George Perez, the zenith of Wonder Woman's career.

[mosellegreen.insanejournal.com]

I originally made this post during Wonder Woman Week, hence the pile of links, which I hope y'all won't mind my sharing again.

The Links:

teh_no answered my challenge of a one-line Wonder Woman/Black Canary fic.

joasakura wrote a delightful fic about Amazon Spanking Therapy.

Wonder Woman: Enemy Of Freedom by Nicolas Juzda.
I'm not here to judge or condemn. That's the job of each and every one of you. My aim is simply to lay out the facts in a clear and unbiased manner, until you can make an informed decision about the depths to which this hellspawned harpy has sunk all on your own.

If you want more Golden Age WW, scans of her daily newspaper strip from the 40's can be found here. Also there's an article and several scans here.

There are WW cartoons here and here.

hradzka wrote Escape Artistry, which is about, um, Batman and Wonder Woman tying each other up.

The Curse of Bast
Author: mosellegreen
Fandom: Golden Age Wonder Woman & Black Canary
Pairing: Wonder Woman/Black Canary
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The romance of Dinah and Diana is interrupted when they must rescue Larry Lance from a crazed cult led by a high priestess with a pack of slavegirls.
Notes: Thank you to grey_bard, ink_n_imp, and carlanime for beta. Written for the alien_altars challenge.
Illustration by ink_n_imp!

So, now to George Perez. There are now four volumes of trades of his issues, and high time. He was the one who got me into comic books as an adult. I was always a Wonder Woman fan, at first chiefly because she was "the girl" and I needed someone to pretend to be when I was running around the backyard. But I stopped reading her comics before I entered adolescence.

Then when I was 17, I impulsively picked up the latest issue of Wonder Woman from the newsstand, just for old times' sake.

That's Zeus propositioning her. I chose this image in particular because it shows off her very Grecian off-duty costume to such good effect. WW aficionados will remember that in the Golden Age Wonder Woman had a golden eagle on her chest which was changed to a stylized WW in the Bronze Age. With this off-duty version of her costume, Perez was able to give us both.

Incidentally, at a con in '88, George Perez related that he intended for Zeus to be a redhead, since gods are, you know, immortal and don't age, but the colorists gave him white hair in the first issue and after that we were stuck with it.

Wonder Woman politely declines the god's offer, which you can expect didn't go over too well. As a penalty, she must go down into the caverns beneath Paradise Island, which it turns out is where all the monsters from Greek mythology have been kept for the past 3000 years, and kill them all. In short, they made her into the hero of a Greek epic in the tradition of Jason or Perseus. How could someone who watched The Clash of the Titans in her childhood resist? Especially given her full armor below. She still has the star spangled leotard, of course, but it's armor, not just an outfit, and it's just the minimum part of the full array which she wears here:



So what do I love so much about Perez's Wonder Woman? Well, this page from the first issue is a good example of one reason:


Notice that although all of the Amazons are beautiful women, they are not in the least provocative. How many comic book artists have the guts to draw well-built women in a non-exploitative way? These Amazons don't stand around in skimpy armor with their chests stuck out, they carry themselves like athletes, quite rightly.

Also, George Perez was the first person since Marston died to be true to the character. Most of the other writers who've handled her didn't really know what to do with her and settled for making her a Superman in drag. Perez went back to Marston's original work and used the elements there. Not all of them; he thankfully left out the bondage and the astral projection and the utopian psychology, which I enjoy tremendously but only as Golden Age crack, but kept the two essential things that made Wonder Woman different from every other superhero: Greek mythology and feminism. He made those the chief point of her character and her stories. He also thought about what she would be like, having been raised on an island that is practically paradise by warriors who have been at peace for millenia, and so her personality is simultaneously innocent and valorous.

Here is the very last page of the first Perez issue, when Diana first dons her new armor after having won the tournament to choose the Amazon champion:

http://pics.livejournal.com/mosellegreen/pic/000ey6kf
http://pics.livejournal.com/mosellegreen/pic/000ezb7g
http://pics.livejournal.com/mosellegreen/pic/000f0sy7
http://pics.livejournal.com/mosellegreen/pic/000f1af3

Comments

[jedd_the_jedi.insanejournal.com]

Wonder Woman cuddling the hamster/mouse/white fuzzy rodent is just D'awww! I hope for its sake she doesn't squeeze...

