Wonder Woman (1942): The original run (Part 1)

In 1942 one of our favorite female superheroes was born: Wonder Woman. This astounding amazon warrior found Steve Trevor after he was knocked out of his plane during WWII. Trevor fell down into paradise island and was rescued by Diana, daughter of Aphrodite and princess of the amazons.

After that, the comics follow her adventures fighting against nazis, criminals, monsters and all kinds of threats. 

Although she appeared in All Star Comics #8, she soon got her own run and became highly popular with audiences.

This first book tells an abridged origin story for Diana and gives us a lot of details about the amazons and the lore of the series. It introduces us to Diana as a powerful but kind warrior.

We get a great story about how the amazon women rebelled against the males of ancient Greece and defeated their oppressors with the power of their goddess. 

After that, Wonder Woman uses her skills to rescue Trevor and also uses her abilities as a scientist and doctor in order to aid him. 

Soon after, the amazons hold a tournament to decide which one of them should go to the world of man. Diana's mother, the queen, doesn't want her daughter to participate. Because of this, Diana disguises herself and enters the contest. She, of course, kicks their butts and wins.

I loved how the amazons and Diana seem to be quite aggressive and they feature more robust bodies as well. It's common to see movies or recent iterations in the comics where the Amazons are badly handled and treated as dull generic skinny female warriors without an edge or sometimes they are too peaceful to even be considered warriors. Here, they are quite well characterized. Not to mention, their beasts and uniforms are much more interesting and creative than in the vast majority of adaptations, keeping the old style of pulpy fiction and making it attractive for the comic book medium.

After Diana becomes the champion and after Trevor gets better, she travels with him to the world of man in order to destroy the axis and bring peace to humans. 

I must say, while this is a very good first issue, there is some racist iconography that was common at the time. Other than that, it's a great place to start if you wanna get into Wonder Woman’s classic comics, showing her world, her powers and personality. 

Yikes.