Things I learned from Amazons Attack

1. It IS possible in a six-issue mini-series to have more than six "Final Confrontations" between Diana and Hippolyta.

2. Zatanna and her mind-wipes are superfluous now that we have targeted killer wasp stings to erase knowledge of secret identities. Personally, I was hoping for a reversion to Superman-movie era Amnesia Inducing Kisses, but we can't have everything.

3. Amnesia works not just for revealed secrets, but for things that you easily figured out on your own.

4. If you dress up like another character, you get to use all of her powers also.

5. Four magical shape-shifters in one mini-series is two too many.

6. Although it would have been fun if they all pretended to be Sgt. Steel at the same time.

7. Wasn't Donna Troy off searching for Diana at some point in the middle there? Did she just get a case of ADD and forget all about the war?

8. Apparently that Lazarus-Pit crazy-making thing happens to you even if you are re-incarnated some other way.

Live and learn.

Fixing Boo Boos (Wonder Woman #11)

So, you know how you're sometimes on the phone or in a meeting at your home, discussing important business, and you suddenly have to drop everything and maybe risk the entire deal because one of your kids scraped her knee, or something?

Best I can figure, Diana was pulled out of peace negotiations with the Amazons because Tom got a bee sting and needed Diana to kiss it for him.

Thousands may die needlessly, but priorities are priorities. Kill the civilians, but by all means retrieve the Holy Calamine Lotion!

Stupid Questions #5: Wonder Woman 9 Edition

1. Is this supposed to follow directly from Amazons Attack #1? If so, why doesn't Diana meet "mom" in the same place?

2. The Book was labeled "Part Four." Other than WW#8 and AA#1, what was Part Three?

3. Everyman was the title character of a Middle Ages play. Willie Loman was a kind of everyman- character is Death of a Salesman, but naming oneself Everyman shouldn't really open yourself up to lots of Willie Loman jokes, should it?

4. How did Hippolyte and a dozen Amazons end up on the roof with Circe and Diana without anyone noticing?

5. Does Wonder Woman doubt that Hippolyte is her mother because she is warlike, or because she is so gullible?

6. Did Nemesis really think that he could lock up a shape-shifter the way he did? Shouldn't he know better?

7. How come the best parts of this issue were the parts without Diana in them? Is this book turning into (wonder-woman-presents) NEMESIS!!! ?

Secret Identities and Wonder Woman

I'm still contemplating Wonder Woman #6, and am not ready to write about yet. Ragnell thought it was pretty bad, and since my initial reaction was the opposite, and since I usually agree with her opinion, I wanted to ponder further before commenting.

I will say that I did enjoy the can't-pump-her-own-gas type issues, and while some people saw them as unrealistic, I was reminded of the parallels to President Bush the Elder who was chided for not understanding the grocery store scanner, as he was so patrician he never did his own shopping. (Also, I live in New Jersey, were self-serve is illegal, so it is not surpring to meet adults who have never self-pumped).

I will also admit that part of what made me enjoy it was not an explicit part of the story, but what I saw as the implied question of whether she should reveal here (new) secret identity to Nemesis. Nemesis seems like a bright guy, so I can't see him being fooled forever, and eventually he's going to be pretty upset that he spent whatever-number of issues chasing down the woman who turned out to be his partner. She could probably trust him with the secret, and get on with it.

Keeping Superman's secret identity from Lois took increasingly convoluted methods that painted Lois as a total moron, and they weren't even partners. The original Wonder Woman/ Steve Trevor secret identity issues were so far beyond the pale that I would hate to see them repreated. (Note to self: Compare Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane to Golden Age Steve Trevor -- the similarities are overwhelming.) Anyway, here are a few panels from Wonder Woman v.1 #92, which is perhaps the most ridiculous Wonder Woman (or anyone else) secret-identity-maintenance ploy ever.

First Steve and Diana Prince are sucked into another dimension and are attacked by diamond-monster thingies. When Prince disappears, and Wonder Woman fights the bad guys, Steve knows the "truth", because there was no other way that Wonder Woman could have gotten to the other dimension.




