Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette’s Wonder Woman: Earth One has been in the works for several years now, and yesterday Harpy revealed the book’s cover for the first time. Let’s take a look:
And here’s the official synopsis:
From the masterful minds of Grant Morrison (FINAL CRISIS, THE MULTIVERSITY) and Yanick Paquette (SWAMP THING, BATMAN, INC.) comes the most provocative origin of Wonder Woman you’ve ever seen — a wholly unique retelling that still honors her origins.
For millennia, the Amazons of Paradise Island have created a thriving society away from the blight of man. One resident, however, is not satisfied with this secluded life — Diana, Princess of the Amazons, knows there is more in this world and wants to explore, only to be frustrated by her protective mother, Hippolyta. Diana finds her escape when Air Force pilot Steve Trevor, the first man she has ever seen, crashes onto their shores. With his life hanging in the balance, Diana ventures into the long forbidden world of men. The Amazons chase after her and bring her back to Paradise Island in chains to face trial for breaking their oldest law…staying separated from the world that wronged them.
Thought provoking yet reverent, thoroughly modern but still timeless, the power and courage of Paradise Island’s greatest champion — Wonder Woman — is introduced in this new addition to DC’s New York Times best selling Earth One original graphic novel series.
The cover is just okay for me. The pages that have been released look gorgeous, with clever layouts and lots of little fun details. This is plainer than I expected; I would have preferred something with a little more design to it rather than just a straight image.
They’ve tweaked the costume some, but not overly so. Basically, they just went more literal with it than usual, changing the classic eagle breastplate into something a bit more ornate and then continuing that look into the belt. Regular readers will know how I feel about tweaks to the tiara, though. I don’t see a star there and that bums me out a little.
What I really liked about the cover is everyone in the background. There’s Hippolyta and perhaps Philippus in the top left, and it looks like Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark, or at least people who look a lot like them, are in the mix too. And maybe Artemis with the red hair in the bottom right?
The chains look to be a reference to the bondage imagery common in the early years of Wonder Woman. Morrison’s seemed very focused on that in all of the interviews he’s done for the project, though he’s focused more on the kinky, sexual aspect than the matriarchal, female superiority message behind the bondage. I’ve been worried about how that will affect his vision of Wonder Woman. The kink is a part of it, for sure, but there was so much more going on with the bondage when William Moulton Marston originally wrote the book.
Anyway, I’m curious about this book but a little wary. I’m not a huge Morrison fan; he has a tendency to just burn everything down and do his own thing that I usually don’t enjoy. But Paquette is killer, and I’m sure the book will look great. Amazon has it listed for release this April, but that could change. It’s been delayed several time already. Hopefully it will keep on track and be available then!
TIM HANLEY 
I agree that the overall impression is a little plain, with Wonder Woman just standing there. However I do love all the individual details. I love Hippolyta facepalming Captain Picard style in the background. I love the look of Themyscira, and all the frowning angry looking amazons. I love how Diana looks big and curvy and I really love the redesign of her costume, it is amazing how much difference making the stars six-pointed can make. I also love the chain around her both as a reference to the original Marston comics, but also because of how useless it obviously is, the chain is clearly not preventing her from moving her arms an would almost certainly slide off if she wasn’t actively holding it in place (no wonder she looks a little smug and superior).
I am also intrigued by that white marble looking thing at the bottom behind her. I wonder if Yanick Paquette intended to make a subtle reference to the famous The Birth of Venus painting by Sandro Botticelli because that is what it made me think of.
All in all I like it even if it is a little bland. Also wasn’t the book supposed to be called, “Wonder Woman: The Trial of Diana Prince.” The cover would certainly work better with that title.
It’s certainly not a bad cover by any means, and there are lots of great aspects to it (I also love the facepalm). I just expected something a little more visually interesting from Yanick Paquette because he’s so dang good and creative. And yes, they seem to have gone back and forth on the title. Perhaps DC’s commitment to their Earth One line has changed some over the years this project has been in development, and at some point they were less interested in it than they are now.
The big announcement that this won’t feature any action or fighting pretty much torpedoed it as a prospect, for me. Also not feeling the masonic stars on the shorts, but…oh, well. Scratching it off the list.
Problem solved.