As I said Sunday, Tim Hanley’s book on Wonder Woman disappointed me but it had enough interesting points to be worth reading. One of the things he brings up is that while DC now counts Wonder Woman as part of the “trinity” along with Superman and Batman she’s never had a landmark story to compare to theirs.
It’s not that the Masked Manhunter and the Caped Crusader have been consistently better written. I don’t think any fan of either man would disagree that both have suffered long stretches of crap, though we might disagree where the bad times lay. Batman’s freak transformations—
—and lots of Silver Age Superman are forgettable. I find much of 21st century Batman unreadable. Even so, they do have stories that get ranked among the greats: The Dark Knight Returns, The Death of Superman, Batman’s early battles with R’as al Ghul — they’re all considered classics.
Heck, that cover image alone is classic.
Wonder Woman doesn’t have any stories that get the same regard. Ironically I think the depowered years at the dawn of the 1970s get referenced more than any other period, maybe simply because it’s such a contrast to the regular Wonder Woman image. George Perez’ opening six-issue arc is excellent but perhaps because it’s specifically intended to set up the series, it doesn’t press the same buttons. John Byrne’s run has been enjoyable but hardly redefines Diana the way he did Superman. William Messner-Loebs had Diana replaced as Wonder Woman by another Amazon, just like Superman and Batman were replaced, but it barely seems to have registered (keep in mind this is my subjective observations, not based on studying marketing or sales reports) with people who weren’t fans already. Of course the art of that era was way 1990s in its emphasis on boobs and butts so that may be a factor.
Is there something fundamental about WW that keeps the creative teams from hitting it out of the ballpark? Is it simply harder to work with an iconic woman character because there are so few of them? Or because Diana’s role as champion of women’s rights (not something she’s been consistently, I admit) make it hard to handle her? Is that she’s simply too low on people’s radar for her stories to become landmarks? Or is it that most characters don’t have a Dark Knight Returns-classic in their history — I don’t think Green Lantern, Flash, Thor or Iron Man do? I have no definite answers on this point, only questions.
Another point Hanley makes several times is that starting in the Silver Age, DC has moved away from creator William Marston’s distinctive vision. This is true of most Golden Age heroes: Superman isn’t the brawling rough-neck and outlaw of the 1930s either. But I agree with Hanley that one thing they could keep is the idea that Amazon training can turn any woman into someone exceptional: Marston’s Wonder Woman is closer to Black Widow or Batman, the product of super-intensive training, than to Thor.
Another aspect I don’t think Hanley mentioned is that the idea of Diana fighting misogynists has also faded. The Golden Age Dr. Psycho was a vicious woman-hater horrified that women were getting jobs in the military industrial complex; the Perez reboot version is just a twisted psionic sadist. Marston’s Mars wasn’t simply opposed to Wonder Woman and the Amazons because they stand for peace; to him, women exist purely as slaves, to be taken as spoils of war. That hasn’t been part of his character in at least fifty years. Perez’ Circe debuts as Diana’s opposite number, sewing hate and distrust between men and women, but that aspect disappeared in her subsequent appearances.
Would having WW take on real-world misogyny grab more attention? Sex trafficking, preachers who think women should submit to spousal abuse, the right to abortion, rape apologists — would tackling those topics in a superhero context make the series stronger? Could it be done without getting heavy-handed? Would DC have the stomach to try it? Too bad they didn’t try that around the time Green Lantern/Green Arrow was tackling serious issues —
— but I doubt that occurred to anyone. Comic books lagged behind on feminism much more than issues like civil rights. Heck, even in the 21st century, some writers think it’s cool to team up Wonder Woman with a sexist jerk.
In short, I doubt that’s the miracle solution to Wonder Woman’s blues. But I’d love to see them try it anyway.
#SFWApro. Cover images top to bottom by Sheldon Moldoff, Neal Adams, H.G. Peters, Brian Bolland and Adams again.
