I swear I just read a back and forth about how Diana and Steve weren't ever a loving relationship because he was "such a blithering idiot" in the Golden Age (and it's taken as a given that he's not worth reading in the Silver Age), and someone stated that the most loving they seemed in the Silver Age was in the opening two issues of Denny O'Neil's run.
I'm not going to single anyone out for last year's conversation (besides I've seen similar attitudes in letters pages and on boards and journals across the internet) but I have to say I'm boggled about that particular assertation, because... Well, it can't be the same Denny O'Neil run I'm thinking of. In the first couple issues of O'Neil's run, someone gets drunk and calls Diana a freak, she doesn't say anything (just looks uncomfortable), and Steve punches the guy. They go leave the party to park and make out. So, Diana's not herself. Then Steve gets mad at her for testifying about it at the trial when the dude gets killed. So, kinda rocky there. I suppose you might think it's sweet that he lost his temper and engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer to defend her honor rather than use the appropriate amount of force for the situation. I guess it is, I'd rather have seen Diana at least push the guy away and get an offended look.
The end sequence of the story has him holding Wonder Woman in her arms and wondering aloud if he should start dating Diana Prince since she cleared his name of a murder charge in that identity. Now, we all know Steve goes on about Wonder Woman when talking to Diana Prince, but he is actively dating Wonder Woman and only seems to be hanging out with Diana Prince because she's his friend. This has him saying to his girlfriend that his affection for her is in danger if any other woman saves his life. That's at odds with all any strife stories in the Silver Age, where Steve would either be under mind control or have had a fight and a breakup with Wonder Woman before looking elsewhere. I will grant O'Neil that he only ever gets attracted to women who look exactly like Wonder Woman. He got that, and the not interested unless she can save his life thing right. Still, not really the best moment for this relationship.
Any time they're together afterward, he's near death and she's crying over his injured form.
And honestly, that's why I hate the O'Neil run. Diana doesn't assert herself, cries even more than under Kanigher, gives up her powers so can be with Steve and then completely fails to protect him from Dr. Cyber... TWICE. And after he dies, the first man she's attracted to is evil. That opening storyline is just freaking annoying.
I mean, we bash the Silver Age but even though Kanigher made her emotional at times she was always really active and assertive. And while Kanigher's Diana was a complete stranger to logic, and his Steve was a stranger to forethought, I wouldn't call it an unpleasant relationship. They were really devoted to each other.
Kanigher wrote some extremely sweet stuff even though he also had stories where one or both of them were complete jerks. And it is generally BOTH of them being idiots. For every time Steve breaks up with Diana for a really stupid reason there's a story where Diana's angry at him for a really stupid reason and purposefully messes with his head. Not only that, everyone except Hippolyta comes off as an idiot in Mer-man stories. But for every one of those, there's cute little stories where he has to identify her by her kiss, he brings her gifts, takes her on dates to get her mind off the crime-fighting stress, builds her up when she's feeling down, doesn't dump her after tossing him across the room because of a hallucination, ignores the extremely weird goings on during a date to continue spending time with her, and doesn't give her a hard time for choosing the greater good over his life. Story wrap-ups are often Steve setting up Diana so she can give the moral, or Diana giving the moral and Steve following up with a flirtation or compliment. He's a jerk at times, but he's also the most supportive person in her life and dedicates a good percentage of his time to making sure she's comfortable and happy.
Even with Diana Prince, he's a thoughtless jerk who drones on about how awesome his girlfriend is but he's also fond of her, friendly to her, and protective of her. He's always trying to get Diana Prince to have fun and take a break from work, trying to find a way to introduce her to Wonder Woman and when she's not present for an adventure he feels bad about her being left out.
In the Golden Age, he's more outwardly macho (which I find greatly amusing) but still her absolute biggest public support. He defends her, talks her up, makes sure she gets proper credit for her heroism, attends any public appearances to offer his support, comforts her when she's upset, brings the cavalry, gets along with her friends, respects her culture and sticks around during danger on the off chance he might be able to help her in the smallest way. He can get bombastic, but that actually makes it more impressive when you see him defer to her wisdom and skill, or just when you see those panels where he's standing quietly in the background while she's in the spotlight.
Yeah, these characters weren't perfectly refined. It's Golden and Silver Age comics, Batman, Superman and their supporting casts had some odd behavior too. Still, this was not a bad boyfriend at all. A lot preferable to most of the leading men who were in the hero role, actually. Probably because he's designed to be the supportive, laid back partner to someone dominant and driven. Before I actually sat down read this stuff, I always heard the two things: He's a jerk, and he's a wuss. Reading the archives and the Showcases, I don't see a significant basis for either conclusion.
I swear, people must be reading the comics from the red universe.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Friday, April 08, 2011
This again?
Today's Flashpoint Friday at the the Source, and they've been releasing solicits all day. Naturally, we've been watching them in anticipation.
Remember how I said I was leery of this crossover from the Wonder Woman solicit? Well... about the time they solicited the second Aquaman issue with him holding a dead woman, I started to worry again. A quick glance at the covers up until then revealed a wide-eyed love interest, a villainess, and a banner referencing "Angry Amazons Unleashed!" along with the dead woman. And then more confirmation the Amazons were the Big Bad. I started, of course, to get irked.
Then they released the Lois Lane solicit.
So, we have a woman of action balanced out by an injured woman on her knees. There is also a shadowed man, meant to represent the leader of the resistence. This is where I really started to worry, because this guy is a surprise reveal. And yes, he could be anyone, but we've had a male character teased recently that has ties to the Wonder Woman franchise and a very specific connection to Themiscyra.
Granted, I have been complaining that DC should bring Steve Trevor back. Thing is, my brain's been going. On Twitter we discussed the horrible option this crossover would end with Wonder Woman marrying Aquaman, or at least confirming an arranged marriage to Aquaman could be happy and successful. That led to the worst possible things they could do with Wonder Woman.
In the meantime, we're seeing solicits that imply horribly evil Amazons, and the solicit for the first Wonder Woman issue says she wants to take over the world. As this is very un-Diana-like behavior, I'm thinking a shapeshifting/illusionist imposter or some form of mind control is behind it. And that leads me to DC's remarkable ability to do things that I've been wanting them to but nonetheless piss me off in the execution.
I've already outlined how making Steve Trevor a jackass would piss me off, but I hadn't realized there's another option. If he were to show up for the first time specifically to save her, I think I'd be quite pissed actually. Now, I'm not AGAINST Steve in the spotlight or pulling his weight and saving her at times. Marston had him save her butt every few issues it seems, and even Kanigher gave him some pivotal moments (though they were love interest coded), and one of my favorite things is a fight between him and Eros in 322. But it's one thing when he's been around and she saved him in the origin and regularly does the heavy fighting while he helps out and saves her once in a while. It's another thing entirely when the character in this form has been off the board for a full 25 years, and we haven't even seen the origin where she rescues him from the plane crash. It would be establishing this character in the opposite way for modern readers, from the start. And I can see them doing it because the most common complaints from fanboys who hate Steve, along with their suggested alternatives of Batman and Superman, seem to go back to the idea he's not man enough for Wonder Woman. As he has a masculine job, a masculine personality, was a war hero before he met her, and can hold his own in a fist fight it's not a stretch to gather they get this idea from how he relates to Diana. He accepts her help, he doesn't try to boss her around, and he gets his ass saved a lot by her. Introducing him sa her savior would change that dynamic for modern readers.
Of course, I hate this little idea I've conjured up, because I think it's fundamental that she save him first not only in his experience but in ours as readers. There are too few male characters who have this role in a romantic relationship, and the point of Steve Trevor was to PUT a male character in that role and still have him be masculine and attractive.
On the bright side, I could be jumping to conclusions and that could be Sgt Steel, Nemesis or Max Lord.
My fingers are crossed for Max Lord. Why? Because look what the second Wonder Woman issue's solicit is:
That's right. "How many must die to avenge Queen Hippolyta’s death and satiate Diana’s fury?"
The implication, of course, is that Hippolyta is dead for Dian a's run amok. Because we know from past experience that the death of her mother unhinges her and makes her lash out against... wait a minute. She didn't do this after her mother died in Our Worlds at War. And she isn't doing this in the Odyssey storyline where her mother's dead again. So where the fuck did this idea come from?
Not only that, what is with this Vicious Bloodthirsty Amazon obsession? Don't they know we don't like that? That it runs contrary to the Wonder Woman concept? That it completely shits on eveyrthing established as far back as Marston? That it just pisses off Wonder Woman fans? That even if this is an imposter Diana, we're still saying that the Amazons are bloodthirsty and horrible and she's the only GOOD one? That this is just reactionary panic that if women were allowed to take a leadership position they'd automatically run roughshod over men? Do they really want to tell us that all-female organizations like the Amazons and the Star Sapphires are inherently unbalanced and liable to explode violently while male-dominated organizations are perfectly fine? And is Wonder Woman really the appropriate vehicle for that message?
Abenett and Lanning are good. They are good good writers. I have no doubt there's some sort of twist coming, but I have a lot of doubt it'll be worth it. And if Odyssey was leading into this, it certainly wasn't worth it. There's a strain of fandom that loves this idea, and several of them are comics writers. They don't like our compassionate, balanced, thinking Diana who knows when to use force and when to use mercy. They want the daughters of Ares. They want a violent, unrestrained woman who kicks men in the crotch even though she has superstrength and she can easily put them in a hold without causing any damage, and uses lethal force after saying "Don't call me Baby." They want bloodthirsty Amazons carrying spears, impaling male soldiers and ranting about the Patriarchy as they do so. I don't see the appeal at all, but it's THERE and people demand it. Everyone knows someone who only liked Wonder Woman when they read Kingdom Come and really wish she'd be edgier and they'd "play up the warrior aspect."
And whatever the twist is... Circe, Dr. Psycho, Diana's really Lyta or Donna, Dark Angel, possession by Eris or Belladonna (I forget her Greek name) or one of the furies, Max Lord, White Martians, soemthing to emphasize the wrongness of this timeline (which would still imply this is in Diana's heart somewhere), whatever... this desire is being fed. We'll have a crop of fanboys going "I preferred that, I want to write Wonder Woman that way again" after all this is over. We'll have reinforced the hard-edged manhating Amazon stereotype in people's mind, especially if the twist only applies to the female-led books and the Amazons are running amok everywhere else. And really, it's just not worth it. It's not worth going back to this idea that hacks away at the foundation of what makes Diana Diana.
And that's probably why so many people don't "get" her, or have trouble writing her. If you don't faithfully read her series, and all you see is her appearing as the humorless Amazon warrior who is the one person from her culture who doesn't kill everyuone, or is the person who goes bad in every alternate timeline, you have no fucking clue who Wonder Woman is or why she endures as a hero. That's why people don't realize she has a distinctive and enduring personality, because they never showcase it and when she DOES get a big part it's because they are completely tearing down the foundations of her franchise, and the basis of her personality. They're sabotaging themselves.
And at the end, there's three ways this can go. Fans who already read her book are pissed off, and would drop it if she were changed. Fans who like her in the crossover don't see what they want in her book. And fans who would like her but see her in the crossover and get the wrong idea never pick up her book. And then they can't figure out why featuring Wonder Woman in a crossover didn't help her sales.
As I've said before with Amazons Attack. This will not ruin Wonder Woman. She has too much appeal in the mainstream community. She's an American Icon, and the franchise is strong enough to take Robert Kanigher, Denny O'Neil, John Byrne, Jodi Piccoult, Will Pfiefer, and J Michael Straczynski. She can weather the end of World War II, the death of the main love interest, the white suit era, losing the most iconic features, dating Superman and dating Batman. She can live through three different variations on the bracelets-based weakness. She can survive Millenium, War of the Gods, Our Worlds at War, Infinite Crisis, Amazons Attack, Blackest Night and certainly Flashpoint. She's survived constant supporting cast changes, 2 hard reboots and countless soft reboots. She's gotten through every fucking writer feeling the need to cast off the previous writer and rebuild her franchise from the ground up. This is far from the end.
But it is a stupid, stupid idea nonetheless.
Remember how I said I was leery of this crossover from the Wonder Woman solicit? Well... about the time they solicited the second Aquaman issue with him holding a dead woman, I started to worry again. A quick glance at the covers up until then revealed a wide-eyed love interest, a villainess, and a banner referencing "Angry Amazons Unleashed!" along with the dead woman. And then more confirmation the Amazons were the Big Bad. I started, of course, to get irked.
Then they released the Lois Lane solicit.
FLASH QUESTION: Lois Lane meets the mysterious leader of the Resistance – but will she survive?
