As an element, Diana Prince has been eliminated from Wonder Woman’s world and brought back cyclically throughout the character’s history. Her name was actually imbued into the title during the ’70s Emma Peel-aping-powerless stint, to mixed reaction from critics all the way to the present. As I’ve stated before, I kind of dug it. DP actually started off kind of incredulously (consider the period) as a nurse who had an uncanny resemblance to the Princess of Paradise herself, who needed out of her station in life to go be with her family. The heroine took over her identity to be closer to her ailing would-be-beau Steve Trevor, recovering in the hospital from crash damage. Later in the period, Wonder Woman rescues Diana from her abusive husband, who WW helps reform from his anti-social ways. Diana gives up nursing to become Steve’s secretary so she can keep her perpetual dude-in-distress safe from his hobby of nearly getting himself killed. This vocation lasted until the Silver Age, when Di returned to nursing. She wound up a boutique owner in the aforementioned de-powered incarnation (!) in a rare instance of Amazon vanity. Upon her return, the series shortly moved back to WW2 to reflect the feel of the popular TV show. When canon returned to the present, she was back in the military and remained as such until the Crisis did her in. When she was rebuilt by Len Wein and George Perez, the secret ID vanished in total. William Messner-Loebs took over and in his debut, DP was a wealthy gadfly, which I thought was pretty fun. It only lasted a single issue, then vanished after WML got past his desire to make the title more of a superhero book. Her next comeback was the Allan Heinberg moment on the title, this time as an agent of the Department of Extranormal Operations. She was actually a powerless character here as well, due to a spell from Circe, who wanted to show the woman what it was like to be human. This concept remained until the New 52, where outside of her title, Superman talked her into the notion to give her a private life as of my last reading.
My issue in regards to the glasses wearing alter-ego is vocation. None of the above suit her in my opinion, because they don’t allow her the needed ability to disappear for any length of time without realistically losing her gig. Superman being a reporter allows him this liberty, and Batman has no schedule to maintain as a billionaire philanthropist. Some versions of the character establish her to be independently wealthy, falling back on a bag of gold from her mama which was actually a device originally employed by Marv Wolfman for her then-sister Wonder Girl to explain her lavish lifestyle. When that’s not in place, a girl’s gotta eat. That in mind, I think I have a potential solution for this pickle. Bear with me, because it may seem strange or outlandish when I say it, but I’ll give you some support to think it through. What if Diana Prince was to be… an ARTIST?
First, it’s a great field for someone to have who needs a lack of time accountability. Second, it’s a potentially interesting way to balance out the violent world she often inhabits. An outlet, if you will. Third, I would think sculpting, painting, etc. would show an image of a woman who grew up in a (formerly, anyway) cultured and advanced society. Fourth, it further demonstrates the inherent genius and versatility of the character. Lastly, I would say the core of the lady is quite liberal, as are a healthy majority of those in the field. She was a social reform supporter in her original vein, and in Perez’s tenure an ambassador of peace to ‘Man’s World’. I think sculpture especially would refer to her heritage quite well, and I think the gentle side of the character needs to be illustrated, and this could do it. Plus, eccentricity would be expected from the general public and I picture her at street level coming off as such.
As I go on about ad nauseum in this blog, I think core concepts should be creatively updated and kept. Strategizing and bringing new life should be the goal, in my mind. What do you think?
Save Diana Prince!
NO NEED TO CHANGE CLOTHES AND PUT ON GLASSES- YOU CAN COMMENT/COMPLAIN/PRAISE/DISCUSS JUST AS YOU ARE!
This is actually the impetus for the whole site. It’s a labor of love, with many angles and some strong emotions for me, personally. I’ve loved the titular character of this blog from before kindergarden. I’ve followed her on a monthly basis for almost 40 years. I’ve waited breathlessly for her show to debut, and each episode thereafter. I’ve anxiously awaited any portrayal of her in any media, to some excitement and lots of disappointment. I’ve bought toys galore. I’ve spent good money over bad for my fix, even when I really didn’t have the capital to do so. In recent years, it has become a major frustration for me, and I’ve analyzed why to the Nth degree, and this is my dissection, observation, and potential solutions. I hope you enjoy.
