Suffering Sappho! A Quick Overview of Wonder Woman
Until comparatively recently, admitting you were a Wonder Woman fan was like confessing a predilection for chintz or crocodile skin - a relic from the era that taste forgot. Your confidant would hum, change the subject and hope it never came up again. They may concede that the Lynda Carter series in the 70s was kitsch fun, but any further would be pushing your luck.
It's worth examining why this should be the case. Debuting in 1941, her pedigree is nearly as long as Superman and Batman, those evergreen icons. Although she can't claim to be the first superheroine, she is definitely the best known and most durable. It's tempting to chalk it up to misogyny - in her early years in the Justice League, she was more or less demoted to team secretary. Her Dork Age at the hands of Bob Kanigher, a dyed in the wool chauvinist who despised the character, didn't help.
My hunch is that it lies partly with her personality. William Moulton Marston* wanted to create a character with "all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman." Note that word 'good' - in a world that likes edgy, damaged heroes (Batman's demons are darkness, no parents; Iron Man's alcoholism and being an asshole), she seems perky and lightweight, like a super-powered Pollyanna. To quote the lass herself: "I love everybody!"
Another charge levelled at the series is it lacks a rogues gallery a la Batman or the X-Men. This is ignoring another fact about our girl Wonder: if she catches an antagonist, they stay caught. In the comics themselves there is a handful of villains, largely female: Circe, mythical sorceress and her most formidable adversary; Ares, god of war; numerous incarnations of the Cheetah, an unhinged heiress and probable furry; Dr Psycho, a woman hating dwarf with brainwashing powers - and, infamously, Egg Fu, a Fu Manchu-style mastermind who takes the form of the world's most racist Easter egg. (I wish I could be making this up).
If the franchise falls short in terms of bad guys, it compensates in terms of backstory and supporting cast. Rather than the boring barrage of radiation or chemical spills suffered by other heroes, she is born a goddess, crafted from clay by her mother Hippolyta. (This, like much else, has been retconned). Raised on the all-female utopia Paradise Island, she is totally unaware of the outside world until a dashing intelligence officer, Steve Trevor, washes up on their shores. In a development that echoes many a Greek myth - and certainly the feminist literature of the time - she falls for the stranger and returns with him to 'civilisation' to fight evil and injustice as a superheroine. Her kit includes the Lasso of Truth, manacle-like bracelets to keep her powers in check, an invisible plane and one of the raunchiest costumes in comics. The look is completed by asskicking thigh boots. (One of Kanigher's first acts was to replace these beauties with ballet slippers, FFS). She soon assumes the identity of Diana Prince, army nurse - an alias conveniently similar to her actual name of Princess Diana (no, not that one).
You can't discuss Wonder Woman without mention of Steve, the male Lois. Sometimes he knows Diana's true identity, sometimes he doesn't. Rock bottom is the time he pretends 'Diana' is Wonder Woman during his last hours on earth and uses it as an excuse to snog her face off. In the better stories he's an all American alpha male, doting on his "Angel" and participating in her adventures, despite an alarming propensity for getting kidnapped. It's only during the Dork Age he becomes passive aggressive and manipulative, browbeating her into marriage. One of my favourite panels has him ask, "Angel, when are we going to get married?" and her reply, "When evil and injustice vanish from the earth!" You'll be waiting a long time, bro.
Another prominent cast member is Etta Candy, the blueprint of the superhero's best friend. A gung-ho, Rubenesque redhead, she doesn't take shit from anyone. She's especially scathing of suggestions she should slim down to get a man. Judging by the dozens of "gay Holliday girls" swarming round her, she knows precisely which side her bread is buttered. It would also explain her unconditional devotion to Diana.
Above all, I love the Amazons. Perhaps it's my youthful passion for Greek mythology, perhaps I have an unacknowledged yen for girls in armour, but there's something immensely appealing about this society of gorgeous, warlike women. Many of them are canonically gay, including Hippolyta. Fredric Wertham, author of anti comics polemic Seduction of the Innocent, lambasted Wonder Woman's 'toxic' feminism and supposed lesbianism, but missed Paradise Island entirely. As modern Etta exclaims, "You grew up on an island of sci fi lesbians?"
Hopefully the upcoming film will rescue the character from unfair obscurity and restore her to her rightful position in the top rank of superheroes. The trailer looks promising - and I for one can't wait.
