First appearing in All Star Comics #8 in 1941, Wonder Woman has 84 years of comics history and as one of DC’s first superheroes and one of the strongest superheroes of all time, they are some great stories. Hailing from the island of Themyscira, an Amazon with gifts from the gods, Wonder Woman has done it all over the years as she fights to help “man’s world,” serving as a symbol of integrity and peace and strength.
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But while Diana Prince — as she is often called in her civilian identity — has done it all over the years, there are some stories in her history that stand out. These are stories that see Wonder Woman challenged, that dig into her morality, and stories that explore every facet of her as a hero and as an icon. These five stories are some of the best of the best — and number one is perfect even if you’re not familiar with Wonder Woman at all.
5) Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia
Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia is the rare comic that works for not only Wonder Woman fans and people who aren’t comic fans at all. Written by Greg Rucka, who would go on to have an incredible run on Wonder Woman, The Hiketeia is very much a Greek tragedy just in comic book format. The story follows Diana as she’s honor bound to protect a woman named Danielle who is a fugitive from justice. However, there’s a reason she’s a fugitive: she’s killed the sex-slavers and drug dealers who murdered her sister. The situation is no-win for Wonder Woman. It puts her at odds with Batman, who is searching for the fugitive Danielle, and the Erinyes, who have threatened retribution if Diana does not honor the ancient ritual of Hiketeia that bound her to Danielle in the first place.
It’s a rich, complex story that digs into Wonder Woman’s mind and morality as well as the mythological aspects of the character. The layered moral conflict of the story and how it puts her at odds with Batman is honestly one of the most interesting of Wonder Woman stories, which makes it easily one of the best stories featuring the heroine ever told.
4) “Who Killed Myndi Mayer?”
Wonder Woman #20 from 1988, written and drawn by the legendary George Perez is another great story that falls into the category of not just best Wonder Woman stories, but great comics that you don’t have to be a comics fan to appreciate. The story is a murder mystery in which the titular Myndi Mayer, one of Diana’s greatest allies, has been brutally murdered, As the story unfolds, some secrets come out that make the story both harrowing and heartbreaking. The story is also presented in an unusual style compared to the typical Wonder Woman comic book. It’s just an incredible piece.
What makes this a good Wonder Woman story, however, is that this takes Diana away from the world of super heroics and simply makes her a woman trying to find out what happened to her friend. While she obviously is still Wonder Woman here, the story highlights the humanity at the heart of Diana and how that even the super among us can be blind to aspects of the lives of those they call their friends.
3) Wonder Woman: The Twelve Labors
While Len Wein may be best known for co-creating Swamp Thing and Wolverine, his work on Wonder Woman — albeit brief — shouldn’t be missed. The Twelve Labors, which ran across Wonder Woman #212-#222 from Wein, Cary Bates, Elliot S. Maggin, Curt Swan, and others, doesn’t necessarily have the greatest premise. The Justice League decides they need to reevaluate Wonder Woman’s status and eligibility within the group (she had previously lost her powers and recently regained them) so she is put through a series of tests. It’s the Silver Age, what can we say. However, Wonder Woman is more than up for whatever the men of the League throw at her.
A clever play on Hercules’ Twelve Labors, the story is a nice integration of mythology into comics, but more than that, it’s a reminder of just how powerful Wonder Woman really is and just how essential of a hero she can be.
2) Wonder Woman: Dead Earth
Daniel Warren Johnson’s Wonder Woman: Dead Earth is a standalone Wonder Woman story on DC’s Black Label and it’s simultaneously unlike any other Wonder Woman story out there and an absolutely magnificent work of fiction in any format. The post-apocalyptic series is set in a far-flung and desolate future where Diana awakens from a centuries long sleep and finds a world that is now a nuclear wasteland — proof that her mission to save Man’s World has failed. Stranded in this grim future, she tasks herself with protecting the last human city, even as she slowly comes to learn how she might be responsible for how the world got here.
The story is gut-wrenching and brutal. It’s beautiful and haunting, it’s very sci-fi and not especially “superhero”, but there is something about it that makes it more authentic. Diana with her fractured memories feels more broken than we’ve ever seen her and it adds such nuance to what we think we know about this iconic hero.
1) Wonder Woman #750
Arguably, Wonder Woman #750 could actually go lower on this list — after all, Dead Earth is pretty damn great. That said, there is just so much greatness stuffed in this book that when taken as an entire concept you really can’t beat it. Wonder Woman #750 is a massive, 96-page book that features some incredible talent — including stories from iconic writers like Greg Rucka and Gail Simone — as well as stories set in Diana’s past, present, and future. It’s a book that covers Wonder Woman’s every era, every facet, and delivers a complete portrait of Diana and there’s not a single bad thing about it.
This book, with all its smaller stories, is also a perfect introduction to the character. For readers who maybe aren’t familiar with Wonder Woman or only know her as part of a larger team, Wonder Woman #750 is a chance to get to know Diana in a way that is both honest and a celebration. It’s quite honestly a “best of” and that makes it easily one of the best overall.
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Image courtesy of Monolith Productions, Nightdive Studios, Warner Bros. Games, and Atari
