COMIC BOOK COVER OF THE WEEK

COMIC BOOK COVER OF THE WEEK


Hey, kiddies!  It's time once again to head into our comic shop, and see what book we wish to spotlight this week.  It just so happens that with the release of the trailer for Wonder Woman: 84 popping up this past week, I thought it would be cool to take a look at an important time in our Amzonian Princess at an important juncture in her long, storied history.  Here, we take a look at Wonder Woman circa 1987, freshly repackaged and renewed thanks to the writing and art of long time Teen Titans artist and co-plotter, George Perez.  




WONDER WOMAN #1

COVER ARTIST:  George Perez
WRITER: Greg Potter (co-plotter), George Perez (co-plotter)
ARTIST:  George Perez
INKS:  Bruce Patterson
COLORIST:  Tatjana Wood
LETTERER:  John Costanza
EDITOR:  Karen Berger
COVER DATE:  February 1987
PUBLISHER:  Jenette Kahn, DC Comics

STORY TITLE:  "The Princess and The Power!"


Wonder Woman #1 was a revamp of the Amazon Princess after her death in Crisis On Infinite Earths.  She had been returned to her original clay form, from which she was brought to life back in the early Golden Age of Comics.  Since the DC Comics continuity had begun to become larger, and henceforth, more complicated, Marv Wolman and artist George Perez had done Crisis as a way to smooth out the DC Universe in one, fresh and new, streamlined continuity.  Henceforth, many characters who had Earth 2 counterparts were eliminated (except the Earth 2 Diana, who had become a part of the Amazons on Themyscira--thus the Golden Age Wonder Woman joined their heriarchy, but the Earth 1 Diana had been reduced back to clay, thus "eliminating" her from the continuity at that time).  DC was overhauling their characters, and Wonder Woman was in desperate need of an upgrade.  Since DC had decided to revamp The Flash with Wally West taking over for the now deaparted Barry Allen in the wake of Crisis, Superman was getting a major overhaul courtesy of John Byrne with his mini-series The Man of Steel.  Batman had a soft reboot, but Wonder Woman had been all but erased, and DC decided to start from scratch.  This is where George Perez came in, an completely retold Diana's story from the ground up.  Making her more of a demigoddess, coming from Themyscira to Man's world, and battling new threats.  Wonder Woman was newly released to the world through the DC mini-series Legends.  This new and improved Wonder Woman had never been a part of the newly re-formed Justice League.  So, along with co-plotter Greg Potter, Perez set out to introduce Diana to the Bronze Age, and a new audience.




THE STORY:  The Olympic goddesses create a new race called Amazons to teach humanity about the ways of Gaea.  However, the Amazons lose their way and forget their purpose, and thus fall prey to the dark machinations of the God of War, Ares.  One of the Amazons, Hippolyta, leads the Amazons back to rediscover their true purpose.  Time passes, and Hippolyta yearns for a child that she never had.  The goddesses tell her to mold a child from clay, which they animate, and she names Diana.  Diana grows up, and then the goddesses ask the Amazons for help, by choosing a champion to battle Ares and a new scheme he is concocting.  Diana wins the competition, and thus becomes the new champion to head into Patriarch's World to do battle against Ares and any evil out there.


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This issue does an amazing job of retelling not only Diana's origin again, but Perez and Potter add a new layer to the Amazon history, and tie their origins to the Greek Gods of mythology.  Diana's origin isn't really all that different from her first incarnation back in 1941, but Perez's art at this time was at it's absolute peak, and he adds amazing texture and strength to the characters, as well as showing the ranges of emotion with wonderful ease.  His panels and attention to detail are epic, and you feel you're a part of the mythology, watching it unfold right then and there.  Wonder Woman's first volume had ended, and DC needed to freshen up their core characters for the modern audience, and they hit a home run with Wonder Woman.  This was a pretty damn good series, and worth reading.  Especially Potter and Perez's run on the book---truly and epic feel.  This book also featured a preface written by George himself, and why he felt it was time to recreate Wonder Woman to fit into THIS Man's World.  He certainly got her off and running in this book.