THE WONDER STUFF
Luke Dormehl looks back at the warrior princess in the comics
comics in the 1940s weren’t exactly considered high art. however, 48-year-old william moulton marston felt differently. one of the most fascinating creators in comics history, marston imagined that the medium could serve as the perfect tool for educating readers and sharing his view of the world. wonder woman was the result. calling wonder woman radical feminist propaganda sounds like a pejorative; in fact, it was exactly what her creator claimed. “wonder woman,” marston said, “is a psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, i believe, rule the world.”
from a comic career spanning eight decades to her iconic 1970s television series starring lynda carter to her new standout role in the dc extended universe movies, it’s hard to argue that she hasn’t done exactly that in the years since!
A “SUPREMA” BEING
marston’s original vision for wonder woman was a thesis on how all the violence in the world could be eliminated only if all power was surrendered to women. his pitch called for “suprema, the wonder woman” (the “suprema” name was nixed by his publisher), an Amazonian from paradise island, who travels to man’s world in order to end war and exploitation. marston was convinced that his idea would resonate both commercially and emotionally: men, he felt, were all in search of a hero who was “an exciting, beautiful girl, stronger than they are.” it was a deeply freudian interpretation of power dynamics based (again, marston’s own words) on, “the subconscious, elaborately disguised desire of males to be mastered by a [mothering] woman who loves them.”
consider it targeted feminism, piloted as stealthily as an invisible jet.
“wonder woman is a character who’s rooted in sex, sexuality and gender,” says phil Jimenez, a lifelong wonder woman fan who both wrote and illustrated the comic from 2000 to 2003. “she was created in the 1940s, at a time when women were starting to emerge from the home and to assume positions that were previously seen as male roles, because those men had gone off to fight in world war ii. she was also created by a feminist who truly believed that women were better leaders than men, and that they were inherently better people because of their sex and gender. i think she’s a character who’s most interesting when she’s talking about these subjects and what these sex and gender roles do to us. i have a belief that the ‘woman’ part of wonder woman is much more important than the ‘wonder’.”
CH-CH-CHANGES
Any character who has been published monthly since the 1940s is going to have to change with the times. wonder woman has changed more than most.
At first glance it’s difficult to reconcile the proud gynocentric warrior of marston’s imagination with, say, the character who, in the late 1960s, saw her long-time love interest colonel steve trevor assassinated, lost her superpowers, and decided to learn kung fu. on a meta level, however, wonder woman’s changes offer a fascinating decade-by-decade
glimpse of female empowerment (or what predominantly male writers viewed as female empowerment) over the past eight decades. lacking the unchanging universality of, for instance, Batman’s revenge-driven motivation, wonder woman has had something to say about gender politics in most every decade she’s been published.
“the 1940s was about the go-getter wonder woman as a comic book rosie the riveter,” Jimenez continues. “the 1950s version, especially post-Seduction
Of The Innocent [the extremely damaging book, written by psychologist fredric wertham, which blamed comic book “perversions” for a range of social problems], became a much more conservative, marriage-minded character, who at one point was even a romance writer. the ’60s and early ’70s reflected emma peel in The Avengers, where she was a non-powered super-spy. George pérez’s early work in the 1980s was rooted in sword and sorcery, very much as a reaction to marvel’s thor. in the 1990s you had the ‘bad girl’ phase, and so on.”
SUPERHERO AND… SECRETARY?
wonder woman hasn’t necessarily always been a bastion of enlightenment. in the 1940s, the character suffered the ignominy of a stint as “secretary” of the Justice society of America, beginning in the 1940s. (“wonder woman, the members of the Justice Battalion feel that, even though you’re now an honorary member, we’d like you to act as our secretary,” said hawkman in 1942’s
All-Star Comics #13.) this label stuck around for years, and infuriated her creator, william marston. in a number of subsequent stories, this position meant that wonder woman must stay home while the rest of the team go off to fight evildoers.
over the years, the character’s proud female characteristics have also been the source of mockery from some other characters in the dc universe, such as the flash, who at various times viewed her as unnecessarily haughty.
even today, wonder woman continues to cause controversy. in 2016, plans called for her to be made an honorary un ambassador to help fight for gender equality. the role was dropped when more than 44,000 people signed a petition, claiming that: “it is alarming that the united nations would consider using a character with an overtly sexualised image at a time when the headline news in united states and the world is the objectification of women and girls.” upwards of 600 un staffers decried the use of a “large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions” for the role.
it’s a criticism that illustrates the challenges, even more than 75 years on, of providing a unified front for female empowerment.
“There’s something wickedly transgressive about her costume and how it challenges us to look beyond the way we traditionally view women’s bodies,” says cliff chiang, who pencilled Wonder
Woman from 2011-2014. “her costume has been dismissed as a swimsuit for the readers to ogle, but from a different perspective it’s athletic gear optimised for movement. Oversexualising the character is boring and reductive, and fans are tired of it.”
This is a view that Gail simone, the longest-running female writer in wonder woman history, agrees with. “Wonder woman is absolutely feminist, so much so that even when she’s written or drawn by non-feminist creators, she tends to shine through anyway. she rises above the cheesecake poses and the sitcom drama she often found herself facing in less enlightened times. she wasn’t just ahead of the times, i’m not completely certain we’ve caught up to her yet.”
ALL THE WORLD IS WAITING FOR YOU...
today, wonder woman is at a level she hasn’t been in years, if ever. in the comics, she has attracted a host of excellent talent this century alone. Greg rucka, Gail simone, eric luke, phil Jimenez and Brian Azzarello have all had good-to-great runs with the character. Add that to elseworlds stories such as 1996’s Kingdom Come, which helped redefine wonder woman for the modern era, and for the first time in years she’s had the stories to match up to her historic, iconic status. “particularly since Kingdom Come, dc has played up her warrior aspect,” Jimenez says. “i think men and a large number of women just really like a chick with swords. writers leaned in heavily on the idea that Amazons were female spartans, and i think that has helped create a niche for her in the dc universe.”
wonder woman has also emerged as perhaps the most unanimously approved-of character from the otherwise divisive dc extended universe movies. Alongside harley Quinn, she stands out amidst the visual and thematic palette of greys and blacks which make up Zack snyder’s comic-book world. (plus, she has the second kickass theme tune of her career.)
“wonder woman is certainly the oldest and most prominent female character in the comic industry, but [she’s] also more than just a female superhero,” says Aaron lopresti, who drew the comic from 2008-2010. “she has a background steeped in mythology and sword and sorcery elements that help her cross over into several genres and appeal to more than just the superhero lovers. she has almost always been portrayed as a strong leader which also helps her as a role model for young female readers, which in turn helps bring in a new audience to the comic and the character.”
we’ll leave the final, muchdeserved, word to Gail simone. “my feeling on the character is this: she’s the best warrior in comics,” she says. “she’ll knock you completely on your ass, but then she’ll reach out her hand to help you up. that’s wonder woman, to me.”