A TARGET OF MUCH DISCUSSION
I’ve taken to scanning a lot of comments about Wonder Woman lately. They are as varied as those about sports teams. Some I’m with, many I’m not. Here’s a sampling, with my responses that I’ll fortify later: “Comic fans are sexist, and won’t give her a chance.” Nope, not buying it. For one, I run a fan group page, and there’s so much love for her it’s astounding. Second, when DC announced the coming of the New 52, without a doubt I can say that fan excitement over Wonder Woman’s new title was through the roof. It was everywhere about Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang’s forthcoming take. Third, check out the internet and see how many articles/sites/groups there are about her. As the song says “All The World Is Waiting For You…”. I don’t blame fans, I blame creators. PERIOD. Also, in regards to sexism, Marvel has Captain Marvel, drawing in new fans, a large portion of which are female. “They should take her back to Perez era, and make her an ambassador for peace”. Not with you there, either. More later, but in a nutshell, Perez told his story sum and full. Totally. It wouldn’t be honoring the intent of the character, it would be back-peddling. As stated, MUCH more to follow. “I don’t know this character anymore.” Bingo! No one does, and again, it falls to Creative. This character is so blurry at this point, there’s no consensus. She’s been failed and revamped to no avail repeatedly. Every creator tries to undo the previous one and make it something new, and for some reason she winds up in the same pigeon-hole with even more inconsistencies and loosening of definition and purpose than before. The wheel has been recreated with stunning pace. Most galling is, like most characters, if you just go to the start to find the intention, see how it got lost, and then see how to bring it home again, it’s all right there. Let’s start from the start.
THE GOOD DOCTOR AND WOMEN
Charles Moulton, nee Dr. William Moulton Marston, is largely known for his sexual proclivities. Let’s get them out of the way first, if we must. He was into the bondage thing, and it showed in his stories. No argument. He had multiple wives and partners under the same roof. The same, and done. OK, now we can look at the rest. He believed in a principle of womanhood that involved matriarchy, with a fulfillment therein. The belief was that women were the only people who could save the world. Man would have to surrender totally, then women could undo their bellicose ways and make peace. Simple. It would take submission for us to get there, but then we could move toward Utopia. Paradise Island, it’s inhabitants, and Diana were borne of his logic. The island was not just a retreat for a weary bunch of women, it was a god(s) given place, where the Amazons were expected by their deities to make magic. Over centuries, these immortal gals created an atmosphere of magic, joy, love, as well as advancements in science and medicine. They were way ahead of our curve on every level. It’s this arena that was the groundwork for who Diana would be. The first incarnation of the character had an arsenal of tech. The invisible jet, a ‘mental radio’, earrings that allowed her to speak and interpret other tongues (and in some cases breathe underwater), and a lasso of pure godly magic. She was totally tricked out. The strength, speed, agility, and such were there, but they weren’t the sole source of her power by a long-shot. She was strong enough to pick up the back-end of a car to stop it from moving, but she couldn’t pick it up over her head and throw it or some-such. No flying or the like, either. Her mission, set in play by Col. Trevor’s plane crash and need for a lift home, was to be a freedom-fighting ambassador to the world. The first emissary from the race that could, and probably would, one day save us all from ourselves. One of the major ways she outdid her peers in this shade was how she handled her totally female population of foes. Upon apprehension, she would bring them to an island her “sisters” set up for her called Reform Island, where the anti-social were to be rehabbed. It was often successful. Paula Von Gunther, an Axis agent close to Hitler, ended up there and became a vital part of the Amazon science community and stayed in continuity way past the Golden Age model; the Cheetah got a new lease on life too, as did others. This was a marvelous component for showing Di as the great reformer and not just a generic crime-fighter. She got results as a social justice wunderkind. What ended up happening was the retirement of the good Doc from the book, and then the issue that was her Achilles heel from day one became the focus for years: her strange over-the-top borderline obsessive love for Steve Trevor. Her title morphed overnight into a romance book, then a pale silly imitation, a karate driven espionage book, a tv show adaptation, ending as a dark looking book with a cypher lead. Then, a cosmic Crisis with our heroine turned back to the clay she came from, the end. Next, George Perez.
GEORGE PEREZ: CREATOR, OR DESTROYER?
