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

[Joao]

Finally read this and WOW, the Cheetah story! Better than anything Robinson has done in all those issue. Ayala is a talent to pay attention to. Especially cause DC sometimes give this experimental issues to test people for longer jobs (as it was with Bilquis Evely).

Loved the archaeologist going after Barbara Ann. Do you guys remember the students' faces during her class in Year One? The woman is famous for her work, y'all. And to see that she still has that passion deep inside her, even as a beast... It moved me. I liked it so much that I wish the young girl turned into a regular in the main title. Very unlikely to happen though.

And Diana's hug to calm Barbara down will ever appeal to me. Such a unique, Wonder Woman way to finish a battle.

[Pinsir]

A lot of the issues I had with these stories are the same ones that afflict a lot of modern super villain origin stories; authors attempt to provide tragic origins to villains. In this issue alone we got one for Giganta and Gorrilla Grodd, which I don't think adds much to their character. In the original Marston story for Giganta, she was just power hungry and her ambitions cause substantial harm to humanity.

I understand the reasoning why authors do this, but if you look at the number of villains with tragic backstories in the issue as a whole (Black Manta, maybe Mr. Freeze, maybe Joker, Cheetah) it looks ridiculous.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

A lot of the issues I had with these stories are the same ones that afflict a lot of modern super villain origin stories; authors attempt to provide tragic origins to villains. In this issue alone we got one for Giganta and Gorrilla Grodd, which I don't think adds much to their character. In the original Marston story for Giganta, she was just power hungry and her ambitions cause substantial harm to humanity.

I understand the reasoning why authors do this, but if you look at the number of villains with tragic backstories in the issue as a whole (Black Manta, maybe Mr. Freeze, maybe Joker, Cheetah) it looks ridiculous.

Eh? Giganta was introduced with a dead child as part of her backstory and we first meet her when shes kidnapping Steves niece who she thinks is her child only for Wonder Woman to 'steal her baby' It wouldn't be until later writers decades down the line in the 80s and 90s where Giganta was a power hungry bully

[RepHope]

Double post

[RepHope]

A lot of the issues I had with these stories are the same ones that afflict a lot of modern super villain origin stories; authors attempt to provide tragic origins to villains. In this issue alone we got one for Giganta and Gorrilla Grodd, which I don't think adds much to their character. In the original Marston story for Giganta, she was just power hungry and her ambitions cause substantial harm to humanity.

I understand the reasoning why authors do this, but if you look at the number of villains with tragic backstories in the issue as a whole (Black Manta, maybe Mr. Freeze, maybe Joker, Cheetah) it looks ridiculous.

I thought it was fine here but in general I agree. Dead parents, abusive parents, bullied as kids, dead lovers, it’s all too overused these days. I prefer greed or selfishness or entitlement personally.

[Totalwar1402]

I really liked the Giganta story. It was quite fun and light hearted. Personally I feel like the character has been in the wilderness for a while. They shoe horned her into the Pandora comics run and she really hasn't shown up in a big way during a WW comic. She literally gets knocked out and then has a little heart to heart with Steve in prison. So getting anything with her is great.

Obviously theres a few bits of clunky dialogue and how did she randomly show up at her home town. But those are minor complaints.

What I liked is that its pretty clear that shes not a monster like Cheetah who wants to "destroy the table". She has enough empathy to connect with a stranger and help them. The problem is that because she has had that hard life, she is too much of narcissist to believe that she can't be anything different. Which is why she only looks out for herself and has few qualms about being a criminal.

I also thought it was neat to play on the notion that she is an ordinary girl from a small town who had to deal with the cruel realities of everyday life. Whereas Wonder Woman is a perfect Goddess who is lecturing her and hasn't had to deal with those problems. It would be nice if they had WW perspective on the character.

Now IMO its pretty implicit that the character is misjudging herself. Why help a stranger if your life philosophy revolves around only caring about number 1? Why be ready to leave these folks alone? Ostensibly she is a supervillain alone in a small town, she could have killed everyone there and flattened the town had she been inclined. But instead she just knocks down an empty building and hangs two guys from a pole. Which again reinforces that she isn't a monster.


I quite like the orange and steel colours on her costume. At least with how it was drawn in this one. Personally not been a fan of the New 52 look, personally preferred the one before that where she had the full body suit. Plus I've liked the character from the animated show so I prefer when shes not a body builder. She still noticeably taller even at normal height and athletic which is a good look.

Personally I think the main issue with Giganta is that she needs to have some sort of motivation or goal and to have more interaction with WW. At present she is basically a goon who shows up for WW to one punch.