Product Description: The greatest adventures of the world's most renowned super-heroine are collected in one volume for the first time. From her beginnings in the early 1940s to today's epics, these are the stories that made Wonder Woman a comic book legend.
Included in this anthology are Wonder Woman's origin story, plus her epic battles with the Cheetah, Ares, Dr. Psycho and others.
An Eclectic Selection of Stories Having already presented fans with a couple of volumes each of The Greatest Stories Ever Told for Batman & Superman, everyone's favorite Amazon now gets her turn. Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston and Marston is one of the more interesting comic creators of the Golden Age. Marston earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Harvard and was an educational consultant at DC when he created Wonder Woman, along with his wife, in 1941. Marston was a strong advocate of women's rights and felt women were more honest and reliable than men, and could work faster and more accurately. Marston also lived in a rather unique polygamous relationship with his wife Elizabeth, and another woman, Olive Byrne. In fact, the two women would live together for another forty years after Marston's death in 1947.
These "Greatest Stories" editions are arbitrary at best. What DC really does is give a sampling of stories from various decades. This edition opens up with the story from Sensation Comics #1. Wonder Woman had just made her first appearance in All-Star Comics #8 and now was returning the injured Captain Steve Trevor to Washington D.C. via her invisible airplane. Wonder Woman meets a nurse at the hospital where Trevor is being cared for whose name, coincidentally, is Diana Prince. As the two are near look-alikes, they switch identities so Wonder Woman can be close to Trevor and protect him...thus giving birth to her secret identity. Harry G. Peter is the artist and he would remain on the book until his death in 1958, and incredibly long tenure. Peters' art was simplistic but he did turn in some great covers over the years.
Peters would be succeeded by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito who collaborated at both DC & Marvel for many years. In "Wanted--Wonder Woman" from Wonder Woman #108 in 1959, Andru and Esposito team with writer Robert Kanigher in a tale that finds Wonder Woman coming under the influence of telepathic aliens who force her to commit crimes. A great period piece done at the heart of cold war and flying saucer paranoia!
"Be Wonder Woman and Die" presents a story from Wonder Woman #286 from 1981. Wonder Woman battles Nazi terrorists but cannot save the life of a young woman who is impersonating her to win a part in a film about the Amazonian Princess.
The book strikes me as incredibly lacking in terms of modern stories...only four stories are presented from the 1970's to present day which is unfortunate because I think we've seen some very good Wonder Woman tales, particularly from the past decade or so. The last story in which Wonder Woman and Lois Lane discuss their relationships with Superman over a game of pool is a puzzling inclusion. TV's Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, provides the introduction.
reviewed by Tim Janson
More of a "dip into" rather than a genuine "greatest" collection, but a good intro The DC Comics "Greatest Stories" series is misnomered but nonetheless in most instances at least a decent intro to the history of each of the characters dealt with. The Wonder Woman entry is a good as any though given the less-than-200-page format it will not be completely satisfactory to anyone who knows much about Wonder Woman. There are stories that dip into most of the principal periods of her history. One definitely gets a sense of how her character has been changed and altered from one decade to another to correspond to larger societal changes in the roles of women. For instance, the stories that come from the fifties show a decidedly contracted role of women in society.
The stories were apparently chosen to give newcomers a taste of most of the highpoints of Wonder Woman's history. I emphasize "taste" because if you don't know, for instance, who Etta Candy and the Holiday Girls are, the selections won't explain it to you. Ditto several of Wonder Woman's major nemeses. We aren't introduced to them so much as they are gestured at.
All in all, while I would not recommend against anyone taking a peek at this, I would recommend Les Daniels's WONDER WOMAN: A COMPLETE HISTORY as a better introduction to Wonder Woman. Daniels gives a rich and near-exhaustive treatment of Wonder Woman in all periods of her stories and provides a detailed discuss of the various people engaged in the composition of the stories. I think WONDER WOMAN: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD could be very profitably read in conjunction with reading Daniels's book. The same would be true of the Superman and Batman volumes in this series, two characters for which Daniels has also written "complete histories." This would rectify the greatest shortcoming of the "Greatest Stories" series, the lack of any larger context for the individual stories.
Could have been so much better It is hard to overview a character that is 65 years old. There were many stories that could have been included. For example, there is nothing from the "New Wonder Woman" period. This is ironic in that I Ching is being reintroduced as a result of the (latest) Crisis aftermath. I would have liked a story featuring Artemis as Wonder Woman. Someone reading this book may get the impression that Wonder Woman mooning / fretting over Steve Trevor was a common theme. It was, but the book was not as centered on that as just reading this book might lead you to believe. The final story is the best. It makes sense that Lois Lane would be uneasy about her husband's relationship with Diana. This story addresses that nicely. Oh, well....there is plenty of material for volume two.....
Wonder Woman's History in Comics When you see that the book opens with a prologue by Lynda Carter discussing the impact of Wonder Woman on her life and those she has encountered you know that the book is off to a good start. The book Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told takes pages from all the eras that Wonder Woman has been in. Don't pick this book up if you are looking for stories that are going to be in with today's character. They range from her creator Charles Moulton, through varies writers, to the 80's when the book was relaunched by George Perez until almost this current run. The stories show you how the character has changed to be current with each new generation that encounters her. Good reads and some terrific episodes from her varied history.
A great overview of the Amazon princess Overall, I have been lukewarm towards this series of DC trade paperbacks, but I have to give a thumbs-up for their latest release, WONDER WOMAN: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD. The majority of the stories in this volume are pre-Crisis, with only two modern tales included. Not that I have anything against the modern version of Wonder Woman, but as she currently has no pre-Crisis reprints, it's nice of DC to focus on the older versions of the character with which many readers may not be familiar.
After an introduction by actress Lynda Carter, you get 11 selections from 65 years of Wonder Woman stories. It all starts with Paul Dini & Alex Ross' beautiful 2-page origin spread from Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth. Then come stories from writers William Moulton Marston, Robert Kanigher, Denny O'Neill, Elliot Maggin, George Perez, and Phil Jimenez, and artists HG Peter, Ross Andru, Mike Sekowsky, Curt Swan, Jose Delbo, Perez, and Jimenez. They are responsible for such contributions as:
- Her first appearance from 1942. - Classic Golden Age bondage action. - Her gender-bending enemies Hypnota and the Blue Snow Man. - "Giganta - The Gorilla Girl"... turning a female ape into a human woman that lusts after men strikes me as a bit disturbing. - A way-out mod late `60s story that shows what an insensitive pig her love interest Steve Trevor can be. - Perez' classic "Who Killed Myndi Mayer?"
The only problem I have with the book is the inclusion of the last story by Phil Jimenez, which tries too hard to be cool and hip, trivializing the premise in the process. It really pales in comparison to the others. Overall, this is an excellent mix of stories from all periods of Wonder Woman's long history. I understand that a Wonder Woman volume is planned for DC's "Showcase Presents" collections, so more classic stories will be accessible for readers. It's possible that she may even receive the "Chronicles" treatment offered to Superman and Batman. I may hold off on those, as WONDER WOMAN: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD works just fine for me.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
