Ryan Daly and guest Diabolu Frank discuss Wonder Woman on the eve of her 75th anniversary. Also, a review of the Wonder Woman and Black Canary team-up from Justice League: The New Frontier Special by Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone.
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Music: “Girl On Fire” by Alicia Keys; “Strength of a Woman” by Shaggy.
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Great show, always good to hear Frank talk Wonder Woman. I was expecting you to be talking about the Dinah/Diana team-up from WW #309, that you covered on the blog.
I’m not a fan of the Darwyn Diana – never mind the Xenafication, he’s drawing Big Barda.
Frank is so right about the core of Diana and his recommendations are pretty much spot on. I agree that Bill Loebs’ earlier issues, before Mike Deodato arrives, are wonderful. The quote that sums it up for me came in the Mayfly story when the odds look insurmountable. But does Diana flinch? Nope. Her attitude is: ‘Today is a good day to die.’
And as no one asked, my least favourite WW story ever is Greg Rucka’s The Hikataeia, with Diana turning against her friends due to some stupid God oath thingie rather than using her own judgment and doing what she believes is right. You know, like Wonder Woman.
As for Diana being bi, which you almost asked Frank about, it’s great to have characters across the spectrum of sexuality but come on, she’s had 75 years as straight, I hate established characters changing for the sake of an agenda.
Frank and I actually talked about Wonder Woman’s sexual orientation the day before the news broke about her being bisexual. That conversation might show up on an upcoming episode of Frank’s podcast.
I have mixed feelings on it. Of course, it makes sense, but I’m with Martin in not liking change for agenda’s sake, or for a creator to say “Here. I did THIS to this character.” I’m a big believer in that these characters are corporate toys that creators need to handle with care, and clean them off and put them back where they found them when done. Go create an analog character you can own, and go to town if you need to reinvent the wheel.
Plus, there’s the issue of these characters being marketed to children, and I don’t think they should be over-sexed in any orientation. That means Batman and Catwoman shouldn’t be humping on a rooftop either. But that’s the parent in me coming out. I struggle with wanting the characters treated maturely, but still maintaining their innocent essence. That’s why the DCAU rules.
Chris
I’m going to argue with both you and Martin in one comment. How can you look at early Wonder Woman comics and say that making her queer (not exclusively lesbian, mind you) is a massive shake up? She lived on an island of nothing but women. Did you honestly believe that they just tried to drown every sexual urge they ever had with wine and hot springs for a thousand years? Really?
The thing is, I do agree that changing a character’s sexual orientation shouldn’t be done just because (as was done with Alan Scott,) but I don’t see how you can argue that’s what’s happening with Wonder Woman. It’s just an acknowledgement of what was the 100% logical conclusion that most of us had already come to a VERY long time ago.
As to the over-sexing of characters being a bad idea, I agree in principle but things get dicey here. The problem is that even if she only ever says some other character is her girlfriend and we never even see them hold hands, there are readers who will label that as “oversexed smut” because to them the simple acknowledgement of any sexual orientation besides straight is pornographic. So it’s hard to come up with a consensus on where the line of crossing over into “oversexed” actually is.
I refuse to put much effort into the move until it actually shows up on the pages of a comic. I like where Rucka’s head it at, but until DC lets him make it clear on the page itself then it’s just a background detail that can be ignored by later writers and DC can always say “that was just one writer’s opinion.” So this right now means very little to me.
Short answer: Diana’s unambiguously non-platonic decades in an on-again/off-again/occasionally married with children relationship with Steve Trevor (and other fellas) precludes her being convincingly gay, but she’s never been entirely straight, either. Bi makes the most sense.
I ended up buying this special issue in the buck bin when it was clear my store over-ordered it. I didn’t mind this story as an attempt at humor, more like a trifle.
I did like the other story in this book which showed how the New Frontier Batman and Superman became friends and how Wonder Woman was a big part in introducing them and fostering their partnership.
