From pressreader.com “Wonder Woman,” the movie, is shattering box office records like, I dunno, glass ceilings. Which means a lot of new Wonderfans are going to be looking for some supplemental reading. But where to start? Like the ancient myths of her GrecoRoman patrons, Wonder Woman’s oft-contradictory history is vast, and contains multitudes. Here, then, are five suggestions to take to the bookstore: (excerpt) 1. ‘Wonder Woman: Gods And Mortals’ There are few revamps that have been as successful — or as necessary — as what writer/ artist George Perez (abetted by writer Len Wein) achieved with Wonder Woman in 1987. Perez jettisoned a lot of the awful baggage that had built up around the Amazing Amazon through decades of mediocre or just plain terrible stories, relaunching the character afresh as a 20-something on her first journey to Man’s World. He emphasized the mythological aspects of the strip, returning the Amazons to their roots (and put them on Themyscira instead of Paradise Island), and setting up as their eternal foe the war god Ares (who had, until 1986, been referred to by his Roman name Mars). That armor you saw in the “Wonder Woman” movie? That’s Perez’s handiwork, as he raided ancient Greco-Roman culture for every aspect of the new Wonder Woman, from clothes to architecture to armament to philosophies. |
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