It seems you are busted, Ms. Prince. There is no way that Steve Trevor can BOTH hold your hand AND see you appear somewhere else! But wait! Steve never said that he would use his peripheral vision while holding your hand, so there's still a chance!



And through the whole conversation, both in and out of the tunnel, Steve never once looks to his left to see that "Diana Prince" was only "Diana Lasso Hand." Stupid, stupid Steve.

Anyway, I really want to like Nemesis, but for each issue in which he fails to realize that his partner (and not just co-worked, like Lois Lane) is really Wonder Woman, he falls further and further into "I confused Diana Prince with a Piece of Rope" Trevor territory.

In my reading, Diana is contemplating how far to take this new "Diana Prince" thing, and that is part of what makes it interesting to me.

The Socialist, The Capitalist, and The Internationalist, Thoughts on the Origins of the Big 3 (Wonder Woman #3, Cover Date October, 2006)

Characters:

Major Heroes: Wonder Woman, Nemesis, Hercules
Minor Heroes: Robin, Wonder Girl, Donna Troy

Major Villains: Circe
Minor Villains: Giganta, Cheetah, Dr. Psycho

P'Shat

After a brief recounting of the birth of Wonder Woman, Hercules single-handedly saves Diana, Donna, and Cassie from the triple-threat of Giganta, Cheetah, and Dr. Psycho. When Agent Prince stops Hercules from killing Dr. Psycho, however, the trio of villains disappear. Hercules proclaims himself Wonder Woman's replacement, but when Agent Prince and Nemesis sneak in to his place, Nemesis and Hercules are turned into bestiamorphs, leaving just Diana and Circe. Circe acccuses Diana of not doing enough good for women, and then turns her into a mortal.

Drash

I'm going through a "Golden Age" phase, inspired by my recent purchase of Wonder Woman Archives, Volume 1, and am going back and reading all of the earliest adventures of the Big Three. My summarizations are as follows:

Superman: The ultimate passivist socialist. He stops all violence from war to spousal abuse. He protects the proletariat (soldiers, miners) from the destructive powers of the military-industrial complex. (Action #2-#3)

Batman: The ultimate capitalist. Portrayed as a rich playboy, Batman fights his fight to preserve the status quo. A prototypical adventure is the Joker announcing that he will kill Henry Claridge and steal the Claridge diamond. Batman then must protect the wealthy, and ensure that their wealth remains concentrated. (Batman #1)

Wonder Woman: Started on the cusp of World War II, Wonder Woman is the structural internationalist. She's not fighting for the rich or the poor, she's fighting for "America", assisting against the Nazis. A prototypical adventure has her foiling a German spy ring and protecting the launch of a new, secret submarine. (Sensation Comics #6).

If I could re-imagine the 1940 Presidential election, with Superheroes, my picture is Superman campaigning for Franklin Roosevelt, Batman supporting (and funding) Wendell Wilkie's candidacy, while Wonder Woman is a non-partisan, chairing the League of Women Voters, moderating the debates, serving on the Federal Election Commission, and ensuring that the ballot box counts are accurate. (In the end, the election is unchanged. It remains a landslide even if Batman is able to deliver Gotham's electoral votes for Wilkie.)

I was thinking about these origins and how well they still hold true while contemplating Circe's accusations of Wonder Woman, which Amy addresses well, here, such that I do not feel the need to reiterate, except to re-emphasize that there is more than one method to the same goal. ("I did not renounce my mission -- Just the means --" WW). Where one method may certainly be saving individual women from anti-feminist assault, another equally (or even more) effective approach may be the protect the elements of the political system that allow women and other people to help themselves.

Would "Women" be better off if Wonder Woman stopped a dozen attempted rapes or sexual assaults while the Germans took over America? Sixty-five years later, the advances so many groups have been able to make toward equality emerged with renewed force from America's desire, after World War II, to distinguish ourselves from the Nazi system or strict hierarchy. Sometimes the best way to help women is to make sure that everyone is free. If you do that, the women can take care of themselves.

So, is there really a duality between fighting for "women" and fighting for "the ol' Red, White, and Blue"? Not really, and the accusation that Circe makes is actually answered before it is asked, by Nemesis.

Nemesis: She served in the interest of justice. She didn't mete it out.

And I think that's the point.