FLASHPOINT: LOIS LANE AND THE RESISTANCE #2
Written by DAN ABNETT and ANDY LANNING
Art by EDDIE NUNEZ
Cover by EDDIE NUNEZ and SANDRA HOPE
On sale JULY 27 • 2 of 3, 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
So, we have a woman of action balanced out by an injured woman on her knees. There is also a shadowed man, meant to represent the leader of the resistence. This is where I really started to worry, because this guy is a surprise reveal. And yes, he could be anyone, but we've had a male character teased recently that has ties to the Wonder Woman franchise and a very specific connection to Themiscyra.
Granted, I have been complaining that DC should bring Steve Trevor back. Thing is, my brain's been going. On Twitter we discussed the horrible option this crossover would end with Wonder Woman marrying Aquaman, or at least confirming an arranged marriage to Aquaman could be happy and successful. That led to the worst possible things they could do with Wonder Woman.
In the meantime, we're seeing solicits that imply horribly evil Amazons, and the solicit for the first Wonder Woman issue says she wants to take over the world. As this is very un-Diana-like behavior, I'm thinking a shapeshifting/illusionist imposter or some form of mind control is behind it. And that leads me to DC's remarkable ability to do things that I've been wanting them to but nonetheless piss me off in the execution.
I've already outlined how making Steve Trevor a jackass would piss me off, but I hadn't realized there's another option. If he were to show up for the first time specifically to save her, I think I'd be quite pissed actually. Now, I'm not AGAINST Steve in the spotlight or pulling his weight and saving her at times. Marston had him save her butt every few issues it seems, and even Kanigher gave him some pivotal moments (though they were love interest coded), and one of my favorite things is a fight between him and Eros in 322. But it's one thing when he's been around and she saved him in the origin and regularly does the heavy fighting while he helps out and saves her once in a while. It's another thing entirely when the character in this form has been off the board for a full 25 years, and we haven't even seen the origin where she rescues him from the plane crash. It would be establishing this character in the opposite way for modern readers, from the start. And I can see them doing it because the most common complaints from fanboys who hate Steve, along with their suggested alternatives of Batman and Superman, seem to go back to the idea he's not man enough for Wonder Woman. As he has a masculine job, a masculine personality, was a war hero before he met her, and can hold his own in a fist fight it's not a stretch to gather they get this idea from how he relates to Diana. He accepts her help, he doesn't try to boss her around, and he gets his ass saved a lot by her. Introducing him sa her savior would change that dynamic for modern readers.
Of course, I hate this little idea I've conjured up, because I think it's fundamental that she save him first not only in his experience but in ours as readers. There are too few male characters who have this role in a romantic relationship, and the point of Steve Trevor was to PUT a male character in that role and still have him be masculine and attractive.
On the bright side, I could be jumping to conclusions and that could be Sgt Steel, Nemesis or Max Lord.
My fingers are crossed for Max Lord. Why? Because look what the second Wonder Woman issue's solicit is:
FLASH QUESTION: How many must die to avenge Queen Hippolyta’s death and satiate Diana’s fury?
FLASHPOINT: WONDER WOMAN AND THE FURIES #2
Written by DAN ABNETT and ANDY LANNING
Art by SCOTT CLARK and DAVID BEATY
Cover by ED BENES
On sale JULY 20 • 2 of 3, 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
That's right. "How many must die to avenge Queen Hippolyta’s death and satiate Diana’s fury?"
The implication, of course, is that Hippolyta is dead for Dian a's run amok. Because we know from past experience that the death of her mother unhinges her and makes her lash out against... wait a minute. She didn't do this after her mother died in Our Worlds at War. And she isn't doing this in the Odyssey storyline where her mother's dead again. So where the fuck did this idea come from?
Not only that, what is with this Vicious Bloodthirsty Amazon obsession? Don't they know we don't like that? That it runs contrary to the Wonder Woman concept? That it completely shits on eveyrthing established as far back as Marston? That it just pisses off Wonder Woman fans? That even if this is an imposter Diana, we're still saying that the Amazons are bloodthirsty and horrible and she's the only GOOD one? That this is just reactionary panic that if women were allowed to take a leadership position they'd automatically run roughshod over men? Do they really want to tell us that all-female organizations like the Amazons and the Star Sapphires are inherently unbalanced and liable to explode violently while male-dominated organizations are perfectly fine? And is Wonder Woman really the appropriate vehicle for that message?
Abenett and Lanning are good. They are good good writers. I have no doubt there's some sort of twist coming, but I have a lot of doubt it'll be worth it. And if Odyssey was leading into this, it certainly wasn't worth it. There's a strain of fandom that loves this idea, and several of them are comics writers. They don't like our compassionate, balanced, thinking Diana who knows when to use force and when to use mercy. They want the daughters of Ares. They want a violent, unrestrained woman who kicks men in the crotch even though she has superstrength and she can easily put them in a hold without causing any damage, and uses lethal force after saying "Don't call me Baby." They want bloodthirsty Amazons carrying spears, impaling male soldiers and ranting about the Patriarchy as they do so. I don't see the appeal at all, but it's THERE and people demand it. Everyone knows someone who only liked Wonder Woman when they read Kingdom Come and really wish she'd be edgier and they'd "play up the warrior aspect."
And whatever the twist is... Circe, Dr. Psycho, Diana's really Lyta or Donna, Dark Angel, possession by Eris or Belladonna (I forget her Greek name) or one of the furies, Max Lord, White Martians, soemthing to emphasize the wrongness of this timeline (which would still imply this is in Diana's heart somewhere), whatever... this desire is being fed. We'll have a crop of fanboys going "I preferred that, I want to write Wonder Woman that way again" after all this is over. We'll have reinforced the hard-edged manhating Amazon stereotype in people's mind, especially if the twist only applies to the female-led books and the Amazons are running amok everywhere else. And really, it's just not worth it. It's not worth going back to this idea that hacks away at the foundation of what makes Diana Diana.
And that's probably why so many people don't "get" her, or have trouble writing her. If you don't faithfully read her series, and all you see is her appearing as the humorless Amazon warrior who is the one person from her culture who doesn't kill everyuone, or is the person who goes bad in every alternate timeline, you have no fucking clue who Wonder Woman is or why she endures as a hero. That's why people don't realize she has a distinctive and enduring personality, because they never showcase it and when she DOES get a big part it's because they are completely tearing down the foundations of her franchise, and the basis of her personality. They're sabotaging themselves.
And at the end, there's three ways this can go. Fans who already read her book are pissed off, and would drop it if she were changed. Fans who like her in the crossover don't see what they want in her book. And fans who would like her but see her in the crossover and get the wrong idea never pick up her book. And then they can't figure out why featuring Wonder Woman in a crossover didn't help her sales.
As I've said before with Amazons Attack. This will not ruin Wonder Woman. She has too much appeal in the mainstream community. She's an American Icon, and the franchise is strong enough to take Robert Kanigher, Denny O'Neil, John Byrne, Jodi Piccoult, Will Pfiefer, and J Michael Straczynski. She can weather the end of World War II, the death of the main love interest, the white suit era, losing the most iconic features, dating Superman and dating Batman. She can live through three different variations on the bracelets-based weakness. She can survive Millenium, War of the Gods, Our Worlds at War, Infinite Crisis, Amazons Attack, Blackest Night and certainly Flashpoint. She's survived constant supporting cast changes, 2 hard reboots and countless soft reboots. She's gotten through every fucking writer feeling the need to cast off the previous writer and rebuild her franchise from the ground up. This is far from the end.
But it is a stupid, stupid idea nonetheless.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Little stuff.
I was going to write about what a terrible leader General Darnell is, but I got distracted by Tumblr. Today's topic is Wonder Woman's costume, again. I wrote a bit on her look and her personality, and almost got into it about Pre-Crisis vs Post-Crisis characterization but that's a very complex subject and I want to get my head straight first before laying out what I think about that.
So, what do you get rather than a link to my Tumblr, a post on General Darnell and an essay on characterization? This realization:
Which is all Kyle's fault.
Yeah, those pictures are from Wonder Woman #1, Wonder Woman #17, and Wonder Woman (Series 2) #94 respectively.
And since I feel bad about not telling you why General Darnell's behavior is a threat to good order and discipline, straight out of Wonder Woman #279, here's 1/3 of the reason he sucks as a commander.
At the time of this scene, Captain Diana Prince works directly for Colonel Steve Trevor, who works directly for General Philip Darnell. Yes, that's in the direct chain of command and separated by three paygrades.
So, what do you get rather than a link to my Tumblr, a post on General Darnell and an essay on characterization? This realization:
Which is all Kyle's fault.
Yeah, those pictures are from Wonder Woman #1, Wonder Woman #17, and Wonder Woman (Series 2) #94 respectively.
And since I feel bad about not telling you why General Darnell's behavior is a threat to good order and discipline, straight out of Wonder Woman #279, here's 1/3 of the reason he sucks as a commander.
At the time of this scene, Captain Diana Prince works directly for Colonel Steve Trevor, who works directly for General Philip Darnell. Yes, that's in the direct chain of command and separated by three paygrades.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
The Reason We Have Conventions
Found on tumblr, the Earth-11 Justice League.
These guys have been all over the place since Sunday. Here's a closer look at Power Man:
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Diana's anxieties and Steve's social shortcomings.
Wonder Woman #300 by Roy and Dann Thomas might be one of my favorite single-issue comics. It's fairly self-contained, and gives us 7 stories in one issue that all tie into the same plot. The framing story is pretty complex. Basically, she decides to marry Steve and kill off her secret identity. She's fighting a shadowmonster throughout the whole thing, and the Sandman is annoying her to dump Steve and run off to dreamland. She has four dream sequences (in addition to an Earth-2 diversion and the Sandman's origin story) that lay bare her anxieties. Dorian took five posts to recap it humorously, but I wanna look into it a bit more seriously because the Thomases address a lot about pre-Crisis Wonder Woman and her love interest in this. Still, go ahead and laugh at it and get the plot. I'll wait.
One of my favorite aspects of this is that the entire story is through Diana's eyes. This is not only refreshing as the Perez reboot set the trend of we see Diana's life through everyone else's eyes, but it's a plot point that Steve gets maybe one or two balloons in the whole special.
Early on, the argument the two have over lunch is entirely from her point of view. There's any number of reasons he might be cranky at the time but she suspects his ego is threatened. He might not have sleep the other night himself, he might be stressed over the arms conference, he might be lonely because Wonder Woman hasn't called, General Darnell might have been needling him over something before Diana and Etta got to the office, he might even be thinking about the General's constant sexual harassment and have the same doubts Diana herself has about his motives for pushing an extremely unorthodox double-promotion (The Thomases have never heard of Time-in-Grade requirements). Or she might be right, he's just weirded out by having a subordinate suddenly become an equal and it may or may not have something to do with sexism. Either way, we just know he's irritated with the General, concerned about the unorthodox double-promotion, has some general malaise about military life, and still has his absent-minded propensity for putting his foot in his mouth around Diana Prince. We never really find out what causes this, only that he's sorry about it later on.
We do, however, get some confirmation of one of my theories:
This is just slightly more tactful than "Wait, you're a woman?" and part of that tradition of odd behavior from Steve that Diana always finds insulting and a lot of fans take as just being mean to her. Personally, having worked with military men and seen how they speak to each other and women who are part of the office, I've always thought he just considered her his work-buddy and didn't realize she took any of this stuff seriously. In the Golden Age, he teases her at times but he's genuinely protective of her (he decks a guy who harasses her at lunch) and pretty friendly towards her. In the Silver Age he turns down her requests for a date as bluntly as possible (and by constantly pointing out that he is already dating someone he finds incredible), teases her about her appearance (and Diana rarely gives him an indication she's insulted by this, but instead rants at her mirror later on), but is still really protective of her and friendly enough to try and drag her to see Wonder Woman whenever she appears, and invite her out when he can't find his girlfriend. Bronze Age Steve is much better behaved than both of them, generally quieter and more thoughtful, but he still blurts out stupid things and gets surprised when she's mad at him. From what I can gather over sampling this 40 year period, he's basically coded her as a man for most social interactions. This is so ingrained in his behavior towards her that I imagine even telling her to seek safety during dangerous situations isn't a sign of chivalry, and he'd be like that with any lower ranking person that accompanies him.
That said, it's remarkably tactless, even for Steve Trevor. Poor Steve tries to be courteous but just gets his foot in that mouth without thinking. At least, that's what I gather from his surprise at her leaving and how readily he took the blame later on for his stupid big mouth. Somehow this guy always knows the right thing to say to Wonder Woman, and the wrong thing to say to Diana Prince.
Diana, for her part, has gotten better. She's less upset that he's not attracted to Diana Prince and more upset that after two years of dating Steve still doesn't suspect that these two women might be the same person. Oh yeah, this Steve is one of three Bronze Age incarnations. You have the Earth-2 version (seen in the trip to Earth-2 in this issue), the original Earth-1 version (so nice the writers killed him twice!), and this version from an unknown Earth who crashlanded on Paradise Island after she was an established superhero who was made to forget the original Earth-1 version. So she's only been dating him two years and thinks she's only known him for two years, but it feels like he's been oblivious for 39 years.
