I don't even have the words.

[bluefall]

You know what? Fuck everything. Everything.










I'm sorry. I don't even have a rant for this. I don't even...

Jesus fucking Christ.

Comments

[jaybee3]

Wait, so just seeing Superman is what makes NuDiana decide to be a "hero". Was the writer reading Batwoman: Elegy when he was writing this?

Did no one at DC Editorial see the problem with this dialogue?

[turtlefu]

That actually brings up a good point.
I hate this, and I am raging.
But, I don't remember having any sort of problem with Kate becoming inspired by Batman.
So, what's the difference?

[jlbarnett]

calm down, it won't count in a few months.

[bluefall]

Did you just... tell me to calm down?

... apparently not reading what they're writing isn't unique to DC this week.

[darkknightjrk]

It kind-of makes sense, on a meta level. Like it or not, Superman is the father of superheroes, the first of it's kind, and Wonder Woman was created so that there would be a Superman-like figure for young girls.

Could have been better said, but hey, that's been true for a lot of this storyline.

[turtlefu]

No, she wasn't.
She was created by some old guy to fulfill his effed-up bondage fantasies and present his own stereotype of an "ideal" woman.
In fact, the whole idea to make her a woman in the first place wasn't even his. (It was his wife)
As much as she is a feminist character now, Wonder Woman has a pretty sexist and fetishized creative origin.

[thanekos]

well, that's certainly a way to interweave the titles you're plotting for a time.

[ian_karkull]

This makes perfect sense actually, since this clearly isn't Wonder Woman, but some alternate fever dream JMS cooked up to stroke his massive ego.
Either way, I'm with jlbarnett in sentiment, if not in phrasing. Everybody's already working overtime to retcon the hell out of this mess, so in a few months, this'll all be gone the way of the Dodo.

[bluefall]

Like Jaime's "death", the fact that this won't stick doesn't make it any less insulting, really. This is comics, ultimately almost nothing sticks in the long-term. Why is it permissible to put Diana in a position where nothing that happens in her title will matter when the story is over in the first place? What does it say that it's okay for any version of Diana, no matter how temporary, to be portrayed this way? This is supposed to be the same woman with a different past, after all. This is a statement that even the Real Diana, given the right situation, would be this easily overawed by the Right Man, would be this indifferent to and unmoved by the heroism of her own culture and her own sisters.

Also, if the intent, as we've been told, is to integrate some of this new dumb shit with the old Diana, then this very much is an issue even for the real version of the character.

[cuntfucius]

This actually IS a big deal, folks, when it's a continuing trend well into 2011 and Diana is getting the crap end of it. We have her killing her sisters in Blackest Night but being able to fight off BL effects because of a man's love. Now we have her showing that her sisters might have taught her to fight and do this and that, but she didn't have a NOBLE DIRECTION for it until she became inspired by Superman and w/e.

Like seriously the continuous juxtaposition of what her sisters /fellow girls do for her and how the men in her life just overshadow it so easily where she can be SHOWN THE LIGHT is just very very problematic.

Sure, she's young. Inexperienced as a hero. But as a warrior, like...her people were hunted and slaughtered. Kind of an Amazon cultural wipeout. Why reduce and delegitimize her anger over it as some petty act of revenge and now she is shown the true American way by the Übermenschian perfect paragon of justice and virtue and masculinity and just

anyway yeah. I MAD. Not surprised but I mad. Even if people are saying it's just an alternative timeline, can you think of any elseworlds or alternate timelines where men are inspired by women and shown what true heroism is by them?

[julian]

Yeah, and I was dismissing the reboot because it would Go Away Soon and not integrate itself into the DC Universe.

Well, /guess what/, it just integrated itself. In a major title. In a major, very relevant title.

[julian]

See, it's sort of annoying, because Legacy and the stuff around that era had Diana be impressed and inspired by Superman, too.

The difference there was that she was already a Heroic Person, with her own focus, before those interactions.

This is just... such a /demotion/.

[cuntfucius]

Yes, exactly this. Diana had interest in Superman and great respect for him, but he didn't show her the way to be a hero. She was one.

[greenmask]

Huh.

Kinda speechless.

[jarodrussell]

Back when Oracle did shit like this and it drove me to curses, I found it cathartic to write a short snippet of fanfic where the character acted like I thought she should. Try that. 300 hundred words of YOUR Diana.

[bluefall]

That was actually kind of what the original When Wondy was Awesome was about. Lots and lots of words about My Diana in response to the pain of the Heinboot/Shamazons clusterfuck. And you're right, it did help a lot.

The cursing's kind of cathartic too, though, at least for the moment. X/

[lencannon]

I think, perhaps, we can all agree that having JMS bizarre, borderline insulting Superman/Wonder Woman runs right after two slightly flawed but mostly great runs makes this sting extra hard.

[fifthie]

Man the one hope I had for this goddamn comic was

"He just wrote Thor! Thor was good as shit!"

siiiiiiiiiiiigh

[jeyl]

You know, I've been continuing to purchase this series even if some of it was bad, because I honestly couldn't imagine how it could get any worse. I figured maybe the writers would listen, understand and start going in a direction that we've all been waiting and hoping for.

but no....god, no. This is worse than I could have ever dreamed of.

