I have complex relationship with Wonder Woman as a character. I like her but do not love her as much as I want it to be. Okay that maybe hard to understand.
Okay, so before anyone gets too terribly mad at me about that, I should probably clarify here: I want to love Wonder Woman. I really do, I promise. And I don’t think Wonder Woman is a bad character, and I certainly don’t think she’s a character who doesn’t have any value. She’s not a character that I will say "Comic book industry will be better without you." you’d have to be an idiot to not at least recognize her importance as a symbol and a pop culture icon that’s completely separate from her role in the comics. I get that, and it’s actually one of the reasons that she’s so frustrating to me as a reader.
For me, the problem is that Wonder Woman has been around for almost 75 years, in comics that have been published pretty consistently since 1941, and there just aren’t a lot of those stories that are actually any good. There are good ones, and there are even good runs, but for the most part, they just don’t compare to what else was going on
I realize that’s entirely subjective, and I’ll admit that I haven’t read every single Wonder Woman story ever published — though I have made an effort to read a pretty big chunk of what’s in print thanks to Chronicles, Showcases and most of the major modern runs as well — but I think that’s all part of the same problem.
If you ask me to give you a list of three or four stories that will give you a good idea of what Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern etc are all about, I can do it. With Wonder Woman, it’s a lot more difficult. There’s not as much of a consensus on Who She Is And What Her Deal Is. We can all sort of agree on what other prominent characters are about (with a handful of notable sticking points) that form a core that can stay true across different kinds of stories and different kinds of genres. I always like to point out that Batman Brave and the Bold cartoon and Batman Animated Series, and I feel like those are both equally valid takes, but with Wonder Woman, most of the time, it doesn’t feel like that core is really there.
Personally, I think it’s a case of shockingly consistent mismanagement. It starts with the Golden Age, and it’s important to remember that comic books and the superhero genre were a new medium that was being created by people who, generally speaking, had no idea what they were doing. If anything, they were taking their cues from newspaper adventure strips and trying to figure it out as they went along, and I doubt that any of them had any idea that these characters would be around in the next century. It’s a problem that’s particularly relevant for Wonder Woman because in her original form, she’s inextricably tied into World War II. She wears an American Flag, for cryin’ out loud, but unlike Captain America, who will always have that whole “Super Soldier” thing tagging along, the rest of her identity doesn’t really support it. Wonder Woman is not particularly patriotic, but that costume has stuck around in some variation for ever. So right from the start, we have this weird inconsistency, this conflict between character and design, intent and reality, and that’s without getting into anything else from the Golden Age.
Side note, I’m not a huge fan of the “New 52″ redesigns because they are almost universally wretched, but I actually do like that Wonder Woman got a costume that wasn’t so thoroughly built around that wartime imagery. It’s not perfect — I’m not crazy about the darker colours and it could use a few straps — but if nothing else, it gives her more of a visual identity of her own, rather than just putting her in the same colours as Superman
So it starts there, and in the years since, it’s just been a matter of people being constantly not sure what exactly they want to do with her. Should she be de-powered to be more relatable as a “modern woman?” Should she be an adventurer during World War II? Should she be a classic Golden Age Justice Society character or a modern Justice League hero? Is she a brutal warrior or a superhero diplomat? Is she a wide-eyed newcomer or a war-weary outcast? There’s a constant tug-of-war between different creators and editorial directions, many of which are going on at the same time, with people wanting to have it both ways. One of the best examples is how DC wants Wonder Woman to be this super important, iconic character, the third member of the “Trinity” — and with good reason; they have this hugely resonant feminist icon that they are contractually obligated to keep publishing in perpetuity — but they won’t ever commit to it. She’s don't have a second book.
Seriously: If we have Batman and Detective Comics, and we have Superman and Action Comics, and if they’re really the “Trinity” that DC keeps telling us they are, we should have Wonder Woman and Sensation Comics in main continuity (not outside of continuity book like DC is doing right now). That’s not even a question.
So guys what do you think about my problem and my complex relationship with Wonder Woman as a character. Tell me about your opinion
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