Wonder Woman v.1 #224 - 243
With all the loose ends tied into a big knot at the end of #223 you might think that Wonder Woman was now in a position to boldly stride forward into new adventures. In fact all we get is several thin stories that range from forgetable to nonsensical. Elliot S Maggin drops by for an issue to whip up a story so stupid that it would probably take longer for me to list the faults in it than he did to write it. Martin Pasko is back next issue and he has been reading up on his mythology, introducing a new refuge from the greek pantheon in the form of Hephaestus, god of fire, who is working for Ares AKA Mars. Sadly Pasko hasn't been reading up on Wonder Woman as Mars/Ares' appearance is inconsistant with his previous appearance in WW #215, and you'd think it might be relevant in a story featuring Hephaestus to at least mention that he created WW's golden lasso. The rest of the story isn't much good, either.
Even the initially interesting subplot about Steve Trevor coming to terms with his new lease on life nosedives into stupidity as we are expected to believe that a man with no credentials of any kind and the fingerprints of a dead man can talk himself into a job in a government department of National security that monitors the work of other security departments (such as the CIA and the FBI). Meanwhile, Diana Prince has been promoted, if you can call it that, from being a troubleshooter in the UN Crisis Bureau to liason for a movie being made about the UN.
But in fact this is only the warm up for "The Strangest Wonder Woman Story of All!" An ambitious cover claim that would not convince anyone who had read a few Kanigher issues. In one of those abrupt changes of direction that are by now familiar to anyone who's read this far, our heroine bumps into a kind of cut-price Iron Man (who wears his bright red nazi uniform over his armour) and gets dragged into Earth 2 during World War 2, where she meets up with her Golden Age counterpart. Disappointingly, Earth 2 Wonder Woman is not wearing her Golden Age costume, but in fact one identical to her Earth 1 twin (minor cosmetic changes were made in subsequent issues to address fan complaints on this subject, but it still wasn't much like the Golden Age version). The only way this is at all forgiveable is that the whole deal is designed to complement the Wonder Woman TV show as it is at this point in our story that Lynda Carter twirls into action.
Personally I think the idea of altering source material so that it better fits an adaptation is fundamentally wrongheaded, but that's just me. It's easy to understand DC's wish to appear closer to the TV version, since this would likely bring in a lot of new readers, and compared with the current situation where a big screen version of Spider-Man or X-Men brings in readers who are liable to be bewildered by the variety of alternative versions of their heroes available in comic form, none of which bear much relation to the movie versions, it's positively inspired. So as Wonder Woman returns through the time/space warp at the end of WW #228 we get to stay and follow the adventures of her Golden Age analogue in World War 2 (that being the setting for the first season of the TV show) for a while.
It is also at this point that Wonder Woman gets a second series with a regular feature in World's Finest from issue #244. This also features the golden age Earth 2 Wonder Woman. During this period Earth 1 Wonder Woman can only be found in Justice League of America and a couple of guest spots.
Despite the claim that this is the golden age Wonder Woman whose adventures we are now following, it is in fact a heavily retconned version. Not only is the costume wrong for the period, but the only recognisable member of the supporting cast is Steve Trevor, Diana Prince is in the wrong job, and her invisible plane remains incongrously a jet until it magically develops a propeller in the two hour flight that takes place between the end of #234 and the beginning of #235.
In fact without Julius Schwartz looking over his shoulder, writer Martin Pasko seems to lose the plot. In #229 he throws in one of Kanigher's most idiotic additions to Wonder Woman's story that says if an Amazon removes her bracelets she will go berzerk. A piece of nonsense that is refuted in the very same issue, since Wonder Woman does not wear them in her Diana Prince identity.
Pasko goes on to introduce an ancient egyptian alien called Osira in #131. Seems he has been reading again, but a little too much Eric Von Daniken(1) and not enough egyptian mythology, or he might have picked the name of a female god rather than a male(2) as the basis for this villain.
Gerry Conway takes over as writer at this point, and even though he perpetuates the idiotic bracelet thing and even more bizarrely has Wonder Woman pop over to Germany and liberate two children from a concentration camp between scenes during #234, before flying them out to the mid-Atlantic so their father can see them, and then lecturing them on moral codes after they have watched him die(3). For some reason he also feels the need to address a loose plot thread from Wonder Woman's origin(4), apparently unaware that it was tied up way back in WW #9. And then again in WW #175. What's worse, internal continuity with the ongoing storyline means that Wonder Woman's origin has to be placed a year too early. Except that there is some odd timekeeping going on here; #228 is set in 1943, #230 is described as "a winter eve in 1942"(5) and by #239 it is June 1942.
Once again it is guest star time, as the period setting is just right for bringing in members of the JSA, one at a time. The god of war finally turns up in #239, and he's back to calling himself Mars and wearing the yellow armour he had in #215. It's about time considering the setting.
And then after being stuck for so long in 1942 we flash forward to 1945 and VJ day as the World War 2 sequence winds down ready for the return to Earth 1. It's a shame really, as this issue shows the most characterisation we have seen in the comic for a long time, as the various members of the cast consider what they will do now the war is over. A second crossover between the golden age Earth 2 Wonder Woman and her Earth 1 counterpart returns us to our story in progress and before you can say "Suffering Sapho" we are back in present day(6) adventures.
Notes
1. Chariots of the Gods was a bestseller at this time that suggested that many ancient depictions of gods were in fact records of alien visitations.
2. Osiris was a major egyptian god. A more appropriate name would have been that of his wife, Isis, although that might cause confusion with the Isis TV show for which DC had done an adaptation. Of course that still leaves plenty of other egyptian goddesses to choose from.
3. The heartless bitch.
4. In Sensation Comics #1 Wonder Woman borrows the identity of a nurse in order to be close to Steve Trevor. Not only is the nurse so similar looking that nobody spots the substitution, but she conveniently has the same first name.
5. It must have been a very mild winter since later in the issue we see people in their shirtsleeves taking a river trip on an open sightseeing boat.
6. 1977 in this case.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Friday, August 19, 2005
Big Sister is watching YOU!
Queen Hippolyte uses the somewhat innacurately named Magic Sphere (it's a disc) to spy on anyone in the world she feels like. Wonder Woman has a kind of thought based telephone which can also be used as an invisible surveilence device (depending who is writing at the time), and is often able to receive calls from people even when they don't have one of their own to make the call from. Wonder Woman's main tool is her magic lasso which compels anyone in its grasp to do whatever the holder tells them to, and can even give them post-hypnotic suggestions. In the Golden Age villains (female ones, anyway) are locked up on Transformation Island until they are rehabilitated ie. until they see things the Amazon way and embrace their philosophy.
What with one thing and another, the Amazons had surveilence and mind control down to an art form before George Orwell had even finished writing 1984.
What with one thing and another, the Amazons had surveilence and mind control down to an art form before George Orwell had even finished writing 1984.
Continuity fun with Wonder Girl
I keep finding new things in silver age Wonder Woman that make me do a double take. Okay, writer/editor Robert Kanigher got up to some bizarre stuff that even he couldn't keep track of, like arranging for younger versions of Wonder Woman (Wonder Tot and Wonder Girl) to coexist simultaneously with her adult form (using one of the lamest plot devices ever), but things got really confusing when Bob Haney decided that Wonder Girl would be perfect for this new series he was working on called Teen Titans.
Either he didn't bother checking with Kanigher, or Kanigher himself had lost the plot by this time; he clearly didn't bother actually reading any issues of Wonder Woman. The result is that you end up with Wonder Woman's teenage self joining a team that is firmly rooted in a time when she is an adult, and going on world spanning adventures before she ever left Paradise Island. Interestingly in the early Teen Titan adventures she is never referred to as anything other than Wonder Girl, while other characters get moments when they are referred to as Dick or Wally; it's as if Haney isn't entirely sure what to call her.