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

"Thankfully left out the bondage and the astral projection and the utopian psychology"? That's the best PART! I mean, OK, the bondage may have been a bit much, but the rest were what made Wonder Woman a success in the first place. Marston's stories weren't just about a crime-fighting Amazon - they were delightfully bizarre mishmashes of whatever he felt like writing about at the time, and it's that bizarre quality that made WW distinctive. The stories were part fantasy, part science fiction, part feminist creed and part slapstick comedy - you could find yourself on Mars in one issue, or in the land of the Leprechauns the next. It's when that 'anything can happen' quality was abandoned that the book started to lose its way, in my opinion - Wonder Woman has had about a million different writers since then, and not one of them seems to agree with the other as to just who and what she IS. Batman and Superman have had similar tonal shifts, but at least they've had certain elements that have remained consistent over the years - today's Superman may be vastly different from the Superman of Jerry Siegel or Mort Weisinger, but he still lives in Metropolis, works at the Daily Planet under Perry White, fights Lex Luthor, and goes steady with Lois Lane. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, often seems to differ wildly from month to month (less so in recent years, but still). One issue she's an army secretary, the next she's a nurse, or a consultant at a museum, or a private detective. She lives in Boston - no, wait, it's New York - no, Gateway City - no, a floating, invisible Themysciran embassy! Her powers may or may not include a degree of invulnerability, her strength ranges from Superman-level to slightly above weightlifter-class, her lasso is supposed to be unbreakable, but I've seen it broken on at least three occasions, and only in recent years has it been pinned down as to whether or not she can actually fly, just 'glide on air currents', use an invisible plane, or some combination of all three. Sometimes she doesn't even HAVE powers. I mean, it is CONFUSING trying to keep track of this woman's history!
Don't get me wrong - she's still a great character, and I certainly like the Perez version of her - it's just that I think a mistake was made early on in her career by jettisoning a number of the elements that made her successful. If those had been kept in some form or another, I think the character's mythos would be much stronger today - most non-comics fans can tell you who Batman or Superman's arch-nemeses are, for example, but I'll bet you they couldn't with Wondy, due to all the shifting around. Diana herself is instantly recognizable, but the details surrounding her are not - and that is ultimately deleterious to the character.

[mosellegreen.insanejournal.com]

That's the best PART!

I love it too, but I was glad to see a more serious version of my favorite character, you know?

I know what you mean about her history. One article about her I read said that compared to Superman's fans, who only had to deal with their hero going from leaping tall buildings in a single bound to flying, WW's fans have had a lot of fluctuation to deal with.

You know, she doesn't truly have an arch-nemesis. Not like the Joker or Lex Luthor. She's never developed as much of a rogue's gallery as they did. Alas.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Or a supporting cast, or much of anything, really. The only constants in Diana's long career have been her mother, Themyscira, and occasionally Steve Trevor - and even those can't always be counted on. Say what you will about the Marston era, but it had continuity and a set cast of characters and plot devices - Etta and the Holliday Girls, the mental radio, Steve and Colonel Darnell, Mars and his minions, the goddess Aphrodite - which were a regular part of the series and tied everything together. Subsequent writers dumped most of that, added their own ideas, then dumped THOSE, too! I mean, wasn't it Robert Kanigher (I think it was him, anyway) who added a whole bunch of things to the mythos - Merboy and Bird-Boy, the Glob, Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot - only to literally lock them all away in a drawer when they got too complicated? (One wonders what would happen if somebody did a Grant Morrison and OPENED the drawer again...) The only consistent thing we got from that was Wonder Girl, and hasn't SHE been a treat for continuity over the years. Ever since then, almost every writer who's handled the character has erased or ignored most of the plot elements added by the previous writer while adding their own - and the next guy does the same thing.
Basically, both Batman and Superman have evolved in a more-or-less natural manner from the original creations of Bob Kane and Jerry Seigel. Wonder Woman has not, and this is to her detriment.

[mosellegreen.insanejournal.com]

That's true. I think after Marston died, a lot of her writers didn't know what to do with her, and a lot of them coped by making her a female Superman. Worse, in the animated shows being made these days, a lot of the writers think she's Xena.

When Perez did his reboot, he focused on the two things that made her unique: feminism and Greek mythology, and the result was great. (Bondage was another, but wouldn't have suited his serious approach.)

I'm a huge WW fan, but I haven't done more than peek at her book in the last 15 years because I disliked so much of what they did with her. I basically consider Marston and Perez the only official (to me) WW writers.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

I'm a pretty casual WW fan, but I have the same basic opinion. I think if you combined the characteristics of the two, you'd really have something worth reading on a regular basis.

[thebat_man.insanejournal.com]

George Perez included the bondage, too.