After the Crisis, Diana was a blank canvas ready for a new palette. The hottest artist in the DC camp, George Perez, was tapped to draw with industry vet Len Wein behind the keyboard. They attacked it with great aplomb. What they engineered was a truly cinematic take on the lady. It was not a superhero book anymore. It had a sense of identity that set it apart from the other titles, literally and figuratively. Other characters from the DCU were barely given notice nor presence. Paradise Island was now Themiscyra, keeping it with the Greek. Amazon science was now absent. Steve Trevor was a older man, who’s connection was a strange one in regards to Diana. His mom had crash landed on the Isle back in the ’40s and saved an Amazon from a monster that crawled out of the basement of the venue, where all evil mythological creatures were kept with the women in charge of their incarceration as punishment for falling to the evil ways of man and getting themselves enslaved. Diana Trevor lost her life and became the person WW was named after. The mission was back to Ambassador, and again, not super-heroine, not one bit. Rather than Washington, DC, Diana was mystically transported with Steve (no Invisible Jet this time) to Boston, where she took up residence with a scholar of Greek History, Julia Kappetelis, and her teen daughter Vanessa. In less than 10 issues, Mr. Perez became the double-duty man on the book with Wein’s exit. It was very blatantly a feminist statement. Standards of beauty, notions of the nature of feminine culture, even MENOPAUSE were topics in the title. Fans loved it, because it was so fresh and daring. Diana wouldn’t fight anyone without appealing to reason first, which I myself loved. His run lasted 62 issues, and he was joined by co-writer Mindy Newell 2/3 of the way through, and dropped the art chores around the same time and handed them to Chris Merrinan. The hindsight here, is that again, the book was more like a movie than most comics at the time. It was very real world despite it’s gods, monsters, villains, and fictional elements. Also, like a good movie, it had a beginning, a middle (I’d qualify the arc where ambassadors from “Patriarch’s World” came to Themiscryra and were terrorized by Eris, the goddess of strife as the median), and an end- where Diana shuts down the Wonder Woman Foundation she established, and flies off into the sunset with a full tote bag. Story told, done and done.
JOHN BYRNE TRIES TO SET IT RIGHT, AND NEARLY DOES
John Byrne came in on a mission. A few words about the man: he’s a one-man band. He does it all, the writing, the drawing, even the lettering in some cases. He’s a clean-up guy. He comes onto a book, and mostly ignores what came before, sticking to core content and putting it back to it’s elements and bringing back what’s classical and outstanding. His downside? He’s pretty “meh” as an actual script writer. I find that his dialogue is pretty lame, as a rule, and he takes fairly contrived and clunky means to get things back on their shelves. That said, he does get ultimate results. Here’s the laundry list:
Gateway City– She needed a home of her own since the get-go. Moulton wasn’t aware of her peer circumstances when he opted for D.C. as the locale. Gateway was a great analogy for San Francisco, which fits like a glove. It gives her distance from the obvious New York refs that Metropolis and Gotham are AND as a metaphor, SF would be a great environment for her with it’s liberal, free-spirited demeanor. This is crucial to her Trinity presence, shared with Batman and Superman.
Invisible Jet– He gave it plausibility. A gift from aliens, that can become the vehicle of her choosing. Also, it folds up into a little see-through pendant, so no obvious parking limitations. If the move were ever made to Amazon tech, the alien origin would be unnecessary.
Wonder Girl– Every good hero needs partners, and a camp. Cassie Sandsmark was a blast, she was fun, feisty, and age-appropriate. Donna Troy had become lost after the Crisis, and needed her WW connection. The route to her destination was needlessly busy, but he added her to the ‘family’ Wonder Woman team, and gave her back her role in the DCU.
A Place Among the Heroes– Darkseid was a great foil for her. His despising of her pointed out her peaceful, love-filled truth, and showed her as a force as potent as Superman. Having her up against pre-established DC villains like Morgan LeFey and Doomsday put her firmly in the Universe.
World War 2– Wonder Woman is a WW2 icon more than her peers. Her appearance and her activities against the Nazis at the time make it so. In the new DCU it’s irrelevant, but the intent was cool and the Justice Society needed her at their table. Again, the super-heroine in full effect.
PHIL JIMINEZ, THE LAST TRADITIONALIST
Phil, IMO, might have been the truest lover of Di’s. He took the whole mythology and tried to synch it together, with a lot of good results. Like Byrne, his contributions were discarded upon his exit from the book. I will concede that the last quarter was a tad self-indulgent with the story-line with every female DC character used in one issue, and the time trip with Villainy, Inc, the most stupidly titled enclave ever. Still, he tried to make the character linear, and came closer to a cohesive working version than any other bothered to attempt.
