Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Wonder Woman

God bless Greg Rucka for this issue.

Since it looks like the movie is emerging from development limbo, what would you recommend I read? I can't tell from the clips online which version it is drawing from. Should I just find the Golden Age Archives and go from there?

I have her Encyclopedia and have read some work by Perez and Jimenez. I also have read some 80s New Teen Titans with Donna Troy and a handful of Earth-2 issues from that same era.

Start with the Golden Age stuff, the original stories.

My short list of recommended WW:

1. The Golden Age stories, 1941-1947 -- Since there were no creator credits in those days, it's been hard until recently to tell where her eccentric male-feminist creator, William Marston (aka Charles Moulton) and Marston's various female writing collaborators, leave off, but IIRC, it's shortly after the introduction of the original Villainy Inc. And, FTR, Marston died in 1947, and the next year or two was something of a mess of unfinished Marston & Friends scripts, plot outlines, and springboards finished up by various parties, including Robert Kanigher, who took over as WW's chief writer/editor circa the end of the 1940s and stayed there for almost 2 decades. The Kanigher Era of WW has a lot of fans, but I personally find its juvenile, reactionary charms eminently resistible, with neither the edgy, subversive streak of the Mort Weisinger stable, nor the easy-going cleverness of the Julie Schwartz stable.

2. Wonder Woman #300 -- I've sampled various odd-and-sundry issues from the post-Kanigher, pre-Perez era (1968-1986), and found most of them utterly mediocre. The gem among the plastic baubles is, IMHO, this issue, written by Roy Thomas, edited by Marv Wolfman, with framing sequences drawn by Gene Colan, and alternate-world scenarios drawn by such talents as Ross Andru, Jan Duursema, Dick Giordano, Keith Pollard, and possibly one or two others I'm forgetting ATM. It's main selling point in hindsight has been the first appearance of Lyta Trevor (as a 12 year old), but as delightful as that sequence is, there's plenty more to enjoy.

3. Phil Jimenez -- I find that this perennially underrated run (WW v.2 #164-188) blows the Perez run out of the water. In place of Perez's pretentions, gore, creepiness, preaching-to-the-converted, and annoying "wide-eyed-innocent" portrayal of Diana, it gives us a playful, larger-than-life tone, nice Easter Eggs paying homage to every WW era (including the Lynda Carter TV show), tons of coded LGBT visual and verbal cues, and a Diana who, while still relying on her supporting cast (chiefly Donna & Cassie) to carry her, still comes much closer to registering as a sympathetic human being than in other runs IMHO.

Is the run in the 60s where she gives up her usual life and uniform as entertaining as it sounds?

^^That's a good question re: the "Dressed-Down Era."

I personally find it dated and OTT and a bit too much of the "Middle-Aged Creator Trying to Be Hip and Edgy Syndrome" (the creator in this case being Mike Sekowsky, whom I consider the most overrated JLA artist of all time (first doesn't mean best IMO), and not much of a writer, either.

Now, having said that, if you're as intrigued by this era as you appear to be, then you certainly don't lose anything by checking it out the way I did, via library (or, naturally, online, but I'd suggesting trying to see if you can do it online for free, in case it turns out you don't like it.)

I just realized something.

The answer is simple:



Wow. For a bad event storyline, it sure has provided a convenient catch-all "out" for writers.

I would like to know how versions of Wonder Girl have existed.

I am not sure if I want to go through the unintentional consequences that happened because of the Crisis rebooting Wonder Woman.

This is what I have so far:

Wonder Girl (Original Teen Titans, basically WW clone)
Wonder Girl (70s/80s)
Fury (The closest we get to an Earth-2 Wonder Girl)
Wonder Girl (Cassie)
Wonder Girl (New 52, reluctant to include due to lack of knowledge)

Wonder Girl (Original Teen Titans, basically WW clone) - A magical creation based on Wonder Woman when she was young.

Wonder Girl (70s/80s) - Essentially the same as the above, only the writers finally created a backstory for her as Donna Troy. Donna's mother gave her up for adoption when she was a baby, because she was fatally ill and couldn't raise Donna herself. Donna went through a couple of foster homes before she was found in an abandoned building by Wonder Woman and was taken to Paradise Island.

