Comic Vine News

170 Comments

Grant Morrison Gives Wonder Woman's Origin an EARTH ONE Update

Find out what Grant Morrison's take on the Amazon Princess is in Wonder Woman Earth One.

Wonder Woman was first created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston. Over the years, her origin has been retold in numerous comic books and explored in television shows like the live action Wonder Woman show and the animated Justice League series. Even though DC Comics rebooted their publishing universe with The New 52 back in 2011, many readers still struggle with what books they should read or where they should start. The recent Earth One series of books explores the characters in the modern age. It's a way of looking at a character for the first time. The essence of their story is still there but presented in a slightly different fashion.

No Caption Provided

Grant Morrison has had acclaimed runs on characters such as Batman (Batman: R.I.P., Batman Incorporated) and Superman (All-Star Superman). He has now turned his attention onto the Amazon Princess. We spoke to Morrison about his plans for the new Wonder Woman Earth One book and possible follow ups.

COMIC VINE: How do you see Wonder Woman? What's your take on her?

Grant Morrison: I just wrote a 120-page book. Read the book. That's my take on Wonder Woman. [laughs] No, that's the start of my take on Wonder Woman. It's a pretty complex take and we've just started getting into it. It's quite exciting.

Do you have more Earth One stories in you?

Yeah, I'm already working on Volume 2. It's probably going to be a trilogy.

Are you making any big changes to her origin or character in the Earth One world?

Wonder Woman's been through a lot of different iterations since the 1940s. With the changes to her character, I'm kind of taking what I thought were the best and most interesting elements and distilled them into this one. We've made a few changes to the origin, mostly because the original origin was set during the second World War. She kind of went off to war and fell in love with the first man she saw. She went and fought the Nazis. These days we don't have Nazis to fight, so I thought she'd need a different kind of motivation. The whole idea was to take the basic story of Wonder Woman and give it a little more tension, drama, ambiguity, and the potential for danger.

One of the things I noticed in the book was how she sees herself compared to the other Amazons since she was made from clay? I don't really remember this being explored by other writers.

That was the thing that always bothered me about Wonder Woman's origin. It'd be pretty horrible for your parents to tell you that you were made out of clay and they kind of animated you. I think that would come as a shock to hear that. I wanted to do something a little different. Wonder Woman wields the Lasso of Truth so I made the theme of truth and lies a big thing in the book. It's really about her discovering the big lie, which is her mother made that story up. She's not made of clay. She's actually a genetic experiment by her mother and she contains traces of masculine DNA. That makes her very different—that's what has made her very different. She's never been allowed to know this. We've just tweaked these elements of the origin just to give Diana a little more conflict and to give the story a little more dynamic.

How do you see things like the Purple Healing Ray and Invisible Jet—advanced technology or more mystical in origin?

No, we're not using any mysticism. The gods don't live in Mt. Olympus. The gods are just abstract concepts. They have a certain meaning to the Amazons which is different from what we might understand. The things like the Invisible Jet and the Purple Ray are technology the Amazons developed in the three thousand years they've had to form a society. It's a different way to look at things. We decided the Purple Ray was equivalent to Wilhelm Reich's Orgone Energy. The Amazon's technology is based around this manipulation of Orgone. If readers of this interview go and check out Wilhelm Reich and Orgone, they'll see where the Purple Ray comes from.

No Caption Provided

Any comments on the lesbian and bondage concepts that some people will likely focus on?

Honestly, the original story made it clear these women had been living together on an island for three thousand years. I don't think when they gave up men, they gave up sex. It was always there. All we've done is mention it in the text. I've said it in a couple other interviews, I've read recently there's a huge percentage of young people in the west that identify as non-heterosexual. So I don't think that aspect of a Wonder Woman story is shocking anymore.

As for the bondage, it comes from the original creator of Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston. He had this idea that Wonder Woman was superior to men. If we all agreed to this philosophy of loving submission, where we would submit to the will of women and be told what to do, it'd make a better world. Again, we took that aspect of the original story, which seems very different from all the other portrayals and made it part of the engine of this story. It's all about chains, rocks, leashes, truth and lies, and dominance and submission.