Paradise Found– He finally got Themiscyra back to being Paradise Island. It was a bumpy road, but the floating nation, with it’s magical violence clamp-down was amazing. The Oz-like enchantment factor drew ire from some camps who obviously didn’t know the roots. If they’d just given it time and showed how it would fit into the current mythos, they might well have grown to love it.
Sister Act– He took Byrne’s team ethic and ran with it. Many stories with the Wonder Girl, “Wonder Queen” and Troia posse present, and a dynamic therein that showcased each member. The roommate situation with Donna was great, and again, discarded without any reason or acknowledgement offered.
Back in the DC Game– The opening story with the Bat-Villains was obviously to draw in readers, but it was pretty damn good. It showcased both worlds and made them in the same Universe without crowding. Also, I loved the use of the Gods without them actually being physically present (more on that later).
GREG RUCKA- HERE WE GO AGAIN
Let me start by saying that Mr. Rucka is a DAMN good writer. He offered a Diana with a personality and scenario that was undoubtedly a matured sequel to Perez’s run. Many look at it as Diana’s finest hour, and if you read Perez and Rucka only, it’s pretty good, but as I’ll point out, it even contradicts his predecessor in grand fashion.
Where’d She Go?– Rucka’s run, sort of like Byrne’s, discards the in-betweens and attempts to tell a story that leaves a wide chasm of questions between his and the Post-Crisis genesis. Byrne, unlike Rucka, does acknowledge in cursory fashion what came before. Boston, her rift with the Amazons and her mother, and the Steve-Etta presence are part of his story. Rucka comes in with conceit. Where did that embassy come from? When did the Foundation HQ get built? Since when did she have a doorway to Themiscyra? No explanations given, and in the big picture that was needed.
The Foundation– As stated, his run was obviously a 5 or so year later extension of the GP era, which as also stated, ended with her dissolving the institution. She wanted to be an example in her autonomy, and didn’t want acolytes. Rucka’s story from the ground up was about an organization that had a closed door from early on, and again, with no explanation.
Who Are These People, and Where Did They Come From?– The Minotaur chef, Io the Amazon forger, and several other characters also spring from nowhere with no rhyme or reason.
Where Did Everybody Go?– No previous supporting cast at all. The Wonder Family, most notably.
WONDER WHEEL: DIANA IS THE HAMSTER
Now, here’s an inventory of the cyclical nature of the title. This is where the road from Perez, who wrapped it with a bow, leaving his writing descendants in the dark as to what to do with her lead:
Amazons at War– Perez brought in the Bana-Mighdall, and Messner-Loebs made them co-habitants with Hyppolyta’s tribe. WML’s arc made the group at large discordant and filled with drama. Byrne had Darkseid decimate the population. Luke had them fighting gods. Jiminez brought them to civil war, then decimated without a queen by Imperiex (ending on a rare positive note). Rucka smashed the new Island to pieces, then plopped them down on the shores of the Carolinas, and immediately attacked by their neighbors. The girls were pure militants at this point, unlike the way Jiminez left them. Amazons Attack was them versus our government, and later Gail Simone had a group of rebels bent on killing the royals.
Amazons Gone– Foisted to another dimension to create Diana Prince, Kung-Fu fighter even before Perez. Back to another plane by Messner-Loebs, off to limbo by Rucka. It happens again, to be seen shortly.
The Super-Villain Roller Coaster-Perez used some of them. Messner-Loebs neutered The Cheetah as a heavy, and focused on Circe. Byrne kept Cheetah as a victim not a villain, brought back Decay, and that’s it. Luke, no past villains from the canon, re-introducing Golden Aged Dr. Poison and creating Devastation (not used since). Jiminez used almost all of them. Rucka, none but a re-invigorated Cheetah. Heinburg brings them back as a group, leaves without establishing them. Picoult- none. Simone, even with the recent update and upgrade, it’s only Cheetah and Psycho without any of the more underused and exiting prospects like The Mask, Osira, Silver Swan, et al at her disposal. When you look at the JLA pantheon, rogues should be virtually omnipresent and explored.
Circe, the Leaning Post– Perez brought her in, and she’s an interesting foil. Messner-Loebs made her presence a background through most of his run. Jiminez made her the Big Bad. Heinberg made her the instigator, and the woman behind everything. Amazons Attack turned out to be all her doing. Circe is Wonder Woman’s Brainiac. She’s a big time threat to everyone, and should be used sparingly to keep her so. There’s no consistent Lex Luthor, and there needs to be. Someone consistently plotting and scheming who can’t be shrugged off. I vote for the Cheetah, whose staying power and presence in multi-media should make her be the one (for elaboration, see here).
