Gods and Mortals - Backstory

Backstory

By the 1980s, DC Comics' continuity was too difficult and complex for new readers to understand. To address this issue, the company published the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series in 1985. The first Wonder Woman series ended with #329 (February 1986) and the character was killed in the last issue of Crisis (March 1986). Because the crossover wiped the slate clean by erasing all of continuity, the stage was now set for a complete relaunch and reboot of the title.

Writer Greg Potter, who previously created the Jemm, Son of Saturn series for DC, was hired to rework the character. He spent several months working with editor Janice Race on new concepts, before being joined by writer/artist George Pérez. Inspired by John Byrne and Frank Miller's work on refashioning Superman and Batman, Pérez came in as the plotter and penciler of Wonder Woman. The Wonder Woman character, the supporting cast, the villains, and the stories, were now much more firmed in Greek mythology. The drama was on concerning Diana's explorations of modern society, and the book had more realism than the pre-Crisis version in showing an innocent young Amazon entering our world and the issues she would face.

Race left DC before the first issue of the new series was published to return to book publishing and was replaced by Karen Berger. Potter left DC as well after completing the second issue of the new series and was replaced by Len Wein. Pérez was originally set for six months but ended up staying on the book for five years. His relaunch of the character was a critical and sales success.