We are only a few days away from August, which means summer is coming to a close and fall is just around the corner. As Flashpoint begins to wind down, and September veers its head, it's hard not to think about the big changes that will take place in the DC Universe this Fall. We know many of you can not wait for some of DCs massive changes to go into effect -- and some of you can. One character that has made the news pretty frequently in regards to the changes taking place is Wonder Woman. The main topic of discussion? Will she or won't she be wearing pants in her revamp. I say to this, who cares.

And while a good many of you are definitely spending a lot of time on that issue (I respect that you still care about her wardrobe so much), I have to ask whether or not the solicit information revealed by DC has been an issue of contention amongst fans? And if not, why not?

In the last month or so DC revealed the covers as well as the solicitations to the first two issues of Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's upcoming Wonder Woman series; and from what we can tell, it sounds like Diana will be a very different character from the one we know her to be. The solicit for the first issue, which you'll be able to find at your local comic shop on September 21st, will showcase Wonder Woman as the protector of humanity from the Greek Gods.

The Gods walk among us. To them, our lives are playthings. Only one woman would dare to protect humanity from the wrath of such strange and powerful forces. But is she one of us - or one of them?

Interesting, considering she herself was created by "the Gods." We all know that story, right? Hippolyta wanted a child so she made Diana out of clay? Well, in addition to that origin, several of the Greek Goddesses bestowed upon Diana's soul "gifts" (characteristics) like beauty and strength. How much of this will remain consistent with the launch of the new DC universe?

The second issue, which will be going on sale October 19th is a bit more specific and mentions the Greek Goddess (and Zeus' wife) Hera, and her role in the conflict.

Hera, Queen of the Gods, does not take her vengeance lightly – and if Wonder Woman is so foolish as to stand in the way of her whim, then Wonder Woman is her enemy. But it’s Hera’s daughter Diana should truly fear – the goddess of discord is coming to Paradise Island, and murder always follows in her wake!

The thing about Hera is that she has always been on the side of the Amazons, and she's been a figure for Wonder Woman and her sisters to look up to. It was Hera that protected Themyscira from Zeus and from the world be shielding them from humanity, making the island invisible. Based on the solicit (above) for the second issue of Wonder Woman, it seems Diana will be protecting humanity and "our" world -- and that she might be disassociated from Themyscira. The solicit implies that Hera and the Greek Gods and Goddesses may become adversaries, posing a threat to Wonder Woman. At least for the first few issues. What will that mean for the Amazons on Themyscira? Will they even exist in this new DC universe? What will be the role of the Greek Gods and Goddesses and what will their relationship be with the Amazons?

We already know Wonder Woman's costume won't stay the same (apparently we'll be seeing both the pants and the shorts -- everyone's happy) but the more serious question is, how much of her identity will change and how much will stay the same? With J. Michael Straczynski and Phil Hester's Wonder Woman run on the cusp of coming to a close, there is a lot about Wonder Woman in current continuity that is already starkly different from her character prior to Wonder Woman issue #600. With #600 came the Odyssey story arc where Wonder Woman's mind had been erased of her identity and affiliation with the Amazons, their history and culture. Will that unfamiliarity with her identity carry over into the new DC universe and will Diana have any affiliation with the Amazons?

How much do you think should change?

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Wonder Woman's origins has always been one of my favorites... so I will be really bummed if they change it.

I don't care if she's wearing pants or not, but wiping out her history is a big no no.

The Perez origin made me love Wonder Woman.  If they change it, I'll...well, I guess the only thing I can really do is stop buying the title and/or write a strongly worded letter to Dan Didio, but I'll be super pissed and envision myself doing something REALLY bad to DC.

Sometimes it seems they don't know what to do wit her.

We can all pray they dont do something stupid and wipe out here roots. Now with the said doesnt this artwork look AWESOME!!

They should make her look like a warrior. No pants, no shorts, just do a skirt. 

I hate the granny panties.

