Wonder Woman Undergoes Reboot, Redesign

I talked about my problems wth DC comics in a GL thread a few weeks ago. This is a good example of why I think DC isn’t doing as well as Marvel and will have a hard time producing movies of their most iconic characters. Their most iconic characters are all 70+ years old and they’re hokey. They just don’t feel, to me, like they belong in our era. Then, they try and update them like this and they don’t feel like the same characters anymore.

I think a major issue with DC and Marvel characters is they’re products of the previous century. You have a preference to Marvel characters but from an objective point of view, I don’t know if Spider-man is any less hokey than Wonder Woman. One thing Marvel has had going for it is their books all feel like they’re going in a direction, not just treading water. Say what you will about the big Secret War/Civil War/Secret Invasion/Siege storyline, but at least it was a storyline that did something with the characters. Can you say the same thing about Infinite Crisis/Final Crisis/Blackest Night/Brightest Day?

And age isn’t an issue if you have the right creators. If we’re talking hokey-ness potential, is there any greater example than Captain America? That’s been one of the best books on the market for a while now. And hey, he’s not the same charater anymore either.

The problem at DC seems to be lack of focus and getting down to the core of the characters. As much fun as Morrison’s Batman can be, I don’t know if it helps in this regard. Superman is a mess. And Wonder Woman has never been an easy character to get a handle on. She may be the toughest character to write in all of superhero comics.

I’d argue that Superman is at a point where he could be more relevant than ever. But achieving that would mean letting go of things the current teams don’t want to.

I think your observation is probably correct. Marvel characters have aged much better than DC characters. Marvel made a conscious choice to place their characters in our world, New York, LA, real cities, and react to current events. Having Spider-man hang with Obama may have taken that too far though :) DC’s characters live in Metropolis, Gotham City, Star City, Coast City, etc… and have remained suspended in time for the most part. I guess that’s why I like Marvel’s titles better. They just seem more relevant to me. Their characters have flaw, very few are uberpowerful like Superman, and they feel like they could be a part of our world. DC just feels like pure fantasy to me all the time.

I think Superman and Wonder Woman have not been sufficiently reconfigured for our era, while Batman’s reboot under Denny O’Neil (with reinforcement by Frank Miller, and now Morrison) has kept Batman relevant.

Some writers make progress with Superman every now and then, but I personally don’t find much to be excited about when I consider the past 40 years or so.

Wonder Woman has also been hard to successfully portray. I’m very skeptical about JMS doing well on either of these books, and a costume redesign isn’t making me any more optimistic.

I personally enjoyed the Crisis books and Blackest Night far more than any big storylines from Marvel in the past 5 years. I found them self-indulgent, uneven, and poorly scripted (but that’s Bendis in a nutshell, for me).

FYI, I’m dropping whatever Supes books JMS is taking over, and have no intention of picking up WW. Very bad move, DC…

@charlieromeobravo

While mostly being a DC guy, I understand your preference for Marvel along those lines. Just realize the uberpowerful Superman you’re talking about isn’t the only Superman. That’s the Silver Age version. Several creative teams have tried to bring him into the modern age, only to have the people who follow drag him back. So we keep winding up with a Superman who speaks to the daydreams of a previous generation, not ours.

If you look at Supes as he was originally formed, his origins are based in a yearning for regular people to have someone super-powerful who will stick up for them. He was born out of the depression after all. At that point people felt bullied by a world out of their control. The last time I checked, we’re in a similar place now. Instead of clinging to the earlier version of the character, they should bring him back to a more human level and address these feelings in a modern context. I think there’s been no better opportunity for the character since the days he was first created in. DC is blowing it.

What pockets? Where are these pockets? I don’t see any pockets. And why do we have to hold on to the freaking tiara?

It’s a look designed to be taken seriously as a warrior, Uh…No. Give her some armor or kevlar and then we’ll talk. She looks like she’s running off to brunch or a sample sale downtown.

Seriously DC. Just accept that you’re the Boy Scouts of the comic publishing world and EMBRACE it. Let Vertigo and Dark Horse be edgy. Let Marvel be the hot dumb cheerleader/jocks and just be your Boy Scout self. People will always love Supes, Bats and Wonder Woman. It’s the nostalgia thing.

It’s a tough situation. Wonder Woman is in desperate need of retooling but if you do too much too fast, particularly on a character who’s been wearing the same duds for 60 years, you lose part of that iconic image that people associate with her. They should have been more aggressive about updating her starting way back in the 80′s and they apparently should have been tougher about sticking with the changes that they did make. The crazy red eagle bustier is one of her most identifiable features. Unfortunately it’s also what makes her a big joke.

This isn’t a very original outfit. Why is she wearing a collar? Did she get new one of a kind bracelets? Did she borrow that jacket from Wonder Girl? This outfit is as bad as the all-white and Bond girl catsuit outfit she had.

The last costume redesign I liked was Thor’s. It was his costume with a medieval flair. Why did they think pants and a jacket would be good? The battle skirt was fine.

Holy crap! This guys (girls?) all write mini novels in their criticisms!

Not very original, but very hot! The bracers are boss! They could hide all kinds of high-tech gadgetry, the pants could come and go with her storyline, same with the jacket. The bustier thing she has going on is a very good fit for a sexy, outgoing, accessorizing female superhero. About freaking time! I could totally see Demi Moore playing this role in a live action movie. She’s damn near made for the part.

Anything is better than what she was wearing before. As for it not being orginal, with all the super heroes out there, how orginal can it be? Heck, most of comic books is stealing from other comic books.