Wonder Woman By George Perez Vol. 1

George Perez began building the road that led to Wonder Woman's standalone movie with the stories collected in "Wonder Woman By George Perez: Vol. 1."In these tales, which comprise the first 14 issues of the Amazon Princess' Modern Age ongoing series from 1987-2011, co-writer Perez discards the notion of Wonder Woman as a female Superman and builds upon her classic origin of being birthed out of clay by Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons through incorporating deities and concepts from Greek mythology. He also redefines her as not just another costumed crimefighter, but as an emissary and ambassador from Themyscira charged with bringing peace to man's world-or, as Perez renames it, Patriarch's World-and who believes in the fundamental goodness of both women and men.His stories feature Olympian gods meddling in mortals' affairs, ornate speeches about virtue and fate-and thoughts on domestic violence, discrimination and ageism. It's by design that Perez begins his story with a cavewoman being murdered by her mate because he was humiliated by losing a fight with a sabertooth tiger. The caveman then sees energy shoot out of his mate's corpse and into the heavens. Female Superman, this ain't.That energy was the woman's soul, which was held in storage in the underworld, along with the souls of other women who met similar horrible fates, until female Greek deities restore them to life as the Amazons, who are to inspire humanity to be better. Of course, Ares, the god of war, doesn't like this plan much, and believes he can improve humanity through terror and battle.Also of course, we see Steve Trevor-now middle-aged, in order to prevent a cheap love story with its attendant romance-novel swooning-crash on Themyscira, giving the Amazons a look at their first man since the misogynistic Heracles. The god Hermes guides Diana and Trevor to Massachusetts in order to fulfill Diana's destiny as an ambassador to man's world. There, she meets Julia Kapatelis, a middle-aged academic and single mother, which allows Perez to consider the challenges older women face. Etta Candy, formerly a comic relief character, now struggles realistically with body-image issues. And when Diana debuts on the world stage, she's openly religious, which earns her scorn from both atheists and fundamentalist Christians.And it all looks great. Artist Perez gives his stories, through both page layouts and the attention to detail in both the foreground and the background of his panels, the same epic qualities that characterize his prior work in "New Teen Titans," "Justice League of America" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths." Olympus, in particular, comes across as a gravity-defying, perspective-skewing wonderland that M.C. Escher would envy.By the end of this collection, Diana of Themyscira is someone entirely different than either the brooding Batman or the grinning Superman, but still compatible with both of them. To her, their brand of crimefighting implies socially-accepted violence for the sake of maintaining order. She believes her mission is not to jail evildoers, but to teach the Amazon way of mutual respect and love.The only flaw in the volume, and it's a minor one, is that Perez's layouts become less audacious and his artwork less detailed over its course. After only 10 more issues, he would stop drawing interiors entirely, providing only covers, and focus entirely on his writing because he felt he wasn't fast enough to maintain a monthly illustrating schedule.If you want to get into Wonder Woman's adventures either before or after seeing her standalone film, this is the volume to begin with.

This is what I have been looking for in a comic book. It's ambitious, classic storytelling that pits good versus evil, light against dark. Although Diana is clearly good, her choices are wrestled over, consequences are weighed, and tolls are exacted.If you enjoy Greek mythology, then this book is for you. The gods of Olympus are featured heavily in this book. George Perez did an incredible job bringing the myths to life. I cannot wait to read book 2.

Classic George Perez art and a revamp of Wonder Woman. Fantastic.

An old classic that I've loved for some years.

Great way to reads vintage Perez comics

Best interpretation of the Wonder Woman mythos, and the version I grew up with in the 80's. Perez is The Man when it comes to inheriting Marston's character, and Perez's stories are collected here. A must-have read for fans of Wonder Woman.

Just a gift.

I have yet to read this because Hubby is finishing it up. He loves this so much. The art is phenomenal and it's a great take on the Wonder Woman we know and love.

Wonder Woman volume 1, written and, illustrated by George Perez is superb. Issue one focuses on the birth of hippolyta, and the Amazon's, and also how was brought to life by the gods & deities, after being sculpted from clay by her mother Queen Hippolyta.Throughout the whole book, Wonder Woman's journey from Amazon warrior princess to the superhero that fans like myself have come to love. Proves to be full of different twists ,and turns as the story evolves at a steady pace which comes across as incredibly deep ,and detailed. Diana meets quite a few friend's, and allies, as well as coming face to face with her fare share of adversaries.The writing is the best that I've read in Wonder Woman comic book so far, and doesn't feel if it's cutting any corners. The artwork also by George Perez is beautifully detailed. Ares the God of war looks like an imposing force of nature with his demonic looking armour, and cape. Zeus looks equally as powerful as the king of Olympus, and the women are the most beautiful looking fictional women I've seen in a comic book.I can't wait to read volume 2 in this series.

Best wonder woman since Perez classic series. Maybe even better? Good for both a WW connoisseur or a neophyte. Really shows what WW is about.

great present

George Pérez redefinió el concepto de Wonder Woman, regresándola a los gloriosos inicios ideados por William Moulton Marston. Esta versión se convirtió en la definitiva después de Crisis en las Tierras Infinitas y se mantendría hasta el New 52 donde solo tuvo algunos cambios en su origen.Ampliamente recomendada.

I cannot get enough of this book. Amazing art work and even better story. There is so much talent displayed in each page. But I did not get the latest print, but one which was issued in 2016. George Perez is a mad lad!!!