What is your favorite thing about working on this story?

Apart from getting to work with Yanick Paquette again, who's always brilliant, I really like the character of Wonder Woman's mother, Hippolyta. She's my favorite. She gets a huge scene in the opening. I guess because I'm getting ancient, but I really prefer her mother over everyone else in the book.

Take a look at the rest of the preview pages:

Wonder Woman Earth One is written by Grant Morrison with art by Yanick Paquette and color by Nathan Fairbairn. It's on sale April 6 in comic shops and everywhere else on April 12.

170 Comments

Avatar image for jonny_anonymous
Jonny_Anonymous

45773

Forum Posts

11109

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 32

Is Wonder Woman doing the Dab in that preview?

Avatar image for digitalnomad77
DigitalNomad77

17

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

hahah! So Wonderwomans so strong because she has "masculine dna"...quite the opposite of Marvels direction ;)

Avatar image for kidchipotle
kidchipotle

15770

Forum Posts

229

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

"She's not made of clay. She's actually a genetic experiment by her mother and she contains traces of masculine DNA."

What.

Avatar image for nightfang3
NightFang3

12416

Forum Posts

397487

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

This is gonna be a wired one.

Avatar image for the_stegman
the_stegman

41911

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

the_stegman  Moderator

I thought it was coming out tomorrow?! :(

Avatar image for jasoninthewoods
Jasoninthewoods

380

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Well I normally hate Morrison's writing, but I'm curious to see how he does in the Earth One format.

Avatar image for kid_jakeriv
Kid_jakeriv

410

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

"She's not made of clay. She's actually a genetic experiment by her mother and she contains traces of masculine DNA."

What.

LOL I was expecting (hoping actually) Azzerelo's origin. This is just an overcomplicated version. I love Morrison to death, but his stories can get pointlessly complicated

Avatar image for ducey13
Ducey13

396

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Ducey13

I was looking forward to reading this until I saw "She's actually a genetic experiment by her mother and she contains traces of masculine DNA." Now I don't know what to think. I like the clay origin. it makes her different from any of the other Amazons.

Avatar image for pelykan
Pelykan

228

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

She is the strongest amazon because she has a little man in her. Giggity.

Avatar image for dd208
DD208

573

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 0

Edited By DD208

So how soon before we get the first lesbian Wonder Woman story? The "masculine DNA" will allow a writer to make her attracted to women so forced diversity continues.

Avatar image for apokos7
apokos7

749

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

I thought it was coming out tomorrow?! :(

It is. April 12th (Tuesday) is the Amazon release date.

Avatar image for longbowhunter
longbowhunter

9425

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 1

I'm not the least bit deterred by the changes. It's an Earth One book. It's wide open.

Avatar image for granitesoldier
GraniteSoldier

12746

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 42

User Lists: 0

I actually quite enjoy the Earth One Superman stuff...so I'm willing to give this a shot.

It sounds interesting, to say the least.

Avatar image for fables87
fables87

1849

Forum Posts

1234171

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 52

User Lists: 0

I like the art in this, but not sure about the story.

Avatar image for captain13
Captain13

4814

Forum Posts

1020

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 3

Edited By Captain13

I still think the DCAU origin is best.

Loading Video...

Avatar image for mark_stephen
Mark_Stephen

2638

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

"She's not made of clay. She's actually a genetic experiment by her mother and she contains traces of masculine DNA."

What.

For some reason no one at DC likes the clay origin anymore.

Avatar image for deactivated-599b4bc7465db
deactivated-599b4bc7465db

1759

Forum Posts

129

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 10

i refuse to read what her origin is until i actually get my copy but i will say that im tired of them changing her origin. the clay origin is fine and idk if its because they feel the need to retell origins in general over at DC or they have a particular love for stripping her of all her uniqueness or what

Avatar image for ultimatepower6
UltimatePower6

609

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 8

User Lists: 0

Urk. I sort of want to buy this, but I really don't like Grant Morrison.