If there is one point that really shows the ignorance of the source material he is working with, it's in issue #1 of Teen Titans, where we get shots of the teens' families recieving messages from them and the one for Wonder Girl gives us an image of Queen Hippolyte and Wonder Woman looking on as a man (no men could set foot on Paradise Island) chips out a message on a stone tablet (despite the ancient greek styling, the Amazons of Paradise Island have advanced science, an air force, and thought-wave radio transmitters).
Kanigher further complicates the issue by doing a little retcon all of his own in 1965 with Wonder Woman #158, which entirely removes Wonder Girl from continuity, but somehow this doesn't stretch as far as Teen Titans, which continues to feature her despite her non-existance. In fact it's only four years later in Teen Titans #22 that Marv Wolfman gives Wonder Girl a definitive origin story that establishes a separate identity from Wonder Woman and a name of her own (as far as I know. I haven't read every issue of TT so she may have been named before then).
Either he didn't bother checking with Kanigher, or Kanigher himself had lost the plot by this time; he clearly didn't bother actually reading any issues of Wonder Woman. The result is that you end up with Wonder Woman's teenage self joining a team that is firmly rooted in a time when she is an adult, and going on world spanning adventures before she ever left Paradise Island. Interestingly in the early Teen Titan adventures she is never referred to as anything other than Wonder Girl, while other characters get moments when they are referred to as Dick or Wally; it's as if Haney isn't entirely sure what to call her.
If there is one point that really shows the ignorance of the source material he is working with, it's in issue #1 of Teen Titans, where we get shots of the teens' families recieving messages from them and the one for Wonder Girl gives us an image of Queen Hippolyte and Wonder Woman looking on as a man (no men could set foot on Paradise Island) chips out a message on a stone tablet (despite the ancient greek styling, the Amazons of Paradise Island have advanced science, an air force, and thought-wave radio transmitters).
Kanigher further complicates the issue by doing a little retcon all of his own in 1965 with Wonder Woman #158, which entirely removes Wonder Girl from continuity, but somehow this doesn't stretch as far as Teen Titans, which continues to feature her despite her non-existance. In fact it's only four years later in Teen Titans #22 that Marv Wolfman gives Wonder Girl a definitive origin story that establishes a separate identity from Wonder Woman and a name of her own (as far as I know. I haven't read every issue of TT so she may have been named before then).
Friday, August 12, 2005
Who's that Girl? Part 3: The Newest Wonder Woman of all (so far)
Wonder Woman v.1 #212 - 223
When Julius Schwartz took over the editorial duties of Wonder Woman with issue #212 he was left with something of a mess. in Robert Kanigher's haste to eradicate all vestiges of the "feminist" era he leaves plot holes you could fly an invisible plane through. The letter column of this issue explains that a great deal of work has gone into creating this "newest Wonder Woman of all" which includes contributions from E. Nelson Bridewell, Allan Asherman, Martin Pasko, as well as Schwartz and writer Len Wein. Robert Kanigher is notably not mentioned here.
The result of all this work is another bold change of direction. Wonder Woman bumps into Superman and he asks her when she regained her powers. This causes a certain amount of confusion in Wonder Woman as she has no memory of being de-powered. Queen Hippolyte gives her a rather lame excuse about not having enough data to restore this part of her memory, though it is easy to infer that she disapproves of this period where Diana chooses to be independant of her mother, and this is why she never got around to mentioning that there was a gap in the memory restoration process [1].
As she has no information why she lost her memory in the first place, Wonder Woman is concerned that it might happen again and so plans to resign from the Justice League. At the urging of her fellow members she thinks of a compromise: her next 12 adventures will be monitored by her fellow JLA members and if she completes all successfully then she will consider herself fit to resume active membership. This not only gives the comic a much needed sense of stability with a year long story arc, but it means that every subsequent issue gets to cover-feature a guest star.
While he is tying up loose ends, Wein also moves Diana into a new apartment [2], gives her a more interesting job at the U.N. that takes account of her background in military intelligence [3], rehabilitates a previously seen character to become her new boss but losing his sexist attitude, and even gives us a whole new magic costume transformation sequence [4] that appears to be contractually required to be shown in every subsequent issue. It's very reminiscent and about as realistic as the magic costume change twirl from the TV show, though what it desperately needs is an anime style magical girl transformation sequence with no pseudo-scientific BS explanation. Still, not a bad job for a single issue.
The following issues not only feature a series of guest superheroes but also a variety of creative staff with Cary Bates writing #213 & 215, and Elliot S Magin doing #214, 216 & 217, before Martin Pasko settles in as regular writer in #218. There's not a lot to be said about these issues. It seems to have taken Julius Schwartz a while to find someone to write the comic for any length of time and the result is that these issues lean heavily toward villain-of-the-week stories with narration by whichever JLA member is spying on Wonder Woman this issue, and little to no characterisation or subplot other than the "Twelve Tasks" frame.
The plots themselves are pretty lame, although #215 raises some odd questions about how the JLA deal with foes they have defeated, as it is written in the form of an informal trial held by the JLA with only themselves as judge, witness, and prosecution, at the end of which they sentence the defendant and escort him to prison. Seems a tad undemocratic to me.
The "Twelve Tasks" sequence winds down in #222 with some of the best art and writing we've seen for a while. Okay, the plot is Westworld meets Disneyland, but it somehow has more bounce than previous issues. The coda to the sequence comes in #223 which is basically an excuse to bring Steve Trevor back from the dead in such a blatently contrived way that you have to admire Pasko for his chutzpah. As a final test for Wonder Woman, Aphrodite, who is in a snit because the JLA have been having all the fun, has Paradise Island invaded by men. This is apparently a puzzle for Wonder Woman to solve as the masked men are not men at all, except for the one that is. Tracking down the real man by a process of elimination, she unmasks him to find that *gasp* he is Steve Trevor.
The puzzle was, as far as I can tell, to recognise that it was only a test, and to find the only real man. Why bring someone back from the dead to fill this role rather than use any of the available living men? Aphrodite gives the thin excuse that he had visited there before, and Hippolyte claims that it was "a test of love" which WW passes by asking to keep him - what else is she going to do when faced with her dead boyfriend brought back to life? Say "Nice to see you, Steve, but I've moved on with my life"? Personally I think Aphrodite is giving WW her boyfriend back as a prize for completing the tasks set her, but isn't about to admit it to the "girls only" club of Amazon society. Otherwise the story makes no sense.
Next: Diana 1 Earth 2.
Notes
1. in fact, by #223 we find that she chose to cut out this part of WW's life rather than being unable to restore it, but never explains why. Note that this is not the only time Hippolyte attempts to resolve situations by making people forget things.
2. bye bye multicultural room-mates. We never did catch your names.
3. which ties her new job to her old one in military intelligence.
4. See previous entry Magic Science.
When Julius Schwartz took over the editorial duties of Wonder Woman with issue #212 he was left with something of a mess. in Robert Kanigher's haste to eradicate all vestiges of the "feminist" era he leaves plot holes you could fly an invisible plane through. The letter column of this issue explains that a great deal of work has gone into creating this "newest Wonder Woman of all" which includes contributions from E. Nelson Bridewell, Allan Asherman, Martin Pasko, as well as Schwartz and writer Len Wein. Robert Kanigher is notably not mentioned here.
The result of all this work is another bold change of direction. Wonder Woman bumps into Superman and he asks her when she regained her powers. This causes a certain amount of confusion in Wonder Woman as she has no memory of being de-powered. Queen Hippolyte gives her a rather lame excuse about not having enough data to restore this part of her memory, though it is easy to infer that she disapproves of this period where Diana chooses to be independant of her mother, and this is why she never got around to mentioning that there was a gap in the memory restoration process [1].