Everybody’s a Damn “Visionary”– Perez, all from scratch. Messner-Loebs is cursed to find his own way. Byrne undoes WML. Luke discards Byrne. Jiminez drops Luke’s concepts. Simonson goes rogue. Rucka throws out everybody but Perez. Heinberg starts fresh. Simone changes the foundations. Picoult delivers the ultimate arrogance, and refuses to read any source material, because she’s so gifted and vision-driven, offering a disturbingly lukewarm take. All you get here is a muddied, contradicting book, with interpretations that do not jibe. By the time we got to the end, Hyppolyta, who was born an adult, who walked out of the ocean in the opening of Perez’s run, somehow had a grandmother at the end of the title, as a for instance.
Who IS this?– Back to the earlier complaint, no one knows. The last substantial origin story was in 1986. Batman: Year One is the same here, but Batman is an earth-level type. His story really doesn’t bear repeating, given it’s iconic status, and incorruptible mission statement. Fantastical characters need revision and semi-decade updates with ties to their present day interpretation. That’s why Superman gets that treatment, and his origin is easily as legendary as Bats’. Without this storytelling element, inconsistencies and contradictions abound.
The Warrior Path– Again, Perez unwittingly made it so, it wasn’t the impetus of the mission. By the Rucka end, she was re-imagined over and over as a sword and sorcery character, and not at all the peace-loving super-heroine. This is her disconnect in the Trinity and the League. The fantastical elements are vacant, and we have Lady Hercules in place. When in the group setting, she’s usually just a powerhouse combatant. Her intellect and know-how takes a backseat. She’s rarely seen in her company trying to be a peacemaker at all. The discarded pre-Crisis science-savvy lady fits the DCU much better, in my eyes, putting her in good company with Bats, as an alien from an advanced culture she fits with Superman, as the recipient of cultural arsenal, she’s there with Green Lantern. As a scientist, she should be beyond The Flash. The Universe is all about Science driven characters. Sword and sorcery doesn’t garner much of a choir- see: Warlord, and the cancelled Sword of Sorcery post New52 title.
THE NEW 52-FILLED WITH HOPE AND DISAPPOINTMENT
I’d like to go back to the start of this treatise now. Remember when I talked about fan anticipation? I wasn’t kidding. It was everywhere, the love was there and practically on fire. This was fueled by the announcement of the creative team. I had literally thought repeatedly that if I had my pick, I would go with Cliff Chiang. I got my wish. For the first time in decades, DC did something I truly wanted with this character and I was ecstatic. Now, there’s writer Brian Azzarello, a noted and pedigreed scribe whose work is always creative and groundbreaking who got the community and myself hoping against hope for a brand new day for the character we are all just itching to love. That was not the case, at all, for me and a large body of readers. Not one bit. The story was not just the same, but in many ways worse.
Amazon Assholes Exponentially– Not three issues in, we learn that the tribe are hateful, savage, and dislike the main character. Hyppolyta is a coward, a liar, and is lust driven, throwing out her original wisdom and convictions. She’s a traitor to the deity she owed her life to. Further, as in a thousand miles so, the Amazons are raping thugs that do not value human life, slaughtering their sexual conquests and throwing their infants into the ocean to drown. Great statement about womanhood growing in autonomic circumstances here. BACK TO THE DARK AGES. AGAIN.
About That Rape and Babies Jazz– Just what does Di know about reproduction? Apparently nothing at all. She was on an island with small children who had to grow up with her and packs of pregnant women, yet somehow didn’t piece anything together. A plot hole the size of the Grand Canyon. ABUSIVE TO INTENT, AND MYOPIC. AGAIN.
Amazons Gone– Also at it’s virtual inception as a title, we get the women turned into a feast of snakes, and the Queen is a statue. Poof. LAZY WRITING-AGAIN.
Hermes Is Just Hangin’, and the Rest– Perez already did this. Hermes came to Earth, hung with Di, was dissected to show the nature of godhood, and ended up dead. This brings up a bone with me about the Pantheon- what is faith? I’d say it’s believing in something you can’t prove. If you could pal around or sit and talk to God/Jesus/Mohammed, would that be faith? For me, it would not. As cast members, they are castrated. The presence should be felt and referenced, not seen. Furthermore, with intact Amazons, and a Man’s World cast, this makes three, then add on the JLA and such. Too scattering, and again, not really necessary. DONE BETTER BEFORE, AGAIN.