Avatar image for linore
Linore

109

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

The prefer the clay origin or the she's a demi-god origin. Either one is fine by me. This origin Idk

Avatar image for wrucebayne
wrucebayne

568

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Paquette draws Diana beautifully. This'll be great, Morrison never disappoints.

Avatar image for swampping
SwampPing

258

Forum Posts

310

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 26

Wow some people are way to attached to the "clay" origin. Seems like GM's going for a more grounded approach so that iteration wouldn't make any sense anyway.

Avatar image for handofprometheus
HandOfPrometheus

892

Forum Posts

854

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Why are people so upset on different origins when it takes place on another earth?

Avatar image for lagozzino
lagozzino

555

Forum Posts

83747

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 0

Eeeek, I was actually really anticipating this until I read that interview... just not the story I was hoping for :/

Avatar image for theexile285
TheExile285

4353

Forum Posts

430

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 18

User Lists: 4

Not really a huge fan of Morrison.... but I like Wonder Woman and Yanick Paquette's art is nice so I will give this a shot.

Avatar image for archizooom
Archizooom

2252

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Archizooom

@willienotwilliam: You know what they should do, they should turn Wonder Woman's ever-changing origin-story into a running gag wherein every new writer has to come up with a new, wackier origin-story that busts the previous one. So instead of an iconic origin-story, Wonder Woman would have an iconic lack-of-origin-story and she would never, ever find out the truth about her birth

Avatar image for teerack
Teerack

10703

Forum Posts

1614

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 64

Hot cover.

Avatar image for captainmarvel4ever
CaptainMarvel4Ever

9999

Forum Posts

1337

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

Can't wait, this looks like just the kind of story I've been craving, more Morrison, more Wonder Woman, it's perfect

Avatar image for sora_thekey
sora_thekey

8812

Forum Posts

18983

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 31

User Lists: 8

A lot of changes... but that is very much expected from an Earth One book.

I am very interested in reading this new take. I wonder what her new motivation is now that the WWII part of it is out. The Wonder Woman movie changes it to WWI ... This time we get modernized WW.

Avatar image for dshipp17
dshipp17

7650

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

Oh, I really like what I'm seeing; the bondage is there and the Amazon's hate of men is there; so far, looking really good; like how Wonder Woman gave the handjob. I'm getting this and the other book that came out on my birthday, December 10, probably tonight. I'm definitely getting the trilogy, if this book looks as good as the preview and the response generated by the reviews. As long as he brings Dr. Psycho here or in the second and maybe third book; but, hope it's not a huge wait time, until the next book.

Avatar image for silverpool
SilverPool

4562

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Got a little bit of man in her? Cnt w8 for Homaphrodite Woman

Avatar image for king_
King_

297

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

"She's not made of clay. She's actually a genetic experiment by her mother and she contains traces of masculine DNA."

What.

Avatar image for outside_85
Outside_85

23518

Forum Posts

18735

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 39

User Lists: 1

Wonder Woman... a genetic experiment? I am going to take cover now, because I am certain some people will detonate with that idea.

Avatar image for muyjingo
MuyJingo

2862

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@kidchipotle said:

"She's not made of clay. She's actually a genetic experiment by her mother and she contains traces of masculine DNA."

What.

For some reason no one at DC likes the clay origin anymore.

Yeah, it's terrible.

Although Morrison (who I normally adore) seems to have given a huger slap to her origins and feminist roots by changing her strength to being due to maleness with his origin here.

Avatar image for dernman
dernman

35970

Forum Posts

10092

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 9

Edited By dernman

Wonder Woman... a genetic experiment? I am going to take cover now, because I am certain some people will detonate with that idea.

You know me. I've always held little worth in certain groups of the WW fans and their reactions buuuuuuuuuut having said that I don't really like this either. I'm no fan of the clay origin but at least that has history. This is just bad.

Avatar image for outside_85
Outside_85

23518

Forum Posts

18735

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 39

User Lists: 1

@agent41 said:

@dshipp17: I really can't understand how you ever liked Wonder Woman. Your concept of the good approach to her character is fan service soft porn with hot lesbians that love bondage for no reason(which is a bad way to approach the theme about sexuality, it shouldn't be taken lightly). And man dnd in her origin being the reason she is the strongest?. If Marston saw all this he would hunt Morrison down.

