It was recently announced that the CW is going to try and develop
yet another Wonder Woman TV show called “Amazon.” This would be after the dismal failure of the
David E. Kelley pilot that was universally panned. But it got me to thinking about Wonder Woman
and the problem she has.
Wonder Woman is probably the most recognizable name in the
DC Universe after Superman and Batman. Most people could probably tell you that she
was an Amazon with a golden lasso that forced you to tell the truth and an
invisible jet. And yet, her books don’t sell nearly as well. She has not had hit movie in the last 10
years like Batman. And she hasn’t had a
hit TV show like Superman. And yet she
is held up as one of the DC Trinity.
But what exactly does she bring to the table? Months ago when I set up my ideal Justice
League, I left her out. The main reason
being I didn’t see the necessity of her character. I think writers have trouble making any
serious noise with her because she is literally an icon: 2-dimmensional and
known more for her looks than her actions.
I know that some of you will argue and point some of the
great work done with her by writers like Gail Simone and Greg Rucka. And those stories are very good, to be sure. But when was the last time someone who read comics
put a Wonder Woman story arc in their top 10 stories? Or top 20?
Top 50?
So here are my thoughts as to the problems with making
Wonder Woman work and my humble suggestions for remedies.
ORIGIN
Wonder Woman already lacks an important element of the
Joseph Campbell hero journey: She’s not
an orphan. Look at the rest of the JLA
lineup: Superman – Orphan, Batman – Orphan, The Flash – Orphan, Green Lantern – Orphan, Aquaman – Orphan, Cyborg – Orphan.
The closest Wonder Woman comes to being an orphan is having an absentee
father in Zeus (thanks to the new 52 retcon).
There is a reason most heroes begin as orphans. It creates a strong sense of sympathy and it
shows the strength of their character in overcoming challenges. Wonder Woman grew up a princess on Paradise
Island and she has come to the world of men to lecture us on peace. This already puts her at a different starting
place as all of the other characters who are fighting for justice. They are doing so because they have felt the
injustice of life first-hand. She is
doing so because she thinks she knows better than us.
Solution: Embrace this fact that she is different. She is a different type of hero. She is a god-hero. I think that is why there have been several
attempts by those like Azzarello to reconnect with the mythological roots. She is Hercules, Thor, Perseus. But like Marvel’s Thor, she needs to be
humbled. In the comics, Thor had to share
his existence with the form of weak Dr. Donald Blake. In his movie he was simply stripped of his
powers. I’m not saying that Wonder Woman
should be powerless, but in order for us to connect to her, she has to be
brought from on high to our level.
POWERS
Wonder Woman can fly, is fast, and has super strength. But there are other heroes in the JLA who
have that and more. She has an invisible
jet and a lasso, but they don’t compare to Green Lantern’s magic ring. At times her powers make her out to be a
light version of other heroes amalgamated into one.
Solution: Highlight what is unique. Brad Meltzer in his amazing mini-series Identity
Crisis pointed out that the hero they feared the most was Wonder Woman. They knew they might be able to outthink Superman
or be brave enough to face down Batman.
But they were powerless against Wonder Woman’s lasso. She took away all of their secrets and there
was nothing they could do. This was one
of the times I sat back and really took in the power of the lasso and what it
could mean.
I would love it if she, in her dedication to truth, always
left part of her arm wrapped in the lasso, so that everyone would know that she
never lied. Think about how intimidating
that would be if she said that she would break all of your fingers and you KNEW
she was honest about it.
VILLAINS
Wonder Woman has the worst rogues gallery in DC. If you don’t believe me, click on this link to Wonder Woman villain “Egg Fu.” There is no one on her roster
that matches a Joker or Bizarro or Sinestro.
Solution: Make the villains interesting. I know that sounds simple, but it really is
that straight-forward. You don’t need to
invent a new bad guy every time the book gets a new writer. Iconic villains are hard to invent. Instead, tell the story of the bad guys so
that we understand them. Geoff Johns did
this brilliantly with the Flash. He would
dedicate whole issues to a single villain like Captain Cold or Heat Wave. That way, we not only understood how
dangerous they were but we also had a sense of sympathy for them. To this day Captain Cold is one of my
favorite villains because of what Johns did.
Someone needs to take Wonder Woman’s villains like the Cheetah and Dr.
Psycho and give them the same gravitas.
MISSION
Wonder Woman, as I said before, is the Amazon ambassador for
peace. This means that she is to be a
role model. Like Superman, she is trying
to embody the ideals that people can aspire to.
But she is a walking contradiction.
Mark Waid pointed this out in Kingdom Come. She preaches peace, but she does so by espousing
violence. This also puts her in a different
position than Superman. He sees himself
as one of us (even though he is alien) who is using his powers to show that all
of us can live out an ideal. Wonder
Woman is in a sense more alien, growing up in a different culture, and then she
tries to tell us that Amazons are in many ways better than Americans. The difference is that Superman is comes from
us. That’s why he fights for “Truth,
Justice, and the American Way.” Wonder
Woman comes from without fight for “Truth, Justice, and the Amazon Way.”
Solution: Have her
renounce the Amazons. I know this is a
radical step, but it is important to show that she is in the fight with
us. They did try this in a recent
storyline called “Amazons Attack.” But
all that did was lead to more stories about how Wonder Woman would reform the
Amazons. She needs a complete
break. She needs to see why our culture
is good and worth defending. Thus she can
be someone from the inside who fixes problems.
When someone criticizes us, we are more likely to listen if we share a
life with them, not if they seem like moral busy bodies.
FEMININITY
This may be the most controversial point, but over the
course of the years, Wonder Woman has been rendered more and more
masculine. Look at drawings of her
evolve from the 80’s through to the 2000’s.
She bulks up physically, but she also doesn’t engage emotionally the way
many women do. She is often written like
a male hero but in star-spangle panties. (as Joss Whedon so eloquently noted). Wonder Woman should be the number one comic
book role model for girls, but she seems distant and aloof.
Solution: Femininity
does not mean weakness. I look at Buffy
the Vampire Slayer (sorry for the additional nod to Whedon). Buffy was the assertive, intelligent warrior
that fought the forces of darkness. But
one of the reasons that Buffy is so popular is that she is also completely feminine. She is someone that women can relate to. She speaks from the same inner struggles that
modern women face every day: struggles with identity, love, courage, life,
friends, etc.
Wonder Woman is an important character, one that I am always rooting for to succeed. But she needs to connect to her audience in a new way.
Referencing Kingdom Come once again, Superman as a character always suffers when they emphasize the “Super” rather than the “man.” In the same way, we need to emphasize not so much the “Wonder” as we do the “Woman.” If we can tap in to the universal experience of womanhood, then she can be the rich character that her iconic status promises.
Wonder Woman is an important character, one that I am always rooting for to succeed. But she needs to connect to her audience in a new way.
Referencing Kingdom Come once again, Superman as a character always suffers when they emphasize the “Super” rather than the “man.” In the same way, we need to emphasize not so much the “Wonder” as we do the “Woman.” If we can tap in to the universal experience of womanhood, then she can be the rich character that her iconic status promises.
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