From the Ground Up
In light of the creator vacancy on the title, George Perez hit the ground running, investing himself into lots of research into the background of the character. Not stopping there, he canvassed a number of women to find the appeal (and the offenses) of the character. He was also assigned a new editor, Karen Berger, who in later years would start the Vertigo Imprint for DC comics. His approach was to completely rethink the entire concept of the character - undoing tropes and conventions started by creator William Moulton Marston. Gone were the chains of bondage and implications of S&M and kink. Perez now approached the character from a humanist perspective with feminist leanings, crossing philosophies and religious beliefs in order to conceive a Wonder Woman with cross cultural appeal. Wonder Woman was no longer just the product of a formed clay statue and a fervent appeal to the gods. Now the Amazons were reincarnated spirits of women that had suffered abuse at the hands of men, with Diana being the reincarnated spirit of Hippolyta’s previously unborn child.
In addition, Steve Trevor was no longer a love interest, but still the first man to crash land on Paradise Island (now renamed Themyscira). In a bid for power, Ares, the god of war, seeks to initiate a nuclear conflict; leading to Hippolyta Queen of the Amazons to save the world by sending an emissary to “patriarch’s world”. As in the original version, her daughter wins the honor through competition, bringing an 18 year old Wonder Woman to the male dominated western world for the first time.
The stories focused on adventures with the Greek gods and monsters of legends while simultaneously dealing with a wide-eyed Wonder Woman trying to fit in and understand the modern world. There were also newly created supporting characters; Julia Kapatelis, a middle aged Harvard professor and her teenage daughter Vanessa (who both give shelter and solace to the disoriented Wonder Woman).There was also public relations expert Myndi Mayer who made Wonder Woman into a household name in “patriarch’s world”. As a result of these various changes, the notion of a secret identity was dropped as well, as the artist rationalized “it didn’t serve a purpose”.
With Perez on the writing and art duties, the book started off as a best – seller, engaging both high minded adults and adolescents for the first few years. But eventually the book regularly eschewed super heroics for more soap opera drama and as a result, its popularity waned. Perez left the art duties after two years, but stayed on as writer until his departure 3 years later with issue 62.
Staying Afloat
Due to the absence of George Perez, the title went back to a see-saw existence, with each successive team once again deconstructing and reinventing Wonder Woman and the Amazons over a 20 year period. Notable writer& artists teams included William Messner Loeb & Mike Deodato; John Byrne, Phil Jimenez, George Rucka & Drew Johnson, Gail Simone & Aaron Lopresti and Allan Heinberg &Terry Dodson. Each team made a mark and got a sales spike for a short while, but with each new attempt to revitalize the character there seemed to be diminishing returns of interest and sales.
By the time of her 70th birthday it was deemed necessary to drastically modernize the character. J.Michael Straczynski was brought on as writer, feeling it necessary to destroy Paradise island and completely redesign her costume, adding pants and a leather jacket in order for her to blending with an”urban environment”. Drastic changes were apparently necessary as Straczynski stated,
“…she became this Ferrari that everybody kept in the garage rather than taking it out on the open road. A Ferrari in the garage is safe...but that's not what a Ferrari is for.”
Once again Wonder Woman was made into an 18 year old young adult. This time she was street smart and wise cracking; living nomadically with the few remaining Amazons, looking to avenge the death of her mother and the destruction of her people.
This attempt garnered a lot media attention, perhaps to coincide with the television pilot that was in production at the same time. Unfortunately, both projects met with the disdain and ire of fans, leading DC comics and Warner Brothers to quickly pull the plug on both.
Recently Wonder Woman has been giving yet another clean slate, with the recent reboot of DC comics’ entire line. This time, her clay birth origin has been treated as a hoax, with Wonder Woman having been born as a result of an extra-marital affair between Hippolyta, the Amazon queen and Zeus; king of the gods. The Amazons are no longer care free and above it all; looking down their noses at “man’s world”. Rather, this newer version makes them out to be war-like, belligerent, and misandrist. This most recent version of Wonder Woman has been met with acclaim from male critics, garnering a host of new readers that never would dream of reading the book previously.
At the same time, this has stirred a bevy of controversy with older fans – who felt it to be anti-feminist to finally give Diana a father. Yet how can Wonder Woman preach gender equality while not having or needing a father (Which just so happens to be a biological necessity for 100% of the planet’s population.)?
Surely, if a male character existed in an exclusively male dominated society where there were no women, and all procreation was engineered without women, it could be strongly perceived as misogynistic. While the question of equal treatment for the sexes in society is still up for debate, it may be far more progressive to treat the two groups as equals instead of as warring factions battling for supremacy.
Fan Base
This leads to the question: Is there a version of the character that can appeal to both male AND females? Or is there an inherent problem with heterosexual males identifying with the character? Is the concept of a self sufficient super woman a threat to the male hegemony as it was perceived in the 1940’s?
Comics’ Historian Trina Robbins established in a recent interview/survey that Wonder Woman had a significant fan base in women and the LGBT community. This sample of individuals indicated that women saw Wonder Woman as a best friend, a sisterly influence, a strong empowering role model; whereas gay men saw her as a positive and inclusive maternal figure.
Yet mainstream super hero comics are generally alleged to be targeted to heterosexual males. Over the years male critics have had little empathy for the character. In his book Superman On the Couch – Danny Fingeroth spoke of Wonder Woman saying
" ... there isn't, it seems, the primal feeling about her that we have about so many of the Ur-male heroes… She seems pleasant but not really all that interesting."
In 1970’s All For a Dime , comic book aficionado Jim Hannon describes how Wonder Woman would ,
“exchange hugs and kisses of delight with the readily available Holliday Girls," and calls it "a very sick scene."
while renowned comic book Artist Jim Steranko stated
“Wonder Woman delighted in beating up men”
a strange assertion , considering that doing so is almost a prerequisite of being a superhero…unless you presume Batman , Wolverine ,The Hulk and others derive no pleasure from dispensing justice.
Les Daniels, author of several books on Wonder Woman (including her Complete History) states in his 1971 book Comix
"Masculine critics have viewed her (Wonder Woman) with a mixture of contempt and elan."
This leads one to wonder if the level of male disinterest or contempt for the character could be from the inability to lock her within the male-gaze of comics; making her an obvious object of titillation and sexuality. And yet make no mistake, the industry has attempted to sexualize her on a number of occasions, and has tried several times to utilize Wonder Woman as an accessory to paired off with the likes of Superman, Batman and Aquaman (in addition to her mainstay love interest Steve Trevor). Is this a persistent attempt to ‘domesticate’ an otherwise independent and self reliant character?
Within the last week, an announcement has been made that in the pages of “Justice League” Superman and Wonder Woman are starting a relationship that will upset the “status quo” of DC comics. Will this make Wonder Woman a “side kick” to the Man of Steel? Will the relationship be viewed equally from both male and female perspectives? The writers state that there will be long ranging consequences for the characters’ pairing, with hope for exciting stories that haven’t been told before.
Still, there are a number of fans that came to character via the 70’s TV show that never even picked up an issue of her comic book. There is definitely a fondness and pop culture recognition of the character, but it’s beginning to seem as though more people like the core idea of Wonder Woman than any actual adventures that may have been presented in any of the comic books or cartoons.
It’s been 70 years and Wonder Woman has come through a World War, multiple makeovers, and death on at least two different occasions. Here’s to her surviving thus far, and continuing the fight well into the next century.