A review by mschlat
Wonder Woman: Earth One, Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison
3.0
Now, I'm a big Grant Morrison fanboy and I like Wonder Woman, but I didn't pick this up in my comic book store, partly because the Earth One DC volumes have been hit or miss for me and mainly because of the art. Specifically, that cover.
I've liked [a:Yanick Paquette|229802|Yanick Paquette|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] before, especially on the [b:Terra Obscura|1109208|Terra Obscura Volume 1|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410738685s/1109208.jpg|6564898] books. But he does focus quite a bit on (ahem!) healthy women. (I think of him as firmly in the [a:Frank Cho|18160|Frank Cho|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1335707041p2/18160.jpg] school.) And the cover emphasizes the bondage that was a hallmark of [a:William Moulton Marston|89375|William Moulton Marston|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s early work on Wonder Woman. So when I look at that cover, I get concerned about how far the work is moving towards the area of exploitation comics.
It doesn't get too far, thankfully, but Morrison and Paquette do go all in on the idea of Paradise Island as a lesbian culture with affection expressed through submission, authority, and bondage. (Well, as "all in" as you can go in a book presumably intended for all ages.) There is a lot of respect for the characters, and almost every woman is depicted as powerful instead of just an opportunity for cheesecake. But there's cheesecake too. (To be fair, the depiction of Steve Trevor is heavily beefcake.)
There's some interesting stuff here. Morrison does his best when he shows how Diana makes her way to man's world and discovers the mortality and poor treatment of women. Steve Trevor is African-American and makes an explicit connection between the historical exploitation of Amazons and slavery in America. And Etta Candy (named here as Beth Candy) shows up as a sorority girl who speaks up for Diana (and appears to be a Rebel Wilson clone.)
But all of the above doesn't mix well, and worse, everything happens either on Paradise Island or in flashbacks delivered to Hippolyta and the Fates on Paradise Island. And the dialogue here is tough going. Not only do we get a ton of stilted speech, but Morrison is hitting us over the head with Diana's wish to be free of her mother. We even get a plot point focused on Diana's real identity, as if the work is channeling a YA story through the bodies of adults.
In the end, nothing really hangs together, and the interesting concepts have trouble rising above the dialogue and the art.
I've liked [a:Yanick Paquette|229802|Yanick Paquette|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] before, especially on the [b:Terra Obscura|1109208|Terra Obscura Volume 1|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410738685s/1109208.jpg|6564898] books. But he does focus quite a bit on (ahem!) healthy women. (I think of him as firmly in the [a:Frank Cho|18160|Frank Cho|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1335707041p2/18160.jpg] school.) And the cover emphasizes the bondage that was a hallmark of [a:William Moulton Marston|89375|William Moulton Marston|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s early work on Wonder Woman. So when I look at that cover, I get concerned about how far the work is moving towards the area of exploitation comics.
It doesn't get too far, thankfully, but Morrison and Paquette do go all in on the idea of Paradise Island as a lesbian culture with affection expressed through submission, authority, and bondage. (Well, as "all in" as you can go in a book presumably intended for all ages.) There is a lot of respect for the characters, and almost every woman is depicted as powerful instead of just an opportunity for cheesecake. But there's cheesecake too. (To be fair, the depiction of Steve Trevor is heavily beefcake.)
There's some interesting stuff here. Morrison does his best when he shows how Diana makes her way to man's world and discovers the mortality and poor treatment of women. Steve Trevor is African-American and makes an explicit connection between the historical exploitation of Amazons and slavery in America. And Etta Candy (named here as Beth Candy) shows up as a sorority girl who speaks up for Diana (and appears to be a Rebel Wilson clone.)
But all of the above doesn't mix well, and worse, everything happens either on Paradise Island or in flashbacks delivered to Hippolyta and the Fates on Paradise Island. And the dialogue here is tough going. Not only do we get a ton of stilted speech, but Morrison is hitting us over the head with Diana's wish to be free of her mother. We even get a plot point focused on Diana's real identity, as if the work is channeling a YA story through the bodies of adults.
In the end, nothing really hangs together, and the interesting concepts have trouble rising above the dialogue and the art.