Wonder Woman: Earth One (2016), Volume 1

Starred review from April 25, 2016
Veteran comics scribe Morrison (Multiversity) reunites with his Batman Inc. partner Paquette to retell the origin of the most beloved female superhero for a new generation. Princess Diana of Paradise Island leads an idyllic life among her Amazonian sisters, but chafes under the rule of her mother, Queen Hippolyta. When pilot Steve Trevor crash-lands on the island, Diana becomes his salvation, returning him to the forbidden Man’s World and setting in motion a series of events that challenge Amazonia’s foundations. Nathan Fairbairn’s colors give the art a warm tone that stands out from many other superhero offerings of recent years, and Paquette’s bold, striking linework creates a vivid society. Morrison’s attempts to visually represent language barriers muddy the waters, but his script is otherwise a triumphant blend of Golden Age concepts with modern themes (like a glorious update for oft-maligned sidekick Etta Candy, who’s now a snarky, queer sorority sister). This book redefines an often misunderstood character.

Starred review from June 1, 2016
The Earth One series taps prestige creators to offer refreshed, wide-screen cinematic interpretations of DC's biggest heroes. While Superman and Batman have already been nipped and tucked, the industry's reigning genius-madman, Morrison, offers a more elegant and layered reinterpretation of comics' premier female superhero. U.S. Air Force pilot Steve Trevor crash-lands on Paradise Island, a utopian civilization exclusively populated by women, prompting Princess Diana to flaunt her queen-mother's wishes and journey to Man's world, and then back to Paradise Island to face the consequences. Little here is completely new, but Morrison's strong suit has long been an ability to aggregate mythologies into a grand, cohesive vision, and here he distills elements of nearly every significant interpretation of the character, from her earliest comics to the 1970s TV show to her most recent reinventions, even adding a nod to her creator's recently chronicled sexual mores. Both novices and the initiated will find great fun in this flawlessly streamlined remolding, and, in his inimitable style, Morrison offers a fiercer, stranger, more epic, more textured, and, incidentally, more diverse interpretation. Visualized in Paquette's gleaming, dynamic, lush, and luscious imagery, this is the most complex, powerful, and confidently sexy Wonder Woman on record.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)