A New Cast That Eats the Title– A new character that’s vastly uninformed as such is immediately thrust into a circle. Zola is there before she is, and then the cast is mounting by the fourth issue. This book is not Wonder Woman, it’s a team book better called “God Force”. The nature of the new cast keeps her from developing and informing her present day surroundings and totally contradicts her outside appearances. WEAK. AGAIN.
Once More, Who Is This?– No origin telling. We are given nothing. She wakes up in London with no back-story. The Amazon mythos are not explored to explain the mission. JLA gives us the info that Steve Trevor was there, but she wasn’t into him, so why did she come and stick around? Just to get off that caustic island? Adrift and pointless once more. This was the chance to clean up a serious mess, and it was fumbled to a spectacular degree. Dan DiDio said he didn’t want to re-invent the wheel, and go back to established territory. What territory is THAT? The last offering, nigh-three decades ago bears no resemblance to this person. Diana’s peers get opposite treatment in this regard, and everyone acts like it’s a failing on the character’s part. Diane Nelson claims they just don’t know how to take such a jigsaw puzzle and adapt it to film. Here was your chance, you signed off on it, it’s all on you, lady, and your selected team. FAIL, AGAIN.
The Tradition Trampled– Along with the obscene and ghastly nature of the Amazons, we find out that Diana is Zeus’ bastard child. The clay thing was hokey in it’s inception. The Silver Age discarded it and gave her a dead dad who perished with all the other Amazon men in war. Gail Simone used the clay baby and got rid of the Golem-ish nature of the aspect with the spilling of the Queen’s blood to connect her as kin. Simple, and derides the disconnect inherent to the character. Moreover, Cassie Sandsmark was already done as his abandoned offspring, so this actually sort of reduces Di. Not to mention, now she’s literally Hercules-Woman. LAZY AGAIN.
A HORROR Book?– I’ll directly address the writer here. Who asked you for this, Brian? Seriously? If I want a horror book, I will buy one. I want a hero book like this one is supposed to be. Throwing a character like this into a different genre to avoid dealing with the subject at hand is lame. On top of that, I am OVER the Vertigo-izing of DC proper. I love(d) both, and want(ed) different things from each. This universe is too crowded as it is, and there’s little space being given to new and exciting prospects. I realize some of this is from a background in hard, edgy fare, but real Creatives can move to other genres and adapt. This is a creator adapting a character to them, so the comfort zone doesn’t get breeched. A few writers have done WW horror stories, and they were great. Changing the entire milieu of the character’s book to avoid stretching your wings is wretchedly weak. LAZY AGAIN AND AGAIN.
Another Damnable Visionary– Following the horrific example of Jodi Picoult, BA only got some cursory knowledge of the story and decided he knew what was best. Done with no examination (obviously) of what might be repetitious, or defeat the essence of the character. No one is so damned good that they can pick up an icon without scrutinizing and objectifying what came before. LAZY LAZY LAZY AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN.
Cliff Chiang is a Pro, Yet No Control– Jim Lee created the horrific costume from the J. Michael Straczynski run, and it was loathed by the masses. For ridiculous numbers-driven reasons, he got to re-outfit a majority of the DCU, to gross effect (rant in full HERE). Busy, ugly suits abound. Naturally, he got to re-design WW’s dud of duds. A muted, washed out black, red, and silver number with unnecessary line-work. A functionless piece with an ornamental armband and choker set that repeats the chest emblem which now looks like so much bling. This was preceded by a signed-off look that involved black pants and friggin’ KNEE PADS. Cliff’s art is corrupted by it’s presence. His stuff is simple and elegant and he would’ve been a more than plausible designer for the look. Darwyn Cooke, in his legendary New Frontier, came up with a brilliant tweak of the original visual, and it was lauded greatly. Then dumped TWICE for a busy, excessive, and trendy Lee design. NOTHING LEARNED. AGAIN!