Fury (The closest we get to an Earth-2 Wonder Girl) - Lyta Trevor, daughter of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. Was a founding member of Infinity Inc. After Crisis, she became the daughter of the retroactively created "Golden Age" Fury, and then put through the wringer by Neil Gaiman in Sandman.

Wonder Girl (Cassie) - Was more or less a knock-off of Vanessa Kapatelis created by John Byrne during his run on Wonder Woman. When she first started out Zeus gave her mother the ability to nullify her powers if she wished. It later turned out her father was Zeus. Fans prefer her in Peter David's Young Justice to her appearances in Teen Titans, where many felt her personality was ruined and she became a judgmental, violent, and whiny loser.

Wonder Girl (New 52, reluctant to include due to lack of knowledge) - Cassie Sandsmark again, based mainly on her Teen Titans personality only her father is someone named Lennox, she's a pickpocket or thief or something, and she's stuck with some kind of magic armor that's slowly killing her or something. "Titans Hunt" later restored Donna Troy as the first Wonder Girl.

--

Other Versions:

Sins of Youth Diana - During the Sins of Youth crossover, Diana became young and Cassandra an adult, so Diana briefly was considered Wonder Girl.

Stephanie Trevor - Daughter of Wonder Woman and the deceased Steve Trevor from the "Generations" Elseworlds.

Sins of Youth was AWESOME!

Agreed 100%, Pov!!

Although Peter David was initially annoyed at finding himself the "head writer" on an event storyline, since he loathes events, and since it was originally supposed to only be contained in "Young Justice." LOL

Right?! Except for the gross way they killed Tana Moon.

God, you know what would've been great?

A Convergence: Sensation Comics miniseries focusing on the Golden Age Wonder Woman written by Trina Robbins.

A Golden Age Wondy villain appeared in the Batman Annual.

DC cancelled the second volume of Legend of Wonder Woman.

Because of course they did.

http://newyork.endangeredbodies.org/put_in_ink_rape_of_the_amazons_by_jude_deluca

I wrote an article about Wonder Woman for Endangered Bodies analyzing the New 52 and Rebirth arcs, but there are spoilers for the current run by Greg Rucka. Don't read it unless you've read issue #11 of the current volume.

It was a great series, but did the creators really think they could bite the hand that feeds them the way they did and not have repercussions? If Bleeding Cool is to be believed, they had little nice to say about DC or any of the other teams working on WW properties (including Rucka).

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/1...-challenging-relationship-de-liz-dillon/

I am getting real tired of the alternating story-line in Wonder Woman. Stick to one story at a time or give her a second title.

Who thought that an alternating story-line was a good idea to hold on to readers?

Is it still twice a month (I honestly can't remember)? If so it is effectively two monthly titles, but I can see the frustration point.

I haven't read it yet, but it seems like a solution to having to alternate artists every other issue. By alternating stories instead, you at least get one artist per story. Sharpe to Scott would be pretty jarring if it were all the same story each issue. I suppose anyone getting the floppies could let issues stockpile and read four issues of one story, then four issues of another. Or you could buy the trades which will probably collect each separately.

Nicola's finished her "Year One" arc and is back working on her and Rucka's creator-owned Image title BLACK MAGICK. The storylines are being collected individually in trades, hers and Liam Sharpe's "Lies" arc.

It seems like they are still alternating story-lines

Such mixed feelings. I admit I probably let the bar get a bit too high, since Rucka's first run is my favorite WW run ever, despite ending too abruptly.

My main concern is something that afflicts a lot of Rebirth stuff: wallowing in its own damaged continuity. When the characters can't even keep their own backstories straight, you've got a problem. And I'm a little disturbed that 6 months in, we still don't know exactly what Wonder Woman it is we're reading.

Plus, the one thing I didn't like about his first run was Veronica Cale. For that to be the one thing he's brought back so far is a little disheartening. (well, maybe Ferdinand if the latest issue is to be believed)

Still, Rucka's a great writer, and it's nice to see a turn away from the warrior version of WW we've seen so much of lately. (Even if Rucka's own Sacrifice, or at least other writers' clumsy readings of it, were partly to blame for that.) I'll give it time to find its feet. And work on adjusting my expectations. If someone had told me before his first run "This will be your favorite run ever," I probably would have focused entirely on its flaws.