* William Moulton Marston (1893 - 1947) was an intriguing, louche character. Pioneer of the lie detector test and an eminent psychologist, he was convicted of fraud and almost incapable of holding down a job. A dedicated polyamorist, he lived with his wife, mistress and hordes of kids. He believed bondage, or "submission to a loving authority," should be part of any healthy relationship.
It's worth examining why this should be the case. Debuting in 1941, her pedigree is nearly as long as Superman and Batman, those evergreen icons. Although she can't claim to be the first superheroine, she is definitely the best known and most durable. It's tempting to chalk it up to misogyny - in her early years in the Justice League, she was more or less demoted to team secretary. Her Dork Age at the hands of Bob Kanigher, a dyed in the wool chauvinist who despised the character, didn't help.
My hunch is that it lies partly with her personality. William Moulton Marston* wanted to create a character with "all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman." Note that word 'good' - in a world that likes edgy, damaged heroes (Batman's demons are darkness, no parents; Iron Man's alcoholism and being an asshole), she seems perky and lightweight, like a super-powered Pollyanna. To quote the lass herself: "I love everybody!"
Another charge levelled at the series is it lacks a rogues gallery a la Batman or the X-Men. This is ignoring another fact about our girl Wonder: if she catches an antagonist, they stay caught. In the comics themselves there is a handful of villains, largely female: Circe, mythical sorceress and her most formidable adversary; Ares, god of war; numerous incarnations of the Cheetah, an unhinged heiress and probable furry; Dr Psycho, a woman hating dwarf with brainwashing powers - and, infamously, Egg Fu, a Fu Manchu-style mastermind who takes the form of the world's most racist Easter egg. (I wish I could be making this up).
If the franchise falls short in terms of bad guys, it compensates in terms of backstory and supporting cast. Rather than the boring barrage of radiation or chemical spills suffered by other heroes, she is born a goddess, crafted from clay by her mother Hippolyta. (This, like much else, has been retconned). Raised on the all-female utopia Paradise Island, she is totally unaware of the outside world until a dashing intelligence officer, Steve Trevor, washes up on their shores. In a development that echoes many a Greek myth - and certainly the feminist literature of the time - she falls for the stranger and returns with him to 'civilisation' to fight evil and injustice as a superheroine. Her kit includes the Lasso of Truth, manacle-like bracelets to keep her powers in check, an invisible plane and one of the raunchiest costumes in comics. The look is completed by asskicking thigh boots. (One of Kanigher's first acts was to replace these beauties with ballet slippers, FFS). She soon assumes the identity of Diana Prince, army nurse - an alias conveniently similar to her actual name of Princess Diana (no, not that one).
You can't discuss Wonder Woman without mention of Steve, the male Lois. Sometimes he knows Diana's true identity, sometimes he doesn't. Rock bottom is the time he pretends 'Diana' is Wonder Woman during his last hours on earth and uses it as an excuse to snog her face off. In the better stories he's an all American alpha male, doting on his "Angel" and participating in her adventures, despite an alarming propensity for getting kidnapped. It's only during the Dork Age he becomes passive aggressive and manipulative, browbeating her into marriage. One of my favourite panels has him ask, "Angel, when are we going to get married?" and her reply, "When evil and injustice vanish from the earth!" You'll be waiting a long time, bro.
Another prominent cast member is Etta Candy, the blueprint of the superhero's best friend. A gung-ho, Rubenesque redhead, she doesn't take shit from anyone. She's especially scathing of suggestions she should slim down to get a man. Judging by the dozens of "gay Holliday girls" swarming round her, she knows precisely which side her bread is buttered. It would also explain her unconditional devotion to Diana.
Above all, I love the Amazons. Perhaps it's my youthful passion for Greek mythology, perhaps I have an unacknowledged yen for girls in armour, but there's something immensely appealing about this society of gorgeous, warlike women. Many of them are canonically gay, including Hippolyta. Fredric Wertham, author of anti comics polemic Seduction of the Innocent, lambasted Wonder Woman's 'toxic' feminism and supposed lesbianism, but missed Paradise Island entirely. As modern Etta exclaims, "You grew up on an island of sci fi lesbians?"
Hopefully the upcoming film will rescue the character from unfair obscurity and restore her to her rightful position in the top rank of superheroes. The trailer looks promising - and I for one can't wait.
* William Moulton Marston (1893 - 1947) was an intriguing, louche character. Pioneer of the lie detector test and an eminent psychologist, he was convicted of fraud and almost incapable of holding down a job. A dedicated polyamorist, he lived with his wife, mistress and hordes of kids. He believed bondage, or "submission to a loving authority," should be part of any healthy relationship.
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