Still, she has an overall good image of the man as evidenced by the dream sequences. Each sequence presents a scenario where something different happened in her origin and her life sucked as a result. In each scenario, Steve is not the problem.
In the first story, her mother and her duty keeps them apart. Hippolyta kills herself to force Diana to take the throne. (The really horrible thing? When Diana tells her this dream Hippolyta confesses she'd thought about it.) He goes home with Mala, her runner up. We learn here that Diana will choose her people over her boyfriend, something we've seen a couple times in Silver Age stories.
In the second, the first man to find the island is evil. He's a sleazy conniving thief, but Diana's young and doesn't see this right away. Hippolyta does. Diana runs away with him to Miami and is horrified when he kills the cops who come to bring him in, so she captures him for them and forces him to confess he committed the crimes. He also gleefully tells her he never loved her. Instead of being a nightmare about Steve being bad, though, this is about a different man. His method of romance, his hair color, his eye color, that he has facial hair, he's the exact opposite of Steve down to being named Trevor Stevens. We learn that Diana's worried she'd have just run off with the first dude she ever saw, but once again Steve is not the problem.
In the third, Superman lands on the island. She marries him right away, becoming more Wonder Wife than Wonder Woman. They're too alike, and spend their days apart on the superhero job and the rest of the time arguing. They get divorced and, unlike the times she broke up with Steve or he died, she gives up on Man's World and returns home. We learn A LOT here. She sees Superman as basically a male version of herself and doesn't think they'd mesh because she needs a complementary personality. She thinks she'd have abandoned her mission if she got married too early, and that if she married Superman she'd be defined as his wife rather than as her own person. We also learn that she thinks Lois would be more pissed off than heartbroken, and I think she's right there. Still, Steve is not the problem.
The fourth and final dream is intense and horrible. She dreams herself as "a super-villainess, a murderess, so incapable of love and compassion that the world would despise me." She reject Steve's love along with any thought that men might be complex or sympathetic human beings. She comes to man's world intending to conquer people she considers sub-human, and her lack of caution and empathy cause Steve's death. This one amazes me, because along with the second story it (and her dialogue about how easy it would be for her to have been that woman) establishes that she could see herself going evil more easily than Steve ever would.
In-between she blames the Sandman for these, but I'm not sure I understand that. It is incredibly clear in each one that there's nothing wrong with Steve in her eyes. Each and every dream reinforces that Steve Trevor is her ideal mate, and that she would be miserable without him. As the Sandman's stated goal is that she dump Steve for him, this would be a really shitty tactic in addition to being incredibly creepy.
Really, it's just her increasing guilt over having lied to him so early on because even pre-Crisis, Diana is not cut out for a secret identity. And her biggest nightmare is before the big reveal of how badly she screwed with Steve.
Once again, one of my favorite things about this issue is that Diana's head is an open book while we don't really know what's going on inside Steve's head. It's an easy joke that we rarely see Steve's thought balloons, but there's a reason for that. In this romance, the man is the inscrutable, illogical, mysterious party. The woman is the one who acts for easy to understand reasons and has an obvious and serious train of thought. Even when writers like Kanigher and O'Neil make her hyper-emotional and even her creator Marston attributes stereotyped female behavior to her, we still know how her head works and the item she's concerned about is always the most important thing in the story.
(Honestly, I'm a bit relieved that Steve Trevor hasn't been the love interest for the Perez and Byrne runs, because those writers told everything through supporting cast members and it would have been too damned easy to make him the viewpoint character for them. Rucka seems to have permanently turned that around, though. All of Vol 3 is back to Diana's POV.)
In the run-up to the wedding Diana's overtired and has a lot going on between arranging a rushed but still lavish ceremony and faking her secret identity's death.
Even so, I'd say she have should given thought to just how horrible getting rid of her secret identity via tragic death could be. She's actually surprised by how upset people are at the funeral. Not only that, she completely misses when Steve hints that he's so freaked out he wants to postpone the wedding, and assumes the offer is for her feelings. Perfectly understandable, it's not like she makes a habit of completely misreading him after all. Steve, normally pretty inscrutable to Diana, is extra inscrutable because she's too preoccupied to pay attention to his behavior.
Still, there is one last point where we all should have known he was in trouble, but Diana was again too plagued by her dreams to notice. Take a look at the wedding party.
Did you catch it?
Except for Hippolyta, Etta (dressed as the Maid of Honor), and General Darnell, every guest is a superhero. These are all Diana's friends. Steve's best man is his jackass boss.
Not only that, when he does blurt out his infamous "No" (after trying to get a chance to warn the bride he's having problems), everyone looks surprised and angry. Not a sympathetic face on that dais. He not only doesn't have any friends closer than his boss, he's not close enough to his boss to tell him he's not sure he can go through with the wedding so soon after Diana Prince died.
His only friend on the platform is the bride he just turned down.
And when you think about it, that's in continuity. We rarely see a story where an old friend of Steve's shows up. He has lunch with Diana Prince usually. When his girlfriend is not around, he chooses to socialize with Diana Prince. Of course, this particular Steve is from another universe and doesn't remember any of his old friends, but he's had two years to make new ones. He mainly hangs out with Diana and Etta. Silver Age Steve hung out with Diana in either of her identities. Whenever he had tickets to something and couldn't find his girlfriend, he asked Diana Prince to go with him and specifically stated it was because he couldn't get hold of his girlfriend. Golden Age Steve had lunch with Diana Prince and socialized with her, his boss or the Holliday Girls, who were Wonder Woman's friends.
Aside from Diana and Etta (he just doesn't seem very friendly with the General to me), this man has no friends. I don't think it's so much a social fault of his, although maybe it is alienating among men to suggest that women are people not to mention being from another universe and dividing his time between work, dating and being kidnapped. Bronze Age Steve is pretty introverted and the sort of person who cultivates a few close friendships. He's not sitting at home obsessing over his girlfriend, he's just a man of few friends. Unfortunately, one of those precious few friends happens to be his girlfriend in disguise.
A lot of people seem to read his confession as a evidence that he's also in love with her secret identity but over the next 29 issues he never displays any real romantic feeling for Diana Prince. He's just happy she's not dead. They once hold hands when she's at his bedside and he tells her he's glad for her company, but he never explores any potential romance with her. Hell, over 39 years of comics he only briefly considers dating Diana Prince after she's saved him from prison in the O'Neil run. Every other time he goes out with her it's like he's going out with a poker buddy, and he wants to talk girls (well, one girl) with her. He's completely telling the truth here when he says the woman he loves is Wonder Woman. But Diana Prince is his closest platonic friend, and he does care deeply for her and he can't go through with his wedding so soon after her death.
It turns out that Diana made herself into his best friend. Now she feels like crap because she didn't realize it.
Diana's solution, of course, is to tell him she's not angry, resurrect Diana Prince and set herself to coming clean as soon as humanly possible. This being comics she takes 12 issues to work up her nerve, then he tells her he doesn't want to know.
I'd call him a jerk for that and Diana stupid for not telling him off, but I'm too amused that he worries she might be the janitor where he works.
One of my favorite aspects of this is that the entire story is through Diana's eyes. This is not only refreshing as the Perez reboot set the trend of we see Diana's life through everyone else's eyes, but it's a plot point that Steve gets maybe one or two balloons in the whole special.
Early on, the argument the two have over lunch is entirely from her point of view. There's any number of reasons he might be cranky at the time but she suspects his ego is threatened. He might not have sleep the other night himself, he might be stressed over the arms conference, he might be lonely because Wonder Woman hasn't called, General Darnell might have been needling him over something before Diana and Etta got to the office, he might even be thinking about the General's constant sexual harassment and have the same doubts Diana herself has about his motives for pushing an extremely unorthodox double-promotion (The Thomases have never heard of Time-in-Grade requirements). Or she might be right, he's just weirded out by having a subordinate suddenly become an equal and it may or may not have something to do with sexism. Either way, we just know he's irritated with the General, concerned about the unorthodox double-promotion, has some general malaise about military life, and still has his absent-minded propensity for putting his foot in his mouth around Diana Prince. We never really find out what causes this, only that he's sorry about it later on.
We do, however, get some confirmation of one of my theories:
This is just slightly more tactful than "Wait, you're a woman?" and part of that tradition of odd behavior from Steve that Diana always finds insulting and a lot of fans take as just being mean to her. Personally, having worked with military men and seen how they speak to each other and women who are part of the office, I've always thought he just considered her his work-buddy and didn't realize she took any of this stuff seriously. In the Golden Age, he teases her at times but he's genuinely protective of her (he decks a guy who harasses her at lunch) and pretty friendly towards her. In the Silver Age he turns down her requests for a date as bluntly as possible (and by constantly pointing out that he is already dating someone he finds incredible), teases her about her appearance (and Diana rarely gives him an indication she's insulted by this, but instead rants at her mirror later on), but is still really protective of her and friendly enough to try and drag her to see Wonder Woman whenever she appears, and invite her out when he can't find his girlfriend. Bronze Age Steve is much better behaved than both of them, generally quieter and more thoughtful, but he still blurts out stupid things and gets surprised when she's mad at him. From what I can gather over sampling this 40 year period, he's basically coded her as a man for most social interactions. This is so ingrained in his behavior towards her that I imagine even telling her to seek safety during dangerous situations isn't a sign of chivalry, and he'd be like that with any lower ranking person that accompanies him.
That said, it's remarkably tactless, even for Steve Trevor. Poor Steve tries to be courteous but just gets his foot in that mouth without thinking. At least, that's what I gather from his surprise at her leaving and how readily he took the blame later on for his stupid big mouth. Somehow this guy always knows the right thing to say to Wonder Woman, and the wrong thing to say to Diana Prince.
Diana, for her part, has gotten better. She's less upset that he's not attracted to Diana Prince and more upset that after two years of dating Steve still doesn't suspect that these two women might be the same person. Oh yeah, this Steve is one of three Bronze Age incarnations. You have the Earth-2 version (seen in the trip to Earth-2 in this issue), the original Earth-1 version (so nice the writers killed him twice!), and this version from an unknown Earth who crashlanded on Paradise Island after she was an established superhero who was made to forget the original Earth-1 version. So she's only been dating him two years and thinks she's only known him for two years, but it feels like he's been oblivious for 39 years.
Still, she has an overall good image of the man as evidenced by the dream sequences. Each sequence presents a scenario where something different happened in her origin and her life sucked as a result. In each scenario, Steve is not the problem.
In the first story, her mother and her duty keeps them apart. Hippolyta kills herself to force Diana to take the throne. (The really horrible thing? When Diana tells her this dream Hippolyta confesses she'd thought about it.) He goes home with Mala, her runner up. We learn here that Diana will choose her people over her boyfriend, something we've seen a couple times in Silver Age stories.
In the second, the first man to find the island is evil. He's a sleazy conniving thief, but Diana's young and doesn't see this right away. Hippolyta does. Diana runs away with him to Miami and is horrified when he kills the cops who come to bring him in, so she captures him for them and forces him to confess he committed the crimes. He also gleefully tells her he never loved her. Instead of being a nightmare about Steve being bad, though, this is about a different man. His method of romance, his hair color, his eye color, that he has facial hair, he's the exact opposite of Steve down to being named Trevor Stevens. We learn that Diana's worried she'd have just run off with the first dude she ever saw, but once again Steve is not the problem.
In the third, Superman lands on the island. She marries him right away, becoming more Wonder Wife than Wonder Woman. They're too alike, and spend their days apart on the superhero job and the rest of the time arguing. They get divorced and, unlike the times she broke up with Steve or he died, she gives up on Man's World and returns home. We learn A LOT here. She sees Superman as basically a male version of herself and doesn't think they'd mesh because she needs a complementary personality. She thinks she'd have abandoned her mission if she got married too early, and that if she married Superman she'd be defined as his wife rather than as her own person. We also learn that she thinks Lois would be more pissed off than heartbroken, and I think she's right there. Still, Steve is not the problem.
The fourth and final dream is intense and horrible. She dreams herself as "a super-villainess, a murderess, so incapable of love and compassion that the world would despise me." She reject Steve's love along with any thought that men might be complex or sympathetic human beings. She comes to man's world intending to conquer people she considers sub-human, and her lack of caution and empathy cause Steve's death. This one amazes me, because along with the second story it (and her dialogue about how easy it would be for her to have been that woman) establishes that she could see herself going evil more easily than Steve ever would.
In-between she blames the Sandman for these, but I'm not sure I understand that. It is incredibly clear in each one that there's nothing wrong with Steve in her eyes. Each and every dream reinforces that Steve Trevor is her ideal mate, and that she would be miserable without him. As the Sandman's stated goal is that she dump Steve for him, this would be a really shitty tactic in addition to being incredibly creepy.