As she has no information why she lost her memory in the first place, Wonder Woman is concerned that it might happen again and so plans to resign from the Justice League. At the urging of her fellow members she thinks of a compromise: her next 12 adventures will be monitored by her fellow JLA members and if she completes all successfully then she will consider herself fit to resume active membership. This not only gives the comic a much needed sense of stability with a year long story arc, but it means that every subsequent issue gets to cover-feature a guest star.
While he is tying up loose ends, Wein also moves Diana into a new apartment [2], gives her a more interesting job at the U.N. that takes account of her background in military intelligence [3], rehabilitates a previously seen character to become her new boss but losing his sexist attitude, and even gives us a whole new magic costume transformation sequence [4] that appears to be contractually required to be shown in every subsequent issue. It's very reminiscent and about as realistic as the magic costume change twirl from the TV show, though what it desperately needs is an anime style magical girl transformation sequence with no pseudo-scientific BS explanation. Still, not a bad job for a single issue.
The following issues not only feature a series of guest superheroes but also a variety of creative staff with Cary Bates writing #213 & 215, and Elliot S Magin doing #214, 216 & 217, before Martin Pasko settles in as regular writer in #218. There's not a lot to be said about these issues. It seems to have taken Julius Schwartz a while to find someone to write the comic for any length of time and the result is that these issues lean heavily toward villain-of-the-week stories with narration by whichever JLA member is spying on Wonder Woman this issue, and little to no characterisation or subplot other than the "Twelve Tasks" frame.
The plots themselves are pretty lame, although #215 raises some odd questions about how the JLA deal with foes they have defeated, as it is written in the form of an informal trial held by the JLA with only themselves as judge, witness, and prosecution, at the end of which they sentence the defendant and escort him to prison. Seems a tad undemocratic to me.
The "Twelve Tasks" sequence winds down in #222 with some of the best art and writing we've seen for a while. Okay, the plot is Westworld meets Disneyland, but it somehow has more bounce than previous issues. The coda to the sequence comes in #223 which is basically an excuse to bring Steve Trevor back from the dead in such a blatently contrived way that you have to admire Pasko for his chutzpah. As a final test for Wonder Woman, Aphrodite, who is in a snit because the JLA have been having all the fun, has Paradise Island invaded by men. This is apparently a puzzle for Wonder Woman to solve as the masked men are not men at all, except for the one that is. Tracking down the real man by a process of elimination, she unmasks him to find that *gasp* he is Steve Trevor.
The puzzle was, as far as I can tell, to recognise that it was only a test, and to find the only real man. Why bring someone back from the dead to fill this role rather than use any of the available living men? Aphrodite gives the thin excuse that he had visited there before, and Hippolyte claims that it was "a test of love" which WW passes by asking to keep him - what else is she going to do when faced with her dead boyfriend brought back to life? Say "Nice to see you, Steve, but I've moved on with my life"? Personally I think Aphrodite is giving WW her boyfriend back as a prize for completing the tasks set her, but isn't about to admit it to the "girls only" club of Amazon society. Otherwise the story makes no sense.
Next: Diana 1 Earth 2.
Notes
1. in fact, by #223 we find that she chose to cut out this part of WW's life rather than being unable to restore it, but never explains why. Note that this is not the only time Hippolyte attempts to resolve situations by making people forget things.
2. bye bye multicultural room-mates. We never did catch your names.
3. which ties her new job to her old one in military intelligence.
4. See previous entry Magic Science.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Magic Science
Comics are full of magic science. You might think science is depicted more realistically now than it was in the golden age, but really it's just better disguised. Sometimes.
"But what do you mean by magic science, Mari?" I hear you say. I'm glad you asked. Magic Science is where something impossible happens but a wholely unconvincing scientific explanation is given for it. Wonder Woman is a good example. Yes, you know I was going to relate this to Wonder Woman before long, didn't you. I just happen to be reading a lot of Wonder Woman lately so it's a good source of examples for what I am thinking about, not to mention the reason I was thinking about it in many cases. Don't worry, I'll find something else to fixate on before long. Anyhow, as I was saying...
Wonder Woman is full of examples; the mystical purple ray that cures everything from disease and physical trauma to recent death. It also does a nice sideline in removal of unsightly scars (and you wondered why WW and all the other amazons look so good). The magical invisible plane that could fly to other planets even in the days when it was propeller driven, never breaks down or runs out of fuel, and has an A.I. so sophisticated you wonder why it doesn't get to talk sarcastically or change into a giant robot. And then there's WW's clothes that
have been "scientifically treated by amazon scientists" so that all she needs to do is twirl her magic lasso and her ordinary clothes are replaced with her fighting costume.
Come on, guys. That's not science, it's magic and you know it. Unless you are going to explain where her clothes go to and what the whole lasso twirling business is about then don't embarass yourselves with this pathetic non-explanation. She's a character with a magical background, so why not just say it's magic and leave it at that? At least Marvel have that whole "unstable molecules" thing going for them. We all know it's BS but it sounds so much more convincing.
"But what do you mean by magic science, Mari?" I hear you say. I'm glad you asked. Magic Science is where something impossible happens but a wholely unconvincing scientific explanation is given for it. Wonder Woman is a good example. Yes, you know I was going to relate this to Wonder Woman before long, didn't you. I just happen to be reading a lot of Wonder Woman lately so it's a good source of examples for what I am thinking about, not to mention the reason I was thinking about it in many cases. Don't worry, I'll find something else to fixate on before long. Anyhow, as I was saying...
Wonder Woman is full of examples; the mystical purple ray that cures everything from disease and physical trauma to recent death. It also does a nice sideline in removal of unsightly scars (and you wondered why WW and all the other amazons look so good). The magical invisible plane that could fly to other planets even in the days when it was propeller driven, never breaks down or runs out of fuel, and has an A.I. so sophisticated you wonder why it doesn't get to talk sarcastically or change into a giant robot. And then there's WW's clothes that
have been "scientifically treated by amazon scientists" so that all she needs to do is twirl her magic lasso and her ordinary clothes are replaced with her fighting costume.Come on, guys. That's not science, it's magic and you know it. Unless you are going to explain where her clothes go to and what the whole lasso twirling business is about then don't embarass yourselves with this pathetic non-explanation. She's a character with a magical background, so why not just say it's magic and leave it at that? At least Marvel have that whole "unstable molecules" thing going for them. We all know it's BS but it sounds so much more convincing.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
What's in a name?
It's probably just as well that Doctor Doom is a super villain, I don't think he'd be very good as an MD. You can just imagine all his patients telling the receptionist that if it's all the same they'd rather see another doctor in the climic as having their illness treated by someone called Doom doesn't leave them feeling very optimistic about his prognosis. Plus the mask and the hood are a little offputting.
Similarly it must be hard to get a date with a name like Doctor Octopus, and job interviews are probably a waste of time when you are called Doctor Psycho, unless you are applying to join a death metal band. Hero names are so much more positive - who could help but feel good around Mister Terrific? And you just know that when Sue Richards is talking with her girl friends about her husband, at some point she has said, with a sly wink "...And they don't call him Mister Fantastic for nothing."
Doctor Doom is never going to get that kind of action. No wonder he's so grumpy.
Similarly it must be hard to get a date with a name like Doctor Octopus, and job interviews are probably a waste of time when you are called Doctor Psycho, unless you are applying to join a death metal band. Hero names are so much more positive - who could help but feel good around Mister Terrific? And you just know that when Sue Richards is talking with her girl friends about her husband, at some point she has said, with a sly wink "...And they don't call him Mister Fantastic for nothing."
