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DC had announced a couple of years ago that they would be releasing a Wonder Woman Earth One Trade Paperback, recounting the Amazon’s origin story. It is believed that Rucka had originally wanted to write this, but in the end it was Grant Morrison that was given the opportunity to tell a very different, and typically Morrison-esque take on the Amazon Princess and her mythos in Wonder Woman Earth One.
It was suspected by many that the Year One story arc presented here was in fact the tale that Rucka would have told if he had been given the chance, and that perhaps it had been the writer that had persuaded DC to let him write two parallel stories in order for him to have the ability to finally share his vision of Diana’s origin. This theory gains credence given that no other book was given this dual story arc approach as part of rebirth. Was this perhaps the condition that Rucka made to DC? That he would come back on the book but only if he could tell his Year One story too?
Synopsis
We see the day to day lives of Diana and her Amazon sisters on Themyscira, enjoying life and the love that each holds for each other. Meanwhile Steve and his best pal Nick and training for another top secret mission and Steve reaffirms to his colleague that he will always have his back for him.
Back on Paradise Island, Diana is out riding on her horse when he suddenly becomes skittish and gallops off. By the time she has regain control they have arrived at an open stretch of ground and she sees a large, seemingly dead tree that Diana is unfamiliar with. As she reaches out to touch its trunk she is bitten by a snake and collapses unconscious.
A short while later some other Amazons are out foraging and see their Princess lying motionless on the ground. They rush her back to the city for medical treatment. A few days later Diana regains consciousness and is asked by the Oracle, Castalia, what had happened. When Diana tells her Castalia says that the Gods speak to them in strange ways. Her illness and subsequent recovery was a message. She then shows Diana the golden lasso and explains that it had been a gift from the Gods and that one day they will seek the Amazons to give back in turn.
Later the Amazons see a burning plane plummet from the skies above them and crash on the beach. Diana and the others rush down and clearing wreckage find a couple of dead men, including Nick. Suddenly they hear a voice and Diana sees a bloodied Steve asking for help…
