Customer Reviews

Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to The Amazon Princess

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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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'.

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.

(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.

This volume, like the other DK books on "Superman" and "Batman" gives us the definitive guide to the modern-day Wonder Woman. It has lots of informative articles and beautiful illustrations throughout. I wished I had this book when I was just starting to research everything on the Amazing Amazon earlier this year. One of the bonuses that this book has over the other ones are the detailed history of the Golden and Silver Age Wonder Woman stories at the back of the book. Get it today!

This is THE illustrated guide to Wonder Woman and her mythology. Completely loaded with pictures from all aspects of Wonder Woman's world, the book is wonderfully organized and presented. Although now slightly outdated (due to Greg Rucka's amazing run of the comic) the book is the best way to start getting to know Wonder Woman and what she's about. Not as informative as "Wonder Woman-The Complete History", it's still a fitting tribute to Diana and all that she stands for.

What is so great about the book is that it is about a woman character that often does not get the great treatment that Superman or Batman sets. And we finally see that people are paying more attention to her, and her mythology, finally.

What I love about it is the fact that almost everyone in the Modern series has been included, and a few of the ones from the classic series as well.

Great going DC.

"Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Princess" was an interesting and informative "dossier" of Wonder Woman in the comics. This book helped me realized that I am a fan of Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman, rather than how she is depicted in the comics. Perhap, I just need to re-familiarize myself with the Wonder Woman comics. That is...if I can sort out all these timelines. If Marvel has numerous timelines, I'm sure that DC is no different.

I did learn a few things about Wonder Woman. For example, I knew about her invisible jet but I did not know about her other invisible modes of transportation. Her array of weapons were fascinating as well. Of course, I was shocked to learn that Queen Hippolyta was once Wonder Woman. However, I was disappointed that Nubia, Diana's twin sister was not mentioned (other than a listing in the back). There were just so many things that I learned about Wonder Woman, despite the fact that I claimed her to be one of my favorite superheroines.

However, there were a few tidbits that I found confusing. For example, Diana Trevor crashing and dying on Paradise Island. It is said that Princess Diana was named after Trevor. But wait a minute! Wasn't she already named Diana?!? The whole Diana Trevor was something new and confusing because most of us know about Steve Trevor crashing on Paradise Island. Again, was this from a different timeline?

Overall, I found the book to be interesting even though some info can be confusing. I did find some of Wonder Woman's villians to be comical. An example...Egg Fu?

Of course, there were some info that I wished were included in the book. The TV show, Wonder Woman, starring Lynda Carter. There was no mention of the TV show impacting the comics. Was the transformation (spinning) a result of the tv show? Or was that before? There were no mention of the cartoons. I guess the comics were the sole focus of this book. Also, I wished that the book had included Marvel's version of Wonder Woman. I wished that the book had included the fusion of Wonder Woman and Storm, Amazon.

The best feature of this entire book was seeing the evolution of Wonder Woman. Her uniform has changed. Her powers have increased. Her status has elevated. She is indeed Wonder Woman!

As a huge WW fan, this is the best present I ever recieved!

GREAT book!

This is an enjoyable, detailed history of practically all aspects of Wonder Woman's life with lots of great pictures. It's set up like a gradeschool history book with all the important people, places, events, and gods that have been a part od Wonder Woman's life in all her incarnations.

This is a very nice book - any Wonder Woman enthusiast would love to own it. I liked it so much, I bought one for a teen-ager for a birthday present. Neat history of the Amazon Princess.