Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Princess (Hardcover)

by Scott Beatty (Author), Alastair Dougall (Author), Scott Beatty (Author), Roger Stewart (Author) "THE STORY OF WONDER WOMAN is an epic spanning over 30,000 years..." (more)
Key Phrases: invisible jet, invisible plane, Wonder Woman, Amazing Amazon, Wonder Girl (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Culled from the archives of DC Comics, Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Princess details the amazing exploits, incredible adversaries, and magical weapons of the greatest comic book heroine. Packed with original comic book images and a timeline charting Wonder Woman's entire career, this comprehensive illustrated treatment will delight fans of all ages-and win over many new ones.

About the Author
Scott Beatty earned his Master of Arts degree in fiction writing at Iowa State University. A former English teacher, radio personality, and magazine editor, Beatty is also the author of DK's Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight and jla: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE to the JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN; 1st edition (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078949616X
• ISBN-13: 978-0789496164
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 10.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #339,268 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Guide to the Comic Book Wonder Woman, December 3, 2003

By	Peter Saenz "Artemisboy" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Quite simply, this is a very beautifully done book covering the comic book heroine Wonder Woman and her various supporting cast members. The book is split section by section covering the 60+ year history of the Amazon Princess. Wonder Woman's powers and origin are described with gorgeously drawn and colored photos highlighting each aspect. The book then goes on to describe the various tools Diana uses from the lasso, invisible plane, to the lesser known items such as The Gauntlet of Atlas and Wings of Hermes. Wonder Woman's family and friends (some of which are also costumed Wonder Women) each have thier own pages also, as well as Diana's enemies detailing their abilities and reasons for siding against the super powered heroine. This is a great book to get for those who are interested in learning more about the comic book version of the character. As a part of a series of books detailing DC Comics' best known heroes, this detailed reference guide is also an easy to follow book. For those sticklers of accuracy, the book does have a few errors printed in it. A few of those are: the Amazon characters Pythia and Phthia are mistaken for each other and thus their histories are melded together, the book states that the evil Dark Angel created Wonder Woman's sister Donna Troy when in fact it was the Amazon Magala, villain Armbruster is stated to have been Silver Swan's pen pal when in fact he was the person who made her instead, mobster Paulie Longo is said to have hired the Cheetah in Boston when in fact it was fellow mobster Julianna Sazia, the godesses Hestia and Demeter are misidentified, and the index lists the Amazon Nubia is being shown but she is not. If you can overlook these mistakes, and the fact that the on-screen versions of the heroine are overlooked, this is the perfect book for all things 'wonder'.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Comic Guide From D & K, November 26, 2003

By	James Maruyama "jtmaruyama" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a huge fan of D&K's series of comicbook related "Ultimate Guides". While these guides are said to be geared towards younger/teen audiences,the wealth of information,detailed summaries, timelines and collection of illustrations will please even the most diehard of older comicbook fans.

Such is the case with this newest installment focusing on
everyone's favorite "Amazing Amazon". As with previous installments of the "Ultimate Guide",the focus is primarily on
Wonder Woman's comic career today,which may alienate those older fans wanting more information on the Golden and Silver Age
versions of the character. There is much detail given on Wonder Woman as written by George Perez as well as Phil Jimenez's recent work.

All the major characters from Steve Trevor to Artemis, from Giganta to the new Wonder Girl are covered. The only thing that would have made the book even better would have been the
inclusion of details related to the TV series and the one-shot TV movie but that is probably meant for another seperate book. Kudos to Scott Beatyy and D&K for a great series of books that clearly outclasses Marvel's inferior "new" Marvel Universe series of books.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Resource for WW Fans, July 23, 2005

By	Nelson Aspen "Author/Journalist" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

(Note: Same Edition, published by DK has different cover art)

Beatty and DC have written & compiled a lighthearted, but devoted encyclopedia chronicling the rich history of the latest incarnation of the Amazonian Princess. I am an older fan of the nostalgic Golden and Silver Age versions (which are respectfully included and acknowledged here), so it was more of a detached learning experience than a loving trip down memory lane for me. However, the art work and accompanying prose will delight all of Wonder Woman's readers/admirers.

Too bad there was nary a mention of Lynda Carter's indelible image of the TV version, who somehow managed to permanently influence the way artists and fans perceive the essence of both Diana Prince AND Wonder Woman. There is one sentence that mentions the lyrics from the TV theme song, but that is it.