Wonder Woman: The True Amazon

[janegray]

The True Amazon is... an interesting book.



The art is gorgeous, and very unique: it looks like watercolour paintings. Definitely not something you commonly see in comic books.

The story is a complete AU of Wonder Woman. Uniquely, it's one that doesn't involve Steve Trevor at all.

Personally, I'm very fond of both Steve and the Diana/Steve pairing. But what's the point of AUs if you don't explore alternate possibilities? So I was all for this new story where Diana is driven by her love for a woman.

Unfortunately, my appreciation for it was sorely dampened by the Bury Your Gays trope. So yeah, Diana gets a lesbian romance, but it does not end well. Normally I'd avoid spoiling a major plot point like this, but I figure BYG is one trope you don't want to pull the rug under your feet, especially if you seek out a book specifically for the gay content.

Still. Gorgeous art and a very unique take on the character. I'd say the book is worth reading for the way it does something new and different.

Diana's characterization is also unlike anything I've ever seen before. Here, as a result of the fact that she is the only child the Amazons have seen in millennia, they all spoil her rotten. They basically raise her like Kuzko. So she starts out as a horrible brat, and grows into a better person.











I adore Diana's face here. The expression cracks me up XD











And I love Diana's arms here. I love when artists remember that warriors are supposed to have muscles when they are female too.

Comments

[icon_uk]

I do love this story!

Diana starting out as a super-indulged brat makes a lot of sense.

The Jill Thompson art is sublime, and so diffrent from the style she uses for Scary Godmother! I believe she's made reference to being very Erte influenced in her designs for this and I can see it.

Althea has the heaviest "Gabrielle from Xena" vibes imaginable and she's straight out of every folk song about a proud lord/lady meeting their match, so fits the story very well. Though as you say, the end is a little trope-y.

[jlbarnett]

I kind of disagree, because you wouldn't actually get good at the things Amazons value by being indulged

[janegray]

They actually address it in the book. Diana has a much, much harder time than usual winning the tournaments, while in all other versions of the story she wipes the floor with the other contestants. And it's precisely because she didn't take her training as seriously. She is still ridiculously strong and capable, but clearly not living up to her full potential.

I think that makes it a very interesting starting place for a hero. After all, this is supposed to be her origin story. Batman got his ass kicked plenty in Year One.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Althea has the heaviest "Gabrielle from Xena" vibes imaginable

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

[deh_tommy]

Hold up, this was done by the same lady who made Scary Godmother?

[silverhammerman]

Between this, The Legend of Wonder Woman, and Greg Rucka returning to the character in the ongoing, 2016 was a pretty good year for Wonder Woman, huh? It's a shame that they were, in order, immediately forgotten, inexplicably cancelled prematurely, and succeeded by runs that didn't pick up on anything Rucka tried to establish (didn't his new origin for Wonder Woman almost immediately get canned?).

I remember hearing about this book and really do like the look of it, Jill Thompson's art is gorgeous and it's an interesting angle for the character. The ending is a major downer and uncomfortable close to a problematic trope but it does make Wonder Woman's origin story narratively satisfying in a way that few superhero origins really are: Diana's story before becoming Wonder Woman isn't just the preamble to "the good bits" but is interesting in its own right.

[janegray]

The Legend Of Wonder Woman being cancelled really bummed me out. It has the best take on Etta Candy I've ever seen. And Steve was the cutiest himbo in the world.

I keep hoping they see the light and announce Vol. 2.

[deh_tommy]

Not gonna lie, Rebirth (and Wonder Woman in particular) actually kind of turned me off from following DC in general. Not necessarily because I had much love for The New 52 (my love for the Azzarello run notwithstanding, which admittedly did make the ‘Lies’ arc sting), but more because

(a)that was DC pretending like everything mattered but very clearly wanting to sweep the past several years under the rug AGAIN. Rebirth felt very... safe? That’s probably not the right word, but that was yet another one of DC’s classic continuity cleaners except dressed in a pretty bow this time. That left me unimpressed especially coming off the heels of stuff like Secret Wars and All-New All-Different, which positively revelled in their parent company’s history (at least before the latter died a cruel death at the hands of Not Another Civil War for the sake of chasing the safety of the NOW! imprint, but that’s a rant for another time), whereas DC almost always seems to me like they’re embarrassed by theirs.

(b)Wonder Woman, much like Vampirella, is one of those characters people can’t really decide on a solid enough mythos for. For whatever cursed reason, almost every new creator feels the need to call out the last run(s) and retcon out or sweep almost everything from them under the rug, as if to say “this is the REAL Wonder Woman”. Don’t get me wrong, Rucka’s run was pretty neat, but that was just the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.

Case in point: “didn't his new origin for Wonder Woman almost immediately get canned?”

[cricharddavies]

It might be possible to make that lack of a solid mythos into a strength, rather than a weakness. If Diana is an extension of the Greek myths into the present, then just as there is no single 'canon' of Greek myth, but many stories which often contradict each other, so it is with Wonder Woman. Her backstory is in constant flux, and she doesn't think this is strange or confusing, because that is how it has always been for her. This sets up what I think is an interesting tension between her nature as a creature who doesn't have a fixed and objective truth, and her ability to compel a fixed and objective truth from others through her Golden Perfect.

[deh_tommy]

See, I love that idea and thought of something similar myself, but the problem is people do try to make a fixed single canon for her and dismiss everything that came before the then-present run(s) as lies or not the whole truth.

[cricharddavies]

Well, then all we have to do is take over DC Comics and reject storylines where that happens! Simple and efficient! :)

[scorntx]

But then we'll be unable to stop ourselves, and wind up murdering Titans and demanding reboots everywhere.

Oh, we'll say it's just the one reboot, just to get things back on track. But you can never stop at just the one reboot...

[cricharddavies]

Well, yeah, of course the power will corrupt us. That's the whole point of having power in the first place! :)

[lego_joker]

I can think of a simple way to go about this. Simple, not easy.

Namely, stop centering stories on Wonder Woman herself and make them about how others (particularly mortals) react to her. Never portray any aspect of her background "objectively" - always have it be something she personally narrates, and routinely distorts to suit the listener.

It's a million-to-one any writer in any era could pull it off, but I've always wanted to see the book told in the style of Sandman. Less about the protagonist's own doings, and more about the people they affect.

[sadoeuphemist]

Or just do Alan Moore's Promethea, where the heroine is a living story who becomes incarnated every time someone retells her.

[janegray]

...I just want the clay origin back.

There can be minor variations on that story, but the general idea of "Queen of the people who were blessed by the goddesses for their heroism wishes for a child, sculpts one, the gods bring the child to life" is perfectly good by me.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

This was way better than I was expecting.

[lego_joker]

The... idea of this book is interesting enough, but I dunno, I think Thompson went so far in making kid!Diana unlikable that I no longer want to see her redeem herself. Like, doesn't she get half the island killed through her selfishness?

It rather seems like the kind of story Cheetah or Lex Luthor would tell about Wonder Woman in their spare time.

[janegray]

She definitely didn't get half the island killed. We don't get a precise body count (we are only told that there were other funerals besides Alethea's), but the implication is that it's a handful at worst.

Mind you, getting a handful of people killed is still super bad. But they do treat it as such.