Really, it's just her increasing guilt over having lied to him so early on because even pre-Crisis, Diana is not cut out for a secret identity. And her biggest nightmare is before the big reveal of how badly she screwed with Steve.
Once again, one of my favorite things about this issue is that Diana's head is an open book while we don't really know what's going on inside Steve's head. It's an easy joke that we rarely see Steve's thought balloons, but there's a reason for that. In this romance, the man is the inscrutable, illogical, mysterious party. The woman is the one who acts for easy to understand reasons and has an obvious and serious train of thought. Even when writers like Kanigher and O'Neil make her hyper-emotional and even her creator Marston attributes stereotyped female behavior to her, we still know how her head works and the item she's concerned about is always the most important thing in the story.
(Honestly, I'm a bit relieved that Steve Trevor hasn't been the love interest for the Perez and Byrne runs, because those writers told everything through supporting cast members and it would have been too damned easy to make him the viewpoint character for them. Rucka seems to have permanently turned that around, though. All of Vol 3 is back to Diana's POV.)
In the run-up to the wedding Diana's overtired and has a lot going on between arranging a rushed but still lavish ceremony and faking her secret identity's death.
Even so, I'd say she have should given thought to just how horrible getting rid of her secret identity via tragic death could be. She's actually surprised by how upset people are at the funeral. Not only that, she completely misses when Steve hints that he's so freaked out he wants to postpone the wedding, and assumes the offer is for her feelings. Perfectly understandable, it's not like she makes a habit of completely misreading him after all. Steve, normally pretty inscrutable to Diana, is extra inscrutable because she's too preoccupied to pay attention to his behavior.
Still, there is one last point where we all should have known he was in trouble, but Diana was again too plagued by her dreams to notice. Take a look at the wedding party.
Did you catch it?
Except for Hippolyta, Etta (dressed as the Maid of Honor), and General Darnell, every guest is a superhero. These are all Diana's friends. Steve's best man is his jackass boss.
Not only that, when he does blurt out his infamous "No" (after trying to get a chance to warn the bride he's having problems), everyone looks surprised and angry. Not a sympathetic face on that dais. He not only doesn't have any friends closer than his boss, he's not close enough to his boss to tell him he's not sure he can go through with the wedding so soon after Diana Prince died.
His only friend on the platform is the bride he just turned down.
And when you think about it, that's in continuity. We rarely see a story where an old friend of Steve's shows up. He has lunch with Diana Prince usually. When his girlfriend is not around, he chooses to socialize with Diana Prince. Of course, this particular Steve is from another universe and doesn't remember any of his old friends, but he's had two years to make new ones. He mainly hangs out with Diana and Etta. Silver Age Steve hung out with Diana in either of her identities. Whenever he had tickets to something and couldn't find his girlfriend, he asked Diana Prince to go with him and specifically stated it was because he couldn't get hold of his girlfriend. Golden Age Steve had lunch with Diana Prince and socialized with her, his boss or the Holliday Girls, who were Wonder Woman's friends.
Aside from Diana and Etta (he just doesn't seem very friendly with the General to me), this man has no friends. I don't think it's so much a social fault of his, although maybe it is alienating among men to suggest that women are people not to mention being from another universe and dividing his time between work, dating and being kidnapped. Bronze Age Steve is pretty introverted and the sort of person who cultivates a few close friendships. He's not sitting at home obsessing over his girlfriend, he's just a man of few friends. Unfortunately, one of those precious few friends happens to be his girlfriend in disguise.
A lot of people seem to read his confession as a evidence that he's also in love with her secret identity but over the next 29 issues he never displays any real romantic feeling for Diana Prince. He's just happy she's not dead. They once hold hands when she's at his bedside and he tells her he's glad for her company, but he never explores any potential romance with her. Hell, over 39 years of comics he only briefly considers dating Diana Prince after she's saved him from prison in the O'Neil run. Every other time he goes out with her it's like he's going out with a poker buddy, and he wants to talk girls (well, one girl) with her. He's completely telling the truth here when he says the woman he loves is Wonder Woman. But Diana Prince is his closest platonic friend, and he does care deeply for her and he can't go through with his wedding so soon after her death.
It turns out that Diana made herself into his best friend. Now she feels like crap because she didn't realize it.
Diana's solution, of course, is to tell him she's not angry, resurrect Diana Prince and set herself to coming clean as soon as humanly possible. This being comics she takes 12 issues to work up her nerve, then he tells her he doesn't want to know.
I'd call him a jerk for that and Diana stupid for not telling him off, but I'm too amused that he worries she might be the janitor where he works.
Saturday, April 02, 2011
*Ahem*
Okay, so yesterday's post was not entirely honest. I framed it with stuff that I actually think about retcons, but the Thomases didn't really rewrite Diana's origin to make her into a strawfeminist.
It was one of four dream sequences in Wonder Woman #300, where she makes two major life decisions: 1) She asks Steve to marry her, and 2) She fakes Diana Prince's death. Because of the Diana Prince lie and the impending wedding, plus the Sandman (Not Morpheus, Daniel, Wesley or Sandy, but that one dude in the stupid red cape that nobody likes) hanging around, she has some anxiety dreams.
There's one dream where the night before she left for Man's World her mother killed herself, and she was forced to take the crown while the runner-up went home with Steve.
In another dream, Steve Trevor doesn't crash near the island at all. Instead, Trevor Stevens does, an obnoxious black-haired man with a moustache. This guy isn't a military man, but instead someone who's stolen military tech and intends to steal from the Amazons too. It ends with him telling her he'd never loved her.
The third dream? Superman falls to the island after being hit with a kryptonite meteor. Her mother likes him so rather than mess around with secret identities, she marries Clark right away. They find that they are both too busy to spend time together, and they butt heads too often. They get a divorce and she goes home.
And the fourth and most interesting dream was the one I detailed yesterday. She rejects Steve, comes to Man's World intending to take over by force and ends up accidentally killing him. The only bit I changed was the thing about her becoming a hero at the end, she didn't. She just woke up, more horrified at this one than any of the others.
I'd like to go in-depth with this one, because I love it so much. But because it tells us so much about Diana and so much about Steve (the framing story is basically about how badly she's been screwing with him with this Diana Prince identity), it's taking me a while to dissect it. So yeah, this'll be a long one.
It was one of four dream sequences in Wonder Woman #300, where she makes two major life decisions: 1) She asks Steve to marry her, and 2) She fakes Diana Prince's death. Because of the Diana Prince lie and the impending wedding, plus the Sandman (Not Morpheus, Daniel, Wesley or Sandy, but that one dude in the stupid red cape that nobody likes) hanging around, she has some anxiety dreams.
There's one dream where the night before she left for Man's World her mother killed herself, and she was forced to take the crown while the runner-up went home with Steve.
In another dream, Steve Trevor doesn't crash near the island at all. Instead, Trevor Stevens does, an obnoxious black-haired man with a moustache. This guy isn't a military man, but instead someone who's stolen military tech and intends to steal from the Amazons too. It ends with him telling her he'd never loved her.
The third dream? Superman falls to the island after being hit with a kryptonite meteor. Her mother likes him so rather than mess around with secret identities, she marries Clark right away. They find that they are both too busy to spend time together, and they butt heads too often. They get a divorce and she goes home.
And the fourth and most interesting dream was the one I detailed yesterday. She rejects Steve, comes to Man's World intending to take over by force and ends up accidentally killing him. The only bit I changed was the thing about her becoming a hero at the end, she didn't. She just woke up, more horrified at this one than any of the others.
I'd like to go in-depth with this one, because I love it so much. But because it tells us so much about Diana and so much about Steve (the framing story is basically about how badly she's been screwing with him with this Diana Prince identity), it's taking me a while to dissect it. So yeah, this'll be a long one.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Reboots and Retcons
I suppose the fact that they couldn't find any letters praising the new JMS reboot for the Wonder Woman lettercol this week proves that this direction just isn't working. Really, though, I'm not that horrified. She'll be back to herself when it's over, and we'll have some nice Hester-written moments to show for it. My reaction to Wonder Woman reboots has changed from outrage to fatigue, because really this is a character that has been rebooted and reinvented so many times that this resiliency has become part of her franchise. Kanigher retooled the origin to get rid of the golem part and add some boyfriends in her teen years (for some reason, though, every commentator seems to focus on Hippolyta's makeover and losing the Holliday Girls--who did show up after a few dozen issues) and did some Golden Age revival attempts, but it really started with O'Neil. Ever since he took out both the Paradise Island and Man's World supporting casts, her powers, and her costume in one fell swoop we've seen writer after writer change the place.
I mean, we all know the Post-Crisis history of cast devastation and sporadic revival. JMS reboots the whole damned thing after Simone had to rebuild the supporting cast because Pfieffer tore up the Amazons in a crossover after Heinberg brought back the secret identity/secret agent and Rucka left the place in ruins on Infinite Crisis orders. This was of course after Jimenez took out her mother and brought back some Golden Age villains after a series of quite forgettable writers failed to do anything interesting with the elements Byrne brought back once he'd erased the entire Boston supporting cast, which had been put in post-Crisis to replace the classic military supporting cast that he shoved to the side along with the personalities of the gods and any Amazon technological advancements. No matter how good the writer, they are either responsible for or immediately followed by mass destruction of any recognizable elements.
But much as I get on about Perez (and damn it, I will still complain about Perez), this was nothing new. A sampling of Bronze Age comics easily reveals a similar addiction to soft reboots. After O'Neil, they drop the white suit and bring back the powers, go on for a bit, bring back Steve, play around on Earth-2 for several issues at a time, kill Steve, then bring back Steve and wipe Diana's memory. They move her from Washington to New York to Washington again. The UN to the Pentagon. I think this constant change is why I see Diana as an active explorer and a traveler. She doesn't put down for very long. (Simone's run was pretty good in that she incorporated travel into the plotlines, focusing on Diana rather than try to convince us to accept a brand new supporting cast as permanent fixtures.)
Thing is, hard reboots--retelling the origin completely from scratch--are few and far between. We've had Perez and JMS (which is only fleeting anyway). Anything else (Heinberg) has been a flashback retcon in the middle of the moving story. Diana's still the same Diana, just with a slightly altered past. Pre-Crisis we had Marston and Kanigher and.. well, a particularly odd one from Roy and Danette Thomas. See, back in 1983 they decided they might try a harder-edged Wonder Woman for a while. Even that far back it seems they wanted to drop the boyfriend and the motivated initially by romance thing to reflect modern sensibilities, and this seems to be the first try for this.
Umm.. yeah. I didn't photoshop that, that's really what she says when she wins. And it gets more annoying to me. See, as they fly home Diana makes her intentions very clear to Steve.
That's right, no dating, because he's a man and he sucks. At this point, and I believe it's intentional, we're meant to think she sounds pretty terrible and might be a bad guy. But JUST in case, old Roy wants to drive the point home by giving us her thoughts on killing in battle.
To be fair, she doesn't kill the guy. But clearly we're dealing with a brand new Diana here. Even more of an overhaul, I'd say, than O'Neil gave. (On the plus side, she did not give up her powers for a man!) However, as this is an origin story she's going to have to learn a valuable lesson. From, of course, a man...
Now, all of us and Steve know at this point that he has no chance in hell of actually hitting her with a bullet. He even tells his men that she can deflect them, but of course they shoot anyway and things go from bad to worse.
Turns out poor Diana really did feel something for the guy. She's horrified and upset, and flees the scene not out of fear but grief. A regretful scene later, she decides to turn over a new leaf but the damage has been done. She's been branded as criminal menace and must now seek redemption while on the run!
If this had become the regular origin, I imagine I'd be infuriated. But as it goes, this was a gutsy attempt. He has her come to the world all full of war and judgment, which causes tragedy and teaches her a lesson. And we have a Wonder Woman: Fugitive! set-up at the end. Could've worked, if they'd given it a chance. But really, it didn't last very long and before you knew it we were back to the regular setup and Mishkin took over. And I'm glad, because while heroes that start off bad and learn an important lesson are compelling, one of the things that makes Diana unique is that her origin is relatively untragic and her motives are optimistic and altruistic.
She lives an idyllic life which is disrupted by the appearance of a man--a creature she's only heard stories about. She rescues him, nurses him back to health, and wins the opportunity to accompany him back to his legendary world and fight the terrible evil that threatens it. She becomes a great hero to the universe and maps the modern world for her people. She's an explorer, a traveler, a wandering hero who takes the first opportunity to leave home and seek her destiny. She's not a reformed villainess, a woman haunted by her failures or traumatized by her losses and mistakes. She's a peacemaker and a warrior, and yes I do agree that she would kill if it was absolutely necessary but she has the wisdom to know when it's necessary and she doesn't carry the guilt of reckless destruction with her. She is isolated, caught between two cultures, and carries the heavy burden of the mythic hero who must always put aside her personal wants to serve the greater good, but she's a genuinely good person who came from a genuinely good place. She's not a dark character, and making her one simply doesn't ring true, even if you start from scratch with a reboot.
