Tonight, I'm going to talk about Wonder Woman's new costume. It's been scrutinized to death, I know, but any jerk who claims himself a comic book fan has to weigh in on the change.
First off, if you have no clue what I'm talking about, go Google Wonder Woman and the recent news articles (yes, the change has garnered national attention) showcase the travesty in question.
Saw it? Good. Now, there were two possible reactions to this. One, you're a comic nerd like me and was spewing foam from the mouth while gnawing off your own hand to use as a projectile weapon against someone or two, you're not a comic fan and you think this would've been awesome...when it was the 90s and you were twelve.
Seriously, who approved this design? And who was asking for a change? Here's how I imagine the conversation at DC went down:
*Geoff Johns, Dan DiDio, and a bunch of DC Entertainment suits are sitting in a room*
GJ: "This year is WW's 69th anniversary..."
*sound of giggling from one man in the room*
GJ: "Mr. DiDio, if I can just continue..."
DD: "Heh, you said 69."
GJ: "Anywho...as I was saying, that means next year is WW's 70th anniversary."
DD:"Heh, 69."
GJ: "I think we really need to capitolize on this. Who do we have that's a big name for us and wasn't recently promoted to an executive level?"
*the suits in the room look at each other blankly, then back at Geoff Johns*
GJ: "Me? I can't write everything. I mean, Blackest Night wasn't even that good."
DD: "But people died! Which means it's AWESOME!"
GJ: "Sigh. Whatever, Dan. Who else do we have?"
SUIT: "We just got JMS to do Superman..."
GJ: "That could work. Does he want to do Wonder Woman?"
SUIT: "Not really."
DD: "Fantastic, now that that's settled..."
"We should change her costume!"
GJ: "What, Dan? Why?"
DD: "Because...because...we can!"
GJ: "Sigh. Ok, whatever, fine. It's not like it won't just get changed back in a year, anyway."
DD: "And redo her origins!"
GJ: "Again? Didn't we just do that with One Year Later?"
DD: "Maybe! But back to the costume: it should have a too-tight leather jacket (like Superboy from the 90s), and a top that kinda looks like the old one (like Superboy from the 90s), and tight black pants (like Superboy from the 90s) and fingerless gloves (like Superboy from the 90s)..."
GJ: "Ok, Dan, give me that picture of Superboy from the 90s"
*wrestles picture away, Dan DiDio is sad. Geoff Johns hands it back with another sigh*
GJ: "Fine. We'll just get Jim Lee to spruce it up or something..."
That went on much longer than I intended. Still, gotta figure that's how it went down.
Anyway, since I know most people didn't read through the whole thing, I'll sum it up. The design elements are very reminiscent of any character created or redone in the early to mid 1990s (especially, as I said repeatedly above, Superboy) and it seems like it's a gimmick to sell books and is a lead-in to the character's 70th anniversary, which is next year. I get the feeling that's all this is because when Superman had a big anniversary (I think it was for the 60th), DC gave him a redesign in year 59, but it was changed back the next year.
Also, I like J Michael however you spell his last name which is why he just abbreviates his name to 'JMS', but I don't think he was the best writer for his book. When a guy says that he wants to be "completely faithful to the character" and then he announces how he's going to change everything (because he can), then that might not be the best guy to write that book. Just sayin'. But yeah, The Odyssey, the first arc of WW with the new costume, kicked off with part 0 (that's a zero, yeah, they're back to doing those...) in Wonder Woman 600. Honestly, couldn't even make it through the ten or so pages that serve as the lead-in, so I'm thinking I'm done with Wonder Woman for awhile.
I will say this, with all the changes they are making to the character, I am interested to see how the rest of the DCU reacts. Of course, that's kind of what I said about Spider-Man and 'Brand New Day,' and the answer to that one was: they didn't react very much. The best thing to come of that was the possibility of Spidey hooking up with Ms. Marvel, which everyone but the writer who thought of it (Dan Reed, I believe) all but ignored it completely. But that's a rant for a different day.
I was going to go on about other costume redesigns, but I think I vented most of my gripes with costume changes in general into that rant. So, that's all for me tonight. Have a good one, and be careful not to cross paths with anyone wielding their own hand. They're dangerous.
No comments:
Post a Comment