So for all the problems the Wonder Woman title - Heinberg and his many delays, the fill-in story for issue #5, the dubious talents of Jodi Picoult - all is not lost. There is good news too. Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told came out today, finally righting that long injustice, and it's been confirmed that Gail Simone is going to be taking over the title with issue #13. Apparently, the fans have spoken and DC has finally listened. It's almost enough to make me stop bitching about how much editors suck, at least at DC. (Marvel editors haven't done anything to redeem themselves yet.)
Newsarama posted this interview with Simone on Friday, and she just put things in perspective. This, particularly, gets me excited about the character:
The book is about the best goddamned warrior planet Earth has ever known, and she happens to carry a mystical arsenal around just for the hell of it.
If a writer can’t make that interesting and fun, they really shouldn’t be writing superheroes.
There are layers upon layers of the character, and we’ll get to them all. But let’s just make it very clear that Diana is the premiere asskicker in the DCU, period. Batman and Superman have other things that make them special. Diana is the one who occasionally carries an axe if someone gives her lip.
This is actually in my first issue, but the quote is, “When a giant robot attacks Metropolis, send Superman. An alien attack? Get Green Lantern. When a car is hijacked by an escaped loony, turn on the bat signal, by all means. But if an ARMY shows up on your doorstep, that’s when you call in Wonder Woman.
Simple.
This is a great question. First, I hate the supposed ‘dichotomy,’ that she preaches peace while fighting. This is not contradictory at all. It’s not ‘a’ or ‘b,’ it’s ‘a’ AND ‘b.’ It’s like saying a cop is a hypocrite when they say they want to keep the peace, just because they might have to wrestle a perp to the ground on occasion. Diana’s both. She loves the light, but she’s right at home in the dark, too. She can do dark.
Actually, I have to say that this was the thing about Wonder Woman that got me a while back, the fact that, as Simone says, "She loves the light, but she's right at home in the dark, too." I think it's that ability to be both that sets her apart from Batman and Superman as more than just the girl. When I realized that, and I can't even say how and why I realized it (but I'm sure it was probably while I was watching the Justice League cartoon, since the work of Bruce Timm is pretty much the source of all my DCU love), it's when I started to really get the character, and love her. Sure, I still think it makes absolutely no sense that an Amazon is a great symbol of peace, since the Amazons raped, plundered and pillaged with the best of them (which is why they were cool), or that the Greek gods would care about sending an ambassador of peace to humanity, since they were all about messing with and screwing over the humans, but once you let go of all that, there isn't any reason why a person can't preach peace and be a warrior. It's not like she's out there committing random acts of violence.
Anyway, all that character stuff is great, but this is what really made me think Gail Simone was writing specifically for me: "Of course, since she’s punching a monkey off a waterfall on page three, maybe that’s not the best example." Let's just take a closer look at those words: "punching a monkey off a waterfall." MONKEY!
So, in honor of that bit of awesomeness, and, of course, in honor of Gail, I give you:
And if that fills you with joy, like it does for me, you are going to want to watch Smallville this Thursday (4/19). I know that watching that show isn't normally conducive to the bringing of joy, but this week it has Lynda Carter! For her, I would watch even if I wasn't a complete masochist who watches the show every week even without something as awesome as Wonder Woman herself to look forward to. She's still gorgeous too. It looks like it might be a halfway decent episode too.
Supernatural is going to be new as well, so that you definitely don't want to miss.
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