All scans from Wonder Woman #300, written by Roy and Dann Thomas, art by Keith Pollard. I advise anyone who gets a chance to pick it up and read the whole thing, because it has some very interesting ideas in it.
I mean, we all know the Post-Crisis history of cast devastation and sporadic revival. JMS reboots the whole damned thing after Simone had to rebuild the supporting cast because Pfieffer tore up the Amazons in a crossover after Heinberg brought back the secret identity/secret agent and Rucka left the place in ruins on Infinite Crisis orders. This was of course after Jimenez took out her mother and brought back some Golden Age villains after a series of quite forgettable writers failed to do anything interesting with the elements Byrne brought back once he'd erased the entire Boston supporting cast, which had been put in post-Crisis to replace the classic military supporting cast that he shoved to the side along with the personalities of the gods and any Amazon technological advancements. No matter how good the writer, they are either responsible for or immediately followed by mass destruction of any recognizable elements.
But much as I get on about Perez (and damn it, I will still complain about Perez), this was nothing new. A sampling of Bronze Age comics easily reveals a similar addiction to soft reboots. After O'Neil, they drop the white suit and bring back the powers, go on for a bit, bring back Steve, play around on Earth-2 for several issues at a time, kill Steve, then bring back Steve and wipe Diana's memory. They move her from Washington to New York to Washington again. The UN to the Pentagon. I think this constant change is why I see Diana as an active explorer and a traveler. She doesn't put down for very long. (Simone's run was pretty good in that she incorporated travel into the plotlines, focusing on Diana rather than try to convince us to accept a brand new supporting cast as permanent fixtures.)
Thing is, hard reboots--retelling the origin completely from scratch--are few and far between. We've had Perez and JMS (which is only fleeting anyway). Anything else (Heinberg) has been a flashback retcon in the middle of the moving story. Diana's still the same Diana, just with a slightly altered past. Pre-Crisis we had Marston and Kanigher and.. well, a particularly odd one from Roy and Danette Thomas. See, back in 1983 they decided they might try a harder-edged Wonder Woman for a while. Even that far back it seems they wanted to drop the boyfriend and the motivated initially by romance thing to reflect modern sensibilities, and this seems to be the first try for this.
Umm.. yeah. I didn't photoshop that, that's really what she says when she wins. And it gets more annoying to me. See, as they fly home Diana makes her intentions very clear to Steve.
That's right, no dating, because he's a man and he sucks. At this point, and I believe it's intentional, we're meant to think she sounds pretty terrible and might be a bad guy. But JUST in case, old Roy wants to drive the point home by giving us her thoughts on killing in battle.
To be fair, she doesn't kill the guy. But clearly we're dealing with a brand new Diana here. Even more of an overhaul, I'd say, than O'Neil gave. (On the plus side, she did not give up her powers for a man!) However, as this is an origin story she's going to have to learn a valuable lesson. From, of course, a man...
Now, all of us and Steve know at this point that he has no chance in hell of actually hitting her with a bullet. He even tells his men that she can deflect them, but of course they shoot anyway and things go from bad to worse.
Turns out poor Diana really did feel something for the guy. She's horrified and upset, and flees the scene not out of fear but grief. A regretful scene later, she decides to turn over a new leaf but the damage has been done. She's been branded as criminal menace and must now seek redemption while on the run!
If this had become the regular origin, I imagine I'd be infuriated. But as it goes, this was a gutsy attempt. He has her come to the world all full of war and judgment, which causes tragedy and teaches her a lesson. And we have a Wonder Woman: Fugitive! set-up at the end. Could've worked, if they'd given it a chance. But really, it didn't last very long and before you knew it we were back to the regular setup and Mishkin took over. And I'm glad, because while heroes that start off bad and learn an important lesson are compelling, one of the things that makes Diana unique is that her origin is relatively untragic and her motives are optimistic and altruistic.
She lives an idyllic life which is disrupted by the appearance of a man--a creature she's only heard stories about. She rescues him, nurses him back to health, and wins the opportunity to accompany him back to his legendary world and fight the terrible evil that threatens it. She becomes a great hero to the universe and maps the modern world for her people. She's an explorer, a traveler, a wandering hero who takes the first opportunity to leave home and seek her destiny. She's not a reformed villainess, a woman haunted by her failures or traumatized by her losses and mistakes. She's a peacemaker and a warrior, and yes I do agree that she would kill if it was absolutely necessary but she has the wisdom to know when it's necessary and she doesn't carry the guilt of reckless destruction with her. She is isolated, caught between two cultures, and carries the heavy burden of the mythic hero who must always put aside her personal wants to serve the greater good, but she's a genuinely good person who came from a genuinely good place. She's not a dark character, and making her one simply doesn't ring true, even if you start from scratch with a reboot.
All scans from Wonder Woman #300, written by Roy and Dann Thomas, art by Keith Pollard. I advise anyone who gets a chance to pick it up and read the whole thing, because it has some very interesting ideas in it.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Arisia. In a movie!
Is it just me, or does Arisia sounds very much like the main character here?
The full-length animated Green Lantern: Emerald Knights will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack and DVD. The film will also be available On Demand and for Green Lantern: Emerald Knights weaves six legendary stories of the Green Lantern Corps’ rich mythology around preparations for an attack by an ancient enemy. As the battle approaches, Hal Jordan mentors new recruit Arisia in the history of the Green Lantern Corps, telling tales of Avra (the first Green Lantern) and several of Hal’s comrades – including Abin Sur, Kilowog, Laira and Mogo. In the end, Arisia must rise to the occasion to help Hal, Sinestro and the entire Green Lantern Corps save the universe from the destructive forces of Krona.I might just love this.
Two ways to brighten my day
Two good pieces of news via the increasingly indispensable DCWKA today. First, of interest to the widest audience, set photos and spectator camera footage of the in-production Wonder Woman TV show. My favorite is this one:
Oh, they've also made some minor adjustments to the costume.
I would've been okay with the light blue but I do like this better and I do like the red boots best. Kinda wish they'd do something about that oddly textured girdle, but I'll never get a perfect Wonder Woman unless I write and direct it. It looks like it works, and maybe when the dust settles the comic Wonder Woman (that we only know for sure will still be in pants after Odyssey) will have blue pants and red boots too.
And there's longer video of her chasing that dude at the end of this post, and DCWKA's got a poll.
Second, and really only notable to me and the other two Steve Trevor fans on the internet (I love you guys!), they printed my letter in Wonder Woman this week. (I am such nerd that it makes me super-excited to be in a lettercol for the first time.) As I am still waiting on the mail every week, DCWKA was kind enough to scan the lettercol for me.
You can click to enlarge but I'll make it easier for you.
I'm bit worried by the "surprised" (I may be an optimist among Wonder Woman fans, but I'm still a Wonder Woman fan so any surprises worry me) but otherwise very happy about it.
And isn't it amusing that none of these letters seem to like the JMS storyline?
Oh, they've also made some minor adjustments to the costume.
I would've been okay with the light blue but I do like this better and I do like the red boots best. Kinda wish they'd do something about that oddly textured girdle, but I'll never get a perfect Wonder Woman unless I write and direct it. It looks like it works, and maybe when the dust settles the comic Wonder Woman (that we only know for sure will still be in pants after Odyssey) will have blue pants and red boots too.
And there's longer video of her chasing that dude at the end of this post, and DCWKA's got a poll.
Second, and really only notable to me and the other two Steve Trevor fans on the internet (I love you guys!), they printed my letter in Wonder Woman this week. (I am such nerd that it makes me super-excited to be in a lettercol for the first time.) As I am still waiting on the mail every week, DCWKA was kind enough to scan the lettercol for me.
You can click to enlarge but I'll make it easier for you.
I'm bit worried by the "surprised" (I may be an optimist among Wonder Woman fans, but I'm still a Wonder Woman fan so any surprises worry me) but otherwise very happy about it.
And isn't it amusing that none of these letters seem to like the JMS storyline?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Resurrecting Steve
Back in Wonder Woman #180 (1968) Denny O'Neil offed Steve Trevor in a way that made both him and Diana seem pathetic and ineffective. Steve got shot and beaten by Dr. Cyber's henchmen, escaped (I got the implication he was let go on purpose but I missed any confirmation) and found Diana. She sent him to the hospital, which he was kidnapped from, and then tortured to death by Dr. Cyber's henchmen. Meaning she not only failed to save him once from this bad guy, but twice. And somehow the white suit period is the best remembered of the Silver and Bronze Age runs. Chalk one up for the first major reboot in Wonder Woman history. (But more on Mr. O'Neil's mistakes later.)
When we get to Wonder Woman #223 (1976), Mark Pashtu brings him back in what's actually a pretty sweet way. Diana's memory had been wiped of his death because Hippolyta knew she'd be really upset by that. This gets revealed to Diana when Aphrodite returns him to life as part of some heroic fitness test. (As this is Wonder Woman, the superhero who most directly recalls the Great Heroes of Folklore and how they got arbitrarily tested all the time, this works for me.) Aphrodite reveals she has passed, and is about to take him away again when Diana convinces the goddess to leave him alive.
They try to settle in on Steve knowing about the Diana Prince identity, and recovering from the trauma of death and resurrection, and having to rebuild his identity from scratch. Ready-made drama, right? Well, it doesn't work for them so come Wonder Woman #248 (1978) Jack C. Harris offs him again. Also by having him tortured to death, after intense interrogation and a machine/magic combo that sucks out the lifeforce Aphrodite had granted him to give to some... thing. I only really remember that he had converted to her religion. Isn't that sweet?
By this point Steve Trevor has died in-continuity twice. (I'm starting to really think this and all the letters in the lettercol that call him things like "helpless ragdoll" are significant indicators of how people feel about a man who pairs up with a powerful woman than any real weakness with the character.) Diana's lovelife is beginning to look like Kyle Rayner's, but with just the one guy.
Then Gerry Conway comes along and wants him back and he manages it in Wonder Woman #270 (1980), which along with Wonder Woman #271 is now one of my favorite Wonder Woman story arcs. It's a giant middle finger to fans who think the franchise is better without Steve Trevor, topped off with confused Amazons and a horrified Hippolyta.
At the end of Wonder Woman #269 Diana's still depressed that her boyfriend died (again) so she goes home to sulk. She is so miserable that Hippolyta prays to Aphrodite to rid her daughter of these horrible memories. Aphrodite points out that it might not work. Still, she decides that maybe it's better to have loved and lost and forgotten about it than to have loved and lost and be so miserable about it you can't love again. So she summons the Mists of Nepenthe to wipe Diana's memory.
Diana, rid of the memory, is finally able to smile. And on the very next page...
While Diana does the hero thing for the Amazons we get a couple one-page interludes about a blonde Air Force Colonel testing an experimental jet that'll reach Mach 10. We also learn that Paradise Island is partway in another dimension, which is pretty cool. Oh, and that experimental jet crashes into the ocean right next to the boat that Diana and the Queen are standing on.
So just how does Aphrodite explain this one? "There is more than one of everything and the Fates ship Steve and Diana. Enjoy the rest of the Bronze Age."
When we get to Wonder Woman #223 (1976), Mark Pashtu brings him back in what's actually a pretty sweet way. Diana's memory had been wiped of his death because Hippolyta knew she'd be really upset by that. This gets revealed to Diana when Aphrodite returns him to life as part of some heroic fitness test. (As this is Wonder Woman, the superhero who most directly recalls the Great Heroes of Folklore and how they got arbitrarily tested all the time, this works for me.) Aphrodite reveals she has passed, and is about to take him away again when Diana convinces the goddess to leave him alive.
They try to settle in on Steve knowing about the Diana Prince identity, and recovering from the trauma of death and resurrection, and having to rebuild his identity from scratch. Ready-made drama, right? Well, it doesn't work for them so come Wonder Woman #248 (1978) Jack C. Harris offs him again. Also by having him tortured to death, after intense interrogation and a machine/magic combo that sucks out the lifeforce Aphrodite had granted him to give to some... thing. I only really remember that he had converted to her religion. Isn't that sweet?
By this point Steve Trevor has died in-continuity twice. (I'm starting to really think this and all the letters in the lettercol that call him things like "helpless ragdoll" are significant indicators of how people feel about a man who pairs up with a powerful woman than any real weakness with the character.) Diana's lovelife is beginning to look like Kyle Rayner's, but with just the one guy.
