Wonder Woman: Ever Complex!

[logansrogue]

I was reading this io9 article about Wonder Woman. She's incredibly complex and I think that's why I love her so. She's also the Apex Woman Heroine. She is up there with Superman and Batman. Every modern female heroine owes something to her. Megan Fox dissed her and, well, like I need another reason to hate that silly twit, am I right? LOL! Anyway, Gail Simone had this wonderful quote that embodied heroism to me:

I have a scene in one of my early issues where Wonder Woman lets an opponent kick the crap out of her, without fighting back, just her extending an open hand to him, no matter what his rage makes him do. I think that's a big part of it - she COULD tear someone's head off, she COULD destroy a country if she chose. But she would consider that a failure as a warrior for peace. The death of an enemy is not victory to her. I love that stuff. I think it's a far better blueprint for the future than most of the action hero stuff out there right now.

I'm a huge pacifist, so that really hits home with me. As a person that's so very, very tired of the dark antihero who has muddy morals, that is a shining beacon of truth. And that's what I love about Wonder Woman. She's complex, yet intrinsicly good. It is not impossible to be both. It's hard to write, yeah, but being both? Not impossible.

That article also made me feel better about my comic Carrie. Most men that hear about it tend to tune out after I describe the girls and their challenges. It's not as punchy as my other comics, as in BirdMartiaN "Space Comedy about Martian Hero Paid by their Government - Satire" or The Muse "Artist driven mad by her own must, inject Celtic and Gnostic imagery".

I felt bad that Carrie had a lot of feminist and woman issues in it. I felt bad that it was basically a comic for women. That it was less somehow. Well not anymore.

Sure, I tackle weight issues, power issues, poke fun at the fashion industry and even indulge myself in dressing up the girls and idealising the curvaceous form. I felt this comic was an indulgence on my part, and as a result, was weak. But if my greatest role model for women in comics isn't so easy to sum up either. She was an indulgence for HER creator too. You know, the bondage thing. His heart was in it, though. And in the meantime, some important things were said. I can only hope that I manage to say a fraction of the good things that were said with Wonder Woman.

Comments

[asweetdownfall.livejournal.com]

I think my icon says it all for me. :)

and, well, like I need another reason to hate that silly twit, am I right?

HAA. This. You could never have enough reasons to smack her upside the head, imo. :)

[melalucci.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't know Wonder Woman was a pacifist! How cool! I, too, am sick of the antihero. VERY sick. I like my heroes nice and hero-y, not that they can't make mistakes or have tough decisions.

And I'd love to read "Carrie and the Magnetism." Who the heck cares what men think? Not everything in the world is made just for them!

Oh, and yes, I can't stand Megan Fox.

Drugged up ranting ahead:

[greteldragon.livejournal.com]

Eh, I'm apparently the worst female comic book reader in the world for not liking Wonder Woman. My personally opinion is she (like superman to a lesser extent) need a complete makeover to be interesting, and while they came close to kinda making her work in 90s JLA (treating her as a goddess of truth rather than a female superman), it didn't quite work. Also there's the fact that in pretty much every crossover or appearance of her in another heros comic, she comes across as a complete and utter unlikeable bitch (see recent Wondergirl miniseries for example). And her costume completely shits me. Still. What makes me feel better about this...

I fucking love Black Canary (who was until recently completely awesome. Fucking Kriesberg) as my favourite JLAer-type character. I'm annoyed they've recently kinda downpowered just how powerful and strong she can be (including in leading the JLA).

Also I'll read anything with Huntress (my favourite character ever), Oracle or Spoiler in it, some of my favourite batbooks have been the Batgirl series when Cassandra Cain was Batgirl, and the Outsiders rocked completely because it had these two human males, pretending to be in charge of about five completely superpowered women, Grace Choi, Jade, Starfire, Thunder and Indigo. I stopped reading Outsiders though when Batman took it over :P

The Catwoman series from awhile ago (I think) is also amazingly great.

I'm also so completely pissed that the recent BftC artwork put Huntress back in her 'come shot my stomach' slutty outfit, baring a perfect belly, completely ignoring the part where she got shot like five times in the stomach a few years ago.

So yeah, I don't feel too bad for not being able to stand Wonder Woman. She gets all this focus because she's an old, long running character (like Batman and Superman) and I think they use this as an excuse to be lazy with her, and shove her into spots, while hiding some of the newer and cooler female characters DC own. I'd much rather read a comic about Grace, Huntress, or Starfire for example.


Also I'm glad Bendis's comments did get a response I saw them on twitter and was like 'ouch'. I suspect he was shit stirring though :P

Hm. I feel better, though I've forgotten what the point of my rant was.

Re: Drugged up ranting ahead:

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

You know what is so great about the DC Universe? That there's an utter *wealth* of strong female characters. Generally, there are more well-rounded female heroines in DC than in Marvel. There is something creepy and fan-servicey about the female characters in Marvel that shits me. I love Rogue (clearly) but the amount of times her ability has been fetishised - it's the entire schtick with her. "HOT CHICK YOU CAN'T TOUCH! YEAH!" DC tend to treat their female characters with a shred more respect than that.

Not *much* but a bit more. At least you got something to work with, ya know?

Mandatory

[http://users.livejournal.com/lothar_/]