And that's the basic outline of the first of a two-part Wonder Woman story written by Alex de Campi and drawn by Neil Googe. The initial point of interest is the arrival of Diana, sporting a truly bizarre superhero look.
Not exactly the most practical costume for close-up fighting, but then, Sensation Comics allows for different takes on the Amazing Amazon - this must be a Muslim Wonder Woman. Odd, considering how closely tied Diana has always been to Classical mythology, but I'm open to anything.
A panel of two later, that idea goes out the window.
It's hijab as fashion choice. Er, OK. And then we have this bizarre piece of business.
Oh please. We know there are a few people in the real world who are this-kind-of-kinky but do we have to put this into a comic story that will be collected alongside more all-ages material? As for Wonder Woman's reaction, come on - she has access to all kinds of riches, she doesn't need to raise money for charity by facilitating some rich guy's jerk-off session (bad enough the story opens with the idea that the JLA are heroes for hire). It's a horribly ill-judged sequence, a gag that cheapens Wonder Woman.
This is Wonder Woman who isn't Diana Prince so much as Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw, worrying about cellulite, obsessed with fashion and making smutty jokes. At one point Wonder Woman makes a pointed comment around sexism in astronaut selection, but the rest of the chapter obliterated any message of empowerment that might otherwise be taken away.
Neil Googe's art is decent overall, but his Diana looks rather awkward - the face just looks strange, the smile too manic. And bad as the first costume is, the later astronaut Wonder outfit is much worse.
The meant-to-be-metal-but-looks-white arms and legs reminded me of this Seventies silliness.
Googe's storytelling is good, his backgrounds excellent and the other characters look fine, but Diana? Just wrong.
The rubbernecking reflex will bring me back for next week's conclusion. It has to be better than this ...
It was a bit of a weird story, wasn't it. I'm petty sure the writer is female which kinda puts the lie to the old belief that we need more women writers on Wonder Woman. There have been plenty of great male writers on the book. And a couple of great female writers. None of which matters. A good writer is a good writer regardless of gender. I mean, it's not like there are people out there clamouring for more detectives (or orphans) to write Batman, or more farmers to write Superman, but somehow its a discussion that comes up all to often when discussing Wonder Woman.
ReplyDeleteAll of which is my long winded way of saying I'm giving the writer the benefit of the doubt. I *think* she was trying to show Diana as an Everyman. Someone who's in touch with regular people and the way they think and act. But it didn't really come across that way. Especially that scene which talks about Diana accepting payment to encourage someone's fetish.
Although, now that I think about it, I'm wondering if she was trying to put a modern spin on Diana's golden age history with bondage and submission. Even so… it didn't work.
I kinda liked the Wonder Hijab. I think it was a way to show that Diana is always respectful of other people and their beliefs. She's trying to change the world, but not impose her views on it. I mean it wasn't very practical and doesn't stand up to a lot of deep thinking but I'll give it a pass cuz I liked what I thought was the idea behind it.
I liked the art more than you. There was something compelling about those big round eyes that kept pulling me into every page. I'll take Googe's round eyes and wide smiles over the Hernandez art that we had a couple issues back. What did you think of that story, by the way? I don't remember a review.
Brilliant to hear your thoughts, thanks Murray. I rather loved the Hernandez work, it was like something out of Bizarro Comics. And I do love me some Hyathis.
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