I enjoyed the discussion about how you both semi-owned the fan-space for Canary and J’onn respectively. In years past, I had felt that I had a chunk of the Supergirl fan-space. But now I am one of many voices.
Like you both, I am a bracelets/lasso fan much more than a sword/shield fan with Diana. It semi-irks me that the warrior aspect has overwhelmed the ambassador side of things. I do wonder if Rucka will rectify that. Of course, we would need DC editorial to make sure that a consistent vision was being shown. I didn’t like when the Diana in the Johns’ JLA was vastly different than the one in the Azz/Chiang book (although I treated the Azzarello Diana as an Elseworlds in my head canon anyways.)
Great to hear you both on the same show again. Looking forward to Frank’s WW special.
Great discussion guys. I’m with Frank (that felt weird) that I miss the DC characters just doing the right thing because they are good people. It’s why the Johns’ change to the Flash’s origin with his mothers death REALLY rubs me wrong, and why I’m REALLY sick of it being the focal point of a TV show I otherwise enjoy a great deal. Sure, Barry was already a cop, but now he has this Batman-like motivation he never needed before. Meh.
Diana obviously came from a live of privilege, but chose to give it up (and in many instances, her immortality!) just to do what she thought was right, even when her mother and sisters disagreed. That’s powerful stuff, and it doesn’t need to be monkeyed with…EVER. Just like the Wayne needs to die, and Krypton needs to blow, Diana needs to win that damn contest despite Mommy forbidding it.
I haven’t read the New Frontier story, because I somehow missed that special. I have the Absolute NF, and it ain’t in there, which is a bummer. This seems like just a fun exercise, and puts WW in the Feminist Movement in an almost Forest Gump-like fashion. J. Bone’s art is cute, and it probably works better than if Cooke had drawn it himself, since that would have made it a bit too serious.
I don’t really like WW with the sword much either, as I think it takes away from her mission of piece, and the uniqueness of her character. What other character uses a lasso? Ryan, I know you’ve brought this up before.
Again, great show fellas!
Chris
You and frank are fun to hear love to get more from you together
Listen to his upcoming Wonder Woman 75th Anniversary episode on Diana Prince Wonder Woman Podcast.
As for me and Frank working on more together… next year.
Sorry guys, but I hate this. I want it to get balled up and pitched to Superboy so he can bat it into the sun. Ok, so maybe not that much, but boy I don’t like it. I liked it less the further it went along. I didn’t like it based on the basic synopsis Ryan gave. I liked it less with Frank’s suggestion that it was meant as a joke. And finally I liked it even LESS upon actually reading the thing.
Wonder Woman is a feminist icon. That’s not a matter of opinion, it’s one of fact. And she’s constantly confused and bemused by the world of Man. But to have her openly hating men, wanting no more than to kick their asses for ogling women, and tossing aside a woman who’s getting ready to jump out of a cake (and for all we know, looking forward to doing so, but Wonder Woman never stops to ask her) while calling her a hussy isn’t being a feminist. It’s being a caricature of the “feminazi” archetype used to belittle the feminist movement. Feminism is about equality, and one of the first tactics put into place by those who oppose that is to brand feminists “man-haters.” And I LOATH seeing Wonder Woman reduced to the walking embodiment of this political cartoon logic.
All respect to Darwyn Cooke (because for the record, I LOVED New Frontier and Wonder Woman’s use in it,) but I’m having a hard time thinking of how a 47 year old white man lampooning a major upswing in women’s liberation (including having a major figure of the time taking inspiration from a fictional character ala Marty McFly inventing “Johnny B Good”) could have come across as more tone deaf.
Ryan, can I get a version that just isolates your vocals?
Here’s a nice little addendum to this episode from the Daily Rios podcast:
http://thedailyrios.com/the-daily-rios-365-happy-75th-birthday-ww/
Opinions are like tonsils. Not everyone has them, but Frank has enough for everyone!