New Readers of WW: Recommended Reading & Questions

[carloshll726]

Hey, who all thinks that it would be a good idea to have Jim Lee draw an awesome Wonder Woman/Lady Death crossover event? I totally dig WW's new design, he made her super-sexy! These two ladies should meet sometime!

[Lorendiac]

On Wikipedia I was reading the Knightfall article and it mentioned big changes for Superman (Dead), Aquaman (Lost his hand), Green Lantern (Villain), and Wonder Woman. So I'm wondering what changed for Wonder Woman during the 90's.

Well, around the time that Batman was sitting in a wheelchair and Superman had recently come back from the dead, Diana had to run through a repeat of the original contest in which she'd won the right to be "Wonder Woman."

She lost the contest to a red-headed Bana-Mighdall Amazon named Artemis. Various strange things had been happening which kept delaying Diana in a race, etc., and it eventually turned out that she was really the better woman (as if we couldn't guess).

The real situation was:

1. Queen Hippolyta had gotten a prophecy or something to the effect that "in the near future, Wonder Woman will die in battle."

2. Hippolyta did not want her beloved daughter Diana to die. Fortunately, the prophecy only said "Wonder Woman" instead of "Diana of Themyscira!"

3. So Hippolyta pretended to be very disappointed in Diana's recent job performance, and insisted on a repeat of that old contest. She used magical means to cheat so that Diana would end up losing. Artemis was far more expendable in Hippolyta's eyes.

4. Result: Several months in which Artemis was "Wonder Woman" in the public eye, while Diana was wearing a rather silly substitute costume.

5. Then Artemis got herself killed and Diana took the role of "Wonder Woman" back. (By the way, Diana was furious when she found out what her mother had been up to. She immediately went racing off to go help Artemis in a battle with an evil magician, but she arrived too late.)

All of the above happened in a year or so of the Wonder Woman title, the last year of William Messner-Loebs's run; those issues are collected in two TPBs: "Wonder Woman: The Contest" and "Wonder Woman: The Challenge of Artemis."

That was the era when lots of high-profile DC heroes were being Temporarily Replaced (Jean Paul Valley as the new Batman, Kyle Rayner as the new Hal Jordan, four different guys wearing S-shields on their chests after Kal-El died, with 3 out of 4 explicitly saying "I am Superman!", and so forth). This was Wonder Woman's participation in that trend.

[Rob_Olivera]

http://wb.cdn.warnerbros.com/dcublog...df67g89s7d.jpg

She's kind of short, isn't she? :)

[superlantern1987]

Wonder Woman friends, I have a question:

A couple years ago, I bought my first ever Wonder Woman comic featuring Kyle Rayner. I bought it, because I was a huge fan of Diana and Hal Jordan. Little did, I know that there were more than one Green Lanter. Anyway, unfortunately, I lost the issue when I moved from my house. Do any of you guys know what issue number it is? I remember Diana and Kyle staging a fight, and then teaming up against the Alien invadors. Was the story ever collected in trade? Thanks in advance.

[CarolStrick]

In the past couple years, within the pages of her own book, she hasn't teamed up with Kyle Rayner that I can recall. Issues 18 & 19, third series (May-June '08) had Green Lanterns Kho and Kaa as major characters. Am I forgetting an issue, or could this be a Justice League thing? Perhaps it was one of those endless Crises.

Or are you thinking of Wonder Woman's SISTER, Donna Troy? She and Kyle used to be lovers and they've met up a number of times since their breakup. She spent a lot of time with him in Countdown to Final Crisis, I think.

[400yrs]

Hi all! My 7 year old daughter expressed some interest in WW a few weeks ago. Then she got a JL comic in a cereal box. It had WW in it and she read it and seemed very interested.

My only experience with the character is as a role player in JL and in the newest series by Azzarello. Obviously, I can't give her that.

What are some kid friendly Wonder Woman books for someone 7 years old? She has the Tiny Titans books, but I almost think she is looking for something with a bit of character story and not just silliness.

Thanks in advance!

[CarolStrick]

There're a few WW books out there recommended for ages 3 and up, but that's not what you're looking for. There're the Jaffe/Caldwell books, recommended for 4+, but they're out of print. When I was 7 I liked the Wonder Family stories in WW, and they've been reprinted in the Showcase collections. http://www.amazon.com/Showcase-Prese...1564476&sr=1-1 The reprints are in b&w iIrc, so be warned. The books may also be rather awkward for a child to handle easily. Your daughter may enjoy coloring in it, who knows?

You also might want to try the JLU (based on the cartoon) collections, some of which are very inexpensive in used form.

