DC’s New Wonder Woman Spinoff Series Will Reveal The Origin Of The Amazons

We were excited when the mythological miniseries Odyssey of the Amazons was announced because of its potential to explore the history of the Amazons separated from their direct relationship with their most famous daughter, Wonder Woman. Well, it seems like the book is going to do exactly that, and in some very intriguing ways.

Art by Ryan Benjamin.

The Hollywood Reporter has a new interview with Odyssey writer Kevin Grevioux about the series, where he briefly touched upon the series — which will follow a crew of Amazons as they sail off from Themiscyra around the world, years before Diana’s birth — and how it takes its inspiration from mythology. He also added an intriguing tease that Odyssey will tie the origins of the Amazons in with powerful warrior women across different cultures:

We were looking at the great epic poems, like the Iliad, Jason and the Argonauts — what if we did something with the Amazons that had that same epic power. That’s how it really started. In this one, we have, essentially, the origins of the Amazons. Where they came from, why there are so many across the planet? One of the legends of the Amazons is that they began in the Middle East, others have them near Greece, there was even a kind of Amazon in Africa amongst the Senegalese peoples. There were even the Valkyries in Norse mythology. What I wanted to do was find a way to explain that all these powerful women exist for a reason. The series is about these women travelling around the world and finding more of their kind, while trying to answer the question why they exist, and how they are who they are. It’s very interesting.

This is exactly the sort of thing we wanted to hear about this book. Getting a chance to explore a hugely important part of Wonder Woman’s backstory, but in a manner that’s entirely removed from her personal relationship to it, is fascinating. It’s a very cool way to shine a light on part of the DC universe that rarely gets that much attention beyond Diana herself.

Odyssey of the Amazons is due to begin January 18.