Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons and Wonder Woman: Diana's Daughter Announced

[SiegePerilous02]

Timandra looks amazing.

I eagerly await every Amazon profile he posts. I really want to see Antiope, Euboea and (if she's here) Althea the most.

[wonder39]

I wonder how faithful this will be to the Perez version when it comes to the Bana split, if it happens at all. Antiope may still separate from the main tribe, but they may also want to go for movie synergy and have her go to Themyscira. In which case, I kind of prefer Penthesilea be included as the other sister who leads a faction away. She would later die against Achilles, but her faction would become the Bana. Also I think DeConnick and Jimenez would be aware of how problematic the Bana Amazons' original depiction was. Jimenez already wrote them better in his run compared to how most handle them, I expect if we get them they will be more sympathetic. There's a whole list of named Bana Amazons from the Perez run that could be heavily overhauled the way these Amazons are.

As a side note, with the Well of Souls origin, I've always wondered what made Hippolyta and Antiope sisters. In Greek myth it made sense because they (along with Menalippe and Penthesilea) were the natural result of the union between Ares and Otrera. But if they are reincarnated souls born into magical clay bodies all born at the same time, why are those two blood sisters and the others aren't? Shouldn't all the original 30 be Diana's aunts, not just Antiope?

If i remember, they were the first two who were reborn and came out of the sea. That's at least why the co-ruled the Amazons....

[Pinsir]

We know from interviews that this is mainly going to be about the goddesses creating the Amazons. But Phil has teased a lot of panels that show plot stuff around Hippolyta, so I'm worrying all those scenes are going to be scrapped and the other artists are going to re-do them.

There is also going to be that double page spread of all the Amazons in their armor (and I think the shots of them from that sequence are being used in Phil's "Who's Who" sheets). How do we go from goddesses planning the Amazons to THAT in one issue? Maybe that will be a vision of the future?

Anyway, here's my guesses for the 30 Amazons we will be seeing based on who has been confirmed and who else might logically be there:

1. Hippolyta
2. Antiope
3. Philippus
4. Menalippe
5. Penelope
6. Io
7. Althea (fingers crossed!)
8. Euboea
9. Epione
10. Pythia
11. Aella
12. Hellene
13. Ipithme
14. Oenone
15. Timandra
16. Venilia
17. Cydippe
18. Mnemosyne
19. Acantha
20. Niobe
21. Areto
22. Myrrha
23. Consivia
24. Egeria
25. Alkyone
26. Philomela
27. Charis
28. Myrto
29. Persephone
30. Either Mala or Kasia

Man, the Hellenization of Wonder Woman's mythos really hurt her world. These names are all so samey. Marston didn't really care if names were pulled from ancient Greece.

[Psy-lock]

Man, the Hellenization of Wonder Woman's mythos really hurt her world. These names are all so samey. Marston didn't really care if names were pulled from ancient Greece.

Well, I don't think Marston cared about cohesive world building all that much, given how liberal he was with the usage of Greek and Roman names for the gods.

[SiegePerilous02]

Man, the Hellenization of Wonder Woman's mythos really hurt her world. These names are all so samey. Marston didn't really care if names were pulled from ancient Greece.

He didn't name that many Amazons to begin with.

Mala and Althea are fine names which is probably why they have stuck around. But we could do without "Metala"

[kjn]

Mala and Althea are fine names which is probably why they have stuck around. But we could do without "Metala"

Or Fatsis…

[SiegePerilous02]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4a7b_KdCMo&feature=youtu.be[/url]

So Jimenez said DC announced the book well before he and DeConnick even started, when they asked them not to do that. It put him in a panic and slowed him down even further. He said his editor has been great and DC has been good about not scheduling it until the creative team gives the ok, but I can't blame him for being frustrated. They really shouldn't announce projects of this scope that far in advance.

On the positive side, he loves working with Kelly Sue and says she and Morrison are his favorite scripters. That bodes very well for this project.

Or Fatsis…

Lol how could I forget her.

Yeah I think we should stick to the likes of Philippus, Oenone, Consivia...

