Wonder Woman: Amazon.co.uk: Les Daniels, Chip Kidd: Books

Hardcover: 206 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books (1 Nov 2000)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0811829138
ISBN-13: 978-0811829137
Product Dimensions: 26.2 x 21.2 x 2.3 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,048,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Amazon.co.uk Review

There can't be many people who haven't heard of Wonder Woman, arguably the first female superhero and one of the "big three" (the others being Batman and Superman). She was created by Dr William Moulton Marston--who also invented the lie detector--as an antidote to masculine comic book adventures that are drenched in violent testosterone-fuelled imagery and portray women as helpless weaklings who have to rely on the men to untie them from the train tracks in the nick of time. Wonder Woman was certainly no weakling; dressed in stars and stripes, armed with bullet-deflecting bracelets and a magical lasso and flying around in an invisible jet, she had no qualms about saving her boyfriend Steve Trevor from certain doom in each issue while dealing a swift blow to the odd Nazi soldier as well. However, most people who aren't die-hard comic fans will only have memories of the camp and kitschy 1970s TV show starring the leggy and beautiful Lynda Carter (who also contributes the book's Forward). As compelling and faithful as this small screen adaption was, there is so much more to the WW mythology as Les Daniels admirably proves in this gorgeous hardback volume. It features lots of covers and extracted scenes from the comic books from her earliest appearance to her latest 1990s image changes and plenty of photographs of the plethora of WW merchandise created over the years. And for those of you old enough to remember the TV show who want to refresh your memories of the infamous theme song, the lyrics are also here in all their star-spangled glory. This is a wonderful nostalgic journey through the life and times of the first lady of Superheroes and a real appreciation of WW's staying power and campy cult status. Beautifully packaged, absorbingly written and wonderfully illustrated, this is a must-have for comic fans. --Jonathan Weir --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

These days we devour super-sized meals, ogle strutting supermodels and experiment with superconductivity. But once upon a time there were only superheroes. Murmur their names, and from out of memory's deep emerge lazy summer afternoons spent on covered porches with a bottle of Orange Crush and a bag of Fritos, weekly bike rides to the revolving wire racks in corner drug stores and, of course, our increasingly daring leaps, from picnic tables and brick fireplaces, with an old sheet fluttering from 9-year-old shoulders: "I can fly, I can fly." And we could -- if only during that moment when we flexed our knees and pushed off into the air. Then, for one blissful second, we were commensurate with our dreams.

But, ah, those names, how they thrilled and fed our imaginations: the Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Aqua-Man and Hawkman, the Mighty Thor, and a little later the Silver Surfer, Spiderman and the X-Men. To the ignorant eyes of parents, our carefully tended stacks of 20, 50 or 2 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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First Sentence
One of the best known, longest lasting, and most controversial characters in the history of comics, Wonder Woman has always been obliged to play a dual role. Read the first page

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

A Wonder-ful herstory 22 July 2003

By Kurt A. Johnson

Format:Hardcover

This highly pictorial history (or should I say “herstory”) of Wonder Woman has just about everything in it that you could want. Beginning with Wonder Woman’s origination in the mind of Harvard-trained psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston, continuing through to her rebirth as the new Wonder Woman in 1968, through Gloria Steinem’s work to bring her back, through the television show, through today. Along the way there are many reproductions of comic book covers and comics, pictures of paraphernalia (e.g. toys, cards, macaroni, etc.), and sidebars discussing such things as lie detectors, other comic book heroines, and such.

This is a great book that taught me many things that I did not know, about her origins, who she was written for and why. I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in Wonder Woman or in comic books in general.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

One Man's Suprema is Another Man's Wonder Woman 13 Dec 2000

By A Customer

Great Hera! Les Daniels' "WONDER WOMAN: A Complete History" should have been titled "WONDER WOMAN: A Complete HER-story" because it ever so methodically chronicles the evolution of this AMAZING comic book heroine from her early beginnings as female role model fending off Nazis and falling in love with a male mortal to a modern-day feminist and ambassador of peace. Rich in details both written and illustrated, this is a must-have for anyone who's ever fallen in love with Wonder Woman or has simply been intrigued by her mythology. May she forever be in our hearts, stars, stripes, and all.

Simply great 7 May 2011

By Ec

Format:Paperback

As a fan and a picky one, i admit this book is great. Well designed (the golden edge with white typo is a pleasure to see as well as the illustrations we found all
around), the paper is of a great quality and full of little things we're glad to discover,and some other we would have prefer not to know...~ ~

I put 5 stars at first but i take one back cause of the impartiality of the author and the fragility of the edge. But i assure you this book's cool. You won't regret it.