CAN THIS MESS BE FIXED, AND HOW?? THE ‘NO’ SIDE
Yes, it can, and no, it likely won’t. Won’t, because the damage is done. Maybe in 5 years, maybe in a decade, but not now. Decisions are being made by folks who do not care about and likely don’t even dig comics. All of the trickle-down from the Warner parent company has been part of a licensing plan for other ventures. It’s numbers on paper. They’re looking at bumps by Marvel, DC, and Image from the ’90s and deciding on what we comic readers want, with no knowledge of the fact that those that built it turned against it. I, for one, never wanted Vertigo to move into the DCU and bring the horror fringe. I loved both, separately but equally. I don’t want a damn Wonder Woman horror book, I want a book about a super-heroine, the grandmother of them all. Instead, I got a book I can’t stand to read anymore. I gave it several chances, too. I’ve tried her also in JLA, and it’s more been-there-done-that post 80’s drivel, where she’s a warrior who has no problem killing. She’s dating Superman now, too. Great. There goes autonomy and a sense of her own personal space in the DCU. It just seems to get worse.
THE YES SIDE
Maybe, just maybe, the writing on the wall will make new things happen. That’s a reference to the fact the New 52 started with a bang, and is now just so-so in the overall comic sales mix. Maybe that (literal) Pandora’s Box will entrap the evil it unleashed (still sounds metaphoric, no?) and a new day will happen. Maybe an apology/amends with Nelson and whatever subordinate(s) that doesn’t get fired nodding to the fact that they did a rush job that ignored the wants and needs of their fans. Admitting too, that the ploy to gain new readership was done lousily. Warner Brothers is a BIG company, and if they really want this sector to become the post-Harry Potter tentpole, perhaps they could take a month’s loss and produce no books in the mainstream center, to allow time for some creativity to blossom. Then, return with a month of very inexpensive debuts, which would lose more on the upfront. I think that would be preferable to a bump followed by a downward spiral. Make a statement about fan love, dependence, and respect for material and they could actually achieve a win. Now, about the character at hand:
Origin Crucial– I think I’ve made my point here. I’m nodding to it again, just in case it hasn’t sunk in yet. You have to have a foundation if you want character success in any arena.
The ‘Bible”– This concept worked well for Batman for years. Make a book that is a composite, yet absolute treatise on WW. Origin notes, ideology and ethics code, situational reactions, powers and weapons set, general state of day-to-day affairs, casts, and all other relevancies should be there and be distributed to ALL DC editors and any writer who plans on using the character.
All-Star Superman: The Lessons of Grant Morrison– It is no secret the regard that the company, the fans, and the critics have for Grant. He’s earned it all, too. All-Star did the unthinkable. It took the most ludicrous aspects of the character and spun gold from them. It not only sold well, it got adapted to other media, increased love for the property with not a trace of disrespect for his relevant history, and has made scads of required comics-reading material lists as a genuine classic. Same but even more with Batman. 75 years of history umbrellaed in a little under a decade, with the silly made sublime. Awesome. Taking it and X-Men, you can see an expansion of the magic: he obviously thought of the end, worked backwards and came to the beginning. THAT’S what a visionary does. That’s how you take the old, make the new, and without corruption, deviation, or avoidance of what some would consider flaws. It is alchemy, and it is high art. Noteworthy too, is that in the last two mainstream endeavors, GM left the door open for his replacing writer. Unlike Perez who left the room with the lights off, Morrison left it open, kept the lights on, and gently escorted them into the room. He gave them a soft platform in a shiny new playroom, so they could add on whatever they liked and not stumble in the dark and trip on furniture. Wonder Woman, in other analogy, should be like Star Trek. You take the fantastical and make it a statement about the human condition. The root essence is about womanhood, love, and peace. This should be reflected in the content without having to be literal in the message. She shouldn’t be fighting terrorists, she should be fighting menaces that imply terrorism. The metaphorical approach is also high art. Art is what we want, and it’s what keeps us coming. It challenges us, and keeps us engaged. Fads pass quickly, fashion is eternal. Art is fashion. This is probably the most important message I can deliver. If you happen to be from Creative, read again until you eat, sleep, and breathe it. SIDENOTE: Morrison’s “Wonder Woman: The Trial of Diana Prince” is in the works. The preview images are already worrying me. There’s Di in Themiscyra, in chains surrounded by an unhappy mob. As an upside, there’s an image of a re-fattened tough looking Etta Candy, so hope springs eternal.
Strife is for Bad Guys, Diana Brings Hope– Diana’s picture so far may sound too rosy. That’s why consistently good foils must be delivered to give the schism. Great conflict that challenges her mind and ethics is what we need to see. Problem solving when her peers go up against foes like Luthor, the Joker, and such show how our heroes can’t just bump them off. They have to think on their toes, and often face their demons. That’s epic-making stuff.