[Gaius]

Interesting tidbit from a Jimnez interview is apparently he and DeConnick only signed on to do this project a week or so before it getting announced. Apparently it wasn't supposed to be announced but they saw some sample art he had done and announced it anyway.

This explains a lot.

Edit: Beaten to it.

[kjn]

DC must have been desperate to drum up interest around Black Label, given the amount of delayed or fizzled projects that were announced when it was launched, and the way a lot of projects apparently were rushed.

It's really the opposite of what the label should have been about: quality stories told with lots of creative freedom.

[Gaius]

DC must have been desperate to drum up interest around Black Label, given the amount of delayed or fizzled projects that were announced when it was launched, and the way a lot of projects apparently were rushed.

It's really the opposite of what the label should have been about: quality stories told with lots of creative freedom.

Given The Other History of the DC Universe was also announced fairly early and didn't get solicited to recently (and Rucka's Diana's Daughter), yeah sounds like this was a problem across multiple projects.

Think Batman: Damned only came out when it did on time was because it had been in development for years.

[Vordan]

Given The Other History of the DC Universe was also announced fairly early and didn't get solicited to recently (and Rucka's Diana's Daughter), yeah sounds like this was a problem across multiple projects.

Think Batman: Damned only came out when it did on time was because it had been in development for years.

And then Damned seems to have killed Black Label by making Pam Lifford’s first day at DC about managing the Batpenis PR disaster. And Damned sucked too to boot.

[Gaius]

And then Damned seems to have killed Black Label by making Pam Lifford’s first day at DC about managing the Batpenis PR disaster. And Damned sucked too to boot.

Black Label lives by the Batman, you die by the Batman.

At least there was some pretty Bermejo art, I guess.

[Pinsir]

He didn't name that many Amazons to begin with.

Mala and Althea are fine names which is probably why they have stuck around. But we could do without "Metala"

He didn't but even then his Amazons weren't pigeon holes to a single ethnic name; Hippolyta is Greek, Diana is Roman, Mala is...uh...Indian? Paula is Roman too, but her name is more of a generic (where as Wonder Woman is specifically mentioned after the moon goddess). The thing with Greek names too is that they are very difficult to pronounce by modern audiances, I mean I'm sure most people pronounce Hippo wrong, so when you got a lot of other 'foreign', hard to pronounce character names it will make the reading experience a bit choppier.

[Pinsir]

Well, I don't think Marston cared about cohesive world building all that much, given how liberal he was with the usage of Greek and Roman names for the gods.

I think it was pretty cohesive for the time. I'm just not a big fan of the 'Amazons are ancient Greek, therefore Wonder Woman's world is ancient Greece inspired." This wasn't always the case and I just see these naming conventions as emblematic of this thinking.

[SiegePerilous02]

He didn't but even then his Amazons weren't pigeon holes to a single ethnic name; Hippolyta is Greek, Diana is Roman, Mala is...uh...Indian? Paula is Roman too, but her name is more of a generic (where as Wonder Woman is specifically mentioned after the moon goddess). The thing with Greek names too is that they are very difficult to pronounce by modern audiances, I mean I'm sure most people pronounce Hippo wrong, so when you got a lot of other 'foreign', hard to pronounce character names it will make the reading experience a bit choppier.

Diana having that name is because Artemis was more well known by her Roman name to American audiences at that time and ties into Marston using the Roman and Greek names interchangeably without much explanation. The later addition of Diana Trevor or (preferably) just having the Amazons be aware of the Roman names and use them as well with a quick explanation is all that's needed. Mala has an Indian name but is a white blonde woman so that's always been weird. Paula doesn't fit but it's fine because she joins the Amazons from our world. Other than them, there are no named Amazons of note from the Marston era except maybe Althea.

I think the Greek names work fine, if not better, because it makes them seem more authentic. As is all the attention to detail in their armor in this version as well as what we are seeing of the Gods. Wonder Woman's world being too myth focused is a problem, but that's not an issue with the Amazons' backstory or the island (where that should be a lot of the focus). It's more of an issue with writers not having much ideas for her adventures once she becomes Wonder Woman that's the problem.