The Amazon nation of Wonder Woman has changed significantly over time. Whether it is called Paradise Island or Themyscira, different creators have presented different visions of Diana’s home. Some painted it as a land of fantasy, with magical creatures. Others portrayed it as a scientific utopia, albeit one adopting a classical Athenian aesthetic. Longtime Wonder Woman creator Phil Jimenez explores these differing visions in Shapes, an autobiographical comic in DC Pride 2024.
Written by Phil Jimenez, with art by Giulio Macaione, Shapes closes out DC Pride 2024. The story centers around a young Phil, who dreamed of being “the only boy raised on Paradise Island.” Like many children of the 1970s and 1980s, Jimenez’s vision of Wonder Woman was shaped by the Lynda Carter television series. Even then, however, he noticed a drastic difference between the Paradise Island of the comics compared to the show.
One featured “Amazons with feathered hair, and curtain bangs,” lounging about their temples all day. The other was a “bonkers” place, where young Amazons rode giant rabbits, before graduating to giant alien kangaroo mounts. Then George Perez came in the Post-Crisis era and changed it all, with Paradise Island becoming Themyscira.
Phil Jimenez Envisioned a Multiverse of Amazons
While he didn’t have the words to describe it then, Jimenez imagined that the different visions of Paradise Island were different places, “with different Wonder Womans and Amazons.” As a boy, he pondered the logistics of his favorite fantasy worlds and tried to fit them together into new shared realities. He later learned the technical literary term for this sort of setting was a paracosm. This led him to imagine his own version of what the Amazon homeland should be like, and his creation of New Themyscira. It also led him to the life he dreamed of as a boy, sharing stories and visions of a better world for everyone.
DC Pride 2024 is now available in comic shops everywhere.