Then Gerry Conway comes along and wants him back and he manages it in Wonder Woman #270 (1980), which along with Wonder Woman #271 is now one of my favorite Wonder Woman story arcs. It's a giant middle finger to fans who think the franchise is better without Steve Trevor, topped off with confused Amazons and a horrified Hippolyta.
At the end of Wonder Woman #269 Diana's still depressed that her boyfriend died (again) so she goes home to sulk. She is so miserable that Hippolyta prays to Aphrodite to rid her daughter of these horrible memories. Aphrodite points out that it might not work. Still, she decides that maybe it's better to have loved and lost and forgotten about it than to have loved and lost and be so miserable about it you can't love again. So she summons the Mists of Nepenthe to wipe Diana's memory.
Diana, rid of the memory, is finally able to smile. And on the very next page...
While Diana does the hero thing for the Amazons we get a couple one-page interludes about a blonde Air Force Colonel testing an experimental jet that'll reach Mach 10. We also learn that Paradise Island is partway in another dimension, which is pretty cool. Oh, and that experimental jet crashes into the ocean right next to the boat that Diana and the Queen are standing on.
So just how does Aphrodite explain this one? "There is more than one of everything and the Fates ship Steve and Diana. Enjoy the rest of the Bronze Age."
Sunday, March 27, 2011
And tonight the part of Lois lane will be played by... Giselle from Enchanted?
Well, it could work. (H/T Mizzelle)
Well, it could work. (H/T Mizzelle)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
On Diana Prince
I complain a lot about Perez not so much pruning as taking a chainsaw to major branches on the Wonder Woman franchise tree, but there are some things I have to give him credit for, even some removals.
Well, one removal. The Secret Identity.
I know there's a school of thought that blames ditching the secret identity for losing Wonder Woman's relatability and that they need this so she can connect to ordinary humans in her supporting cast but I don't buy into it. Rucka, Messner-Loebs, and Perez all managed to have her connect with normal people as herself just fine without the secret identity. Simone was right not to bother with it much.
I say this as someone who did enjoy Heinberg's run when I read through it, I don't see why the hell he brought it back. Especially as a spy. Okay, I can see it being nostalgia for the show and the twirl (I bet he wanted real Steve too) and all but really... it's unnecessary. She has no personal ties that she needs to protect by hiding her identity, all of her friends and family are publicly connected as Wonder Woman already. The only justification I've heard is that it makes her easier to connect to for readers, but I don't think it does. We don't need glasses and a complex web of lies, we need first-person narration from her point of view and a steady supporting cast.
See, it just doesn't suit her character post-Crisis. Pre-Crisis there were some points made that Amazons didn't lie (especially in the TV series) and a lot of her major villains were based entirely around deception. It was a good, sensible thing for Perez to remake her as the most honest person on the planet, and the most honest person on the planet does not hide who she is. Hell, both times I've seen her establish the identity (Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth and the Heinberg run) it's been because Superman or Batman advised it. Because it is that out of character for her.
For Clark and Bruce, Hal, Barry, most of the rest of the JLA... a secret identity makes sense. They have backgrounds, lives, families in their off-time. They were raised in this society, and later on made the conscious decision to become a superhero, they already had stuff to protect. And it makes sense for them to court their love interests in their secret identities, because those are their real identities. Clark was Clark before Superman, Bruce was Bruce before Batman...etc...
Diana is the opposite of this, though. Her superhero identity is her real self. Her background is her superhero origin. She's a mythic hero brought to the modern era. Her family is connected to her as Wonder Woman. In the Golden Age, half of her stateside supporting cast (The Holliday girls) were connected to her as Wonder Woman. She dated Steve as Wonder Woman, even as she tried to get him into Diana Prince. Diana Prince was really just a way to have a job that could get her information on where/when she's needed most, and when Steve is in over his head.
People like to make distinctions about the differences between Batman and Superman in how they regard their secret identities, but Diana Prince was truly a front in all aspects. Fake name, fake history, fake glasses, fake personality. Wonder Woman was the real person.
Originally, Diana Prince was just another woman she bought the identity off of so she could keep an eye on Steve. In the Silver Age it was blatantly created so that she could screw with Steve's head. (Seriously, Wonder Woman #99 backup story. Makes a bet with Steve that if he can find her 3 times in 3 days she'll agree to marry him. He tricks her by marking her with some radioactive dye, so on the third day she gets her revenge by taking a job as his secretary so she'll be right under his nose without him knowing.) Even Pre-Crisis, though, it was so ridiculous it had to be Aphrodite's decree that she not reveal her identity to anyone and that she not settled down and marry until she had completed her mission.
Honestly, we are better off without it now.
However... There is one aspect of the Secret Identity that is absolutely delicious pre-Crisis, and I'm not sure any writer other than Marston consciously realized it.
Everyone knows the Superman symbolism, how he's the ignored geek who is secretly hiding that he's the godlike hero the female lead truly wants. That's the pattern Diana Prince is set after, she's the meek mild doormat who is secretly the powerful and alluring woman he loves. Except... as Diana is a woman, there's a twist.
Growing up girls got (and probably still get in a lot of places) told that they had to carefully protect a guy's ego if they wanted to be attractive. That meant not outshining him in any way. According to conventional wisdom you had to downplay your intelligence, because guys didn't like smart girls. You couldn't be better than him at sports or games, even if you were. Because according to conventional wisdom, guys liked meek doormats and are turned off by successful women. (This is reinforced every time you see the trope where a guy's masculinity is threatened by the successful woman he's romantically involved with, by the way.)
Steve Trevor does not simply defy this conventional wisdom. He shoots it in the face and kicks it into the gutter before lighting it on fire.
Steve's original concept is war hero. (He's already got enough fame for his presumed death and later his recovery to be covered in the newspaper back in the Golden Age.) That's his job, to uncover espionage and save people's lives. It's instinctive for him to protect others. Most of the trouble he gets into is because he's trying to save someone who's in danger, or stop spies.
Wonder Woman protects him. And she not only protects him once or twice, she saves his butt nearly every time they meet. She defeats the bad guy he was after nearly every time. She even flies a cooler plane than he ever did. The second she arrives on the scene, he knows he's in a supporting role. She is responsible for saving the day and he is the first person to declare this when the dust settles. He is the first person to embrace it and set himself up as Iolus to her Hercules. And rather than find this unattractive or threatening, he finds it turns him on.
Steve Trevor's girlfriend is not only better than him at one thing like tennis or video games. She is better at his job in every conceivable way, and that is the hottest thing he can imagine.
And when the dust settles and Wonder Woman's disappeared, there's another girl around. A girl who is attracted to him, who constantly asks him out. A girl of normal strength and speed. A girl he never sees perform heroic feats. A girl who works for him and is pretty much a doormat for him. A girl who keeps her body covered and doesn't speak up much. A girl who pretty much fits the conventional wisdom of what men prefer in female behavior.
Even though this girl is absolutely identical to his girlfriend except for glasses and wearing more clothing (and even though General Darnell and other supporting cast members can tell she's nerd-hot), she is the least attractive woman imaginable to him. Really, she may as well be his little sister. He's nice enough to her at times, treats her like a work buddy, but when she comes on to him he makes it harshly clear he isn't interested and talks about his girlfriend.
Diana herself thought it meant that Steve was superficial, and only looking at appearances or only attracted to fame. That's why she got angry in the Kanigher run and played secret identity games. That, of course, ignores the fact that she is still freaking hot as Diana Prince. She even has the same hairstyle while Andru's drawing. She doesn't change appearance beyond putting on a pair of stylish frames and a flatteringly cut uniform. Steve is not attracted to hair and face so much as bending steel girders and saving his life. One of the few good moments O'Neil had was when she--as Diana Prince--saved him from being framed for murder. Steve thinks on this, and says to Wonder Woman that he may have been underestimating Diana and that maybe he should get to know her better. He's turned on by heroism, and prior to this Diana had always avoided that in her secret identity.
Wonder Woman's pre-Crisis secret identity served one purpose. It enforced the moral that if women hide their strengths and talents they are actually less attractive to men. That if you allow a man to treat you as a doormat, he will. But if you show yourself being excellent, and let yourself shine, he'll be the one pushing for a commitment.
It's a good moral for pre-Crisis Wonder Woman. And really, I wouldn't mind if when they get her steady love interest back they dust off the secret identity for one story, just to demonstrate that she has no chance in hell of attracting his attention if she hides her best qualities. But I don't think it's a necessary aspect to the character. She seems rootless because the writers keep dumping the supporting cast, not because she's not lying to them enough.
Well, one removal. The Secret Identity.
I know there's a school of thought that blames ditching the secret identity for losing Wonder Woman's relatability and that they need this so she can connect to ordinary humans in her supporting cast but I don't buy into it. Rucka, Messner-Loebs, and Perez all managed to have her connect with normal people as herself just fine without the secret identity. Simone was right not to bother with it much.
I say this as someone who did enjoy Heinberg's run when I read through it, I don't see why the hell he brought it back. Especially as a spy. Okay, I can see it being nostalgia for the show and the twirl (I bet he wanted real Steve too) and all but really... it's unnecessary. She has no personal ties that she needs to protect by hiding her identity, all of her friends and family are publicly connected as Wonder Woman already. The only justification I've heard is that it makes her easier to connect to for readers, but I don't think it does. We don't need glasses and a complex web of lies, we need first-person narration from her point of view and a steady supporting cast.
See, it just doesn't suit her character post-Crisis. Pre-Crisis there were some points made that Amazons didn't lie (especially in the TV series) and a lot of her major villains were based entirely around deception. It was a good, sensible thing for Perez to remake her as the most honest person on the planet, and the most honest person on the planet does not hide who she is. Hell, both times I've seen her establish the identity (Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth and the Heinberg run) it's been because Superman or Batman advised it. Because it is that out of character for her.
For Clark and Bruce, Hal, Barry, most of the rest of the JLA... a secret identity makes sense. They have backgrounds, lives, families in their off-time. They were raised in this society, and later on made the conscious decision to become a superhero, they already had stuff to protect. And it makes sense for them to court their love interests in their secret identities, because those are their real identities. Clark was Clark before Superman, Bruce was Bruce before Batman...etc...
Diana is the opposite of this, though. Her superhero identity is her real self. Her background is her superhero origin. She's a mythic hero brought to the modern era. Her family is connected to her as Wonder Woman. In the Golden Age, half of her stateside supporting cast (The Holliday girls) were connected to her as Wonder Woman. She dated Steve as Wonder Woman, even as she tried to get him into Diana Prince. Diana Prince was really just a way to have a job that could get her information on where/when she's needed most, and when Steve is in over his head.
People like to make distinctions about the differences between Batman and Superman in how they regard their secret identities, but Diana Prince was truly a front in all aspects. Fake name, fake history, fake glasses, fake personality. Wonder Woman was the real person.
Originally, Diana Prince was just another woman she bought the identity off of so she could keep an eye on Steve. In the Silver Age it was blatantly created so that she could screw with Steve's head. (Seriously, Wonder Woman #99 backup story. Makes a bet with Steve that if he can find her 3 times in 3 days she'll agree to marry him. He tricks her by marking her with some radioactive dye, so on the third day she gets her revenge by taking a job as his secretary so she'll be right under his nose without him knowing.) Even Pre-Crisis, though, it was so ridiculous it had to be Aphrodite's decree that she not reveal her identity to anyone and that she not settled down and marry until she had completed her mission.
Honestly, we are better off without it now.
However... There is one aspect of the Secret Identity that is absolutely delicious pre-Crisis, and I'm not sure any writer other than Marston consciously realized it.
Everyone knows the Superman symbolism, how he's the ignored geek who is secretly hiding that he's the godlike hero the female lead truly wants. That's the pattern Diana Prince is set after, she's the meek mild doormat who is secretly the powerful and alluring woman he loves. Except... as Diana is a woman, there's a twist.
Growing up girls got (and probably still get in a lot of places) told that they had to carefully protect a guy's ego if they wanted to be attractive. That meant not outshining him in any way. According to conventional wisdom you had to downplay your intelligence, because guys didn't like smart girls. You couldn't be better than him at sports or games, even if you were. Because according to conventional wisdom, guys liked meek doormats and are turned off by successful women. (This is reinforced every time you see the trope where a guy's masculinity is threatened by the successful woman he's romantically involved with, by the way.)
Steve Trevor does not simply defy this conventional wisdom. He shoots it in the face and kicks it into the gutter before lighting it on fire.
Steve's original concept is war hero. (He's already got enough fame for his presumed death and later his recovery to be covered in the newspaper back in the Golden Age.) That's his job, to uncover espionage and save people's lives. It's instinctive for him to protect others. Most of the trouble he gets into is because he's trying to save someone who's in danger, or stop spies.