And George Perez included her original supporting cast Etta Candy and Steve Trever and her ties to the military and all the mythological gods and goddesses, including Aphrodite. George Perez made Etta Candy not just a source of ridicule and comic relief. George Perez gave her wit, soul, and not there to act as a fat buffoon. George Perez made Steve Trever a more interesting three-dimensional character, much more than a male damsel-in-distress. George Perez made Wonder Woman more than she'd ever been before by exploring her roots in Greek mythology and keeping the Amazons and the mythological gods and goddesses true to their mythological roots. Perez brought the creatures Chimera, Gorgon, Phobos, Deimos, Ixion and others from Greek mythology to Wonder Woman. And Perez included her original villains the Cheetah and Doctor Psycho and Circe and revamped Mars and his minions into Ares and his minions. The Romans identified the Greek god Ares as Mars. Perez also included the Silver Swan.

I'm really looking forward to Adam Hughes' All-Star Wonder Woman series. Adam Hughes said, "I happen to love the heavy mythological feel of the Perez issues. That presence was in the Golden Age version, but Perez just turned it up to 11. I’d like to keep that feel, because I like the tone of Wonder Woman as a mythological character, as opposed to just a straight superhero. I love George Perez's take on Wonder Woman. I love the whole aspect that her origins are tied to the Greco-Roman Gods and I want to incorporate a lot of that into mine. I’m taking the best bits from the Golden Age, the best bits from the George Perez run, and hopefully will come up with something where I can say, ‘Aha! A happy, healthy balance.'"

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Hey, I never said I didn't LIKE Perez's take - I was saying that Wonder Woman AS A WHOLE has a much more confused background than the other comics big-hitters, because every writer who works on her tries to reinvent the wheel, due to too much deviation from the original source material early in the character's history. I like Perez's take quite a bit (although I actually think his emphasis on mythology is a little too heavy at times).
And I'm sorry, but I can't really agree with you about the supporting characters. Etta Candy was never just 'a fat buffoon' - sure, she was comic relief, but she was a gutsy type, never self-conscious about her image, had a hell of a lot of fun helping Wonder Woman out, and came to her rescue countless times. I really like Marston Etta, and I thought Perez's take on her didn't really cut the mustard - sure, she was more realistic, but both her and Steve rapidly got shoved into the background, where they remain to this day. I'll certainly agree that both Steve and Etta were flawed characters as Marston wrote them, but they were lots of fun - the modern versions are just kind of nonentities. (Plus, I'm sorry, but changing Etta from fat to borderline anorexic is not improving things - mind you, that wasn't Perez's doing, but nonetheless, that's how the character is these days, and it sucks.)
And if Adam Hughes DOES manage to combine the best bits of Marston and Perez, he'll certainly have something worth reading. I'll believe it when I see it.

[thebat_man.insanejournal.com]

Marston's Etta Candy was bumbling with a perpetual lust for chocolate bonbons. Perez's updated Etta Candy is a refreshing change from the Golden Age Etta who was the stereotype of a fat person always wanting to eat candy. Whoever has made Etta borderline anorexic these days has taken away the characters individuality. One of the reasons George Perez brought back Etta Candy was because he wanted someone who did not look like the standard comic book female, proving you don't have to look like Wonder Woman to be heroic. And I love Perez's emphasis on the mythology.

It's certainly true that Wonder Woman comics as a whole have a much more screwed up background than others because many writers have taken her away from her roots in attempts to boost sales. Robert Kanigher created a tottler version of Wonder Woman called Wonder Tot who spoke in baby talk. Denny O'Neil and Mike Sekowsky removed Wonder Woman's powers and her costume and made her like Diana Rigg on the Avengers TV show. Denny O'Neil said he saw it as taking a woman and making her independent, and not dependent on superpowers. Feminists Gloria Steinem and Joanne Edgar complained in Ms. magazine that Denny O'Neil and Mike Sekowsky had weakened an important female symbol. William Messner-Loebs had Wonder Woman work in a fast food restaurant called Taco Whiz, Wonder Woman losing to Artemis, and his artists kept changing her costume horribly. Phil Jimenez, Walter Simonson, Greg Rucka, Allan Heinberg, Gail Simone, new city, new supporting cast...etc. Mess.

By trying to combine the best bits of Marston and Perez, Adam Hughes is on the right track. And Etta Candy is included. http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=81341

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree - I like Marston's Etta, and you don't, and that seems to be as far as we're going to get. Each to their own.
And Hughes does sound like he might have something there. Still, 'wait and see' is my motto when it comes to things like this.