Wonder Woman: Amazonia – A Tale of the Wonder Woman


By William Messner-Loebs & Phil Winslade, with Patricia Mulvihill & John Workman (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-301-8

In its original print release, this slim oversized all-original tale was originally released under DC’s Elseworlds imprint wherein characters were liberated from their regular continuity’s shackles for adventures that test the limits of credibility and imagination.

…And now that it’s available in digital format, hopefully a lot more people will get to enjoy it…

Amazonia posits a world where a tragic fire (suspiciously) destroys the entire British Royal Family in the 1890s and a very distant cousin becomes ruler of Victoria’s Empire. Under this aggressively male sovereign the Empire goes from strength to strength and the rights of women are squeezed, wither and die.

Once more and forever they are playthings and possessions, to the point of having to wear chains in public…

Enter the thoroughly unpleasant Steven Trevor, late of His Majesty’s Air-Marines, and now trying to make a living as a music-hall impresario. His actress-wife is a foreign beauty, dark, tall, statuesque, able to jump huge distances and strong enough to wrestle lions. When she saves the royal heir from an assassin, it begins an inexorable and bloody series of events that will liberate half the Empire and end decades of cruelty, abuse and atrocity.

Effectively evoking the favourite paraphernalia and themes of Steampunk – airships, flashy militaria, Jack the Ripper – this is a powerful and challenging fable of sexual equality, blending the Wonder Woman mythology with modern imperialist fantasy and with cracking and memorable effect. William Messner-Loebs writes with convincing authenticity and Phil Winslade’s Victoriana-styled, etchings-inspired artwork – beautifully reminiscent of both Penny-Dreadful engravings and the lovely sweeping line of Charles Dana Gibson – is utterly captivating.

Often the Elseworlds variations came off as ill-conceived or poorly executed, but when it all comes together as it does in Wonder Woman: Amazonia the result is pure gold…
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