It's the Baroness Von Gunther and her Nazi army VS the Amazons

Love Yanic's work! These pages are brilliant.

Nice

In a way I agree. Unfortunately his Earth One is still a whole lot better than 99% of garbage that has been produced about WW including in my opinion New 52 and even a little better than Rebirth.

Also why Paula Von Gunther as the villain. Its asinine. If only Rucka had have been given a shot at Earth One back when he was writing Heiketa and stuff. Lets hope this gets fixed and a new generation of comic writers are inspired by the Movie to see the true potential of WW. I will read this though.

Looks great. I can't wait to see Morrison's take on Diana.

Wonder Woman will wear a different costume in every scene, says Morrison

The true star of WW:Earth One was the artist, because story wise it was lacking. I hope Vol.2 is an improvement

Morrison and Paquette Discuss Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 2

It's very nearly time to return to Wonder Woman's Earth One as the second volume of Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette's graphic novel series speeds toward release this August.

For those of you unfamiliar, the Earth One graphic novels are special out-of-continuity stories that reimagine some of the DC Universe's most familiar heroes in a totally unfamiliar light, whether it's stripping Green Lantern of his willpower or imagining Bruce Wayne getting kidnapped for ransom rather than orphaned in an alleyway.

For Diana Prince, Earth One means a brand-new look at both the origin story of Wonder Woman, the culture of Themyscira altogether and her role as an Amazon ambassador to the world of man, something that gets further explored under the highest of stakes in the upcoming, eagerly anticipated WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE VOL. 2. Recently, we sat down with writer Grant Morrison and artist Yanick Paquette to get some insight on their world building process, their vision of Diana, and most importantly, some exclusive teases for what’s ahead in volume two.

So, when we left Wonder Woman: Earth One, it was with a pretty major cliffhanger. Diana wants to have a chat. What is that conversation going to sound like?

Grant Morrison: We wanted to make a version of the Wonder Woman story that was almost plausible or almost believably real. So, WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE VOL. 1 was the idea of, you know, what happens if a beautiful princess comes up from a previously unknown island that has better technology, better ideas, more amazing philosophies—better everything. They're so much better than our culture. How does man's world react to that? The patriarchy of the world outside of Paradise Island, how does that culture react?

With the second volume, it's our Empire Strikes Back volume. It's Diana coming up against the lens of her beliefs and she sees this big challenge from the world as we know it. It's kind of very much what would happen to Wonder Woman in the actual real world.

In a story that revolves so much around folding in the sort of disparate elements of Diana's history and giving them an update or a bit of a rework, has there been anything either of you have been really excited to get your hands on?

Morrison: Yeah! I'll let Yanick talk next here, but for me it was definitely going back to the William Marston stuff and it was really about those weird ideas that he had. He was a very interesting man, led a very interesting life, and his ideas were quite strange. We want to take those ideas as the root of Wonder Woman very seriously, and also critique them. I think for me that was the interesting thing, going back to those strange, psychological 1930s bondage polyamory ideas and saying, "What would happen? What would actually happen if those were exposed to the way people think now?"

So for me, it was taking the original source of Wonder Woman and being really serious about it. Treat it as something new, but also kind of question it, expose it. At the same time, consider it like something to offer.

Yanick Paquette: These characters have been reworked over generations and though I really enjoy the Wonder Woman as she's mainstreamed today—which is closer the classical superhero, fighting, etc.—the early Wonder Woman is so strange and so original, it's almost sad that it's being...not forgotten, but somehow made incompatible now. So, we are trying to find a way to make that relevant again, and that challenge I think is worth exploring. It's the original version, so.

Yanick, in the first volume, the Amazons—even the ones who go totally unnamed in the story—have really distinct looks and costumes. Can you talk a little about populating this world and where you pulled from to flesh it all out even beyond the core cast? Where are those designs coming from?

