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Diana strays far from home in DC's new YA Wonder Woman graphic novel, Tempest Tossed
DC Comics is adding to the deep mythology of Wonder Woman with a dynamic new deluxe graphic novel that finds a teenage Princess Diana whisked away from the exotic comforts of home and into vastly unfamiliar territory in the wilds of New York City — and SYFY WIRE has an exclusive preview to absorb alongside comments from its talented creative team.
Written by New York Times bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak, Wonder Women in History) and illustrated by Leila Del Duca (Sleepless, Afar), Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed arrives on June 2 and finds the young Amazonian celebrating her 16th birthday and anticipating her long-awaited acceptance into the valiant warrior tribes of Themyscira.
However, the gala festivities are suddenly halted when rafts carrying refugees bust through the barrier that separates her island nation from the perils of the outside world. When Diana defies the Amazons in an attempt to bring the disenfranchised strangers to safety, she finds herself engulfed in the tempestuous waves of the ocean and cut off from the only world she's ever known and into a savage land called America.
Plunged into a strange realm beyond Themyscira for the first time, Diana grapples with danger and injustice while staying with a Polish family where she aids undocumented immigrants and low-income families, encountering issues such as gentrification, human trafficking, and corruption while redefining what it means to belong, and to be an Amazon.
"I've adored Wonder Woman since I was 10 years old; I kept a full-size picture of her on my closet door," Anderson tells SYFY WIRE. "Her example gave me the confidence to participate in sports (which my mother hated) and got me reading stories about Greek mythology. I wanted to show the complexity of adolescence power – both when teens feel powerless and when they find their strength. I also wanted to show what the United States looks like to someone who was pure of heart.
"Working with Leila was a dream. She took my rough ideas of visuals and elevated them way beyond my imagination."
Del Duca hadn't seen many versions of Diana with bangs in other iterations of her character, so the artist gave her a bit of a makeover for this project.
"Bangs sometimes make people look younger, so I decided to switch up her hairstyle with the hopes of her seeming more teen," Del Duca explains to SYFY WIRE. "In regards to costuming, I wanted to have her wear unassuming clothing, like her fashion sense wasn't fully realized since she didn't have the cultural background or economic option to even purchase things once she started living in the human realm.
"Laurie is an amazing writer, and working on her script was so incredibly fun and moving," she adds. "For me, it's a sign of a good project when I end up tearing up while reading and drawing a story — and I teared up a lot on this one! Laurie wrote a story so imbued with meaning, symbology, and heartwarming morals, and I'm so thrilled I got to be the one to draw it. I hope readers gain more empathy towards refugees and immigrants by reading this book. And I hope that people new to American culture find a friend in Diana as she experiences how confusing life can be when first coming to the USA."
Now dive into our exclusive 7-page preview of DC Comics' Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed (June 2) in the full gallery below.
