With today’s release of Wonder Woman #600, writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist (and DC Comics co-publisher) Jim Lee have given Diana Prince her first major makeover in decades. The new look for Wonder Woman comes as a result of a storyline that sees the character’s history rewritten by divine intervention in a move sure to anger fans, but one that Straczynski sees as necessary:
As I’ve noted elsewhere, Wonder Woman has, to an extent, become like a Ferrari you keep in the garage 24/7 because you’re afraid of denting it. It’s great to look at, beautiful in line and form, and as long as it’s in the garage, it’s safe … but that’s not what a Ferrari is for.
He’s equally bullish about Lee’s redesign of the costume:
It’s a look designed to be taken seriously as a warrior, in partial answer to the many female fans over the years who’ve asked, “how does she fight in that thing without all her parts falling out?”) She can close it up to pass unnoticed…open it for the freedom to fight…lose the jacket or keep it on…it has pockets (the other fan question, “where does she carry anything in that outfit?”, it can be accessorized…it’s a Wonder Woman look designed for the 21st century.
As Stracynski admits, the rebooted Wonder Woman’s first storyline will see her try to revert history to what it was before it was changed, so these changes may end up being temporary… but with New York Times coverage already achieved, they just might prove to be successful enough to stick around.
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