Paquette: I love research, so when I do a project with a real place, I spend a lot of time in Google "walking" the streets or just gathering a massive amount of imagery. But with something that's fantasy, I felt like I needed something that I could use as a basic ingredient that I could extrapolate to really show their culture. So, in the case of the island, their clothing, their technology, I wanted to take some flare from the original Greek aspect of them, but I thought about how it would be if it was exposed to nature, to birds, sea shells, feminine forms. So, these are the basic ingredients from which I can try to extrapolate what this culture would look like. For everything—for a building, for a door knob, for a weapon—I looked at them and thought, "Oh yeah, [the Amazons] have seen these things for years." So, it makes sense.

But I also wanted them to seem indebted to the Greek side of their culture without feeling trapped by it, which I feel sometimes people do.

Morrison: I feel like that's also where we're different from the movie version, which I really loved, but what we're doing is saying that in this research and years of mythology, the Amazons have developed their own philosophy, their own way of speaking, their own way of living. That's the ideal and also the threat they represent: they have an alternative culture.

You're still working with colorist Nathan Fairbairn on the second volume, yes? Or is it a different colorist coming in?

Paquette: Oh yeah, I'm a very faithful guy. Nathan's my man. We've been sharing a secret cloud hard drive that DC doesn't see so we can solve our graphic problems and work through whatever we don't agree on. Part of the idea that Nathan and I had with these books was this bright—not bright as in punchy color, but sometimes these narratives can get very dark and dramatic in the colors. So, we felt like we wanted to see the beauty and the poetry. I wanted to see the sun and the warmth of the island. I think we're going in that direction for volume two, too.

Is the second volume predominantly going to be set on Man's World, or will we be hopping back and forth between that and the island again?

Morrison: We cut back and forth. It's not quite as cut-and-dry as volume one, but there's certainly a back and forth. But it's mostly about Diana in Man's World and how Man's World reacts.

Though I'll always put "Man's World" in scare quotes. It's hard to deal with a strange culture, especially coming from an even stranger culture that's even more evolved. It's about Diana's interaction with that world, and I think that's what we've done. We've separated her friends and family. She can't go back home for reasons you'll see in the book, and she's up against forces she's never imaged. She's a very progressive, forward-looking young woman, and suddenly she's up against very understandable modern forces of inertia.

In volume one, we've got the Gorgon a little bit, we've got Hercules who has kind of been re-cast from his—I won't say "traditional" story, but we see him in a form we haven't seen in a while…

Morrison: Hercules is somehow involved with Diana's parentage with Hippolyta. I love the character Hippolyta. I love the idea that she basically just took Hercules' genetic material and decided to weaponize it for women. She took the ultimate monster, the ultimate masculine force, and turned it into a weapon for women. It's not so much that Hercules is Diana's father in this story, it's that Hippolyta used Hercules' genetic material to create Diana.

Are we going to see any other, I don't want to say pure "villains" since that might not be the best term for this particular universe, but are we going to see any villain-style characters showing up?

Morrison: Yes, absolutely! Volume two is all about Diana's confrontation with Doctor Psycho. He's one of the old school villains that Marston created, and he was this hypnotic monster and our version of Doctor Psycho is visually quite similar, but we based him on "pick-up artists" and this whole idea of toxic masculinity. We're approaching ideas that are very current in culture lately, so our Doctor Psycho is a hypnotist of a very different kind. He still harks back to the original, but—

Paquette: Yeah, he does! But he kind of looks almost like a lion now, the hair and everything. From the point-of-view of finding a villain who would challenge Wonder Woman now where she is in her evolution, Doctor Psycho is perfect. It's not a physical confrontation. There's no fighting. She doesn't see it coming. She doesn't suspect a person who is trying to bend her will to his own purpose. I think he's the perfect villain for this place.

I was trying to create a correlation for that in the panel borders. There's a fight going on between the feminine, more elegant art nouveau and the Doctor Psycho stuff which is more art deco, more angular. People might not pick that up, but… [laughs].

Something that really makes volume one stand out is how unique the page layouts are. When you were putting the book together, what influenced those choices?

Paquette: Part of what I try to do these days is really take advantage of the fact we're doing comics and not, like, movies or anything. So, one thing we have is those panel borders, which can add an extra layer to the story. You always need to tell the story. In the first volume, I used the old Greek poetry for the conflict of Hercules and Hippolyta—

Morrison: And also—sorry to interrupt—the idea of the rope and the gold twine that the fates weave. It runs through the entire last volume.

