Absolute Wonder Woman, Vol. 1📖

Circe meeting Diana

I started reading American superhero comics again due to seeing a review for this one. It was totally worth it. The Absolute line of comics is a reimagining of typical DC heroes (and a new world for its multiverse), and in this case we have a very interesting take.

Diana is not raised with her Amazon companions, and instead is raised in Hell by the witch Circe. She is a witch now, but seems to have plenty of the standard Wonder Woman abilities too. Although she is caring and careful, from what we’ve seen so far she is also much fiercer and more aggressive.

▽ No nonsense.

No nonsense.

This trade paperback has the first 7 issues of the new Absolute Wonder Woman series. It includes two story arcs, The Last Amazon (first 5 issues) and The Lady or the Tiger (the next 2).

Good introductions and setting firm boundaries are important.

The Last Amazon introduces her to us, the readers, as well as to the Absolute world. Diana comes to save Gateway City from a menace that appears. The story includes flashbacks to Diana’s upbringing, and how she becomes who she is.

▽ Diana starting to accept where she comes from.

Diana starting to accept where she comes from.

The story also introduces some secondary characters and starts setting part of her relationship with the rest of the world. As a character introduction it’s quite good. Even if this is one’s first contact with any Wonder Woman, or if one is a veteran already, one gets a good idea of the background, the motivations and the abilities of this Diana. This is also done through an interesting story, both in the present and through the different flashbacks.

Diana fully embracing her background.

The artist for this story arc is Hayden Sherman, and I think he does an amazing job and is perfect for it. I really like the drawing style and how expressive he makes the characters.

Wonder Woman needs no body armour to be imposing. Here we can compare de Iulis’ style (this image) with Sherman’s (previous ones).

The next story arc continues from the cliff-hanger that ends the previous one, and ends setting up the story of how she finally leaves Hell. The artist is in this case Mattia de Iulis, and he also does an amazing job and keeps up with Sherman’s level, even though the styles are quite different.

Another high point of the art is the colouring (and well, the lettering) byt Bellaire and Carey. It really is a pleasure to enjoy the whole volume, and I have found few comics as gorgeous as this one.

Both stories follow well from one another but are good by themselves. Thompson knows how to tell a compelling story without too much exposition to put the reader up to speed with a whole new world and character.

Li’l Diana with a new friend.

At the very end we get a few short stories of “Li’l Diana”, also with Thompson as a writer, drawn by Dustin Nguyen. The stories are whimsical, and the style shows it. They are a nice touch at the end, and they further illustrate a bit of Diana’s character.

I can’t but completely recommend this comic. I am glad I won’t have to wait to continue reading more of the series!