I wasn't really worried about it not being the same Diana. Cliff Chang said that everyone knows her origin so they are started with another story. I think that this is the same Diana just a little problem with the gods or something. This article is going to make me worry about this...

I don't bother to read solicits. This has proven to be a mistake. While I hate the change in her costume (specially the choker, she will choke with that thing) I'm more concerned over the changes in her character. I mean "Hera’s daughter Diana" does not mean what I think it means right?

Perhaps they are leaning more towards legendary accuracy regarding Hera, a goddess that's got a mean steak a mile wide. And she kicked the levitating Themyscira into the sea because Zeus was looking a little too much at Artemis. 
As for Diana, perhaps she is breaking with the old way of simply accepting the Gods can do anything they want to, in the old legends the gods could be as evil as they could be benevolent. Apollo for example is the patron of healing for example, but he's also flayed a satyr alive for daring to challenge him to a music competition.

I'm not exactly a fan of Wonder Woman per se, but I like her enough to care about her origin story. And maybe the fact that I love Greek Mythology is influencing this :P Anyways, I would prefer it if she had no pants, but that's not a big deal to me, much. What I want to see is that her real origin story will remain. Crafted by Hyppolita bla bla bla. That's what I want. All of that. And it's really gonna suck if they take that away and stick with what's going on in the Odyssey... I really hope not though, cause that would really suck! I mean, she has a somewhat different personality right?? If so, I'd really hate that. Cause I'm pretty sure Diana's personality in the comics (pre-Odyssey) should be like the one I know of in the Justice League cartoon :D

You know when a character is in trouble?  When her COSTUME gets more press than anything else.  It's like Felicity got a haircut.

I wouldn't mind some changes to her origin and I wish they would fix the is she a warrior or an agent of peace thing. They never found the right balance.
 
TEAM PANTS

Here is my take.  The JMS run was just an elaborate switcharoo to toss the old WW in the trashcan and transfer the portfolio to the new, improvated and betterified street-level WW.   She's restored to her normal power level, but she's pretty much a completely new WW for all purposes and intents.
 
As for the new run, they just figured that recent movies and stories with the Gods as antagonists were pretty popular and switched them to the status of bad guys.  How many times have we seen a nasty, spiteful Hera ? Xena, Clash of the Titans, Hercules etc ... The sympathetic Greek Goddesses in the WW mythology was actually original, now they binned that idea ...
 
I give the current run about a year and a half before somebody else steps in and wrenches in his own personal Elseworlds leaving the horribly mutilated remains of continuity in a nearby dumpster.  Let's face it, we lost continuity in comics several years ago, continual reinvention and short term big events is all they have left.
 
I consider myself lucky if a series has half a dozen good issues before they radically change everything and you have to look for something else.  Channel hopping is now comic hopping ...

Put me down for keeping her origin and not caring about what she wears. It sounds like the Hercules show with Kevin Sorbo. I do love that show. Is anyone else concerned about her power levels? Is she still going to be able to pull a thirdish of the Earth and keep up with Jesse Quick? She's going to have to be pretty powerful to take on the gods. I like how they are making them a little more accurate. The Greek Gods are D!cks.

I'm for anything that gets the character going, other than some flashes in Simone's arc the character has been largely dead for well ever.   
 
Reboot HOOOOOO!!!

Wonder Woman has always been protecting us from the gods. It doesn't matter what writer's run we're talking about, there's a been a god gone rogue at some point and she's kicked their ass on humanity's behalf. Zeus, Ares, Phobos. And she's had to cross the will of her goddesses as well from time to time. 
 
If Hera's off seeking vengeance somewhere and Wonder Woman chooses to get in her way then I don't see how this is out of character for either the deity (pretty classically vengeful) or Diana (always willing to protect the weaker).
 
Has anyone even glanced at Hera's bio on this site before running around bemoaning them changing things? It's not out of character, or something even remotely new, for her to be at odds with her Amazons.

It'll be so weird to see azzerello take on WW I just can't even picture it.  can't wait

if she wears both i'm happy

Don't know, no longer care. DC's dead to me right now.

