Writer/Artist: Jill Thompson
$22.99
DC Comics

Maddeningly, 2016 is the year that DC decided to publish four separate origins for Wonder Woman, keeping in mind that there’s a film on the way next year. So we’ve had Renae DeLiz’s version (this is good), Greg Rucka’s “Rebirth” revision (Belle loves this), Grant Morrison’s version (this was OK), and now we get one by comics legend Jill Thompson. So, unless a reader is a Wonder Woman nut, DC’s now created a tough question for readers: if I want a good Wonder Woman origin, which one do I get? Having read the Thompson version, it seems that The True Amazon isn’t it.

This conclusion is a little crazy, given that Thompson is renowned as a fantastic creator and is no stranger to Wonder Woman herself, having done numerous issues in the late 80s and early 90s. However, Thompson’s earlier Wonder Woman efforts were of a more traditional superhero fare, where her signature experimentalism wouldn’t have been the norm. With The True Amazon, Thompson gets to cut loose with her impressive watercolors, crafting a Wonder Woman story that’s more akin to a fairy tale than a western comic book.

And let’s give Thompson credit for her art: this is a neat-looking book. It’s a little muted, being done in lighter-toned watercolors, but it’s impressive nonetheless. She’s worked in substantial detail in crashing waves or tiny decorations on the walls of Themyscira. There’s action and emotion, and a critical death scene in the story is rendered with raw emotion contrasted against the pallor of a very lifeless corpse. It’s a good-looking story, so what went wrong?

The problem is that, for whatever reason, Thompson’s done a very unique spin on Diana’s origin which makes her very uncharacteristically like Wonder Woman. The other three origins published this year remain relatively true to the classic story, with Diana being tasked to leave Paradise Island to return a lost American airman to his homeland. Thompson dispenses with Steve Trevor entirely and crafts a story that’s solely about Diana and her people. In The True Amazon, Diana is quite the ugly character. The lone child of Themyscira, Diana is a petulant brat who lacks nobility and abuses her royal station. She’s an awful person, and her actions push her towards a humiliating fall which will eventually give way to a hero.

Except we never see that hero, just the makings of one (Thompson even concluding the story with a note that the heroic Diana will come later). For now, we get a Diana who’s more like Peter Parker before his discovery that he let Uncle Ben’s killer get away. This is very much a “Greek tragedy” origin for Wonder Woman, the only advantage of which being that it distinguishes itself from the other three stories published this year. But it’s uncharacteristically not Wonder Woman, just a character who shares her name and background. The tone of this story would be very much like revealing that Superman was a bad kid whose actions accidentally blew up Krypton, or Bruce Wayne playing a prank which results in Joe Chill killing his parents.

Most Wonder Woman stories have kept to her being a noble, near-flawless character. Every character has a flaw, certainly, but in recent years, Diana’s has been that she tries too hard to bring justice. She’s never been shown as a bad person, just someone who might occasionally get a little too desperate. As such, Thompson’s idea for Diana’s origin takes it to places where it really shouldn’t have gone. Wonder Woman’s beginnings have always been about nobility and self-sacrifice, and never about being a jackass who turns to nobility in order to atone for sins.

As such, The True Amazon really isn’t the best offering for an aspiring Wonder Woman reader. Renae De Liz’s edition works for younger readers, and Rucka’s for older ones. Thompson’s followers may want to try this out of loyalty, and as a strict Greek tragedy, it’s not terrible. It’s just less than ideal for this specific character.

Rating: Two lassos out of five.