Wonder Woman: Omnibus – By George Perez
Wonder Woman: Omnibus. By George Perez. (DC Comics, 2022. pp. 640. Cloth, $100.00.)
I love Wonder Woman, and I came to her the way I’m sure a lot of her fans did: through Patty Jenkins’s 2017 film Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot. I think it is one of the best superhero movies ever, and it is definitely one of the better feminist films ever. Wonder Woman was an agent in her own story. Plus the hair and sword. Ever since She-ra, I have been a sucker for women with good hair and a sword. But beyond that, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman managed to blend what are thought of as traditionally masculine and feminine traits. Blazingly independent when fighting for what she believes to be right, capable of standing on her own and possessing belief in herself and her own abilities, she still values teamwork and desires to bring out the best in every person around her. I think the movie’s self-aware charm can be best summed up in Etta Candy’s quip, “Specs? And suddenly she’s not the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen?”
Anyway, after falling in love with that movie, I began to investigate Wonder Woman’s history. I wanted to understand where she came from, and that meant turning to the comic books. I have a tortured relationship with comics and graphic novels. I am a very textual person, so I often struggle to stop and actually look at the images and visual presentations put forth in comics and graphic novels. So I have to really pace myself and slow down. And I will admit, I did not read any of the older comics, as in, nothing before the 1980s. And to my disappointment, I didn’t like nearly any of these depictions of Wonder Woman. Too much action, not enough story and character development. This especially true of the most recent comics, though I haven’t started the 2023 reboot, so that could be different. But I left the comics feeling disappointed. How could such a great movie have come out of such weak source material?
Then I began to read George Perez’s 1980s Wonder Woman. I bought the first, big omnibus and finally sat down with it after struggling through all the other Women Woman comics I read. And I finally found the comic I was looking for. Enough action to be a superhero comic, but enough character development to be a graphic novel. Wonder Woman’s existence does not revolve around Steve Trevor, whose love interest in this incarnation is Etta Candy. She fights female villains just as strong and capable as she is. And she has the best sidekicks, Professor Julia Kapatelis and her teenaged daughter Vanessa. There is a trove of strong, interesting, multi-faceted, independent women. They drive change. And while Wonder Woman is as emo as ever, she is here allowed moments of happiness and triumph that don’t always focus on the physical battlefield. They are both a part of her.
Though I will complain that in the last comic included in the omnibus, Julia Kapatelis excuses a bad attitude as a symptom of menopause. Really, George? Really?
Is George Perez’s version of Wonder Woman perfect? No, that place is reserved for Adrianne Palicki’s 2011 take on Wonder Woman.* But it is my favorite version that I’ve encountered. I’m currently on the second omnibus, and unfortunately it has been disappointing so far. Too much action, too little character development. And it starts with a disjointed sequel to a Justice League comic not included in the omnibus that makes finding your bearings very difficult. If there’s another thing I don’t like about modern comics it’s all the crossovers.
But I digress. Am I a new Wonder Woman initiate? Certainly. Am I missing the point of most of the Wonder Woman comics I haven’t liked? Possibly. Will I keep exploring the character to see what I can find? Absolutely. Wonder Woman is the kick ass, independent, fearlessly feminine and masculine superhero I have always looked for (again, outside of She-ra). She is a superhero who ultimately battles to demonstrate how human she is without also losing her identity as a demigod from an island paradise ruled by a race of warrior women. She is complex, and she is always exploring that complexity head on, refusing to compromise her beliefs and who she is unless presented with alternative evidence. She is not averse to change for the better. And she always believes in the better. It’s what makes her Wonder Woman.
*Watch here. I highly recommend it. It may get yanked soon, so do it now!