Paquette: So, there's definitely a way to use those panel borders as a narrative engine. I push it a little further in the second volume as well, as we have panels for Psycho, for Diana, but also when we use the lasso.

To wrap up, I'm going ask you a pretty challenging question, and I apologize if this is too much for something so on the spot. Diana's pretty unique in the DC Universe, even among the trinity, because she doesn't necessarily have a one or two-phrase mission statement or way to summarize her whole identity. She's not vengeance or the night, she's not really truth, justice and the American way. What do you think the central tenet of Wonder Woman is? What's most important for her to display on Earth One?

Morrison: Oh wow… I think—and I know this is more than just a couple of sentences—we want to play Diana as the ambassador for something really quite new. An entirely new way of civilization. A new way of philosophy and culture and poetry and love…and that's what she is. She's a progressive, weird figure, and I love to extend that to full-on science fiction. What if the Amazons took over the planet, you know?

Paquette: The way we've been playing it, playing her, is that she's sort of a bridge between the current patriarchal world and where we might go. It's an equilibrium. Our Amazons are not perfect, they're flawed—

Morrison: And so are we, eh?

Paquette: And Wonder Woman might bring those two extremes together.

Morrison: Yeah, as Yanick says, Diana is that bridge. She's the connection between us and the world of the Amazons, which really can be quite weird and separatist and elitist, but it's also beautiful and utopian.

WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE VOL. 2 by Grant Morrison, Yanick Paquette and Nathan Fairbairn will be available in print and digital this August.

Why would Grant Morrison care about one kid on CV thinks? Most of us will buy it and like it.

"Are we going to see any other, I don't want to say pure "villains" since that might not be the best term for this particular universe, but are we going to see any villain-style characters showing up?

Morrison: Yes, absolutely! Volume two is all about Diana's confrontation with Doctor Psycho. He's one of the old school villains that Marston created, and he was this hypnotic monster and our version of Doctor Psycho is visually quite similar, but we based him on "pick-up artists" and this whole idea of toxic masculinity. We're approaching ideas that are very current in culture lately, so our Doctor Psycho is a hypnotist of a very different kind. He still harks back to the original, but—

Paquette: Yeah, he does! But he kind of looks almost like a lion now, the hair and everything. From the point-of-view of finding a villain who would challenge Wonder Woman now where she is in her evolution, Doctor Psycho is perfect. It's not a physical confrontation. There's no fighting. She doesn't see it coming. She doesn't suspect a person who is trying to bend her will to his own purpose. I think he's the perfect villain for this place.

I was trying to create a correlation for that in the panel borders. There's a fight going on between the feminine, more elegant art nouveau and the Doctor Psycho stuff which is more art deco, more angular. People might not pick that up, but… [laughs]."

Hallelujah, this is great news that a writer with a superstar reputation is, one, focused on Wonder Woman's Lex and Joker, Dr. Psycho, and, two, modernizing the Marston material. I have just one request and that is for Morrison to pick up where Marston left off with respect to Dr. Psycho, and focus on building that sympathetic background where his being picked on my girls/women shaped him into the character that he is today, all due to his looks (e.g. similar to how Bruce Wayne being orphaned as a boy shaped him as a character).

This is great news indeed and my enthusiasm about this issue just went from about 10% to 95% just that quick (e.g. reflecting back on Volume One, where the rest of the story sort of fizzled out as compared to the preview for the story). I've been really busy this past week to conclude today, for the most part, but I'm really looking forward to considering this prospect; Dr. Psycho should have the looks issues that Marston made him with and not the updated looks that say Rucka made him with, which, quite frankly, completely defeated the purpose and motivations for the character. And, this interview occurred at the DC website so the right ears and eyes should have been there; as they move forward with Wonder Woman this should be the norm now, and systemic, and not just left in a (this) Earth One Volume 2 bubble; Morrison is going to have to be really nuanced in how he writes this story, at least, for me; we have to really be put into Dr. Psycho's shoes and understand where he is coming from, or, at least have that material available for those who are empathetic and sympathetic people to be able to do so.