Keep it DCU, Just Don’t Lose the Flavor– Acknowledge the nature of the super-hero, once again. In the DCU, it’s largely sci-fi, tech, and future driven. Take my earlier statement about peer analogies with the recognition that she doesn’t have to be a distaff version of any. The mission and the mindset of the character sets her apart in application, so her identity isn’t lost. Also, don’t let lazy-assed writers make her ‘Superman-Woman’. All that super-strength and flying make her fall into the category too easily. Writers in the past have alluded to her being able to communicate with animal life, exhibit a hypnotic direct eye-gase that’s impossible to resist, etc. Capitalize more on other skills.
Go to the Source, Not the Median– This is a re-iteration. Keep the original concept relevant as the propellor of the platform. Stop drawing the boundary at Perez. This has stunted the growth for too long. I think his work is great, but it’s not the only great. Look at what’s in between, and what came first. Batman and Superman have had amazing updates at the same time that Perez did his thing. Yet, I love Geoff Johns’ Superman take as well, and all of the above are directly related to the first origin telling. With WW, some was there, but a lot wasn’t. Some of that was fundamental to the character at large, just not the Perez version. Look at it as one solid chunk, and then cull the good stuff.
Lastly, If You Hire a Great Artist, Let Him/Her Do the Job– Let creative, again, be creative. Trust the appointee to come up with the look, or choose the look that suits their style. Why not multiple looks? If they’re succinct with the character, they should be recognizable to the approacher. Simpler artists, once more, make better designers that any other sketcher can pick up and follow with minimum distortion.
ONE LAST THOUGHT: VOTE!
If you are dissatisfied as a consumer (and from what I’m reading/seeing many of you are), don’t just abort, WRITE. You as a buyer are a commodity and a voter. Fire off an email with a clear subject line. It just might get read, and if enough folks do it, a change might occur. Grousing with the peanut gallery can only do so much good.
As an element, Diana Prince has been eliminated from Wonder Woman’s world and brought back cyclically throughout the character’s history. Her name was actually imbued into the title during the ’70s Emma Peel-aping-powerless stint, to mixed reaction from critics all the way to the present. As I’ve stated before, I kind of dug it. DP actually started off kind of incredulously (consider the period) as a nurse who had an uncanny resemblance to the Princess of Paradise herself, who needed out of her station in life to go be with her family. The heroine took over her identity to be closer to her ailing would-be-beau Steve Trevor, recovering in the hospital from crash damage. Later in the period, Wonder Woman rescues Diana from her abusive husband, who WW helps reform from his anti-social ways. Diana gives up nursing to become Steve’s secretary so she can keep her perpetual dude-in-distress safe from his hobby of nearly getting himself killed. This vocation lasted until the Silver Age, when Di returned to nursing. She wound up a boutique owner in the aforementioned de-powered incarnation (!) in a rare instance of Amazon vanity. Upon her return, the series shortly moved back to WW2 to reflect the feel of the popular TV show. When canon returned to the present, she was back in the military and remained as such until the Crisis did her in. When she was rebuilt by Len Wein and George Perez, the secret ID vanished in total. William Messner-Loebs took over and in his debut, DP was a wealthy gadfly, which I thought was pretty fun. It only lasted a single issue, then vanished after WML got past his desire to make the title more of a superhero book. Her next comeback was the Allan Heinberg moment on the title, this time as an agent of the Department of Extranormal Operations. She was actually a powerless character here as well, due to a spell from Circe, who wanted to show the woman what it was like to be human. This concept remained until the New 52, where outside of her title, Superman talked her into the notion to give her a private life as of my last reading.
My issue in regards to the glasses wearing alter-ego is vocation. None of the above suit her in my opinion, because they don’t allow her the needed ability to disappear for any length of time without realistically losing her gig. Superman being a reporter allows him this liberty, and Batman has no schedule to maintain as a billionaire philanthropist. Some versions of the character establish her to be independently wealthy, falling back on a bag of gold from her mama which was actually a device originally employed by Marv Wolfman for her then-sister Wonder Girl to explain her lavish lifestyle. When that’s not in place, a girl’s gotta eat. That in mind, I think I have a potential solution for this pickle. Bear with me, because it may seem strange or outlandish when I say it, but I’ll give you some support to think it through. What if Diana Prince was to be… an ARTIST?
As I go on about ad nauseum in this blog, I think core concepts should be creatively updated and kept. Strategizing and bringing new life should be the goal, in my mind. What do you think?
Saving Wonder Woman 
