Wonder Woman Ain't Got No GFs, Kangaliers! Where Are Her Girlfriends?!

[Mel Dyer]

Okay, Bar Minerva turned into a were-cheetah, and Etta left the comic, ..but, there's still Doc Julia*, Donna, Artemis, Mala, Io, Zola, Queen Desira of Venus ..and Hera. Where in the hell are Diana's gurlz? Seriously...like where's her squad, right now?

Wonder Woman needs some GIRLFRIENDS!

This is the most celebrated feminist pop icon of our age, and she has no meaningful friendships or relationships, with other women. Furthermore, I think the on-going narrative of the WW comic is the poorer for it. There's a richness of characterization and human interaction that's presently missing form the pages of Wonder Woman ..that I think begs to be filled by Diana's interaction with female peers. Without it, she's just Steve Trevor's genie, ..and that is really boring.

Most of you know that I'm for permanently adding an Amazon, one decidedly different from Diana, to the regular cast. I think she needs someone in her on-going story, who knows her Amazon ways, and with whom she can confide - sort of like Diana's Alfred or Lothar. I wouldn't want another Wonder-woman in this role, as a woman, who is too much like Diana, would be redundant and superfluous. No matter where her story takes her, the Moon or wherever, I think there should always be someone in the supporting cast, who ties her to the Amazons and Greek myth, ..preferably another woman. That's just my opinion, and there are other ways to fix this problem, if we can call it a problem.

There's something missing from the WW comic. Feels like womenfolk to me, Kangaliers...just sayin'.

*There has been no confirmation that Doc Julia is Vanessa's biological mother or that she died in the car crash that killed Vanessa's mom, in this rebirthed continuity. We can kick this around, but, I'd like to stay on the topic of Diana having no women friends.

[AmiMizuno]

Well due to Jason and the Dark God arc they are kind of not there. I mena dc is making Diana more male dominated. I would love to see Hera after new 52. Etta too.Aretmis is coming. Donna unlike right now. Mala hasn’t been canon in a while. Io is on the island. I would love it if Nubia was added again too.

[Mel Dyer]

Well due to Jason and the Dark God arc they are kind of not there. I mena dc is making Diana more male dominated. I would love to see Hera after new 52. Etta too.Aretmis is coming. Donna unlike right now. Mala hasn’t been canon in a while. Io is on the island. I would love it if Nubia was added again too.

You know...in the Golden Age, Diana used to call up Queen Hippolyta on the Magic Sphere, the Amazons' version of Skype. The Queen was pretty good company, in those days.

[AmiMizuno]

You know...in the Golden Age, Diana used to call up Queen Hippolyta on the Magic Sphere, the Amazons' version of Skype. The Queen was pretty good company, in those days.

I know they were so advanced but it seems Dc is thinking why do the Amazons need advanced technology they are fine with swords and shields. The Amazons had both in Marston's it. Guns were more for sport

[Pinsir]

Well, in the 1984 film she is probably going to date Barbara.

[Largo161]

"Kangaliers"...did you coin that just for this thread, OP. LOL

With me, you're preaching to the choir. I have nothing to add except to point out the obvious--the male creators at DC couldn't care less. They've just spent two years rewriting her origin for the sole purpose of including a FATHER and a BROTHER. "Girlfriends" are not on the to-do list.

[Mel Dyer]

"Kangaliers"...did you coin that just for this thread, OP. LOL

With me, you're preaching to the choir. I have nothing to add except to point out the obvious--the male creators at DC couldn't care less. They've just spent two years rewriting her origin for the sole purpose of including a FATHER and a BROTHER. "Girlfriends" are not on the to-do list.

First, ..let me say I would totally follow Lynda Carter, on kangaback, ..into a subatomic universe belching out giant robots onto the streets of our Nations Capitol! I think any WW fan of more than a coupla' years, undeterred by book cancellations and the broken promises of 'bold, NEW directions' for the comic is a proud, hard-riding Kangalier, and I have probably been using that peculiar phrase for the better of a decade, all over the WWW. So, while that's a 'no' to your first question, ..thank you for asking!