Wonder Woman protects him. And she not only protects him once or twice, she saves his butt nearly every time they meet. She defeats the bad guy he was after nearly every time. She even flies a cooler plane than he ever did. The second she arrives on the scene, he knows he's in a supporting role. She is responsible for saving the day and he is the first person to declare this when the dust settles. He is the first person to embrace it and set himself up as Iolus to her Hercules. And rather than find this unattractive or threatening, he finds it turns him on.
Steve Trevor's girlfriend is not only better than him at one thing like tennis or video games. She is better at his job in every conceivable way, and that is the hottest thing he can imagine.
And when the dust settles and Wonder Woman's disappeared, there's another girl around. A girl who is attracted to him, who constantly asks him out. A girl of normal strength and speed. A girl he never sees perform heroic feats. A girl who works for him and is pretty much a doormat for him. A girl who keeps her body covered and doesn't speak up much. A girl who pretty much fits the conventional wisdom of what men prefer in female behavior.
Even though this girl is absolutely identical to his girlfriend except for glasses and wearing more clothing (and even though General Darnell and other supporting cast members can tell she's nerd-hot), she is the least attractive woman imaginable to him. Really, she may as well be his little sister. He's nice enough to her at times, treats her like a work buddy, but when she comes on to him he makes it harshly clear he isn't interested and talks about his girlfriend.
Diana herself thought it meant that Steve was superficial, and only looking at appearances or only attracted to fame. That's why she got angry in the Kanigher run and played secret identity games. That, of course, ignores the fact that she is still freaking hot as Diana Prince. She even has the same hairstyle while Andru's drawing. She doesn't change appearance beyond putting on a pair of stylish frames and a flatteringly cut uniform. Steve is not attracted to hair and face so much as bending steel girders and saving his life. One of the few good moments O'Neil had was when she--as Diana Prince--saved him from being framed for murder. Steve thinks on this, and says to Wonder Woman that he may have been underestimating Diana and that maybe he should get to know her better. He's turned on by heroism, and prior to this Diana had always avoided that in her secret identity.
Wonder Woman's pre-Crisis secret identity served one purpose. It enforced the moral that if women hide their strengths and talents they are actually less attractive to men. That if you allow a man to treat you as a doormat, he will. But if you show yourself being excellent, and let yourself shine, he'll be the one pushing for a commitment.
It's a good moral for pre-Crisis Wonder Woman. And really, I wouldn't mind if when they get her steady love interest back they dust off the secret identity for one story, just to demonstrate that she has no chance in hell of attracting his attention if she hides her best qualities. But I don't think it's a necessary aspect to the character. She seems rootless because the writers keep dumping the supporting cast, not because she's not lying to them enough.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Steve Trevor WILL be on TV again.
Okay, so they have finally cast Steve Trevor and IMDB was wrong. It's actually this guy:
Justin Bruening
A simple image search reveals no nude cowboy photo shoot, so I am rather disappointed.
Still, he's pretty cute at least. I haven't seen him on All My Children or Knight Rider, but I'm getting used to his appearance. He's a bit bulkier than I'd expected. I do have some worries, though.
One is that the first picture I saw of him, on DCWKA, was this:
My second reaction was that he resembles David Boreanez. As we all know, Boreanez voiced Hal Jordan in New Frontier and I have this horrible nightmare that the 21st Century Steve Trevor concept is "Wonder Woman dates a blonde Hal Jordan."
I know it seems irrational, but... the animated movie guy was basically Hal Jordan, and it's not unheard of for writers to consider careers part of the characterization. Steve's a pilot to get him onto the island, so it's not a stretch for them to just characterize him as a pilot and use Top Gun as their reference again.
Never mind that his character concept is actually "soldier", and he's an intel officer who only ever uses his piloting skills for the purposes of the plot. (It wouldn't be farfetched if he was grounded because of his injuries when he crashed on the island, and--unlike Hal--wasn't bothered by not getitng to fly again because being in love is a hundred times greater thrill for him than flying a jet--but that's just a dream characterization.) Never mind that he'd work much better as the Anti-Hal, because there's no way in the deeper coldest chasm of Tartarus that Wonder Woman would date someone like Hal Jordan. Never mind that, personality-wise, he should be someone that it makes sense she like.
But I digress, that's just me panicking. On the bright side, many of the commenters on DCWKA have stated that he can't act so it's possible he won't be able to get "asshole" across, or they're just going for the easy combo of big, sweet and dumb from the Golden Age.
And anyway in the TV show his job isn't military pilot. It's... civilian lawyer, which brings me to my second problem and my first thought which was "He's a baby!"
Now, the rumor is that Steve in this is an Army vet who crashed on the island, had an affair with Diana, and later became a lawyer working for the Department of Justice. The assumption is that he's basically the same as we've seen, just after he got out he becomes a lawyer.
This means that he had to go through pilot's training and college in order to be an officer. THEN he had to serve out his commitment to the military. THEN he had to do law school and become a lawyer.
That's... That's a lot of years between High School and the present there. A lot more than this Justin Breuning guy looks like he has.
I can see them pulling it... maybe... if they decide he was JAG (more on why a JAG officer might actually be a suitable love interest for post-Crisis Diana later) and make up some contrived reason he was on a plane going over Themiscyra and was the only one to wash up. That gives us just law school and a service commitment that might've gotten cut short for injuries he got in combat, in the crash, or in the dangerous occupation of "Love Interest."
But... I know how old military officers tend to be, and he's pretty boyish looking for someone in the Major rank range. That's a Lt. face if I ever saw one.
This age thing might be a bit much for my suspension of disbelief.
Justin Bruening
A simple image search reveals no nude cowboy photo shoot, so I am rather disappointed.
Still, he's pretty cute at least. I haven't seen him on All My Children or Knight Rider, but I'm getting used to his appearance. He's a bit bulkier than I'd expected. I do have some worries, though.
One is that the first picture I saw of him, on DCWKA, was this:
My second reaction was that he resembles David Boreanez. As we all know, Boreanez voiced Hal Jordan in New Frontier and I have this horrible nightmare that the 21st Century Steve Trevor concept is "Wonder Woman dates a blonde Hal Jordan."
I know it seems irrational, but... the animated movie guy was basically Hal Jordan, and it's not unheard of for writers to consider careers part of the characterization. Steve's a pilot to get him onto the island, so it's not a stretch for them to just characterize him as a pilot and use Top Gun as their reference again.
Never mind that his character concept is actually "soldier", and he's an intel officer who only ever uses his piloting skills for the purposes of the plot. (It wouldn't be farfetched if he was grounded because of his injuries when he crashed on the island, and--unlike Hal--wasn't bothered by not getitng to fly again because being in love is a hundred times greater thrill for him than flying a jet--but that's just a dream characterization.) Never mind that he'd work much better as the Anti-Hal, because there's no way in the deeper coldest chasm of Tartarus that Wonder Woman would date someone like Hal Jordan. Never mind that, personality-wise, he should be someone that it makes sense she like.
But I digress, that's just me panicking. On the bright side, many of the commenters on DCWKA have stated that he can't act so it's possible he won't be able to get "asshole" across, or they're just going for the easy combo of big, sweet and dumb from the Golden Age.
And anyway in the TV show his job isn't military pilot. It's... civilian lawyer, which brings me to my second problem and my first thought which was "He's a baby!"
Now, the rumor is that Steve in this is an Army vet who crashed on the island, had an affair with Diana, and later became a lawyer working for the Department of Justice. The assumption is that he's basically the same as we've seen, just after he got out he becomes a lawyer.
This means that he had to go through pilot's training and college in order to be an officer. THEN he had to serve out his commitment to the military. THEN he had to do law school and become a lawyer.
That's... That's a lot of years between High School and the present there. A lot more than this Justin Breuning guy looks like he has.
I can see them pulling it... maybe... if they decide he was JAG (more on why a JAG officer might actually be a suitable love interest for post-Crisis Diana later) and make up some contrived reason he was on a plane going over Themiscyra and was the only one to wash up. That gives us just law school and a service commitment that might've gotten cut short for injuries he got in combat, in the crash, or in the dangerous occupation of "Love Interest."
But... I know how old military officers tend to be, and he's pretty boyish looking for someone in the Major rank range. That's a Lt. face if I ever saw one.
This age thing might be a bit much for my suspension of disbelief.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
About damned time.
DC Women Kicking Ass:
At C2E2 today DC announced Cassandra Cain will be featured in the mini-series Gates of Gotham, appearing in the first issue. This is apparently the project that prevented her from appearing in the Birds of Prey.Still sounds like a side character, but appearing in another book is an improvement at least. They'd better have a payoff for all the ignoring her.
Friday, March 18, 2011
The Costume
The new live-action costume: 
Before we get into the complaining, I'm going to let you all know I was relieved when I saw it. It is not the revised Lee costume. It is not some ultramodern non-superhero thing. After years of "No tights, no flights" on Smallville and the general shame people engage in in comic book adaptations someone's got the guts to go and say "Look, we're going to try and do a superhero here."
But, since the vast majority of fandom is complaining, I'm going to address it at one by one so you know it's pointless to try and reason me out of my good mood. (Why yes, I did get to solder a connector today. That always puts me in a sunny mood, complaining about ops tearing up the equipment included.)
It's shiny, but I prefer Wonder Woman bright so I'm not bothered by it seeming vinyl/plasticky. (Also, I don't think it'll shine so much while she's punching bad guys in a dimly lit alley set as it does under these publicity lights.) We have Clark Kent running around in all black with an S spray-painted on his T-shirt so I'm just plain glad not to see them try and pull some sort of dark serious shit like that with her.
I am not bothered by the lack of star-spangled panties. I have been whining for years for solid blue pants, and now I have them, I like them. I don't subscribe to the "making her less patriotic" conspiracy theory because well... She's of the royal family for another country. Besides, they brought back Steve Trevor (granted, as ex-military but probably still a veteran and he works for the DOJ now) so we know she loves the troops.
I also like the bright blue. I'm sorry, Wonder Woman should not wear black. And really, there's no need to darken her with Navy Blue either.
I like the boots, yes the heels. Yes, heels are impractical, but these are pretty solid heels and Diana is nigh invulnerable so she's in that list of superheroines that can pull this off. (Batgirl and Batwoman look fucking stupid in heels, but Wonder Woman and Power Girl aren't going to suffer from having them.)
Also, they contribute to the cowboy feel. So do the gold stars on the side. I think it's the lasso, but I always kinda liked a little cowboy imagery mixed in with her Greek mythology and modern knight stuff.
The bustier? Well, it's pretty much her classic costume with pants. I can live without straps, as I have for many years now.
Yay on the tiara and bracelets.
What don't I like?
The girdle, the girdle, the awkward looking girdle. I hate that they put a half-logo on the girdle, it looks weird. Also not thrilled about the little WWs topping the boots.
She's wearing quite a bit of makeup here. I think that's actually the MAC lipgloss shade I have (named Wonder Woman).
Her boobs look... unsecure.
Before we get into the complaining, I'm going to let you all know I was relieved when I saw it. It is not the revised Lee costume. It is not some ultramodern non-superhero thing. After years of "No tights, no flights" on Smallville and the general shame people engage in in comic book adaptations someone's got the guts to go and say "Look, we're going to try and do a superhero here."
But, since the vast majority of fandom is complaining, I'm going to address it at one by one so you know it's pointless to try and reason me out of my good mood. (Why yes, I did get to solder a connector today. That always puts me in a sunny mood, complaining about ops tearing up the equipment included.)
It's shiny, but I prefer Wonder Woman bright so I'm not bothered by it seeming vinyl/plasticky. (Also, I don't think it'll shine so much while she's punching bad guys in a dimly lit alley set as it does under these publicity lights.) We have Clark Kent running around in all black with an S spray-painted on his T-shirt so I'm just plain glad not to see them try and pull some sort of dark serious shit like that with her.
I am not bothered by the lack of star-spangled panties. I have been whining for years for solid blue pants, and now I have them, I like them. I don't subscribe to the "making her less patriotic" conspiracy theory because well... She's of the royal family for another country. Besides, they brought back Steve Trevor (granted, as ex-military but probably still a veteran and he works for the DOJ now) so we know she loves the troops.
I also like the bright blue. I'm sorry, Wonder Woman should not wear black. And really, there's no need to darken her with Navy Blue either.
I like the boots, yes the heels. Yes, heels are impractical, but these are pretty solid heels and Diana is nigh invulnerable so she's in that list of superheroines that can pull this off. (Batgirl and Batwoman look fucking stupid in heels, but Wonder Woman and Power Girl aren't going to suffer from having them.)
Also, they contribute to the cowboy feel. So do the gold stars on the side. I think it's the lasso, but I always kinda liked a little cowboy imagery mixed in with her Greek mythology and modern knight stuff.
The bustier? Well, it's pretty much her classic costume with pants. I can live without straps, as I have for many years now.
Yay on the tiara and bracelets.
What don't I like?
The girdle, the girdle, the awkward looking girdle. I hate that they put a half-logo on the girdle, it looks weird. Also not thrilled about the little WWs topping the boots.