He would... and then sit down and discuss it with him for hours on end, because Marston was also into that kind of thing :)

@dernman said:
@outside_85 said:

Wonder Woman... a genetic experiment? I am going to take cover now, because I am certain some people will detonate with that idea.

You know me. I've always held little worth in certain groups of the WW fans and their reactions buuuuuuuuuut having said that I don't really like this either. I'm no fan of the clay origin but at least that has history. This is just bad.

Well, I can see where Morrison is coming from. I mean basically he is just over in the other trench that Azzarello went in. Azzarello made Diana more mythic and took science away, Morrison has taken the myths away and made it all more scientific. So by that idea it makes sense that Diana is special not because she was blessed by Gods one way or the other, but that she was created special by her sisters through science.

I am sure this is going to please those who wanted smart science/techy Amazons, but it's not the route I would have taken if it was me.

Avatar image for wilbertus
Wilbertus

535

Forum Posts

5655

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 0

Edited By Wilbertus

I doubt that Morrison will write a story as simple as "woman with male DNA = strong woman". He just sprinkled that in the interview to get us talking. Let's wait for the actual book before judging.

Avatar image for agent_z
Agent_Z

574

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Agent_Z

I doubt that Morrison will write a story as simple as "woman with male DNA = strong woman". He just sprinkled that in the interview to get us talking. Let's wait for the actual book before judging.

I'd agree with you but this interview really is not painting a very positive picture, especially in regards to Steve. Doesn't help that Morrison on occasion has shown a tin ear for racial and gender issues. See Mother of Champions of the Great Ten.

Avatar image for abdullahzubair
AbdullahZubair

1039

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Am I the only one who liked her New 52 origin....???

Avatar image for abdullahzubair
AbdullahZubair

1039

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I think sexuality is something that should be kept at a minimum in comics and such mediums...I mean, if they are lesbians, that doesn't mean you have to bring it up...And make it a big part of the story line...I want some good old fashion butt kicking fights

Avatar image for abdullahzubair
AbdullahZubair

1039

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

a

Avatar image for dernman
dernman

35970

Forum Posts

10092

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 9

Am I the only one who liked her New 52 origin....???

No it was very well liked..

Avatar image for gxrevolution
GXrevolution

1110

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By GXrevolution

I don''t really mind the whole "her not being made of clay" change. What I am confused about is the "technology" angle. If their society is based on tech and the gods are abstract, where the hell do her powers come from?

Are her lasso and braclets just advanced tech? Because if they are, thats kinda dumb.

I also hate how they make Diana look so naive.

Avatar image for deactivated-5d3f071d30d9f
deactivated-5d3f071d30d9f

5172

Forum Posts

3

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 16

User Lists: 1

Avatar image for lagozzino
lagozzino

555

Forum Posts

83747

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 0

@willienotwilliam: You know what they should do, they should turn Wonder Woman's ever-changing origin-story into a running gag wherein every new writer has to come up with a new, wackier origin-story that busts the previous one. So instead of an iconic origin-story, Wonder Woman would have an iconic lack-of-origin-story and she would never, ever find out the truth about her birth

You're describing Donna Troy ;)

Avatar image for Jestersmiles
Jestersmiles

9929

Forum Posts

494

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 6

Edited By Jestersmiles

LOL people crying over an Earth one book? Really? Do you know the point of making earth one books? LMAO...jesus.

Avatar image for NukeA6
NukeA6

914

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I've been waiting for this for what feels like 5 years. The lack of mysticism makes me iffy but I trust Grant Morrison.

Avatar image for alsummers
alsummers

300

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

So basically this book is trying to bring back the Marston theme of "bondage=awesome" and technologically advanced Amazons. Nothing else seems to explore Marston's other beliefs on Wonder Woman's character herself.

I'm not complaining as Morrison said its just a different interpretation of the Golden Age Wonder Woman stuff, but for a while this was hyped as bringing back a true to form Marston Wonder Woman with a modern flair, but it's really doing nothing of the sort.