On this episode of Peace Bound and Down: A Wonder Woman Podcast, Sean is joined by Bill Bere from The Bat-Pod to discuss issue 2 of volume two of Wonder Woman. Join them as they talk about Wonder Woman’s first meeting with a now aged Steve Trevor and Ares’ first salvo against Diana.
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A fantastic listen. I was a Marvel zombie when this came out but I recently picked the Perez omnibus to follow along.
That’s awesome! It is such a thoughtfully crafted book and, even though I’ve read the Perez run before, I’m discovering new layers as we review each issue.
Thanks for listening!
Another banger.
How DO we feel about an older Steve Trevor? Well, it certainly shook things up. My reading of this run is very spotty, and I guess we’ll find out whether this was done to give Wonder Woman other romantic options, or to make her NOT interested in romance. The only one I can point to in this era is the passing interest in Superman as a partner (Action Comics #600), which was quickly defused (I hated the New52 pairing, we did a whole episode of Lonely Hearts about it). But like I said, I don’t have real reading knowledge of Wonder Woman until much much later.
Siskoid,
Thanks for listening! At the time, my only real reference to the character of Steve Trevor was his depiction by the delightful Lyle Wagner on the Wonder Woman 77 TV show, so his aging didn’t impact me. However, now that I’ve seen him depicted in the Wonder Woman comics post Rebirth, I really love him and can see how controversial a move this must have been at the time.
I, too, hated the pairing of Diana and Clark in New 52. It felt silly and like gross misunderstandings of the characters .
I’m glad you mentioned Action Comics 600. The great Michael Bailey and I will be covering that issue in the near future.
Great show, Sean and Bill. It is interesting to compare/contrast this WW run w/ Simonson’s Thor. Both are great, but Thor seemed to be more of a big screen epic adventure than WW. Both did make excellent use of their respective mythic backgrounds.
As far as favorite comic couples, mine are 1) Superman and Lois Lane and 2) Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown. Recently, I surprised myself by really getting drawn into the relationship between She-Hulk and Jack of Hearts.
Favorite comic book weapons? Probably the power ring in DC and Cap’s shield in Marvel. If we branch out into other realms of the genre, I really like the Sonic Boomerang and Yo-Yo Bombs in Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets.
And Sean, I too like the Gruenwald Hawkeye series.
Finally, my wife asks what you have against the Muppets by dragging them into political ads?
Mr.and Mrs. Super,
Thank you so much for listening and writing in!
I LOVE the Simonson Thor run as well. I agree that it is more epic on scale, while Diana’s story is more personal. Both are wonderful and are lovingly crafted by legendary creators.
My apologies to the Muppet community. Your wife is 100% correct that they deserve better.
I can’t believe I didn’t think of Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown for one of my favorite couples! Tim is my favorite Robin in large part because of Stephanie. Their story felt more real than most comic book romances.
Gosh, there’s now been 3 Bat-experts on this show. That’s an interesting Venn diagram.
When I first read this issue back in the day, I think my main realization was that the Olympians were going to be an ongoing part of the series, and not just part of the origin in issue #1. That’s actually a big difference from pre-Crisis, where they were part of Wonder Woman’s world, but not an abiding presence. Here, they were going to participate often, and it made this series such a modern mythology tale. It was a bold choice, and set the book apart in a great way.
I did like Trevor being older and not a romantic interest. It’s a nod to pre-Crisis, and sets up some good stories for him and Diana, while letting her be free from a relationship being her primary subplot. And this Steve is great in his own right so this was a nice move.
Ok, I promise this will be my last comparison to Man of Steel, but like WW #1, Clark didn’t appear in his Superman costume until the last page of MoS #1. Related, Batman #404 came out last month, part one of Batman Year One. Bruce didn’t appear in costume in that issue at all. That happens in part 2. Maybe these were all intentionally done the same from editorial direction, or maybe Byrne, Perez, and Miller just had the same storytelling style. Or maybe this was just how first issues were handled in the 80s. Anybody else have thoughts on this?
Thanks for continuing to bring peace to the podcasting world!
Tim,
Thanks for listening! I love the comparison to both Man of Steel and Batman Year One. This seemed to be an era of more patient storytelling. Not the era of decompression coming in the early 2000s, certainly, but a nod towards more attention to building character.
I must protest, Wonder Woman in an entire four panels of the first JLE issue!
Symbol,
Ha! I always forget she is in the issue.
Thanks for another fine episode, I loved your chat with Bill. And yes, that’s an eye-catching cover, I remember looking at it and thinking some bad guy was ageing Steve.
Inside, we meet Steve Trevor… oh, I was not pleased by this, it closed off so many possibilities in Wonder Woman’s life. Sure, Steve had had some awful portrayals down the years, but Dan Mishkin had made him a very likeable character, someone who had value to the series outside of his relationship to Wonder Woman. Him being there and young didn’t mean stories had to revolve around them being a couple, they could’ve dated or not. And they made Etta old too, and a mouse… if you’re not going to have an Etta who’s vibrant and fun, what is the point? The creative team could’ve just left Etta and Steve out entirely, allowing creators with an interest in them to use them later.
Also this issue, Hermes reveals Diana has been able to fly since birth… this just makes her less unique – no other hero could glide on air currents, here she’s becoming more like a Super.
When Diana sees Steve for the first time she’s all, ‘So this is what man looks like. Strange, his image is noble… like that of the gods themselves!’ What did she think men – or mankind – would look like?
The art is amazing but the script is awfully wordy at times. And by the time we got to the end and the reveal of Deimos, with his daft great feet, and Phobos I was already getting a bit tired of gods and monsters.
I have to say, I’m not a fan of that curved logo, it’s just too sedate. And while the masthead logo that saw out the previous run wasn’t dynamic in terms of perspective, it had a lot more presence.
Martin,
Thanks for listening and writing in!
I can see both sides of the decision to age Steve. It sends a big message that this is a new era, but it cuts off some story possibilities. In the modern Wonder Woman books, Steve is a vital and compelling character. Aging him out as a love interest was perhaps too drastic a move.
And I totally agree on the choice to also age Etta. She is a wonderful, vibrant part of Diana’s life and there was no need to quiet her light.