Rating: Summary: I'm Everywoman Review: A sweet and touching tribute to women everywhere with the courage and strength to do what they feel is right and good. Some of Diana's politics seemed a little naive and misguided to me (environmentalists vs. loggers for example,) but she is, as she says herself, "a being of contrasts and contradictions." :) Diana, we could sorely use you in North Korean prisons!I'm also a big fan of Alex Ross' near-photorealistic style, and the large format really showcases his artwork. Thumbs-up from me. :)
Rating: Summary: I'm Everywoman Review: A sweet and touching tribute to women everywhere with the courage and strength to do what they feel is right and good. Some of Diana's politics seemed a little naive and misguided to me (environmentalists vs. loggers for example,) but she is, as she says herself, "a being of contrasts and contradictions." :) Diana, we could sorely use you in North Korean prisons! I'm also a big fan of Alex Ross' near-photorealistic style, and the large format really showcases his artwork. Thumbs-up from me. :)
Rating: Summary: A Heartfelt Tale of the Amazon Princess. Review: Artist Alex Ross & Writer Paul Dini continuue their annual series of oversized Graphic Novels with The Spirit of Hope, and this one is just as good, if not better, than the previous three. Wonder Woman is, without question, one of the iconic "Big Three" DC characters, alongside Batman and Superman. She also comes in a distant third in terms of high-quality stories. Very few creators have been able to really get a handle on the Amazon Princess. An immensely powerful (and beautiful) Amazon sent to the outside world as an Ambassador of peace, she has often been portrayed (wrongfully) as a butt-kickin' brute. Well I'm happy to say that Dini & Ross have gotten it right! Spirit of Hope stands right alongside Chris Moeller's amazing Wonder Woman Graphic Novel JLA: A League of One as my all-time favorite Wonder Woman books. Spirit of Hope doesn't really have a story, per se; more an overlying theme: Wonder Woman questions the way she has been going about her mission of peace. After consulting Clark (Superman) Kent in a wonderfully understated scene (They have coffee together...), she decides to try to accomplish her goals in a more low-key manner: Not as Wonder Woman, but as Diana. Ross manages to successfully alternate between the bombastic Wonder Woman scenes, filled with double-page spreads, to the quiet scenes of Diana helping in a more Human manner. The pages of Wonder Woman saving a young girl from a tank are amazing! You really feel Wonder Woman's pain and confusion as she is greeted, less than enthusiastically, by the Arab people she is trying to save. Dini and Ross really capture her true essence: A loving, kind woman, who also happens to be able to toss around Tanks! It's also nice to be able to finish a comic and have a warm feeling inside....Good job, guys!
Rating: Summary: A Heartfelt Tale of the Amazon Princess. Review: Artist Alex Ross & Writer Paul Dini continuue their annual series of oversized Graphic Novels with The Spirit of Hope, and this one is just as good, if not better, than the previous three. Wonder Woman is, without question, one of the iconic "Big Three" DC characters, alongside Batman and Superman. She also comes in a distant third in terms of high-quality stories. Very few creators have been able to really get a handle on the Amazon Princess. An immensely powerful (and beautiful) Amazon sent to the outside world as an Ambassador of peace, she has often been portrayed (wrongfully) as a butt-kickin' brute. Well I'm happy to say that Dini & Ross have gotten it right! Spirit of Hope stands right alongside Chris Moeller's amazing Wonder Woman Graphic Novel JLA: A League of One as my all-time favorite Wonder Woman books. Spirit of Hope doesn't really have a story, per se; more an overlying theme: Wonder Woman questions the way she has been going about her mission of peace. After consulting Clark (Superman) Kent in a wonderfully understated scene (They have coffee together...), she decides to try to accomplish her goals in a more low-key manner: Not as Wonder Woman, but as Diana. Ross manages to successfully alternate between the bombastic Wonder Woman scenes, filled with double-page spreads, to the quiet scenes of Diana helping in a more Human manner. The pages of Wonder Woman saving a young girl from a tank are amazing! You really feel Wonder Woman's pain and confusion as she is greeted, less than enthusiastically, by the Arab people she is trying to save. Dini and Ross really capture her true essence: A loving, kind woman, who also happens to be able to toss around Tanks! It's also nice to be able to finish a comic and have a warm feeling inside....Good job, guys!