Doctor Doom is never going to get that kind of action. No wonder he's so grumpy.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Nothing so naive
I was just over at http://www.superdickery.com/, which has some very funny stuff. If you haven't seen it before it shows images from old comics and adds amusing comments. A lot of this makes me giggle, but the main assumption seems to be that the creators of these comics were naively unaware of implicit double meanings in their works.
In some cases it is only the perspective of time that gives covers a humourous side (like the war propoganda ones), in others it is the lack of context that makes them funny, but there are some covers where I'm pretty sure that the joke was there all along, and it is only by assuming that previous generations were less sophisticated or worldly that you can poke fun at them for not seeing the joke.
Obviously Wonder Woman gets a lot of stick (oops, bad metaphor) for the sexual symbolism and bondage on display through the years, but to suggest that the creators of the comic were ignorant of this assumes extreme stupidity on their part. After all, Wonder Woman's creater and first writer William Moulton was a psychologist so he would have had to be a pretty bad one not to spot all the bondage going on in his writing. Take the panel reproduced here from Wonder Woman #4 - does this image suggest an ignorance of the bondage connotations, or is the thought bubble a knowing wink to the adult reader?
Similarly I read in an interview recently (I can't remember where) an editor at DC explaining that they did a survey in the 1960's and there were several things that sold extra copies of a comic when depicted on covers. The main one mentioned was apes. Apparently apes made for very popular cover images and sold a lot of extra comics, so that's why there are a lot of gorrillas, monkeys, and chimpanzees in the comic world (there's even a separate ape section at Superdickery.com).
I don't think it's actually stated that images of cute girls tied up also sold extra copies, but it's hardly a stretch of the imagination; back issue listings would hardly specify [bondage cover] if it wasn't expected to make a difference. It's not like I've ever seen a listing that says [monkey cover].
In some cases it is only the perspective of time that gives covers a humourous side (like the war propoganda ones), in others it is the lack of context that makes them funny, but there are some covers where I'm pretty sure that the joke was there all along, and it is only by assuming that previous generations were less sophisticated or worldly that you can poke fun at them for not seeing the joke.
Obviously Wonder Woman gets a lot of stick (oops, bad metaphor) for the sexual symbolism and bondage on display through the years, but to suggest that the creators of the comic were ignorant of this assumes extreme stupidity on their part. After all, Wonder Woman's creater and first writer William Moulton was a psychologist so he would have had to be a pretty bad one not to spot all the bondage going on in his writing. Take the panel reproduced here from Wonder Woman #4 - does this image suggest an ignorance of the bondage connotations, or is the thought bubble a knowing wink to the adult reader?Similarly I read in an interview recently (I can't remember where) an editor at DC explaining that they did a survey in the 1960's and there were several things that sold extra copies of a comic when depicted on covers. The main one mentioned was apes. Apparently apes made for very popular cover images and sold a lot of extra comics, so that's why there are a lot of gorrillas, monkeys, and chimpanzees in the comic world (there's even a separate ape section at Superdickery.com).
I don't think it's actually stated that images of cute girls tied up also sold extra copies, but it's hardly a stretch of the imagination; back issue listings would hardly specify [bondage cover] if it wasn't expected to make a difference. It's not like I've ever seen a listing that says [monkey cover].
Who's that Girl? Part 2: What Diana did next
The New Original Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman v.1 #204 - 211
Wonder Woman #204 is an odd comic. Robert Kanigher, longtime WW writer and editor had been noticeably absent since the issue before the modern revamp, and his sudden return is quick to dump everything associated with the previous five years of continuity. Unlike the "feminist" era, which although it put the character through such radical changes that it bent your suspension of disbelief into a knot at no point rewrote what had occured previously, this latest change of direction did retcon several elements; some from WW's origin, and some from the era it finishes. It is also full of Kanigher's "don't think too much about this or it won't make sense" hallmark writing.
The death of I Ching and the return to Paradise Island I dealt with in the previous part. The major new elements introduced here are the introduction of Nubia and Diana's new secret identity. Nubia, we are told over the next couple of issues, is in fact Diana's sister. In a revision of WW's origin we are now expected to believe that Aphrodite commanded Hippolyte to sculpt two children from clay, instead of one, and the second infant is black. This and having Diana set up an apartment with a black girl and an oriental suggest that there is some kind of multicultural awareness intention here, but it doesn't really get very far.[1]
Why Aphrodite feels the need to introduce a black girl into the exclusively white skinned amazon society is never addressed, and no one, including the goddess, seems to bother a great deal about her kidnapping. Neither is it clear why Hippolyte feels it necessary to conceal this knowledge from Diana for several issues, other than to add an air of mystery to the plot which it doesn't really rate. But then when Nubia shows up on Paradise Island claiming that she deserves the title of Wonder Woman, there is no real explanation of what it is she is laying claim to; there's no suggestion that she wants to move to the USA and wear a flag themed bustier to fight crime, and if she just wants to establish her heritage as the daughter of Hippolyte then having a scrap with her sister is surely not the most efficient way of proving her claim in a society that continuously spouts off about scorning the violent ways of men.
And while I'm being picky, I have to wonder why it is that when Diana's (edited) memories are restored she doesn't return to the army, since this is the last thing she remembers doing, but instead takes on an entirely new cover identity (albeit using the same name). And why is she sent home in a submarine?
The next issue has the most wonderfully tacky cover with Wonder Woman tied to a giant phallic symbol. The story opens with the United Nations holding a beauty pageant (!) and Diana crying over how unfair it is that men don't notice her inner beauty because she wears glasses. [2] Then we move into the main action as masked thugs kidnap a diplomat and we meet possibly one of the stupidest villains of all time, Doctor Domino. This is a gang leader who wears a mask that looks like a domino piece. The diplomat has some information that Domino wants, so Domino threatens to kill Wonder Woman to get him to talk. His evil scheme is to tie Wonder Woman to a missile with a nuclear warhead and fire it at New York, so, oh yes, it will kill a lot of people in New York too.
Domino fires the missile, because he is just that evil. But of course Wonder Woman escapes and manoevers the missile back to Domino with a move that might work on a horse, but on a missile surely defies all the laws of physics. Afterwards Diana is all sad that the diplomat ignores her in her secret identity after he was all hot for her as Wonder Woman, entirely failing to spot what a shallow, sexist git he is.
In issue #206 we finally get the climax of the Nubia story, as she is revealed to be a pawn of Mars who has trained her all her life to fulfil his dreams of revenge against the amazons [3]. Unfortunately his training must have been particularly poor, as she loses all interest in the dark side the moment that the magic ring Mars has given her falls off. But then in the previous issue she is preaching the amazon credo of non-violence through superior force, so you are left wondering what effect Mars has ever had on her life. His influence appears to be that of a distant relative who shows up on your birthday to give you a teddy bear when you are aged sixteen.
With Mars' evil influence no longer affecting her, Nubia and Diana team up to belittle Mars personnel skills, and Diana returns home where Hippolyte finally gets around to explaining that Nubia is her sister. At which point this plotline comes crashing to a halt as apart from an odd guest spot in Supergirl #9 [4], Nubia is never seen or mentioned ever again.
In fact it seems that Kanigher's retcon comes apart before it has hardly started. After three issues of "New Original" Wonder Woman he gives us five issues of stories that are merely redrawn versions of old golden age comics with the scripts minimally altered to allow for continuity [5], although Steve Trevor pops up in #208 despite the fact that he's been dead for five years; otherwise the scripts are in many places identical to the originals.
A note in the letters column [6] claims that "Ric Estrada (pencils) and Vince Colletta (inks) will be recreating the style of the golden age Wonder Woman". This is in fact a lie. Although the scripts are complete steals from golden age stories, the art is a simplistic 1970's style that looks nothing like golden age Wonder Woman, and the picture composition is at times atrocious. Ric Estrada's bland, open pencils would be better suited to Barbie doll colouring books, so long as his art wouldn't be expected to tell a story.
