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scans_dailyWell, it's new Wondy day, and at least there's no reason for any rage blackouts this time.
I'd thought this title was picking up slightly, but this week we were right back to JMS-grade boring. Lots of song and dance about how Diana's an ANGRY RAGING FIRE OF ANGRY RAGE, but she's going to choose to be merciful and use that TERRIBLE FIRE to bring light and warmth to the world, because that's what her sisters and mother taught her. (And yes, points for it being her sisters and mother and not fucking Superman, but that is not good, that is the fundamental baseline of tolerable and doesn't make this storyline any less trite and needless).
One thing did catch my notice, though (and in fairness this definitely looks like a JMS thing, it's too major a shift for me to think Hester just added it on a whim):
The original Marston gimmick of the lasso compelling obedience actually lasted all the way to the first Crisis. However, in '73, the Super Friends show introduced the idea that it was the Lasso of Truth instead, and only worked to prevent falsehood. It was fairly common for Wondy to use the lasso that way even in the comics, tying people up and commanding them to answer her questions, so I imagine that's largely where it came from. Other people tie it to Marston's contribution to the lie detector. Ultimately it doesn't matter; the point is, its use as a lasso of command in the comics became less and less frequent and elaborate as continuity wore on, even as its use as a lasso of Truth got more frequent and more ingrained in pop culture through other media, right up until post-Crisis when it became the Lasso of Truth in the comics as well, and turned into a major character note. So basically you've got fifty-ish years of "lasso of command as a major tool equivalent to the Batmobile or Batarangs" and forty-ish years of "lasso of truth as a character-defining weapon equivalent to Thor's hammer." You can't honestly say either is more "right" at this point.
I, obviously, vastly prefer it as a lasso of truth. Truth as a concept gives Diana a really powerful, unique theme, and it ties so, so beautifully into her mission of peace and social justice. Command makes her a pale, weak J'onn/Xavier imitator.
But, obviously, nostalgia and nonsensical secret identities and an absolute adamant refusal to even touch politics are all pretty important to DC, and the truth theme interferes with all of that. So here we are again with a lasso of command.
Just one more thing to add to the ever-mounting list of things that I really, really, really hope aren't part of the "oh yeah we're going to keep some stuff when we re-merge the realities" plan.
I'd thought this title was picking up slightly, but this week we were right back to JMS-grade boring. Lots of song and dance about how Diana's an ANGRY RAGING FIRE OF ANGRY RAGE, but she's going to choose to be merciful and use that TERRIBLE FIRE to bring light and warmth to the world, because that's what her sisters and mother taught her. (And yes, points for it being her sisters and mother and not fucking Superman, but that is not good, that is the fundamental baseline of tolerable and doesn't make this storyline any less trite and needless).
One thing did catch my notice, though (and in fairness this definitely looks like a JMS thing, it's too major a shift for me to think Hester just added it on a whim):
The original Marston gimmick of the lasso compelling obedience actually lasted all the way to the first Crisis. However, in '73, the Super Friends show introduced the idea that it was the Lasso of Truth instead, and only worked to prevent falsehood. It was fairly common for Wondy to use the lasso that way even in the comics, tying people up and commanding them to answer her questions, so I imagine that's largely where it came from. Other people tie it to Marston's contribution to the lie detector. Ultimately it doesn't matter; the point is, its use as a lasso of command in the comics became less and less frequent and elaborate as continuity wore on, even as its use as a lasso of Truth got more frequent and more ingrained in pop culture through other media, right up until post-Crisis when it became the Lasso of Truth in the comics as well, and turned into a major character note. So basically you've got fifty-ish years of "lasso of command as a major tool equivalent to the Batmobile or Batarangs" and forty-ish years of "lasso of truth as a character-defining weapon equivalent to Thor's hammer." You can't honestly say either is more "right" at this point.
I, obviously, vastly prefer it as a lasso of truth. Truth as a concept gives Diana a really powerful, unique theme, and it ties so, so beautifully into her mission of peace and social justice. Command makes her a pale, weak J'onn/Xavier imitator.
But, obviously, nostalgia and nonsensical secret identities and an absolute adamant refusal to even touch politics are all pretty important to DC, and the truth theme interferes with all of that. So here we are again with a lasso of command.
Just one more thing to add to the ever-mounting list of things that I really, really, really hope aren't part of the "oh yeah we're going to keep some stuff when we re-merge the realities" plan.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 10:58 am (UTC)I could see someone like the Question, or even Batman being an avatar of truth, but Diana?
She always struck me more as an avatar of Liberation, or even combat (at least combat for a just cause) rather than Truth. Now, admittedly there's some connection (to quote Paulie boy: "And now you know the truth and the truth shall set you free.") But I never felt the connection was particularly strong or natural.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 02:12 pm (UTC)I reckon that fits pretty well with her outsider-in-man's-world mission.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 04:08 pm (UTC)I always associated her with a sort of loving authority, like that of a mother or a doctor.