Saturday, March 28, 2015

She's a Wonder Woman

The topic is Wonder Woman- not just her comics or her media appearances, but just her.  Fitting for a 2000th post, yes?   I've not ever written extensively about her before.

I'll have to admit I was never a huge fan of Diana growing up.  Yes, I read her comics occasionally, but my main exposure to her was in the pages of the Justice League.  Even when she was in her depowered early 70s phase that's where I saw her the most.  I did buy a few of the comics here and there, but her backstory was one of the more convoluted ones, even when there was an Earth 2.  Add to that Wonder Tot and Wonder Girl and it gets even more confusing, not to mention Steve Trevor dying at least twice.  When DC started setting her stories in WWII again to tie in with the current TV series, I read some of those, which were quite fun.  With comic publishing schedules being what they are though, CBS put Diana into current (1977 or so) days right as DC had her back in the 40s.  Figures.

I did buy the tabloid first edition of Wonder Woman, though I really wanted to read the All Star story she showed up in before that.  I didn't get to until years later.  One of the great things about those Famous First Editions is that comics like Sensation, Whiz, Action all featured other characters as well as the cover heroes.  So you got a lot of new superheroes for the price of one.

After the incredibly messy "Crisis" occurred, I did read George Perez's well done WW run.  He did have to stop her from being around in WWII, so instead we got the Fury as replacement.  I think later John Byrne had Hippolyta sent back in time to be the original Wonder Woman, but I'm not sure about that.  Once Perez stopped his run I was pretty much done.

The character really took off for me when she was introduced in the Justice League cartoon.  She became more human and rounded, showing real feelings for other people, including love for both the WWII Steve Trevor and later Batman.  I'm still thinking she could stop that Bruce from turning into the bitter old poop he supposedly becomes in Batman Beyond, because who's gonna tell Diana "no"?    And that Wonder Woman is truly a wonder.

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