It is at this point that Kanigher vanishes from our story not to be seen again for seven years. Julius Schwartz takes command as editor, and with Len Wein as writer they set out to deal with the various gaping plot holes left by Kanigher when took over.
Next: Part 3: Picking up the pieces
Notes
1. After their initial meeting the two girls appear only a couple of times, briefly. The apartment is only shown in a single panel. Neither girl is ever actually named.
2. She seems to have some odd insecurity problems.
3. Even though he's never mentioned her before.
4. where she is living on Paradise island as Hippolyte's daughter.
5. eg. The Holliday girls are replaced with generic amazons.
6. the header for which still shows Diana in her white feminist era outfit
Wonder Woman v.1 #204 - 211
Wonder Woman #204 is an odd comic. Robert Kanigher, longtime WW writer and editor had been noticeably absent since the issue before the modern revamp, and his sudden return is quick to dump everything associated with the previous five years of continuity. Unlike the "feminist" era, which although it put the character through such radical changes that it bent your suspension of disbelief into a knot at no point rewrote what had occured previously, this latest change of direction did retcon several elements; some from WW's origin, and some from the era it finishes. It is also full of Kanigher's "don't think too much about this or it won't make sense" hallmark writing.
The death of I Ching and the return to Paradise Island I dealt with in the previous part. The major new elements introduced here are the introduction of Nubia and Diana's new secret identity. Nubia, we are told over the next couple of issues, is in fact Diana's sister. In a revision of WW's origin we are now expected to believe that Aphrodite commanded Hippolyte to sculpt two children from clay, instead of one, and the second infant is black. This and having Diana set up an apartment with a black girl and an oriental suggest that there is some kind of multicultural awareness intention here, but it doesn't really get very far.[1]
Why Aphrodite feels the need to introduce a black girl into the exclusively white skinned amazon society is never addressed, and no one, including the goddess, seems to bother a great deal about her kidnapping. Neither is it clear why Hippolyte feels it necessary to conceal this knowledge from Diana for several issues, other than to add an air of mystery to the plot which it doesn't really rate. But then when Nubia shows up on Paradise Island claiming that she deserves the title of Wonder Woman, there is no real explanation of what it is she is laying claim to; there's no suggestion that she wants to move to the USA and wear a flag themed bustier to fight crime, and if she just wants to establish her heritage as the daughter of Hippolyte then having a scrap with her sister is surely not the most efficient way of proving her claim in a society that continuously spouts off about scorning the violent ways of men.
And while I'm being picky, I have to wonder why it is that when Diana's (edited) memories are restored she doesn't return to the army, since this is the last thing she remembers doing, but instead takes on an entirely new cover identity (albeit using the same name). And why is she sent home in a submarine?
The next issue has the most wonderfully tacky cover with Wonder Woman tied to a giant phallic symbol. The story opens with the United Nations holding a beauty pageant (!) and Diana crying over how unfair it is that men don't notice her inner beauty because she wears glasses. [2] Then we move into the main action as masked thugs kidnap a diplomat and we meet possibly one of the stupidest villains of all time, Doctor Domino. This is a gang leader who wears a mask that looks like a domino piece. The diplomat has some information that Domino wants, so Domino threatens to kill Wonder Woman to get him to talk. His evil scheme is to tie Wonder Woman to a missile with a nuclear warhead and fire it at New York, so, oh yes, it will kill a lot of people in New York too.Domino fires the missile, because he is just that evil. But of course Wonder Woman escapes and manoevers the missile back to Domino with a move that might work on a horse, but on a missile surely defies all the laws of physics. Afterwards Diana is all sad that the diplomat ignores her in her secret identity after he was all hot for her as Wonder Woman, entirely failing to spot what a shallow, sexist git he is.
In issue #206 we finally get the climax of the Nubia story, as she is revealed to be a pawn of Mars who has trained her all her life to fulfil his dreams of revenge against the amazons [3]. Unfortunately his training must have been particularly poor, as she loses all interest in the dark side the moment that the magic ring Mars has given her falls off. But then in the previous issue she is preaching the amazon credo of non-violence through superior force, so you are left wondering what effect Mars has ever had on her life. His influence appears to be that of a distant relative who shows up on your birthday to give you a teddy bear when you are aged sixteen.
With Mars' evil influence no longer affecting her, Nubia and Diana team up to belittle Mars personnel skills, and Diana returns home where Hippolyte finally gets around to explaining that Nubia is her sister. At which point this plotline comes crashing to a halt as apart from an odd guest spot in Supergirl #9 [4], Nubia is never seen or mentioned ever again.
In fact it seems that Kanigher's retcon comes apart before it has hardly started. After three issues of "New Original" Wonder Woman he gives us five issues of stories that are merely redrawn versions of old golden age comics with the scripts minimally altered to allow for continuity [5], although Steve Trevor pops up in #208 despite the fact that he's been dead for five years; otherwise the scripts are in many places identical to the originals.
A note in the letters column [6] claims that "Ric Estrada (pencils) and Vince Colletta (inks) will be recreating the style of the golden age Wonder Woman". This is in fact a lie. Although the scripts are complete steals from golden age stories, the art is a simplistic 1970's style that looks nothing like golden age Wonder Woman, and the picture composition is at times atrocious. Ric Estrada's bland, open pencils would be better suited to Barbie doll colouring books, so long as his art wouldn't be expected to tell a story.
It is at this point that Kanigher vanishes from our story not to be seen again for seven years. Julius Schwartz takes command as editor, and with Len Wein as writer they set out to deal with the various gaping plot holes left by Kanigher when took over.
Next: Part 3: Picking up the pieces
Notes
1. After their initial meeting the two girls appear only a couple of times, briefly. The apartment is only shown in a single panel. Neither girl is ever actually named.
2. She seems to have some odd insecurity problems.
3. Even though he's never mentioned her before.
4. where she is living on Paradise island as Hippolyte's daughter.
5. eg. The Holliday girls are replaced with generic amazons.
6. the header for which still shows Diana in her white feminist era outfit
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Who's that Girl? Part 1a: Wonder Woman's pal Gloria Steinem
The unpowered period of Wonder Woman lasted for five years but came to an abrupt halt in 1972. You may be interested to know why. I know I was. In large part it was because of Gloria Steinem.
I'm not going to give you a potted biography, there's a perfectly good one
She got her chance in 1972 when she launched
In this age of trade paperbacks and graphic novels such a collection hardly seems unusual, but there was more to this collection than meets the eye. Ignore for the moment that this is the only collection of pre-Crisis Wonder Woman produced over her 60 year history other than four thin volumes of Archive[2]; this collection is not chronological, it is not themed in any way other than being stories selected by Gloria Steinem.
She gives us a lengthy introduction but it is not about the stories in the collection; in fact nowhere does she even list which issues of what comics are being included. There is no information given about individual stories at all. The introduction is in fact an essay on what Wonder Woman means to Gloria Steinem, and the stories are very carefully selected to support her interpretation. A second "interpretive essay" by Phyllis Chester continues the theme and gives us a crash course in Greek mythology. In fact 23 pages are taken up with these essays before you get to the comics. This is a collection with an agenda.
If it weren't significant enough that Steinem is able to publish this reprint volume of DC comics as a Ms. book, it is extremely indicative of her influence on DC editorial policy at the time that the first issue of Ms. has a Wonder Woman cover. The interesting thing about this is that far from showing her wearing her golden age costume, as is often claimed, she is actually wearing a version that would not be seen until several months later in Wonder Woman#204[3].
