The Problem
The Source says that it's "Wonder Woman Week." That's certainly a good idea. But I have a problem with Wonder Woman.
Now, before you start reacting let me explain: I love the idea of Wonder Woman. It think when she's done well she's absolutely fantastic. The problem is, I've only found one writer who I really think does her well. And as much as I usually love Gail Simone, that writer is Greg Rucka.
I really loved Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman. He was able to breath life into her in a way I'd never seen. I wasn't buying Wonder Woman before Greg Rucka came along. And despite all the missteps, I've been buying it since.
People talk about Superman being hard to write. It seems to me that Wonder Woman is even worse. I can think up a few interesting Superman tales. They might night be publication worthy, but they're still there floating around in my head. I have no ideas for Wonder Woman.
This all brings me to J. Michael Straczynski's upcoming run on Wonder Woman. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. For me his stuff goes back and forth, and I haven't read any of his Marvel stuff anyway. Can Mr. Straczynski solve my Wonder Woman problem? I don't know. If not, I'll have to wait in vain for Greg Rucka to come back...
Labels: Wonder Woman
posted by Diamondrock @ 8:07 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I know people might say this doesn't count(because it was part of a crossover), but Rucka wrote Blackest Night: Wonder Woman, and it wasn't that great.
Well, he certainly had his missteps as well. I can't speak to that as the only Blackest Night mini I read was the Flash one.
By the way, did you see that new WW costume? What's up with that?
"Rucka wrote Blackest Night: Wonder Woman, and it wasn't that great."
Yet it was still infinitely better than that crap Simone was allowed to churn out.
I've enjoyed Gail Simone's run on Wonder Woman, but I did love Greg Rucka's as well. It had a whole lot of good stuff going on, and I still miss some of those supporting characters.
Can't say that I'm too wild about Straczynski. He wants to make her an orphan, and I LOVE Hippolyta, who just came BACK from the dead!
Crap.
I don't think JMS's "change" to Diana will last very long; she and her Oracle are already looking for a way back to her "real home."
In a way it reminds me of Trinity - Wonder Woman, changed, in a different reality, and a struggle to get back to the original reality. And Trinity wasn't that long ago.
Personally, I'm tired of all the retcons, reboots, and alternate versions. Ever since Infinite Crisis changed reality (cf. Wonder Woman back to founding JLAer), we've been reading about characters whose origins and backstories have been changed - and they won't tell us how! After a universe reset, a period of stability and filling in the blanks would be nice.
How will this effect Donna Troy?
She is a lead member of the JLA right now. Won't she have to vanish now?
I'd be very happy if Cassie disappeared! I might even go back to reading Teen Titans.
I had a similar experience, in that my first real exposure to Wonder Woman was also by way of Greg Rucka, and it made me think that I loved WW, but I haven't gotten that feeling from anyone else's run. I really enjoyed Gail's run, but that's more because I like her than because I like her Wonder Woman. I miss what's still filed in my head under "the real Wonder Woman", which I've since come to understand was actually Rucka's Wonder Woman (minus the BN mini).
Wonder Woman Wonder Woman Wonder Woman.
Also: I stomped around my house, clenching my fists and cursing JMS for a few hours after they revealed WW's "new" 90s-biker-chick look, and I still hate it to an unreasonable degree, but after reading #600, I'm not as sad about the new direction; so long as it doesn't last long and we get a recognizable Wonder Woman out at the end, it could be a nice Elseworlds-type story, maybe. I just wish DC would leave their "define characters by showing everything they're not" phase behind and let the characters be themselves.
Huh. renophaston, I really like your "define characters by showing everything they're not" statement. That IS what a lot of superhero comics have been doing for thirty years in a nutshell...
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