Diana and the Hero’s Journey cover, via DC Comics.
Diana and the Hero’s Journey — Grace Ellis, Writer; Penelope Rivera Gaylord with Jerry Gaylord, Artists
Ray — 8.5/10
Ray: Much like Superman, Wonder Woman’s youth has been covered extensively in the YA and young readers line in recent years. We’ve seen her as a teenage immigrant in the wonderful Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed, and as a tween warrior on Themyscira in a pair of graphic novels by Shannon and Dean Hale. Surprisingly, this OGN penned by Lumberjanes co-creator Grace Ellis takes us back even further — calling back to the obscure “Wonder Tot” era of stories we saw in the Golden Age. This Diana is a small child, the only one on Themyscira. She hasn’t honed her heroic instincts yet, she resents her mother’s attempts to keep her focused on learning rather than fighting, and she’s about to find a whole lot of trouble.
When we meet Diana, she and her pet goat Phyllis are preparing for a major festival celebrating the legendary hero of the Amazons, known only as “Hero.” Instead of doing her chores, Diana seeks out her present, a bow and arrow — and promptly uses it to accidentally create chaos that wrecks the festival. To atone for her mistake, Diana must go on a series of errands to restore the festival before the deadline for the once-every-five-years event, while also trying to learn a little about what the festival truly represents and to find the perfect gift for her mother. It’s a pretty classic tale of childhood mistakes, but one that takes a very interesting twist once Diana visits the library.
Because the story of Hero isn’t a straightforward one. It’s a classic, epic yarn about a lovelorn heroine on a quest, but it’s told not through one narrative but through several. The archivist tells a classic tale from the scrolls. The Amazon chef punches up her chapter with some manga-style fighting. A trickster pair of fisherwomen add some more color and chaos, and Diana’s mother tries to insert some rather pointed lessons into her chapter. Making it all the more impressive, the art style shifts dramatically with each segment — but it’s all the same artist! The Gaylord art team pulls off some amazing tricks with each new storyteller, and their art is the highlight of the book. The appealing cartoony style suits the story, but it’s the shifting tales that really sing.
Overall, this is a very cute story that pays tribute to the larger Amazon culture in a way we don’t see too often. It is very much geared towards kids, lacking the dramatic momentum of the Hales’ Young Diana stories, and its Diana can be a little… much at times. But its unique take on the nature of oral storytelling and the way one story can be completely different in the hands of different storytellers is easily the best part of the book. Ellis is a wildly talented creator, and I’m particularly excited to see her make her mark at DC.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