The sadly ironic thing is that the comic had just started addressing feminist issues in a mature way when the plug was pulled. In fact the first result of the change back to "original" Wonder Woman was that the proposed sequel to the feminist storyline of #203 was cancelled, to be replaced with some cosmetic multiculturalism and Wonder Woman in her secret identity weeping over her lack of success with men when she was wearing glasses. I'm not sure that this was really what Gloria Steinem had in mind.
Gloria Steinem once said "The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off." The truth about Gloria Steinem that I am left with from all this is that she was deeply devoted to the idea of Wonder Woman, but rather less interested in the actual comic.
[1] Wonder Woman A Ms. Book published by Holt, Rinehart & Winston and Warner Books 1972.
[2] Superman has 10, Batman has 11, Legion of Superheroes are up to 12.
[3] You can tell the period of any Wonder Woman illustration from the shorts. In 1942 they are halfway down to her knees, by 1968 they are hot pants, but they are not cut as high as shown on the Ms. Cover until 1972.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
What If's we'll never see
There's this bit right at the beginning of the first Thor story where Don Blake is walking along and faced with a fork in the road, he chooses one and thereby heads toward his destiny. But what if he had taken the other road and never found that old stick?
Well for one thing it would have made for a dull story until the Stone Men from Saturn arrived and took over the world. Except, aha! What if someone else had happened along that day? Say they were taking their dog for a walk. They throw a ball for the dog and it goes a little too far, and the dog chases it into a cave. But what's this he finds? Much more interesting than a ball is this old stick. He runs happily back to his master to show him his new toy. But then the sky darkens as flying saucers obscure the sun! The dog stumbles and knocks the stick against a tree. A flash of lightning! Spot is transformed into Thordog!
Odin has a migraine.
Well for one thing it would have made for a dull story until the Stone Men from Saturn arrived and took over the world. Except, aha! What if someone else had happened along that day? Say they were taking their dog for a walk. They throw a ball for the dog and it goes a little too far, and the dog chases it into a cave. But what's this he finds? Much more interesting than a ball is this old stick. He runs happily back to his master to show him his new toy. But then the sky darkens as flying saucers obscure the sun! The dog stumbles and knocks the stick against a tree. A flash of lightning! Spot is transformed into Thordog!
Odin has a migraine.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Who's that Girl? Part 1: The "New" Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman v. 1 #178 - 204
It may seem that this is an odd place to start a commentary on Wonder Woman volume 1, but when I first wrote this I hadn't actually intended to do more than review this particular period in the life of the amazon princess. Somehow I just got drawn in...
To fully understand the changes made to Wonder Woman you really need to see what it was like prior to #178. Wonder Woman seems to have been stuck in a Silver Age rut of formulaic stories that include a tame romance with Steve Trevor that never goes beyond a basic kiss, and fantastic plots similar to those found in other DC comics of the time. The issues preceding the revamp are tired and lack the charm found in other DC comics of the period, or even earlier issues of WW. Perhaps writer/editor Robert Kanigher was just running out of ways to say the same old thing, having been writing the title for well over 10 years by this point.
He had tried something of a revamp, himself, in 1965. In Wonder Woman #158 he goes so far as to write himself into the story, summoning the entire cast of the comic into his office to inform them that they are almost all being retired in favor of a “new look” for Wonder Woman, a retro-Golden Age format. After 5 issues the retro look is dropped and we are back to business as before but slightly more bland for having lost a lot of the supporting cast, and the continuity is so confused that even Kanigher can't seem to keep straight what job Diana Prince has and what time period the story is set in.
First order of business for the new team of Jack Miller (editor), Denny O'Neil (writer) and Mike Sekowsky (penciller) was to give Wonder Woman a new hip wardrobe, so in #178 when Steve Trevor is convicted of murder, she goes undercover to locate the missing witness who will prove his innocence. This requires her to get trendy new clothes in order to blend in, of course.
Next to go were her powers, costume, and boyfriend. #179 opens with Steve Trevor going undercover, posing as a traitor in order to get in with new mystery archvillain Dr. Cyber. Remember this is Steve Trevor, high profile hero and well known associate of Wonder Woman, so he's a rather unlikely candidate for the role. He is also more than a little incompetent at it, as he decides to go rogue inside a military base, so he spends the first scene being shot at and jumping through windows.
Obviously when Diana Prince hears about this her first instinct is to rush to his aid (which would have blown his cover), but it is at that moment that she is summoned home to Paradise Island where her mother tells her that after ten thousand years the Amazons must leave Earth and they are in a bit of a hurry so Diana must choose to go with them or stay alone right this minute. Of course she opts to stay and for reasons unexplained this means she must give up her powers and costume, not to mention any fighting skills she previously possessed.
She returns to America and is now apparently homeless and jobless (1), and although she worries that "For the first time in my life I'm faced with practical problems -- like finding a place to live, and earning money for food." these are clearly the worries of a poor little rich girl who feels she is destitute because she can only afford a "cheap" apartment in a high class area along with a shop that she remodels into a clothes boutique which she hardly ever bothers to open (2) and an unlimited expense account for world travel and clothes. Almost immediately she stumbles over an orange skinned Mr. Miyagi type with the unlikely name of I Ching, and in less time than it takes to say "I can do Kung Fu" she is a mistress of the martial arts.
Steve then reappears badly wounded, mysteriously having located her new address even though they have had no communication since before she moved. Apparently Dr. Cyber wasn't convinced by his pretending to have gone bad, either. He then conveniently slips into a coma, but even this was not enough as he is awakened briefly in the next issue just long enough to get shot dead, as new chum private detective Tim Trench is introduced.
We also finally get to meet Doctor Cyber, a female Bond villain who says things like "You are extremely tough, Mr. Trench - and in your own way, intelligent. It is a pity you must die." and who staffs her secret undersea base entirely with hot chicks.
After several issues of James Bond adventuring Mike Sekowsky takes over as editor/writer and penciller, immediately ditching Tim Trench and then after a very brief pause for Diana to spend half a page working in her boutique takes an odd step back from the new style and has her recalled to Paradise Island (3) which has been invaded by the god Mars who wants to learn the secret of dimensional travel so he can invade Earth (4). Deciding to bring in reinforcements to help, and instead of calling her JLA buddies or even staying within her own mythology, she travels through time and space to recruit King Arthur, Roland, and Seigfried, but they refuse and so she has to make do with a bunch of valkyries. And since it's her comic they win the day and Mars gives up and goes home.
After pitched battles with the god of war and James Bond type adventures all over the world, it seems a little bizarre to find that next issue Diana seems almost helpless against the bullying of three local hippies, and it's only due to the help of the mysterious Tony Petrucci that she is able to defeat them. I Ching then turns up again in time to defeat the witch Morganna, which is just as well since Diana can't even beat her without her magic. And then it's back to jet setting around the world again fighting Doctor Cyber. Cyber is accidentally hit with hot coals during this next escapade and subsequently does a kind of cut-price Doctor Doom, eventually even wearing a metal mask.
We then get a little political as Diana liberates a chinese village from the evil government who are going to force them all to work down the mines, escaping to Hong Kong on a Mississippi river boat. The less said about this one the better.
Back home, Diana is moping about so I Ching suggests she go visit her mom. As if by magic an amazon appears to take her home, but she dials the wrong address or something because they end up in the wrong fantasy world and Diana has to lead an army to overthrow an evil queen before Hippolyte arrives to pick her up.
Following this we get several self contained stories including a version of The Prisoner of Zenda, a haunted house, and a bit more spy stuff. And that's the end of the all singing, all dancing Mike Sekowsky show. I don't know what happened at this point but we get two issues of reprints (5) and then Denny O'Neil is back as writer and editor with a convoluted story that leads into Wonder Woman #200 and another confrontation with Doctor Cyber, who is now as mad as a balloon.
