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abookwormspov's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is absolutely stunning. One of my favorite things I've read this year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Grief, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Abandonment, Animal death, War, Body horror, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape
jeninmotion's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The art on this beauty of a volume, my God. The epic of a story, just...everything about this. It was intense and gorgeous and just something else.
cosimareads's review
5.0
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A COMIC FAN OR WONDER WOMAN FAN TO READ THIS BOOK. Anyone who enjoys graphic novels should give this a go.
My immediate impression:
Each page, ESPECIALLY in Book 1, is an intricate ode to beauty. I could go back and spend hours looking at the detailed drawings of the goddesses, their Amazon tribes, and Olympus. These interpretations are epically strange and awe-inspiring, as befit myths.
After the last page, I feel the same way I did five minutes into reading this volume: This book is everything.
Goddesses with layers of rage, truly EPIC illustrations, and the background Wonder Woman deserves (because no way in hell was Zeus her father) / although this isn't a "Wonder Woman book" as much as a precursor/history of the Amazons, and how they came to be. This is a book about goddesses screaming for justice, and when none is forthcoming, creating their own. It's about the divine Amazons that are created, and the human women who become Amazons because they refuse the roles the world has forced upon them. For a while, they live well. But of course, they end up having to fight for their freedom.
This book was pitched as the first of three, and I hope the next two are forthcoming. I want to live in the Amazons world for as long as I can.
My immediate impression:
Each page, ESPECIALLY in Book 1, is an intricate ode to beauty. I could go back and spend hours looking at the detailed drawings of the goddesses, their Amazon tribes, and Olympus. These interpretations are epically strange and awe-inspiring, as befit myths.
After the last page, I feel the same way I did five minutes into reading this volume: This book is everything.
Goddesses with layers of rage, truly EPIC illustrations, and the background Wonder Woman deserves (because no way in hell was Zeus her father) / although this isn't a "Wonder Woman book" as much as a precursor/history of the Amazons, and how they came to be. This is a book about goddesses screaming for justice, and when none is forthcoming, creating their own. It's about the divine Amazons that are created, and the human women who become Amazons because they refuse the roles the world has forced upon them. For a while, they live well. But of course, they end up having to fight for their freedom.
This book was pitched as the first of three, and I hope the next two are forthcoming. I want to live in the Amazons world for as long as I can.
jbradley_reads's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
caramiaculpa's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Trafficking, Grief, Child death, Misogyny, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Slavery, and War
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
justinlikescomicbooks's review
4.5
This is a really great three-part comic! The only problem is that the first issue is so head-and-shoulders above the rest, so transcendent of the comic book form in every element, that it leaves the second two issues (which are merely brilliant, as opposed to revolutionary) feeling like a return to the old ways.
In a just world, that first issue would be a paradigm shift in the way we think about comic books. I realize this seems like hyperbole, but the intersection of DeConnick's grandiose writing and artist Phil Jimenez' deeply detailed art feels nearly religious. The visual comparison between comic art and ancient pottery on the third page is a Babe Ruth-level called shot—but it's fully backed up in the 60 pages that follow. It's not just the art itself that elevates it, but the page layout that breaks convention, leading the reader to feel slightly lost yet encouraging them to find the flow of the page. The storytellers are having a conversation with you, the reader, and with the history of the form, as they tackle the abstract motivations behind millennia of patriarchy.
Early on, some of the decisions made by the characters I couldn't necessarily relate to, and found them difficult to wrap my head around—but this isn't a story about relatable people. It's a modern myth, interrogating the social influences that led us to where we are through characters that represent ideas rather than humans, unpacking our flaws but showing empathy for how we got here. And in the end, the characters solve their problems through declaring war; it's a comic book after all, and it would undermine it all if it seemed ashamed of what it was.
The second and third issues are a little more conventional, but even they constantly experiment with new ways to tell the story. As it gets closer to more established DC characters, the storytelling falls into more familiar patterns, and even then it's pure excellence—but I want more of the maximalist overload in the first issue. DeConnick has said that Jimenez would return for a ninth issue, if DC lets them finish the series. It would be an absolute travesty if they don't get to finish this story together.
In a just world, that first issue would be a paradigm shift in the way we think about comic books. I realize this seems like hyperbole, but the intersection of DeConnick's grandiose writing and artist Phil Jimenez' deeply detailed art feels nearly religious. The visual comparison between comic art and ancient pottery on the third page is a Babe Ruth-level called shot—but it's fully backed up in the 60 pages that follow. It's not just the art itself that elevates it, but the page layout that breaks convention, leading the reader to feel slightly lost yet encouraging them to find the flow of the page. The storytellers are having a conversation with you, the reader, and with the history of the form, as they tackle the abstract motivations behind millennia of patriarchy.
Early on, some of the decisions made by the characters I couldn't necessarily relate to, and found them difficult to wrap my head around—but this isn't a story about relatable people. It's a modern myth, interrogating the social influences that led us to where we are through characters that represent ideas rather than humans, unpacking our flaws but showing empathy for how we got here. And in the end, the characters solve their problems through declaring war; it's a comic book after all, and it would undermine it all if it seemed ashamed of what it was.
The second and third issues are a little more conventional, but even they constantly experiment with new ways to tell the story. As it gets closer to more established DC characters, the storytelling falls into more familiar patterns, and even then it's pure excellence—but I want more of the maximalist overload in the first issue. DeConnick has said that Jimenez would return for a ninth issue, if DC lets them finish the series. It would be an absolute travesty if they don't get to finish this story together.
rex_libris's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A smart retelling of the origins of the Amazons that feels contemporary and timeless.
The imagining and illustration of the Goddesses and Gods was incredible and what drew me to this book through a recommendations.
The imagining and illustration of the Goddesses and Gods was incredible and what drew me to this book through a recommendations.
pandoozled14's review against another edition
3.5
I wouldn't have read this if it weren't for the Hugo best comic shortlist. The coloring of the gods was a complete eyesore that lessened when later in the comic. The story was ok.
ferzemkhan's review
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is kind of everything I want to see in a Wonder Woman book. It is overtly feminist and imbued with female rage in a way that is cathartic. The art, especially in the first issue, feels creative and liberal and radical, with thought and expression put in every choice. Both the prose and the art are in tandem with such reverence for Greek mythology and art and culture, from invoking the gods in each issue's first page, to the inspiration from classical Greek art and sculpture and pottery, to how the pantheon interacts with each other and with mortals, to how mythology itself works as a medium of storytelling and culture.
morrigan's review
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75