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Included in this anthology are Wonder Woman's origin story, plus her epic battles with the Cheetah, Ares, Dr. Psycho and others.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great overview of the Amazon princess,
By Babytoxie (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told (Paperback)
Overall, I have been lukewarm towards this series of DC trade paperbacks, but I have to give a thumbs-up for their latest release, WONDER WOMAN: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD. The majority of the stories in this volume are pre-Crisis, with only two modern tales included. Not that I have anything against the modern version of Wonder Woman, but as she currently has no pre-Crisis reprints, it's nice of DC to focus on the older versions of the character with which many readers may not be familiar.
After an introduction by actress Lynda Carter, you get 11 selections from 65 years of Wonder Woman stories. It all starts with Paul Dini & Alex Ross' beautiful 2-page origin spread from Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth. Then come stories from writers William Moulton Marston, Robert Kanigher, Denny O'Neill, Elliot Maggin, George Perez, and Phil Jimenez, and artists HG Peter, Ross Andru, Mike Sekowsky, Curt Swan, Jose Delbo, Perez, and Jimenez. They are responsible for such contributions as: - Her first appearance from 1942. - Classic Golden Age bondage action. - Her gender-bending enemies Hypnota and the Blue Snow Man. - "Giganta - The Gorilla Girl"... turning a female ape into a human woman that lusts after men strikes me as a bit disturbing. - A way-out mod late `60s story that shows what an insensitive pig her love interest Steve Trevor can be. - Perez' classic "Who Killed Myndi Mayer?" The only problem I have with the book is the inclusion of the last story by Phil Jimenez, which tries too hard to be cool and hip, trivializing the premise in the process. It really pales in comparison to the others. Overall, this is an excellent mix of stories from all periods of Wonder Woman's long history. I understand that a Wonder Woman volume is planned for DC's "Showcase Presents" collections, so more classic stories will be accessible for readers. It's possible that she may even receive the "Chronicles" treatment offered to Superman and Batman. I may hold off on those, as WONDER WOMAN: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD works just fine for me.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More of a "dip into" rather than a genuine "greatest" collection, but a good intro,
By Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told (Paperback)
The DC Comics "Greatest Stories" series is misnomered but nonetheless in most instances at least a decent intro to the history of each of the characters dealt with. The Wonder Woman entry is a good as any though given the less-than-200-page format it will not be completely satisfactory to anyone who knows much about Wonder Woman. There are stories that dip into most of the principal periods of her history. One definitely gets a sense of how her character has been changed and altered from one decade to another to correspond to larger societal changes in the roles of women. For instance, the stories that come from the fifties show a decidedly contracted role of women in society.
The stories were apparently chosen to give newcomers a taste of most of the highpoints of Wonder Woman's history. I emphasize "taste" because if you don't know, for instance, who Etta Candy and the Holiday Girls are, the selections won't explain it to you. Ditto several of Wonder Woman's major nemeses. We aren't introduced to them so much as they are gestured at. All in all, while I would not recommend against anyone taking a peek at this, I would recommend Les Daniels's WONDER WOMAN: A COMPLETE HISTORY as a better introduction to Wonder Woman. Daniels gives a rich and near-exhaustive treatment of Wonder Woman in all periods of her stories and provides a detailed discuss of the various people engaged in the composition of the stories. I think WONDER WOMAN: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD could be very profitably read in conjunction with reading Daniels's book. The same would be true of the Superman and Batman volumes in this series, two characters for which Daniels has also written "complete histories." This would rectify the greatest shortcoming of the "Greatest Stories" series, the lack of any larger context for the individual stories.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Eclectic Selection of Stories,
This review is from: Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told (Paperback)
Having already presented fans with a couple of volumes each of The Greatest Stories Ever Told for Batman & Superman, everyone's favorite Amazon now gets her turn. Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston and Marston is one of the more interesting comic creators of the Golden Age. Marston earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Harvard and was an educational consultant at DC when he created Wonder Woman, along with his wife, in 1941. Marston was a strong advocate of women's rights and felt women were more honest and reliable than men, and could work faster and more accurately. Marston also lived in a rather unique polygamous relationship with his wife Elizabeth, and another woman, Olive Byrne. In fact, the two women would live together for another forty years after Marston's death in 1947.
These "Greatest Stories" editions are arbitrary at best. What DC really does is give a sampling of stories from various decades. This edition opens up with the story from Sensation Comics #1. Wonder Woman had just made her first appearance in All-Star Comics #8 and now was returning the injured Captain Steve Trevor to Washington D.C. via her invisible airplane. Wonder Woman meets a nurse at the hospital where Trevor is being cared for whose name, coincidentally, is Diana Prince. As the two are near look-alikes, they switch identities so Wonder Woman can be close to Trevor and protect him...thus giving birth to her secret identity. Harry G. Peter is the artist and he would remain on the book until his death in 1958, and incredibly long tenure. Peters' art was simplistic but he did turn in some great covers over the years. Peters would be succeeded by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito who collaborated at both DC & Marvel for many years. In "Wanted--Wonder Woman" from Wonder Woman #108 in 1959, Andru and Esposito team with writer Robert Kanigher in a tale that finds Wonder Woman coming under the influence of telepathic aliens who force her to commit crimes. A great period piece done at the heart of cold war and flying saucer paranoia! "Be Wonder Woman and Die" presents a story from Wonder Woman #286 from 1981. Wonder Woman battles Nazi terrorists but cannot save the life of a young woman who is impersonating her to win a part in a film about the Amazonian Princess. The book strikes me as incredibly lacking in terms of modern stories...only four stories are presented from the 1970's to present day which is unfortunate because I think we've seen some very good Wonder Woman tales, particularly from the past decade or so. The last story in which Wonder Woman and Lois Lane discuss their relationships with Superman over a game of pool is a puzzling inclusion. TV's Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, provides the introduction. reviewed by Tim Janson
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