Issue #201 signals the beginning of the end of the new era as Diana finally runs out of cash and has to sell her boutique in order to pay for plane fare to Tibet for another adventure. She bumps into Catwoman (6) and somewhat late in the day I Ching remembers that the gem they are after has magical properties that will cause them to have a crossover with Fafhed and the Grey Mouser.
#203 is the last of the "new" series, and the only one that actually has any feminist message. This is a lot better than I remembered, and writer Samuel R. Delany plays with "women's lib" concepts to the point where by the end you are not entirely sure whether he is for or against. The cover is wonderfully wrongheaded - the "Special! Women's Lib issue" banner surmounts a classic bondage image. But at least we don't have Diana in a skimpy corset complaining that she's being treated as a sex object.
And then something curious happens. 203 ends with a minor cliffhanger and a caption saying "What will Diana do now? Don't miss next issue." and a newly titled letters page which is clearly intended to reflect the current style. Apparently the follow up story was proposed but it never saw print.
Instead, Wonder Woman #204 sees Robert Kanigher return as editor and writer. He must have really hated the "new" Wonder Woman. He immediately has a random sniper kill off I Ching, has Diana lose her memory of everything other than how to fly a jet, and returns her to Paradise Island which is now just off the coast of America and not in another dimension. Queen Hippolyte downloads an edited version of her origin into her head that includes no mention of the previous 5 years of continuity and dresses her in a slightly restyled version of her old costume before packing her off to America in a submarine. Wandering past the UN building she is offered a job as a translator and an apartment share with two other girls. And with that the new era is over and Wonder Woman is once more dressing in spandex and getting tied to missiles.
Although this period is often seen as "feminist" and female empowering, in fact the women's lib aspect really only occurs in one issue. This era is really more about revamping the title into a jet-setting James Bond/Man From Uncle style. While it does provide a fresh break from the rut the title was stuck in, it fails on many levels and succeeds on few: on the plus side the martial arts skills used are initially portrayed quite realistically, which is good since the art fails to deliver on almost any other level, and is in no way helped by some garish coloring.
The writing is uniformly bad, with many important details glossed over or plain ignored, and basic logic is rarely present. Much of the new style is derivative of popular fiction of the time, and even the attempt to make Diana part of the "hip" culture is continually shot down by her own thoughts about how uncomfortable she is with it. Continuity is entirely out the window and Robert Kanigher's dismissal of everything that happened while he was off the book is just shameful.
If there is one thing this period demonstrates, it is that writers should not be their own editors.
Coming soon: Part 2 - What Diana Did Next: the New Original Wonder Woman
Notes
1. It's not mentioned when or why she left the army.
2. She doesn't get any employees until #185
3. With I Ching in tow. Apparently the law against allowing men to set foot on Paradise Island doesn't extend to little orange orientals named after methods of divination.
4. Never a problem for him before or since.
5. Which suggests that something was not right.
6. Well it's supposed to be Catwoman but she looks nothing like any version I've ever seen anywhere else.
The Lost Supergirl
Or, Nothing you ever really Cared to Know about Cir-El, and Couldn't be Bothered to Ask
Cir-El, AKA Supergirl 2.5 is first introduced in the final page of Superman: The 10 Cent Adventure. Unlike the similar Batman 10 Cent, this is not the kickstart for a big plot affecting all related titles, but a prologue to a story that takes a while to go anywhere. In fact Supergirl appears in 2 issues of Superman doing nothing of any importance before she finally meets him in Superman #192.
Cir-El's biggest problem from the outset was being written by Steven T. Seagle and drawn by Scott McDaniel. Her first major appearence in the 192-193 story exemplifies all the worst aspects:
1) She is supposed to be 15 years old but in fact looks like a bull dyke on steroids (as does everyone else including Lois Lane).
2) she wears the most horrible, drab Supergirl costume ever designed, and it doesn't even have a proper "S" symbol. It resembles nothing more than the sort of thing a Super-wannabe would pull together from their local thrift store and then paint a big "S" on the chest. Some reviewers have suggested that it follows the goth heroic style of things like Angel or The Matrix, but I never saw any of these characters in a black leotard and a cape, and anyway there is no attempt to give her any associated coolness that you find in typical goth heroes. It's just bad.
3) This first story is just so bad that it should win an award for horribleness. Much of the plot makes no sense, and Lois having a screaming fit at Superman for having an affair that produced this 15 year old girl is a gem of stupidity. Superman naively accepts her although not necessarily believing that she is really his daughter, despite the fact that she has been brought to Metropolis by his enemies, despite the fact that she won't explain any details to who she is and how she got there, other than the most absurd, vague statements.(1)
We then get several months of slow burn on the Futuresmiths plot in Superman, while the other main Super titles are busy having multi-part epics in which Earth is either destroyed or conquered, but these events don't even rate a mention in other Superman titles, let alone have any effect in any other DC comics. Cir El must have been on vacation that week because she doesn't appear in either.
The next time we see her she is being shown into Superman's fortress by the Futuresmiths in Superman #197. She stumbles around a bit, trips over a crystal that is apparently part of the phantom zone projector. Or something. It's not very clear. And then there's an explosion as something comes through, which causes her to knock herself out falling against a wall. In #198 we find that she is not related to Superman at all and is the offspring of 2 human parents (2). We also see her transform into her alter ego, who is apparently named Mia.
Her next appearance is in a story in Action #806 - 808 which, confusingly was published several months before Superman #197. Here she comes off much better in appearance and characterisation when being handled by someone other than Seagle and McDaniel. The out-of-costume scene before she gets involved in the action gives her more depth than all her previous appearances put together. And her costume almost looks good. But there are real continuity problems between Action and Superman. In this story Mia has a spiky punk hairstyle and clothes to match. When we next see her these have changed to generic T-shirt & pants and hair, and the highly visible tattoo she had done in Action is never seen again.
In the next issue box of Superman #198 we are promised that Supergirl's origin will be revealed in 199. In fact all we get is one page of Mia throwing a tantrum and Supergirl saying "Daddy" a lot even though she's known they aren't related since the previous issue.
Superman #200 finally does deliver a few answers, but in a bored infodump that lasts two whole panels, and unsurprisingly leaves many questions unanswered. Shortly afterwards she leaps into the time stream portal thing for reasons that I am rather unclear on. Brainiac tells Superman that this will erase her, but since he and Superman both survive the same experience, I fail to be convinced. It's not even very clear where Cir-El joins the party since she was left behind in #199 when Superman first enters the portal, and the big fight happens 100 years and one day into the future, or possibly thousands of years in the future. It's not very clear. She looks and behaves exactly the same as when last seen, but with all this mucking about with time travel, there is really no clue where this fits into her personal time line.
As far as I am aware this is the last to be seen of Cir-El (3), and nobody even seems to remember her by the next month. It's one of the weakest deaths in comics ever. It's only credible because nobody liked her very much and Jeph Loeb's version of Supergirl would appear only a couple of months later.
I've seen some reviews that suggest that Cir-El was initially intended to be a continuing character (4), and her origin was changed to distance her from Superman and set up her speedy removal when it became clear how unpopular she was. It depends how competent you believe Seagle is as a writer. The whole point of The 10 Cent Adventure is for the Futuresmiths (5) to obtain a Superman DNA sample. Then at the end of the story they awaken Cir-El. Although there is some guff about her being from the future, it is all the Futuresmiths telling her. At this point she does not even seem to recognise her own name. My reading of this at the time was that they had used the Superman DNA to clone her and all the "future Supergirl" stuff was just BS they were brainwashing her with.
