Cheetah and Giganta Stories in Beach Blanket Bad Guys Special *SPOILERS*

[SiegePerilous02]

Did anyone else read these? I read them quick while I was in Newbury Comics, and the Cheetah story in particular is FANTASTIC. A really solid done-in-one that further explores her thought processes and how she views Diana.

A young archaeologist finds her in the jungle, being a long time admirer of Barbara Minerva, and begs to be made a goddess like her. Apparently Cheetah can empower acolytes or something, and the summer solstice is her time of power. The girl even gives her a piece of her finger as an offering. Cheetah rejects it,causing the girl to refer to her as a fraud and become determined to surpass her in the archaeology field, which Cheetah ends up respecting. Wonder Woman shows up to re-capture her, and we get some inner monologues showing that Cheetah regards Diana as her greatest enemy and dearest friend, and is envious that Diana came from a loving environment that didn't force her to "carve away pieces of herself" in order to get a chance to sit at the table of power. Cheetah now wants to destroy the table (hence stuff like killing Poseidon in the future), but still regards her situation as a curse and will not pass it along to anyone else. Diana does another "cool down hug" to Cheetah like she did during the end of Godwatch, and says she will always be there to catch her when she falls. I don't know if anyone can say their dynamic is still un-complex. Rebirth has been great with these two so far.

Giganta's story is a little less note worthy, but still good. Doris ends up back in her home town while on the run from Wonder Woman, and ends up at the High School carnival, where she finds the bully who tormented her as a kid is now the school coach. She resists the urge to crush him, as she considers that he "helped" make her strong, but when she catches his son harassing a girl she goes giant size and smashes the empty school and leaves the coach and his son hanging from a flag pole. She calls out the "boys will be boys" bullying for the BS that it is, and tells the girl not to rely on anyone to help her, even "Princess Wonder Woman." The girl thanks her and waves her goodbye, while still saying her message is kind of terrible lol.

I don't usually care for the origin of Giganta as a human scientist, because I feel that Diana has more than enough doctors in her rogues gallery and prefer the (admittedly silly) gorilla origin. But if we have to have it, this is a good insight into her motivations and past.

[OBrianTallent]

I didnt know this came out. I will have to track it down. I wish DC would give someone a chance to write a Giganta mini series to explore her origin and character.

[Joao]

Wuuuut, didn't even know this issue was coming out! I'm all here for more Wondie and Cheetah Rebirth stories. I'll be back here when I put my hands on it.

[Dr. Poison]

I bought this book for these stories alone!

[Nyssane]

I liked the Cheetah story but I really didn't like the Giganta one.

[Dr. Poison]

I liked the Cheetah story but I really didn't like the Giganta one.

I haven't read this book yet. What didn't you like about the Giganta story?

[Nyssane]

I haven't read this book yet. What didn't you like about the Giganta story?

She was drawn with the standard comic book female body. Her characterization/motivation has always been lackluster so the biggest thing she has going for her is her muscular/thick frame. Plus the whole story of her going to beat up some old bullies is just meh.

[Dr. Poison]

She was drawn with the standard comic book female body. Her characterization/motivation has always been lackluster so the biggest thing she has going for her is her muscular/thick frame. Plus the whole story of her going to beat up some old bullies is just meh.

Thanks for sharing. This sounds a bit disappointing for Giganta's first solo outing(that I'm aware of).

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Basically the Giganta story has her heading back to her home town to lay low with Wonder Woman after her and she runs into a bunch of people she saw back when she was in high school. We are treated to flashbacks of Giganta as a kid being bullied and discover she has a huge chip on her shoulder over it so when she sees a couple of bullies bullying a kid, she goes giant, grabs the two bullies, wedgies them to the flag pole, and destroys the school with all of the students cheering her on.

The Cheetah one was a fair bit more interesting. I must say Ruckas reinterpretation of Barbara Minerva is probably going to become a main stay. An archeologist pops up wanting Cheetah power and cuts off a finger to get it and begs Barbara to let her be her follower. Minerva refuses and the archeologist leaves, pissed. Which is just neat because the woman who approached Cheetah was essentially a less blood thirsty of Barbaras post crisis origin of 'archeologist who wants Cheetah power and murders a man in a sacrificial ritual to get it'

[marhawkman]

Of the various Giganta origins though... "Mad scientist who did experiments to cure her self" is probably the best one.

the idea of her being bullied in high school for being a nerd is simply a logical extension of that.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Personally I enjoy the hyper evolved gorilla Giganta who hated Wonder Woman for 'stealing her baby'

[Pinsir]

I didn't really care for many of these stories, including the Cheetah one. Though I guess this is another Cheetah story that finishes with her getting necked (asphyxiated) by Wonder Woman.

[RepHope]

The Cheetah story was great, the Giganta one was ok.

[kjn]

I thought the Cheetah story was decent; main trouble was that it was two different stories tacked together. The first one with the archeologist/supplicant was good and put some sink-or-swim philosophy into Cheetah; the second half with Wonder Woman on the other hand felt tacked on and didn't do anything I hadn't seen before.

The Giganta story felt like one whole story, and also said something about her relation to the world. I thought it took a strong stance when Giganta became the hero of the story, and tried to mentor the bullied girl with her own experiences as a base. But it also showed how flawed a binary worldview can be.

[marhawkman]

Yeah, a lot of people like painting things as black or white, but that's simplistic and I feel it's lacking in the sort of nuance that makes for properly compelling characters. this is part of why I like non-villainous or mildly villainous antagonists. Sure, they're not going to be a main villain in most stories, but they make for interesting characters since they're people and not abstracts.