She's wearing quite a bit of makeup here. I think that's actually the MAC lipgloss shade I have (named Wonder Woman).
Her boobs look... unsecure.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
More TV Wonder Woman thoughts.
IMDB has Brett Tucker's role named.
I'm still a bit cautious, because IMDB does make mistakes, but I'm now trying to picture that gorgeous man in service dress. I understand the character's ex-Army, working as a laywer (*sigh* No handsome hats for lawyers) but there's lots of flashbacks in the leaked script. I really wish for an adaptation where he's Navy or Marines, because those two services have such stunning male uniforms.
I really like the cast they've set up for this. A bit heaving on the masculine side for a Wonder Woman revival, but a pretty nice spread. I know it's likely to be the Smallville for Wonder Woman if it catches on, full of relationship plotlines, in-jokes and everyone not being quite like they are in the comics. Diana will probably be as not-quite-our-hero as Welling's Clark. There's going to be some complete absurdity to it, no doubt.
Still, if it catches on, it's a Wonder Woman series. It's a Wonder Woman revival. It's a chance to see these actors weekly. It's a push for maybe another movie, and possibly a second comics. It's at least getting her origin story out there, and back into the cultural consciousness. And they'll have something they can mock every week on Comic Alliance now that Smallville is going away.
I want this to succeed, and I'm cautiously optimistic about it.
In the meantime, I went ahead and checked out the commentary for the old Lynda Carter Wonder Woman pilot. (It's on the first season DVD.) It's Lynda Carter and Douglas S. Cramer reminiscing. And it has Carter ogling Lyle Waggoner, which just made my day.
Wonder Woman's voice saying "Everyone was so helpf--LOOK AT HIS MUSCLES! WOW!" has to be the best thing I've ever heard in a DVD commentary.
I'm still a bit cautious, because IMDB does make mistakes, but I'm now trying to picture that gorgeous man in service dress. I understand the character's ex-Army, working as a laywer (*sigh* No handsome hats for lawyers) but there's lots of flashbacks in the leaked script. I really wish for an adaptation where he's Navy or Marines, because those two services have such stunning male uniforms.
I really like the cast they've set up for this. A bit heaving on the masculine side for a Wonder Woman revival, but a pretty nice spread. I know it's likely to be the Smallville for Wonder Woman if it catches on, full of relationship plotlines, in-jokes and everyone not being quite like they are in the comics. Diana will probably be as not-quite-our-hero as Welling's Clark. There's going to be some complete absurdity to it, no doubt.
Still, if it catches on, it's a Wonder Woman series. It's a Wonder Woman revival. It's a chance to see these actors weekly. It's a push for maybe another movie, and possibly a second comics. It's at least getting her origin story out there, and back into the cultural consciousness. And they'll have something they can mock every week on Comic Alliance now that Smallville is going away.
I want this to succeed, and I'm cautiously optimistic about it.
In the meantime, I went ahead and checked out the commentary for the old Lynda Carter Wonder Woman pilot. (It's on the first season DVD.) It's Lynda Carter and Douglas S. Cramer reminiscing. And it has Carter ogling Lyle Waggoner, which just made my day.
Wonder Woman's voice saying "Everyone was so helpf--LOOK AT HIS MUSCLES! WOW!" has to be the best thing I've ever heard in a DVD commentary.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Anything to look forward to in June?
DC's got their June solicits up and the teasers on Flashpoint are slim. However, not sure that "FLASH FACT! If she can’t have the world – no one will!" under Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 makes me hopeful. I'll still try the first issue, but I'm kinda sick of them making Diana the overly aggressive warmonger in dystopian timelines.
On the other hand, the single most anticipated Wonder Woman issue of the year will come out the same month:
Yes, that's the light at the end of the tunnel. That is the END of the JMS plotted timefuck. I can't say what fresh hell awaits us in issue #613, but at least it won't be from the mind of the guy who did Superman: Earth One.
That cover's a variant, so I don't know if it means anything but it beats any Wonder Woman cover since the Dodsons were on art.
And there's a Showcase Presents for the old "Trial of the Flash" storyline. Carmin Infantino days.
Aside from that, I'm intrigued by this:
On the other hand, the single most anticipated Wonder Woman issue of the year will come out the same month:
WONDER WOMAN #612
Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI and PHIL HESTER
Art and cover by DON KRAMER and WAYNE FAUCHER
1:10 Variant cover by ALEX GARNER
This is the one you’ve waited for! The year-long “Odyssey” storyline comes to an earth-shattering conclusion! Can Diana defeat the powerful forces that destroyed her entire reality? And even if she wins, she could still lose everything!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On sale JUNE 29 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Yes, that's the light at the end of the tunnel. That is the END of the JMS plotted timefuck. I can't say what fresh hell awaits us in issue #613, but at least it won't be from the mind of the guy who did Superman: Earth One.
That cover's a variant, so I don't know if it means anything but it beats any Wonder Woman cover since the Dodsons were on art.
And there's a Showcase Presents for the old "Trial of the Flash" storyline. Carmin Infantino days.
Aside from that, I'm intrigued by this:
STATIC SHOCK SPECIAL #1
Written by FELICIA D. HENDERSON
Art by DENYS COWAN, PRENTIS ROLLINS and others
Cover by DEREC DONOVAN
A special one-shot paying homage to Dwayne McDuffie and the world of Milestone Media, with tribute material from Milestone co-founder Denys Cowan and other Milestone alumni.
One-shot • No ads • On sale JUNE 1 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Having our cake and eating it too.
I've been watching the second season of the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman show, and I can't help but think that Lyle Waggoner's not really a love interest in this. He's her closer friend and coworker, but really they seem to have lost their romantic chemistry from the setting change.
See, the second season is set in the 70s, when Steve Trevor Jr is on a plane that wanders into Paradise Island airspace during a hijacking attempt. Diana goes on, sees that everyone is unconscious and there's a guy on there who looks exactly like Steve Trevor. And she knows several decades have passed and this is impossible. It turns out to be his son, and her Steve has recently died of old age. As she can assess there's an obvious danger to the guy, she asks to go back.
We have a different Hippolyta, a redhead this time, and she's the best one yet. She wants to deny it, but they put it to a council vote and Diana just has to face one challenger in Bullets & Bracelets before she's off to Man's World again.
Now, from the start it looks like they want to continue the same character dynamic, but it doesn't work. They changed his character. She was in love with his father, not him. He was raised on stories about her, and of course he geeks out when he sees her. At the end of the show they even do the thing where Diana misspeaks and says "Well, I'm sure she came back for you--I mean us" when speculating about Wonder Woman's motives. (This was common in the first season. We'd see him get this modest/embarrassed look after she made those slips, because it was obvious to everyone from FDR to General Blankenship's dry cleaner that the most beautiful woman in the country had a crush on him.)
Jessica Walter (I don't know her character's name but fuck it, it's Jessica Walter) picks up on Diana Prince's looking at him and they even try using an imposter Steve against her. (Who comes onto Diana Prince and chases her across the apartment until she locks herself in the bedroom, changes to Wonder Woman, and comes around the building to
After the first episode, though, they seem to put this aside and it's just a professional relationship. I don't know if that was the actors being unable to adjust the character change, or the writers just discarding it. Either way, it didn't work and I think it's because it wasn't really her Steve. She wasn't following him around because she loved him so much as she was protective of the kid of a guy she loved. I'm only about halfway through the season, but they seem to have settled into close platonic friends. He's a pretty important part of the series as her boss, closest friend and most influential ally, (and he still admires the hell out of Wonder Woman) but I do not see these two dating even casually.
When he gets promoted to being her boss he gets moved off the frontlines, so they cool a bit further. She has solo adventures and when they want to pair her up they come up with a brand new male character for each episode. It's really close to the Rooster Roulette we've seen post-Crisis. I think this was more because they realized Lynda Carter could carry the show all by herself. (Either that or Waggoner was sick of being tied up every episode.)
Funny thing, though, I think this demonstrates a way to keep older Steve and bring back a love interest Steve. Steve Trevor will be a different character according to the period of time he was raised in, he'll default to that generation's healthiest expression masculinity combined with a progressive view (and genuine like and respect for) of women. That's different for a guy in the Army in the 40s and a guy in a spy service in the 70s even if they are played by the same actor. That's going to be different for a guy born in the 40s and a guy born in the 80s. It's not a bad shot on either version of the character, it's just natural.
So, why not go the way of the TV show and introduce a younger character of the same name? They could retcon the first couple Perez stories a little (to add that Steve was married before) or a lot (to substitute the younger Steve for the one who crashed on the island) if they like. They can write out the backstory of the mother and what happened to her. Because Diana never had romantic tension with older Steve, they'd be free to explore the younger version as a love interest. And they can go into the future with the family, because old Steve would undoubtedly have dad angst and Etta would have to deal with a stepson who is very close to her own age.
Of course, then there's always the problem of where has this guy been all these years. For that, I have a convenient plotmaking chart. Just fill in the blanks from the appropriate column:
Steve Trevor Sr's (Column A) of the same name has been (Column B) for many years due to the machinations of (Column C), who took him (Column D). Diana must fix this.
Click to enlarge
And I've also made one for any future storylines they might need. With decompression, this should last them another 600 issues.
Click to enlarge
See, the second season is set in the 70s, when Steve Trevor Jr is on a plane that wanders into Paradise Island airspace during a hijacking attempt. Diana goes on, sees that everyone is unconscious and there's a guy on there who looks exactly like Steve Trevor. And she knows several decades have passed and this is impossible. It turns out to be his son, and her Steve has recently died of old age. As she can assess there's an obvious danger to the guy, she asks to go back.
We have a different Hippolyta, a redhead this time, and she's the best one yet. She wants to deny it, but they put it to a council vote and Diana just has to face one challenger in Bullets & Bracelets before she's off to Man's World again.
Now, from the start it looks like they want to continue the same character dynamic, but it doesn't work. They changed his character. She was in love with his father, not him. He was raised on stories about her, and of course he geeks out when he sees her. At the end of the show they even do the thing where Diana misspeaks and says "Well, I'm sure she came back for you--I mean us" when speculating about Wonder Woman's motives. (This was common in the first season. We'd see him get this modest/embarrassed look after she made those slips, because it was obvious to everyone from FDR to General Blankenship's dry cleaner that the most beautiful woman in the country had a crush on him.)
Jessica Walter (I don't know her character's name but fuck it, it's Jessica Walter) picks up on Diana Prince's looking at him and they even try using an imposter Steve against her. (Who comes onto Diana Prince and chases her across the apartment until she locks herself in the bedroom, changes to Wonder Woman, and comes around the building to
After the first episode, though, they seem to put this aside and it's just a professional relationship. I don't know if that was the actors being unable to adjust the character change, or the writers just discarding it. Either way, it didn't work and I think it's because it wasn't really her Steve. She wasn't following him around because she loved him so much as she was protective of the kid of a guy she loved. I'm only about halfway through the season, but they seem to have settled into close platonic friends. He's a pretty important part of the series as her boss, closest friend and most influential ally, (and he still admires the hell out of Wonder Woman) but I do not see these two dating even casually.
When he gets promoted to being her boss he gets moved off the frontlines, so they cool a bit further. She has solo adventures and when they want to pair her up they come up with a brand new male character for each episode. It's really close to the Rooster Roulette we've seen post-Crisis. I think this was more because they realized Lynda Carter could carry the show all by herself. (Either that or Waggoner was sick of being tied up every episode.)
Funny thing, though, I think this demonstrates a way to keep older Steve and bring back a love interest Steve. Steve Trevor will be a different character according to the period of time he was raised in, he'll default to that generation's healthiest expression masculinity combined with a progressive view (and genuine like and respect for) of women. That's different for a guy in the Army in the 40s and a guy in a spy service in the 70s even if they are played by the same actor. That's going to be different for a guy born in the 40s and a guy born in the 80s. It's not a bad shot on either version of the character, it's just natural.
So, why not go the way of the TV show and introduce a younger character of the same name? They could retcon the first couple Perez stories a little (to add that Steve was married before) or a lot (to substitute the younger Steve for the one who crashed on the island) if they like. They can write out the backstory of the mother and what happened to her. Because Diana never had romantic tension with older Steve, they'd be free to explore the younger version as a love interest. And they can go into the future with the family, because old Steve would undoubtedly have dad angst and Etta would have to deal with a stepson who is very close to her own age.
Of course, then there's always the problem of where has this guy been all these years. For that, I have a convenient plotmaking chart. Just fill in the blanks from the appropriate column:
Steve Trevor Sr's (Column A) of the same name has been (Column B) for many years due to the machinations of (Column C), who took him (Column D). Diana must fix this.
And I've also made one for any future storylines they might need. With decompression, this should last them another 600 issues.
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