The reviews are pouring in for Batman v Superman. I haven’t read any yet because spoilers. [Editor’s Note: You can read our spoiler free review here!] But, I have read these articles about Wonder Woman and Aquaman, and I can definitely recommend them as good reads from the WWAC archives. Enjoy!
The New Wonder Woman and Greek Mythology, May 7, 2014,
Wonder Woman’s current run is rich with greek mythology. Before, Diana was born from clay and her mother Hippolyta’s desire to have a daughter. In 2011, though, DC Comics revamped its entire universe, that now is called the New 52. In this new take on the character by writer Brian Azzarello and artist Cliff Chiang, her origin was reinvented. The clay was just a lie Hippolyta made up to cover an affair she had with Zeus, from which Diana was born.
Was this a good change to Wonder Woman’s canon? Many fans felt disappointed, as the heroine’s clay origin was already dear in their hearts. It was a radical change. In another point of view, some fans were pleased with the plot opportunities this new beginning provided. In this essay, I don’t pretend to get to a conclusion to this question–because I don’t have an answer. But the fact remains that Diana is now a bastard of Zeus, positioning her side to side with Olympus’ highest gods. Which means that, in this run, there is more Greek mythology than ever.
As an American comic, the majority of Wonder Woman readers have grown up in an occidental religious context. In this kind of faith, god and everything divine are inherently good. Sometimes, these readers don’t understand why the Greek gods do what they do, from randomly giving superpowers to humans to psychotically killing people. As seen in previous runs, Diana has had to deal with mischievous gods and sometimes fight with them herself. But she comes back to her temple at Themyscira and worships them. Why? Well, first things first. READ MORE
The Secret History of Wonder Woman Review, March 17, 2015,
The Secret History of Wonder Woman
I read the Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore a few months back and have been struggling with this review ever since. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say because I do. I have A LOT to say. It’s just that I’ve been approaching this book review from an “essayist” perspective. I wanted to write this sweeping and grand analysis of the book, its criticisms and its role in not just the comics sphere but also in the history of feminism. In doing this, I removed myself from the equation and haven’t asked what I thought about it on a personal level because that’s where it hooked me.
I didn’t know who Wonder Woman was until I was nine years old and she appeared in the first episode 2001’sJustice League. To be fair, I didn’t know anyone aside from Batman and Superman but given the significance of the character as a feminist icon, it’s a bit surprising looking back. Is it though? Feminism eluded me as a kid not because my parents were opposed to the idea of empowering a young woman but because they didn’t verbalize it with that particular word. It’s a powerful word and words are keepers of history. It was a history that I wasn’t privy to until I was taught The Persons Case in my Canadian history class in middle school. In high school, I was taught FEM-I-NI-SM. Distorted by misandry, I held onto that version until my first year of university. My tutorial leader had asked us to raise our hands if we identified as a fem-i-nist. I didn’t raise mine. I discovered that day the fem-i-ni-sm in my head was disjointed. Fem-i-ni-sm was a funhouse mirror reflection that started to shift into Feminism I live by today. READ MORE
Will we ever not have opinions on Wonder Woman’s costume? Probably not. Wonder Woman’s New Outfit: Crotch Flap and Confusion, March 13, 2015,
No.
Wonder Woman has a new outfit! A full coverage outfit! We ought to be happy about this, right? Getting her out of panties and into something more demure is what we want, right?
Well… actually…
What we want is an outfit that reflects her ideals, as well as her Amazonian heritage. We want something practical. We want something badass. We want something that doesn’t look like ten different people — or perhaps munchkin D&D players, according to our Jaime — were sent off to separate rooms to design a different piece of her new costume.
“The boots, corset, and undershirt are from three different costumes,” says Megan P. “They DO NOT work in one design.”
“This is my main complaint,” says Vernieda. “The costume isn’t cohesive and my eyes get confused looking at it. I don’t know where to focus because there are so many random elements.”
Megan P. suggests that “the longer you look at it, the worse it becomes.”
“Hate. Hate hate hate,” says Kate. “I’m not sure I could coherently explain why this bothers me as someone who minored in classical history. I mean I feel like a bad feminist but like…a Greek warrior goddess is pretty much the only person who has a like, character-based reason to wear a leather miniskirt? I mean the “military” aspects of this feel much “later” in terms of history. Like. IDK. I’m just really partial to the Xena-esque Wonder Woman costumes than I am…this. Even with the pants.”
“I am glad the movie went that route,” adds Wendy, “I don’t understand why the comic has been so resistant to it. Are skirts that hard to draw?”
Character Appreciation: Aquaman, January 22, 2015,
When I wandered on to the WWAC Twitter account on Friday night, wine in hand, I had no idea what to expect, mainly because I had nothing planned. I put my faith in our followers, hoping that they could find something interesting to chat about. They most certainly did: Aquaman.
And so began an hour of undersea character appreciation.
Aquaman gets a bad rap, but more than enough fans showed that there’s far more to the king of Atlantis than telepathically communicating with fish. READ MORE
Sssh. Yes you do. Don’t pout.
Jason Momoa: Wet Naked Poster Child for The Narrative Revolution, February 26, 2015,
On Friday, Zack Snyder dropped new photographs of Jason Momoa as Aquaman and, as I’m sure you all have realized, it is everything we deserve. There was a lot of talk on Twitter about how the new Aquaman was sexy—to his detriment to some but to his improvement for others—and, for some people, to whom the image didn’t particularly represent anything new, given he’s been similarly armored before. But guys, I will keep screaming from the top of the hills until people understand that this casting and redesign might very well be one of the most inspired comics choices in the history of adaptations—and also that this is the version of the Atlantean King who should appear in the comics.
Let’s consider first The Unbearable Whiteness of Being that the DC and Marvel landscape has afforded us for most of the last 75 years. Things are certainly getting better on both the comics and film/tv front, and I’ve noticed that DC in particular has made strong moves towards presenting a diverse set of characters in their big screen attempts. Say what you will about the company, in their coming cinematic universe, they’re presenting: a black hero, a female heroine, a film headlined by an openly queer man, a black Deadshot, a black-Samoan mixed race Black Adam—and, of course, our Pacific Islander Aquaman. READ MORE
Woman’s current run is rich with greek mythology. Before, Diana was born from clay and her mother Hippolyta’s desire to have a daughter. In 2011, though, DC Comics revamped its entire universe, that now is called the New 52. In this new take on the character by writer Brian Azzarello and artist Cliff Chiang, her origin was reinvented. The clay was just a lie Hippolyta made up to cover an affair she had with Zeus, from which Diana was born.
I read the Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore a few months back and have been struggling with this review ever since. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say because I do. I have A LOT to say. It’s just that I’ve been approaching this book review from an “essayist” perspective. I wanted to write this sweeping and grand analysis of the book, its criticisms and its role in not just the comics sphere but also in the history of feminism. In doing this, I removed myself from the equation and haven’t asked what I thought about it on a personal level because that’s where it hooked me.
“Hate. Hate hate hate,” says Kate. “I’m not sure I could coherently explain why this bothers me as someone who minored in classical history. I mean I feel like a bad feminist but like…a Greek warrior goddess is pretty much the only person who has a like, character-based reason to wear a leather miniskirt? I mean the “military” aspects of this feel much “later” in terms of history. Like. IDK. I’m just really partial to the Xena-esque Wonder Woman costumes than I am…this. Even with the pants.”