This is freaking bullcrap right here. The lowest of low. Not only has Wonder Woman not been able to fight her own battles, but she needs Superman in order to find inspiration to become a hero? It's like she can't do anything on her own. Both physically or mentally. She'a a bona fide moron.

Why am I calling Wonder Woman this? I never wanted to call Wonder Woman this. Everything is so wrong and the writers think they're so right.

We're so screwed.

[janegray]

To be fair, this is Superman's book, not Wondy's.

And when I say "to be fair", I mean "to be fair to Wondy's book", because those pages up there? They are inexcusable.

[lakrids404]

but there are nice big breasts?!

[valtyr]

I was just thinking we needed more of them in our superhero comics.

[cyberghostface]

So is this a retcon origin or something?

[pyrotwilight]

Eh, they're just trying to show nuDiana and Superman's first meeting after the oddness that is her current series/ altered timeline. Though how is a good question, in her own title she's on the run from...gods and the US government and already a hero.

[protogarrett]

I don't really follow DC too much. Did they revamp the universe again? Why is WW so... green?

[icon_uk]

They revamped Wonder Woman in isolation, it makes a mess of the entire timeline... I think, but... well, ummm... I'd use the Doctor Who "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey" but frankly that's used for clever distortions of cause and effect, this... not so much.

[stolisomancer]

Not a good week for anyone, is it?

[arbre_rieur]

Can't say I have a problem with this. After all, they haven't been shy about how this Wonder Woman is a very different person from the "real" one, with very different formative experiences and underpinnings.

[icon_uk]

I think it's the fact that out of all possible new takes on the character of Wonder Woman, they went for one who is only inspired to heroism specifically by having seen Superman. Now Superman is a great hero, but he's not the ONLY hero, and there are so many other possibilities they could have gone with.

[ametti]

Bah ha ha this is a whole lot of fail. Sadly, this isn't the only title suffering from it...

[radioactivepiss]

Ugh. I confess up front I haven't read this or previous stuff along this line but... one thing I always liked about Wonder Woman was the ability for her to stand on her own as a character and series in most ways. She wasn't as overtly derivative as a lot of 'counterpart' female characters, like- IDK, Supergirl. And she didn't start off as someone else's supporting cast. So this is... bleh. Bleh bleh bleh, do not want. It takes away a major part of what makes her character great for me.

(Though: taking away the jacket, and give her some boots, and I admit I'm starting to like this costume. Just not so much the way she looks so damn young here.)

[bluefall]

They've made some slight alterations to it as they've been drawing it more. I too admit that, once you take away the jacket, it's kind of growing on me, and really just needs some decent boots and a tweak to the bracers to be pretty good. The gold shoulder straps I especially like -- the doubling gives it a slightly exotic "amazon" feel that she really needs (and that the bathing suit sure doesn't provide), and the gold balances and evokes the lasso really nicely.

[kingrockwell]

what is this i cannot even

[cuntfucius]

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

[mynondw]

Whaaaaa.... ? Okay, you're not the only one raging here. Is JMS writing this? Who is to blame for this script?

I hate so many things about this. SO MANY THINGS.

[magus_69]

This is bullshit. Utter fucking bullshit. Maybe JMS would have handled this better, maybe, but this is just-- GAH!

There were plenty of other choices if the writers wanted to go this route. It could have been Black Canary. It could have been Power Girl. It could have been the Birds of Prey. No, it had to be FUCKING Superman.

Well, at least it wasn't the Goddamn Batman. We can console ourselves with that.

[bluefall]

Well, at least it wasn't the Goddamn Batman.

.... Christ. I don't know whether to thank you for putting this into such a stark and brilliantly silver-lined perspective, or curse you for putting that nightmare of a mental image in my head.

[sweettart1823]

l: ): D: D<

no words...

[mullon]

Wait, her jacket is gone? Her jacket is gone! She has those stupid things on her shoulders, but still, halfway there!

[rainspirit]

I KNOW. That's pretty much the only thing I was paying attention to in this post.

Though I actually liked the jacket. Mostly my reaction to it is "Thank GOD, can people stop complaining about her costume now?"

Personally I hope they stick with it. Looks pretty awesome.

[silverzeo]

Ugh, why don't they have a special Superman/Batman in which the story is told from Diana's perspective on the two, considering that togther, they are the trinity.

[dryponder.livejournal.com]

This issue was awesome. Everyone here should read the book before judging. Yes, Superman is a dude, but he's also the embodiment of superheroism in the DCU. For him to inspire this temporarily retconned (and until Hester came on board, TERRIBLE) version of Wonder Woman is not horribly offensive, and will be undone when her current storyline is concluded. In fact, she's never even been called Wonder Woman right now.

Supes and Diana are friends, AND the actual creation of the character WAS a response to Superman. I'd probably agree with y'all if this was the real Wonder Woman, but this version of WW who's not been acting like a hero at all (until Hester's first issue, at least), needed a bit of inspiration to get out of her insulated worldview.

Besides, in this issue, Roberson properly introduced a new Superwoman and Supergirl, a new Black Superman and a new young Superboy, as well as a ton of diversity in the future Superman dynasty. This issue is a win, and you'd know that if you read it.

[cuntfucius]

You know, something can have messages you agree with and like and even steps forward you enjoy (i.e. what this comic did for SUPERMAN) while also disliking another message in it (what this comic did for Wonder Woman).