True.

I hated what he did to Wonder Woman during Final Crisis comics where all other DC heros had epic moments ,while Wonder Woman became a mind controlled Servant of Darkseid

Wasn't a fan of the first one. The story was fine but didn't like the characterization of Diana. The art looks amazing like the first issue though. We'll see how this one turns out.

The first volume was easily the most boring out of all the Earth One books. So little happened in it, but somehow it still felt rushed. A lot of boasting for very little pay of. Here's hoping the next one is better, if nothing else it'll at least have great art

Regarding Final Crisis... to be honest I would say the only one who really got an epic moment was Superman. Batman got taken captive off panel, tortured for a couple of weeks, breaks out and does something extraordinarily out of character before seemingly getting turned into powder. Diana did get a rough deal, but on a level she was more important than most, A) she was the catalyst for the god-bacteria that was the reason she and others got possessed in the first place B) once out of it, she was the one to purge Darkseid and his ALE from around 3 billion people without harming them.
Certainly it's not exactly stellar material, but it's something.

What I felt was really missing from FC, was perhaps a 3 issue mini-series for both Diana and Bruce. Diana's could have detailed how she was struggling in her own head with Lashina mostly in control of her body. I am not sure if I remember it correctly, but doesn't Diana just sort of wake up after Darkseid was purged from Dan Turpin? If thats the case, you could write the story like Diana breaking free on her own at around the same time. I am kinda imagining Diana is at Lashina's mercy in the first issue, but compassion is what eventually lets her regain control even if Lashina is trying to break her with whatever means she can. Kinda like an extended version of Simone's GL encounter married to the interrogation of Captain Nazi... Diana might end up looking a lot worse for wear, Lashina might be taking all the free shots she can, but in the end it's Lashina who's cracked because her captive didn't break and was still willing to embrace her, I imagine an embrace is the final nail in Lashina's presence and what drives her out entirely by herself. An aftermath could have us see Diana ruminating about the experience she went through, while perhaps ending with a promise to find and help Lashina who we might see lying broken in a cave somewhere drawing little WW-logo's.

I have to agree on that, it felt more like Grant Morrison taking us on an excursion into the weirder corners of Diana's world and feminist theory than a real Wonder Woman story.

@outside_85: For me Final crisis Wonder Woman movement felt like fake movement that Grant Morrison put in because someone reminded him Wonder Woman is a classic DC here .It is Batman who breaks her out of Darkseid control .Basically It is Batman who saves 3 billion people by using Wondy as a tool .While flash is not only immune to bacteria but can cure people by kissing them

Grant Morrison also he hated Wonder Woman at that point as he stated in interview

NRAMA: Regarding the big legends of the DCU: Superman got his mini-event, Batman took on Darkseid, Flash tries to outrun death, Green Lantern overcomes granny . . . butWonder Woman turns out to be Anti-Life Patient Zero and spends the bulk of the series as a disfigured thrall. Why does Wonder Woman not have a comparable moment in that context?

GM: I wondered about that myself. I love what Gail Simone (especially) and other writers have done to empower the Wonder Woman concept but I must admit I’ve always sensed something slightly bogus and troubling at its heart. When I dug into the roots of the character I found an uneasy melange of girl power, bondage and disturbed sexuality that has never been adequately dealt with or fully processed out to my mind. I’ve always felt there was something oddly artificial about Wonder Woman, something not like a woman at all.

Having said that, I became quite fascinated by these contradictions and problems and tried to resolve them for what turned into a different project entirely. Partly because I didn’t want to use any of that new material in Final Crisis, I relegated Wonder Woman to a role that best summed up my original negative feelings about the character. My apologies to her fans and I promise to be a little more constructive next time around.

https://www.newsarama.com/2053-grant-morrison-final-crisis-exit-interview-part-1.html

@geraldofvengerberg: Well he doesn't say that he hates her, he says he has a negative view of what Wonder Woman was at that stage because she's become unreal to him. But even here he is admitting that he is saving the good stuff for what would become Earth One.

Side note: Batman doesn't do anything to/with her as far as I can remember, he breaks out of his own predicament and heads for Darkseid?