In fact she is entirely vague about her background until her last couple of issues. And although she is aware of her alter ego, Mia, she doesn't seem to question why she should periodically
transform into a normal human girl from the present, or feel this important enough to even mention to "Daddy".
Ultimately the people responsible for her death were the people who created her. They made her ugly and boring and consequently she never really stood a chance.
Notes
1: Which is strikingly similar to Jeph Loeb's introduction of Supergirl 3 less than a year later. She is also immediately accepted by Superman with an unlikely and vague story about being related to him (6). Batman is understandably suspicious for the first issue, but in typical Loeb fashion seems to have forgotten this by the end of the story.
2: Contradicting Superman #195 where DNA test at STAR Labs proved she was Superman's daughter. Was this a continuity error? An indication in the change of editorial policy towards her? Or was this part of the plot all along and it was just written in such a hamfisted way that it looked stupid?
3: other than a guest spot in Superman-Batman #5, but that's Jeph Loeb for you.
4: Presumably to replace the cancelled/retired Supergirl 2. But having her appear so soon after the excellent Peter David version got the shaft annoyed anyone who liked that version.
5: who the heck are they, anyhow?
6: Note also that nobody ever mentions the recently retired Linda Danvers Supergirl while Cir-El is around in the same way that nobody mentions either Linda OR Cir-El during the Supergirl sequence in Superman-Batman.
P.S. If I've missed any appearances of Cir-El or other information about her not listed here, please let me know where I can find them.
Cir-El, AKA Supergirl 2.5 is first introduced in the final page of Superman: The 10 Cent Adventure. Unlike the similar Batman 10 Cent, this is not the kickstart for a big plot affecting all related titles, but a prologue to a story that takes a while to go anywhere. In fact Supergirl appears in 2 issues of Superman doing nothing of any importance before she finally meets him in Superman #192.
Cir-El's biggest problem from the outset was being written by Steven T. Seagle and drawn by Scott McDaniel. Her first major appearence in the 192-193 story exemplifies all the worst aspects:1) She is supposed to be 15 years old but in fact looks like a bull dyke on steroids (as does everyone else including Lois Lane).
2) she wears the most horrible, drab Supergirl costume ever designed, and it doesn't even have a proper "S" symbol. It resembles nothing more than the sort of thing a Super-wannabe would pull together from their local thrift store and then paint a big "S" on the chest. Some reviewers have suggested that it follows the goth heroic style of things like Angel or The Matrix, but I never saw any of these characters in a black leotard and a cape, and anyway there is no attempt to give her any associated coolness that you find in typical goth heroes. It's just bad.
3) This first story is just so bad that it should win an award for horribleness. Much of the plot makes no sense, and Lois having a screaming fit at Superman for having an affair that produced this 15 year old girl is a gem of stupidity. Superman naively accepts her although not necessarily believing that she is really his daughter, despite the fact that she has been brought to Metropolis by his enemies, despite the fact that she won't explain any details to who she is and how she got there, other than the most absurd, vague statements.(1)
We then get several months of slow burn on the Futuresmiths plot in Superman, while the other main Super titles are busy having multi-part epics in which Earth is either destroyed or conquered, but these events don't even rate a mention in other Superman titles, let alone have any effect in any other DC comics. Cir El must have been on vacation that week because she doesn't appear in either.
The next time we see her she is being shown into Superman's fortress by the Futuresmiths in Superman #197. She stumbles around a bit, trips over a crystal that is apparently part of the phantom zone projector. Or something. It's not very clear. And then there's an explosion as something comes through, which causes her to knock herself out falling against a wall. In #198 we find that she is not related to Superman at all and is the offspring of 2 human parents (2). We also see her transform into her alter ego, who is apparently named Mia.
Her next appearance is in a story in Action #806 - 808 which, confusingly was published several months before Superman #197. Here she comes off much better in appearance and characterisation when being handled by someone other than Seagle and McDaniel. The out-of-costume scene before she gets involved in the action gives her more depth than all her previous appearances put together. And her costume almost looks good. But there are real continuity problems between Action and Superman. In this story Mia has a spiky punk hairstyle and clothes to match. When we next see her these have changed to generic T-shirt & pants and hair, and the highly visible tattoo she had done in Action is never seen again.
In the next issue box of Superman #198 we are promised that Supergirl's origin will be revealed in 199. In fact all we get is one page of Mia throwing a tantrum and Supergirl saying "Daddy" a lot even though she's known they aren't related since the previous issue.
Superman #200 finally does deliver a few answers, but in a bored infodump that lasts two whole panels, and unsurprisingly leaves many questions unanswered. Shortly afterwards she leaps into the time stream portal thing for reasons that I am rather unclear on. Brainiac tells Superman that this will erase her, but since he and Superman both survive the same experience, I fail to be convinced. It's not even very clear where Cir-El joins the party since she was left behind in #199 when Superman first enters the portal, and the big fight happens 100 years and one day into the future, or possibly thousands of years in the future. It's not very clear. She looks and behaves exactly the same as when last seen, but with all this mucking about with time travel, there is really no clue where this fits into her personal time line.
As far as I am aware this is the last to be seen of Cir-El (3), and nobody even seems to remember her by the next month. It's one of the weakest deaths in comics ever. It's only credible because nobody liked her very much and Jeph Loeb's version of Supergirl would appear only a couple of months later.
I've seen some reviews that suggest that Cir-El was initially intended to be a continuing character (4), and her origin was changed to distance her from Superman and set up her speedy removal when it became clear how unpopular she was. It depends how competent you believe Seagle is as a writer. The whole point of The 10 Cent Adventure is for the Futuresmiths (5) to obtain a Superman DNA sample. Then at the end of the story they awaken Cir-El. Although there is some guff about her being from the future, it is all the Futuresmiths telling her. At this point she does not even seem to recognise her own name. My reading of this at the time was that they had used the Superman DNA to clone her and all the "future Supergirl" stuff was just BS they were brainwashing her with.
In fact she is entirely vague about her background until her last couple of issues. And although she is aware of her alter ego, Mia, she doesn't seem to question why she should periodically
transform into a normal human girl from the present, or feel this important enough to even mention to "Daddy".Ultimately the people responsible for her death were the people who created her. They made her ugly and boring and consequently she never really stood a chance.
Notes
1: Which is strikingly similar to Jeph Loeb's introduction of Supergirl 3 less than a year later. She is also immediately accepted by Superman with an unlikely and vague story about being related to him (6). Batman is understandably suspicious for the first issue, but in typical Loeb fashion seems to have forgotten this by the end of the story.
2: Contradicting Superman #195 where DNA test at STAR Labs proved she was Superman's daughter. Was this a continuity error? An indication in the change of editorial policy towards her? Or was this part of the plot all along and it was just written in such a hamfisted way that it looked stupid?
3: other than a guest spot in Superman-Batman #5, but that's Jeph Loeb for you.
4: Presumably to replace the cancelled/retired Supergirl 2. But having her appear so soon after the excellent Peter David version got the shaft annoyed anyone who liked that version.
5: who the heck are they, anyhow?
6: Note also that nobody ever mentions the recently retired Linda Danvers Supergirl while Cir-El is around in the same way that nobody mentions either Linda OR Cir-El during the Supergirl sequence in Superman-Batman.
P.S. If I've missed any appearances of Cir-El or other information about her not listed here, please let me know where I can find them.
First Post
I've been running a blog for a couple of months which seems to be quite popular amongst the few people who have actually seen it, but I find the lack of response to be a bit dispiriting, so this is an attempt to reach a wider audience.
To start with I'm going to rerun selections from my old blog. It's not like you are going to know the difference after all.
Let me know what you think.
To start with I'm going to rerun selections from my old blog. It's not like you are going to know the difference after all.
Let me know what you think.
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