Wonder Woman must defend Earth in a cosmic trial in Evolution #1 preview

Wonder Woman: Evolution #1 excerpt (Image credit: Mike Hawthorne (DC))

DC's Wonder Woman steps up once again to save humanity in the upcoming limited series Wonder Woman: Evolution. Writer Stephanie Phillips (Harley Quinn) teams with penciler Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), inker Adriano Di Benedetto, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and letter Tom Napolitano for this eight-issue series to be released alongside the main Wonder Woman title.

As an alternate-universe tale not set in main Earth-Prime continuity, Wonder Woman: Evolution begins with Diana being whisked away by a mysterious god-like group of cosmic entities who act as arbiters of this particular DC Universe.

"Their job is to keep all the various planets and species in check – when one gets a little too far out of line and poses a threat, they intervene," Phillips tells Newsarama. "At the moment, they see humanity as posing a potential threat not just to Earth itself, but to the cosmos. The story will explore how they serve to make their decision about humanity and why Diana is the chosen proxy."

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Wonder Woman: Evolution #1 preview

Mixing grand sci-fi with Diana's core tenants of humanity, Wonder Woman Evolution will showcase DC's chief Amazon as she must go through a series of challenges that will tax her both physically and mentally, in an effort to convince these alien judges in this cosmic trial with the fate of humanity at stake.

"... with this I want readers to really feel that the universe is bigger than us and that the danger is being at the mercy of these 'gods'," Hawthorne says. "I'd like to ratchet up the feeling of having the world in the balance, and we're left to hope our hero is strong enough to hold up our world. "

Hawthorne, Di Benedetto, and Bellaire have illustrated the primary cover to Wonder Woman: Evolution #1, with a variant from Riley Rossmo, who draws Phillips' Harley Quinn run. You can check out both covers here:

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Wonder Woman: Evolution #1 covers

Wonder Woman: Evolution #1 (of 8) goes on sale on November 16.

Can't wait for Evolution? Check out the best Wonder Woman stories to date.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)