And yes...I agree that it appears GFs for Diana didn't make it to the editorial 'to-do list', and I think that's a shame. It's regrettable, because most of us, who've been championing the addition/creation of 'male Wonders' typically believe in a Wonder Woman family ..and just want to see Diana get one as diverse and balanced, as the ones that Spider-fans, Hawk-fans, Hulk-fans, Bat-fans, X-fans and Super-fans have enjoyed for decades [Decades!]. We want a balanced family - not a twenty-issue take-over of the WW comic by Mister Wonderstorm ..or whoever. If Jason is going to be featured at the expense of Etta, Donna, Artemis, Doc Julia, bla'blabla...

What's the point of having him in the comic, at all?

I really would have been satisfied with Sargon the Sorcerer [Like it, the more I think about it!] popping in and out of the WW comic, over the course of the last forty or so years, ..than giving Diana a twin brother. I think seeing Sargon team up with Diana, Etta and I Ching would have been as enjoyable, if not more, than the last seventeen or so issues, ..featuring Jason. But, honestly...when I look at the truly shabby way that Hercules has been treated in this comic, by one writer after another, after George Perez's artful redemption of him in the 80s, ..I guess I'll take Jason or whatever I can get.

[AmiMizuno]

I would also love Jumpa to be part of the comcis agaon. If Superman and Batman get to keep their arms why not have Junpa?

[WonderScott]

Yes, Mel, YES TO KANGALIERS.

In my redoing of the Wonderverse; Etta is back in full force and we meet other female agents, scientists, and researchers as part of ARGUS; Julia Kapatelis is a professor at Holliday University, Helena Sandsmark is the curator of the <redacted> Museum; Myndi Mayer runs her PR and crisis management agency; Donna Troy is re-rebirthed and once again becomes Diana's little sister; the Amazons are returned to us, the "once you leave you can never set foot back on the island" McGuffin is lifted, and the Amazons open a consulate in <redacted> with Amazonian diplomats and some Amazon and human staff; we are introduced to some female officers and detectives at the <redacted> Police Department; and some other heroines live and operate in her city.

Steve is still around and Ferdinand has opened a successful bistro in the city. So yes, there are some boys, but a lot more women present in Diana's life.

[AmiMizuno]

What about childhood friend Mala? Why not change a bit you can nevcan r return to the island? That she can return but it’s irregular visits. That she has to have a item that lets her be able to return but she is worried to use it often

[Harpsikord]

Dude, it's such a damn shame that Diana's supporting cast is so largely... male these days. I don't think that Steve or Jason need to be gotten rid of but there's no reason that they need to do so at the expense of other Wonder Woman characters. Etta deserves to be here, Veronica Cale and Barbara Minerva do, Donna does. Come on now, DC.

[WonderScott]

What about childhood friend Mala? Why not change a bit you can nevcan r return to the island? That she can return but it’s irregular visits. That she has to have a item that lets her be able to return but she is worried to use it often

I have little to no knowledge of original Mala, but that wouldn't stop me from using her as part of the embassy staff or in a new role as a companion/attendant to Diana as part of her royal entourage. (Maybe something Hippolyta insists on, but Diana scoffs at.)

As for access to the island, I prefer it to be like the Perez days. Diana or other Amazons would be able to come and go as they please and navigate the chaos storm that protects the island from invaders physically and technologically.

I'd hoped that the "once you leave you can never return" would kind of force creators to develop Wonder Woman's costumed supervillains versus gods and myth and the most we've gotten are Cale, Cheetah, Doctor Cyber, and a little bit Doctor Poison. Only a smidge of Doctor, Silver Swan, Blue Snowman, Mayfly, Saturna, and Zara, comparatively to a whopping helping Grail, Darkseid, some Female Furies, and now the Dark Gods.

Themyscira is such an interesting place for stories, that I don't want to see it stricken from the map so to speak. The potential to do some stories about the Amazons, Doom's Doorway, Transformation Island, etc., especially if they include other visitors to the island with Diana, is too great to pass up.

It's a bit like telling Batman they can no longer use Arkham Asylum or Superman the Daily Planet as a setting for stories.

