There are all sorts of scenes where they are in chains and converse about submitting to one another. But without the politics, these scenes are just sexualisation without any insightful commentary like the original. They exist to titillate, not educate, and this is a large reason as to why the book fell flat for me. 



Morrison’s Amazons are also angry and violent. Paradise Island is not a utopia, but a place that our main character is fleeing from. Stories based on conflict are always going to be more interesting than stories where everything is hunky dory, but the Amazon utopia could have been retained and used to tell good stories. Cranky, isolationists is already a common theme in superhero universes, and Wonder Woman’s peaceful home has always offered something different and important. The Amazons represent not perfection, but a positive representation of the power of women in comics where women are so often marginalised and stereotyped. To see them so sexualised without purpose, and to see the politics that they have come to represent completely stripped out, is disheartening. 

Additionally, for a book meant to draw in female readers, the Amazons have some vicious things to say about the women of Man’s World. According to one, we are just “deformed, shrunken, bloated, domesticated cattle.” Not only is this just a douche thing for something to say, it implies that there is literally no variation in body type among the Amazons. In their feminine utopia, everyone looks exactly the same: thin and perfect. Props for Etta Candy for telling these assholes to fuck off, but, for a book that REALLY should be geared to drawing in female readers, having women be so heinous to others because of their bodies is not just off-putting, but actively harmful. Even Wonder Woman makes some of these hurtful comments. Why exactly would I want to continue reading these books where even the hero is being a catty douche?



Steve Trevor Re-Imagined: ARE YOU F$#@NG KIDDING ME?!?!

When I first heard that Steve Trevor was being reimagined as a black man, I thought it was a good way to diversify Wondy’s often very white cast. The original Steve Trevor was very… WWII propaganda, so having the writers decide to rewrite the character with modern sensibilities in mind intrigued me. Until it all went horribly horribly wrong. 



Did no one at DC, at any point in the SEVEN years that it took to write this book, say, “hey, maybe it’s a bad idea to have a white lady try to collar a Black man? The gag has some really unfortunate implications, right? Maybe we should rethink it?” 

This image is not okay. Sure, it’s fun to play the game of what does the fish out of water do? However, slavery was a real thing that happened in our world. Black people were literally collared by white people. And the bedroom eyes that Diana gives Trevor on the previous page? Slave owners regularly raped their “property”. This isn’t a funny joke. It’s a disgusting, tone-deaf, gigantic mistake that DC needs to apologise for. 

Even worse? Steve doesn’t even get to respond directly. The next page features Diana and Etta talking about silly, sci-fi Amazonian bondage girls. Nope. Nope nope nope. If Steve Trevor was still white, I still would have hated the “joke” as it’s lazy, uncreative, and relies on some seriously problematic gender ideals, but when Steve Trevor is Black it plummets into “an editor should get fired” territory. 

Steve also barely gets to talk in this book. I’m all for the focus being on Wondy, but when Steve gets to say more than three words, he uses African American experiences of slavery to justify why he wants to protect the Amazons. So… number one, this is a crap comparison. The Amazons are warriors with some pretty interesting tech. They have the Gods on their side. This is also modern day Earth. I highly doubt anyone is going to enslave them in the way that white people systemically enslaved Black people. Secondly, Steve Trevor is a high ranking military official. Please don’t tell me that all his military machismo and camaraderie just… disappeared? It is terrible to ignore who your character is because you want to do something with your plot. I can buy that a military person can be disillusioned and mistrusting of the military. But one who is part of a top secret, high ranking mission? I really don’t think that Steve has such deep fear of his own organisation that he’d betray them in this manner after seeing Diana for like a day. AFTER SHE TRIED TO COLLAR HIM AT THAT!!!



The Art: Porn Face EVERYWHERE

On one hand, the art in Wonder Woman: Earth One is a lot better than what you see in most superhero comics. It is exceptionally detailed, the people have bodies that sometimes make sense, and there are beautiful backgrounds. Sure, everyone is really unbelievably sexy all the time, but this is a superhero comic so I can make some allowances. 

What I can’t handle is the “male gaze” filter on EVERYTHING. There are a lot of “hot lesbians being sexy” scenes that don’t really have a place. Busts and crotches are common focal points, and the dreaded BLOW JOB FACE plagues poor Diana. 



(She's piloting a plane there. Totally an appropriate expression)

For female readers, Wonder Woman is an icon we tend to gravitate towards, yet this book is so obviously being drawn for a male audience. I like pretty ladies, but there’s a difference between “these female characters are gorgeous” and “these female characters are posing and acting in ways designed to titillate the average male reader”. If you want female readers, give us characters that are not meant to be sexy pin-ups for men. Let them be people. I promise you that people can still be sexy and attractive. 

Conclusion

I was intensely disappointed by Wonder Woman: Earth One. As a female reader, the sexualisation frustrated me, and as a long-time fan of the character, I am sick of seeing stories about the Amazons that show them to be angry, violent, bordering on evil characters. I am not against playing with canon, as the Earth One series is supposed to do, but why take the easy route with Wonder Woman? Why not extrapolate more faithfully to the ideas of her creator and create something truly unique in the superhero genre? Alas, if you are looking for some really fantastic Wonder Woman stories, check out the old runs by Greg Rucka and Gail Simone, as well as the currently being released Legends of Wonder Woman mini-series. 

 Thanks to NetGalley and DC Comics for providing me with an Advance Reader's Copy of this book to review

Wonder Woman: Earth One

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