Customer Reviews

Wonder Woman: The Contest (Wonder Woman (Harperfestival))

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Nina Jaffe's version of Wonder Woman, which shows Princess Diana as a gangly adolescent instead of a musclebound adult sexpot, is a welcome change of pace and a wonderful way to introduce young girls to the first and greatest female superhero. Wonder Woman is complicated cultural icon -- she was created specifically to give girls a hero of their own, but comicbooks have always been primarily a boy's medium, and the Wonder Woman stories, despite their official embrace of feminism and nonviolence, are often violent and overly sexual.

Here, at last, is a Wonder Woman that you could actually read to little children and not feel weird about it. No hitting or hyperviolence, no skimpy costumes, nobody getting tied up or bloodied. It's nice; too bad there's so little to follow it up with -- if these books get you hooked, the only place to go from here is either into the new books (which are violent and have WW wearing skimpy costumes) or reprints of the old 1940s WW, which were a bit cluttered and often featured a mildly kinky S&M subtext. In the 1980s, feminist writer-illustrator Trina Robbins had a short-lived run on WW that was also nice, but those books haven't been available for years. Apparently the publishing market finds no profit in or room for a Wonder Woman that isn't as lurid and violence-obsessed as all the other mainstream comics. Pity. But if you want something to balance the Spider-Man and Batman marketing juggernauts, these small-sized chapterbooks are a good option.

Book One, "The Contest", introduces Princess Diana and the Amazons of Paradise Island, and tells the story of how young Diana proved herself the strongest and wisest of all her people, becoming their champion and ambassador to the outside world. It is based on the first part of the historic "Wonder Woman" origin story, first published in "Sensation" comics in the 1940s. The story is continued in later volumes, and while the writing and layout are nice, you'll definitely wonder what happens next, so try to track down the other Jaffe books as well. (ReadThatAgain book reviews)

This book was perfect for my young girls. Wonder Woman is a terrific role model (she doesn't look like a Barbie doll in this book) and my girls LOVE the story. It is simple and just the right speed for this reading level. The pictures are well done and engaging. We love reading this book and my girls ask for it every night!