[Mel Dyer]

I have little to no knowledge of original Mala, but that wouldn't stop me from using her as part of the embassy staff or in a new role as a companion/attendant to Diana as part of her royal entourage. (Maybe something Hippolyta insists on, but Diana scoffs at.)

As for access to the island, I prefer it to be like the Perez days. Diana or other Amazons would be able to come and go as they please and navigate the chaos storm that protects the island from invaders physically and technologically.

I'd hoped that the "once you leave you can never return" would kind of force creators to develop Wonder Woman's costumed supervillains versus gods and myth and the most we've gotten are Cale, Cheetah, Doctor Cyber, and a little bit Doctor Poison. Only a smidge of Doctor, Silver Swan, Blue Snowman, Mayfly, Saturna, and Zara, comparatively to a whopping helping Grail, Darkseid, some Female Furies, and now the Dark Gods.

Themyscira is such an interesting place for stories, that I don't want to see it stricken from the map so to speak. The potential to do some stories about the Amazons, Doom's Doorway, Transformation Island, etc., especially if they include other visitors to the island with Diana, is too great to pass up.

It's a bit like telling Batman they can no longer use Arkham Asylum or Superman the Daily Planet as a setting for stories.

YES!!! It's exactly like that! [Sometimes, it's like Scott is my post-interpreter! I'm such a Wonder Scott fan!]

I think of Mala, as a totable Paradise Island...Themyscira-in-a-bag. Including her in the regular cast and moving her to Man's World is a way of keeping Paradise Island in the foreground, without having to constantly write the Island or visits to the Island, into a story. Keeping Diana's Amazon past, out front, subtly keeps her superheroics, in context...making sense. That's a useful thing.

Say...a writer moves Wonder Woman to an apartment, over a dancehall in the Czech Republic? Mala, dressed in toga-like chiton and making cryptic references to their shared history, goes with her, reminding readers, new and old, that the colorfully attired superheroine is the daughter of classical Amazons, who freed themselves from oppression and injustice ..AND how important that is to Diana. While bat-writers can accomplish the same thing, by just writng Alfred into a Batcave scene, with Bruce, ..WW writers have to figure out a way to get Diana to Paradise Island or sitting in front of a Magic Sphere. Worst, WW writers have to constantly beat us over the head, with lines like, "I am Diana, daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and slayer of the Kraken...pincher of the hiney of Adonis...!" to remind us of the Amazon thing [Snor-rre]. One scene with Mala, in present-day Man's World, solves that problem!

As I see it, Diana's primary driving motivation is to fight for mankind, as her Amazon sisters championed women, in the ancient world. Diana, being younger than the rest, didn't get to earn her stripes, with the others - didn't get to be a real Amazon, in that sense. Using her awesome powers to protect Man's World from the war and conquest is how she accomplishes that.

While I would prefer Mala keeping house AND frequent visits with Queen Hippolyta, on Paradise Island, I realize that's not always easy to do, in the middle of a story. Showing Diana at home, being advised or aided by Mala, whose mere presence in the comic represents Diana's Amazon past, is a quick and easy fix. I think Diana needs an Alfred - a resident character, who, no matter where a story takes her, keeps her Amazon origins, on the front line, and her motivations, in context, ..and I think her Alfred should be a 'woman'...

And for my money, it's Mala. Thanks for the translation, Wonder Scott - clearly making sense of my tapped-out ramblings is one of your super-powers.

[Pinsir]

Well, in the 1984 film she is probably going to date Barbara.

Man, I say the dumbest things sometimes

[Mel Dyer]

Man, I say the dumbest things sometimes

No, no, no-oo, Pinsir. You're the guy, who's never afraid to challenge us, with looking at something from a different angle. Nothing dumb about it...

I'm a fan. A fansir.

I'll say something else...I don't think this '84 movie is going nail down Cheetah, as WW's archnemesis. She is, at best, Diana's Two-Face, and this upcoming movie, I think, will just open the stage for Diana's true arch to take center-ring. For me, it's the Tynion JLD Circe ..or maybe, the Warmaster, when she comes back to her senses.

Back to the topic...do Wonder Woman's GFs say as much about her and her mission, as her presently non-existent archenemy?