Ok, So A Hard Read...And Not In The Fun Way....

So, after working at it for three weeks, I FINALLY finished the trade paperback, The Wonder Woman Chronicles, Vol. 1. It's easier to just let the solicitation at the DC Comics website explain what the book is all about ,so ...

Collecting Wonder Woman's adventures in chronological order for the first time from the pages of ALL STAR COMICS #8, SENSATION COMICS #1-9 and WONDER WOMAN #1. Don't miss Wonder Woman's origin and her search to find her role in "man's world."

Beings Wonder Woman is one of my all time favorite characters, right up there with Black Canary and Donna Troy, I figured that this book would be a joyous romp through a time long gone. All I can say is that I am disappointed with just about every aspect of this book, and to say I am surprised the character managed to survive for 70 years is quite an understatement.

Taking the time period the character was created into consideration, this version of WW is lovestruck immediately with Steve Trevor, she follows him around while both of them get into trouble, and, while her cohorts Superman and Batman were off saving the world or Gotham City, Diana was stopping the world's milk supply from becoming too expensive for the children of the world, or saving elephants at a circus. And at the end of every story, the people responsible for these dilemmas were always nazis or "Jap spies." (Her words, not mine) The art was CLEARLY completed before the scripts were, as much of the dialog and or descriptions are ham fisted into the artwork that stories don't make a lot of sense. And knowing what I know about the creator of Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston, and his private life (inventor of the lie detector, lived with his wife and his mistress...in the same house...), some of the more kinky predicaments that Wonder Woman gets herself into make sense...kind of.....

All that being said, the production of the book is actually quite beautiful. The inks and colors look great for books that were 70+ years old, and, while I kinda hated this book, I know myself well enough to know that I'll get Vol. 2 when it comes out...because, you know, I'm a glutton for punishment...and I like when things match on my bookcase. It's a sickness, sue me.