The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia
Author: Phil Jimenez and John Wells
Publisher: Del Rey/DC Comics/Ballantine Books
Published In: New York, NY
Date: 2010
Pgs: 485

REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
The beauty of Aphrodite, wisdom of Athena, strength of Hercules, agility of Hermes, blessed at birth by the gods of old, Princess Diana left her home of Themyscira, the so called Paradise Island, and ventured forth into the world of men, an ambassador of the Amazons to the modern world. This is an A to Z guide to the print history and adventures of the Amazon princess.

Genre:
Adventure
Comics and graphic novels
Fiction
History
Multiverse
Mythology
Science fiction
Short stories
Superheroes
Sword and sorcery
War

Why this book:
I love comics and the characters who came from them. I don’t necessarily love every story ever written featuring the characters, but my love survives.
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Favorite Character:
Wonder Woman

Kung. The Earth-2/WW2 villain who fought Wonder Woman and The All Star Squadron. Love the beastiamorph...insectimorph power set.

Character I Most Identified With:
Wonder Woman has always been all duty and honor and faith. DC’s great failure has been not positioning her as DC’s answer to both Captain America and Thor in the modern parlance, sticking to it and outdoing, raising the pot every chance they get. I feel like lip service has been paid to the idea that she is part of the Big Three, The Trinity. And the character deserves better than lip service. The George Perez run on the character was incredible. The Trials of Wonder Woman where she was trying to “earn” her way back into the Justice League were great, all those many years ago. Whereas there have been real “go for it” moments in both Superman and Batman, Wonder Woman’s last real big moment was when she broke Maxwell Lord’s neck, years and years ago.

The Feel:
I’m not as familiar with Wonder Woman’s publishing history as I am with Superman’s, Batman’s, Aquaman’s, etc. This is a great deeper primer on all things Amazonian.

There’s tons in Wonder Woman’s published history that suggests innuendo and metaphor for the dirty minded and the socially unconscious.
The Boiling Man. A volcano beast whose head is an open flaming volcanic pit that may erupt at any time and destroy Paradise Island. At the same time, Steve Trevor’s plane is about to crash. Wonder Woman uses her “breath” numerous times to keep Steve “aloft” while tying her lasso around the volcano beast’s “head” to keep him from “erupting” and throwing him into an iceberg that she earlier “freed” the Merman from to quell the Boiling Man before “tossing him” into space.
...right? That’s not all Freudian at all. It was published in 1965. But it seems like this metaphor-apalooza should have raised some eyebrows even then.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
With the concept of “Loving Submission” being one of the Amazonian tenets that were used in the Gold and Silver Age, it’s a wonder that Wonder Woman survived as a concept.

“To the Amazons, bondage at the hands of a loving dominator was both pleasurable and desirable, and imprisonment at th hands of a well intentioned jailer could be both rewarding and emotionally transformative.”

This concept found its onus in the Venus Girdles that they placed on criminals who they then kept as slaves on Paradise Island.

“The Amazons kept many female prisoners and forced them to submit to their loving.”

Now in modern comics, they’ve tried to slant this idea to mean fealty to the Amazon Royal Family and the concept of community among the Amazons, but the past of the ideal still hangs over it.

Hmm Moments:
Adjudicator. I remember reading the original story. The summary makes him seem much cooler. I would love to see him escape his confinement at the interstellar/interdimensional asylum and come again to menace the Earths of the DC multiverse.

The Air Pirates sound like cool villains. They could return today in an updated form, even update, the target of one of their thefts, Professor Chemico and his Atom Pill.

Bitterland. A land of blue skinned seal men separated from a utopian society called Eveland by a River of Destruction. The seal men raid Eveland for slaves and sacrifices to their walrus god. That’s great science fiction and fantasy right there...from a 1945 comic book.

Maximus. Wealthy industrialist. Owns his own mountain. Has a computer or scientific aide-de-camp that opens teleportals for him to move about the world. Sends robotic duplicates out to do his bidding. Could fire targeted black lightning blasts from his Hollow Mountain complex. I can remember reading this comic. Had a great cover image of Wonder Woman trying to lasso a black lightning bolt as it slammed down toward New York City.

The Time Master’s connection to the Time Trapper. Awesome. Giving Wonder Woman a connection to the Legion of Superheroes is long overdue. This should be played up at some point in modern comics after one of the incessant reboots and retcons.

The Twelve Trials of Wonder Woman was one of my favorite runs on the book. I wish they would release them as a trade paperback.
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Last Page Sound:
I love these guides, dictionaries, encyclopedias of fictional characters. The backstory that you pick up reading them is incredible.

Author Assessment:
Well put together.

Editorial Assessment:
Tightly done.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
real genre classic

Disposition of Book:
Irving Public Library, Irving, TX
South Campus

Dewey Decimal System:
741.5973 WON

Would recommend to:
genre fans
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