"But it’s Hera’s daughter Diana should truly fear – the goddess of discord is coming to Paradise Island, and 
 murder always follows in her wake!" 
 
That just means that Hera's daughter, the goddess of discord, is going to be Diana's next adversary - not that Diana is Hera's daughter. (Although I can see how you could've misread that because it's very unusually phrased.) :) 

I've never cared about Wonder Woman so unless they do something miraculous to the atrocity they call her character, then maybe I can read her books and take her serious... starting with getting rid of the outdated granny panties.

i do not care if she was nude in the stories. as long as the book is good, we should read. why are we so obsessed with her outfit? do we get mad when marvel tweaks the x-men's outfits? heck if you want to gawk at a woman in the wonder woman outfit, sara dressed up as her once, and well, the woman who was going to play wonder woman on the tv show. go gawk at that.  
 
but at the end of the day, we should read the STORY and love it, not worry about what she wears. that is superficial and kinda creepy. why would a man care what a female hero wears?!?!?!

Team shortz!

My thoughts: 

• "retractable pants" is stupid. the costume looks about the same either way.  
• As for the origin, they can tweak it but it should stay rooted in greek myth.  
• the worst thing they can do for her is pair her up with superman instead of establishing her as a worthy, standalone hero

OH NO! Wonder Woman may switch to wearing pants instead of shorts! Whatever will I do?

Not a big fan of her, as I don't read many WW comics, so it doesn't really affect me.  It's just another 'radical change' for fanboys to unnecessarily b**ch and moan about.

Funny, I think "Who cares" too,,, but becuase it;s just not the wonderwoman we want to focus on. 
 
This is like a cheap chinese knockoff of Wonderwoman.  And DC in general.

@fodigg:  It doesn't have to be instead they can do both. I don't see them having the relationship being so big that it takes over the books. I think it will be a much smaller part then you think. I don't even think it will be a perm relationship or only relationship they will have. Remember the big thing in they are trying to state is Superman is being single.

@MrUnknown: This: 
 

@jointron33: Can you please clarify for me? What exactly is the change that we're supposed to be complaining about? Aside from pants vs. shorts vs. bathing suit... what in the solicits is there that is different from the Wonder Woman stories that we've known for years?

The problem with using mythology to describe Wonder Woman's origins is that the comic book folks generally get things really really wrong.  Hera hated Hercules due to his parentage (bastard Zeus child) while the girl made from clay known as Galatea had nothing to do at all with Hera.  Hera is the patron goddess of women, mothers and wives so her patronage of Themyscira seems like it would work well but Ares was the Amazon patron god so...  It's complicated.  
 
It just feels like they're trying to lessen the import of other strong female characters in the DC universe and after the whole SDCC 52 panel it smacks of more Didio wang supremacy agenda.

@ScarlettLynn said:

@jointron33: Can you please clarify for me? What exactly is the change that we're supposed to be complaining about? Aside from pants vs. shorts vs. bathing suit... what in the solicits is there that is different from the Wonder Woman stories that we've known for years?

My understanding from the article is that she'll be in opposition to the greek pantheon and possibly hera/themyscira specifically, which would be very different from the usual origin. But the OP makes it clear that this is supposition and not confirmed.

I just hope they write the greek pantheon better then they have in the past. Also make them feel more powerful Wonder Woman shouldn't be able to go toe to toe with a god nor should she be put in a position to. It should be their minions she fights. Also set a clear lvl of strength for the other amazons. Non should be in her league.

Maybe it will be like the All-star Batman and Robin version..

@fodigg
Wonder Woman has always spent time in opposition to various members of the Greek pantheon, including, on occasion, Hera herself. She's fought gods and goddesses who have wanted to harm humanity or who just carelessly put humanity in the crossfire of their squables. They may be her gods but her relationship to them has always gone back and forth from ally to enemy based on their very changeable natures. None of this is new or different from the Wonder Woman we've known for years. None of this disregards who the character is or in any way would have to change her origins.