[BrettJett]

BrettJett's recommendations--as WonderWoman's #1 admirer & scholar:

Hey folks!

As an indie, I don't know of as many Wonder Woman readings, but the ones I do know of have been determined by me to be required reading for any student of Wonder Woman or for the casual or newbie to start off on the right path, and not be led down the usual false paths that many a newbie has via watching the Bruce Timm animated WW movie.

For newbies, you should start out by introducing yourself to the original Wonder Woman with the origins stories from:
-All Star Comics #8 (©1941/42, Dec/Jan)
-Wonder Woman #1 (©1942, Summer)

And then continue with these vital iconic stories from:
-Sensation Comics #1 (©1942, June/July)
-Wonder Woman #2 (©1942, Autumn)
-Wonder Woman #23 (©1947, May/June)

You can find these stories in DC's Archives collection books, as well as in:
-Wonder Woman, by Gloria Steinem & Ms. Magazine (©1972, October)

Other stories that would give you a good idea of Wonder Woman's essence include:
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold #14 (©2011, April 1)
-Wonder Woman #600 (©2010, August)



And for the serious student of Wonder Woman, these books & articles are my recommended REQUIRED reading:

-Encyclopedia Of Comic Book Heroes - Volume 2: Wonder Woman, by Michael L. Fleisher, (©1976)
-Wonder Woman - Featuring Over Five Decades Of Great Covers, by Tiny Folio, (©1995, October)
-Wonder Woman: The Complete History, by Les Daniels, (©2000, October 1)
-Wonder Woman: Spirit Of Truth, by Paul Dini & Alex Ross, (©2001, November 1)
-The Alter Ego Collection - Vol.1, by Roy Thomas, Joe Kubert, John Buscema, John Romita, Stan Lee. Page 60-70, "Two touches of Venus". (©2006, June 7)
-Wonder Woman: Amazon. Hero. Icon, by Robert Greenberger, (©2010, April 6)
-Who Is Wonder Woman? (article), by Brett Jett, (©2009, November) ......Here is the link: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[WhitOro]

Back in the early nineties, Jill Thompson had a run on Wonder Woman, 19 issues. How was it? Somebody remembers?

[SteveGus]

Back in the early nineties, Jill Thompson had a run on Wonder Woman, 19 issues. How was it? Somebody remembers?

She drew some of the last Perez and most of the early Messner-Loebs issues, 1990-1991-ish. Her Diana could be very good, but sometimes tended to be oddly cow-faced. Better than Lee Moder IMO. As far as I can recall she's never written the character.

[WhitOro]

As far as I can recall she's never written the character.

Yeah, my mistake, she was only the artis. Thanks about the infos.

[psyshot]

wasn't there a graphic novel by Coleen Doran in the 90s? was it good?

[Lorendiac]

wasn't there a graphic novel by Coleen Doran in the 90s? was it good?

You're probably thinking of "Wonder Woman: The Once and Future Story," a graphic novel from the late 1990s. Trina Robbins wrote it; Colleen Doran drew it.

It made a serious effort to call people's attention to the problem of men severely beating their wives, and the women sometimes suffering from "battered spouse syndrome" instead of just running away, but it wasn't what I would call a spectacularly successful piece of storytelling. I give the creative team full credit for good intentions, though!

(I last read it a year ago when I was researching the piece linked in my sig -- I'd run across an allegation that the graphic novel "established the canonical existence" of at least three long-lost Amazon tribes, other than Wonder Woman's own native culture, but after refreshing my memory, I concluded that this allegation was unfortunately untrue.)

[onoturtle]

I've just finished Simone's run. For the most part, I only enjoyed "The Circle". I now want to read Rucka's run, which I saw at least two people in this thread say it is their fav. Which particular stories/issues that are recommended? I saw Eyes of the Gorgon mentioned a few times here. Anything else? I'm a bit hesitant to go through the whole run if only one or two of the stories are actually good.

[americanwonder]

I've just finished Simone's run. For the most part, I only enjoyed "The Circle". I now want to read Rucka's run, which I saw at least two people in this thread say it is their fav. Which particular stories/issues that are recommended? I saw Eyes of the Gorgon mentioned a few times here. Anything else? I'm a bit hesitant to go through the whole run if only one or two of the stories are actually good.

Hi Ononturtle,

The best of Rucka's WW: 1) "The Hiketeia" - it's a stand alone gn with beautiful art; storywise, it's a Greek tragedy type story that includes Batman, too.

2) "Eyes of the Gorgon" and "The Bronze Door" - I think Rucka's WW run reads be best as a whole, but if you want to pick the best parts, get these two (in that order, btw).

Hope that helps. :)