Marie's Reviews > The Legend of Wonder Woman (2015-2016) Vol. 1: Origins

If I had ever known the origin story for Wonder Woman as a child, I had completely forgotten it in adulthood. It is a marvelous story and one that is well told in this beautiful rendering by Renae DeLiz and Ray Dillon. I love that Diana (Wonder Woman) is the daughter of the immortal god, Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, given life out of clay by Gaea. She is born on Themyscira, a planet for the immortals, where her mother hopes she can live an immortal peaceful life. However, Diana senses she has another purpose in life and begins warrior training in secret with Alcippe. A mortal, a fighter pilot named Steve Trevor, lands on Themyscira as part of a plot by Ares to overthrow Hippolyta. His plan is foiled when Diana wins the tournament and is named champion. Diana accompanies Steve Trevor by boat to the boundary between Themyscira and Earth, but ends up being pushed out of Themyscira to Earth herself by Poseiden.

On Earth, Diana is befriended by singer, Etta Candy, who takes Diana under her wing acclimating her to life on Earth. Etta follows Diana to France to aid in the war effort during WW2, where Etta will sing and Diana will work as a nurse. Diana goes there in pursuit of an evildoer that is raising the dead Axis forces that are told to destroy the remaining Allied forces. The man in command of the destruction wears the baetylus, which Diana immediately recognizes as a sacred item of her mother’s.

Diana becomes a WW2 heroine as both a civilian and Wonder Woman. She is a fighter for truth, more often than not, impairing her enemies by showing them the truth with her lasso than actual physical harm. She is willing to give up a normal life to protect life on Earth. This is a coming of age story for the young Diana Prince, who must discover who she is, where she came from, and what her purpose must be.

This is not my usual genre, so I thank Book Riot Read Harder 2017 Challenge for pushing me outside of my usual comfort zone. This was a stunning book, one I had a hard time putting down. I have renewed respect and love for the heroine, Wonder Woman, and am so glad I was able to get to know her better through this graphic novel. I highly recommend this everyone! The combination of Greek God background and WW2 hero made this entirely compelling.

The movie Wonder Woman was released in the United States on June 2, 2017. Did you see it? I have not yet seen the movie, but I plan to watch it and write a follow-up post in reaction to it. An interesting fun fact is that, in October 2016, the United Nations named Wonder Woman a “UN Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls.” Two months later she was dropped from her role, following a petition.