Rating: Summary: Alex Ross makes Wonder Woman even more Womanly Review: As Alex Ross' model for Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, I put that costume on many, many times over the course of several months. (It was an emotional day when we did our last scenes!) Upon seeing the final product, I was thrilled to have been a part of such a beautifully painted and well-told story (kudos, Paul Dini!). What struck me most deeply was how Diana Prince was portrayed - as being so very warm, compassionate and loving. I know I'm not exactly an unbiased reviewer, but if you enjoy comic books or graphic novels at all, or if you ever looked up to Wonder Woman as a little girl (or were a teenage boy with a crush - and I've met many of you!), get this book while you can! You may be surprised at how it will move you. And to think, this book was conceived well before September 11. Woah.
Rating: Summary: Alex Ross makes Wonder Woman even more Womanly Review: As Alex Ross' model for Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, I put that costume on many, many times over the course of several months. (It was an emotional day when we did our last scenes!) Upon seeing the final product, I was thrilled to have been a part of such a beautifully painted and well-told story (kudos, Paul Dini!). What struck me most deeply was how Diana Prince was portrayed - as being so very warm, compassionate and loving. I know I'm not exactly an unbiased reviewer, but if you enjoy comic books or graphic novels at all, or if you ever looked up to Wonder Woman as a little girl (or were a teenage boy with a crush - and I've met many of you!), get this book while you can! You may be surprised at how it will move you. And to think, this book was conceived well before September 11. Woah.
Rating: Summary: Stunning! A comic lover's delight! Review: Breathtaking artwork with a compelling story reminiscent and worthy of the golden age Wonder Woman, this oversized "graphic novel" is a real treat for fans and new readers alike. Satisfies lovers of both the traditional comic character and Lynda Carter-lovers.
Rating: Summary: Stunning! A comic lover's delight! Review: Breathtaking artwork with a compelling story reminiscent and worthy of the golden age Wonder Woman, this oversized "graphic novel" is a real treat for fans and new readers alike. Satisfies lovers of both the traditional comic character and Lynda Carter-lovers.
Rating: Summary: Let's not kid ourselves Review: Of DC's "Big Three", Wonder Woman has always been the most poorly served by her creators. "Spirit of Truth" is a superior showcase for the character - and a must for fans, I suppose - but Dini and Ross fail, perhaps inevitably, to achieve a fully satisfactory balancing of her inherent contradictions. For instance, all that "ambassador of peace" posturing seems silly, even hypocritical, when Diana's appeal to the girl-shy fanboys who read her comics (myself included, of course) has always been the fantasy of a beautiful dominatrix who could physically overpower them and make them do... gosh, just about anything! (Same thing with Robert Crumb's obsession with Sheena of the Jungle or today's cybergeeks and their Jessica Alba fansites.) I would bet a Near Mint copy of Detective Comics #27 that the panel of WW with one leg on the hood of a getaway car she's just stopped, beckoning with a crooked finger for the miscreants to step out and take their medicine, will sell 100 times more copies of this book than the one of her cradling a small black child she's just rescued. This all relates to the other contradiction at the heart of WW. William Moulton Marston originally created the character to be an inspiring figure for young girls and we know of at least one instance - Gloria Steinem - where it worked out that way. But it's adolescent boys of all ages who actually buy (and create) the comics. Even accepting Diana's Playboy Bunny-ish costume as a given, Alex Ross's paintings present just a few too many "[from behind] shots" for us to have any illusions about which gender of reader is being inspired, or in what way.
Rating: Summary: Painted well, but poorly written. Review: Paul Dini must be getting tierd of doing these books because this story is the absolute pits. Great painting by Alex Ross, but that's not enough to save this book from being as medicore as it is.
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