Wilson Wonder Woman Run: Analysis and Enjoyment Thread

[kjn]

Inspired by the similar thread over in the Batman forum. I'm stealing millernumber1's introduction, and will try to post some of my theories and thougts going forward.

I'd like to try to get a conversation thread for fans who are generally enjoying Wilson's run. Obviously, we can't enforce Appreciation thread rules, but I would counsel that if a wholly negative post is entered into the thread, that instead of getting derailed, the conversation just part around it and continue to discuss the things we think are interesting and enjoyable.

I don't intend this as a wholly appreciative thread, either. There are some stuff in Wilson's run which I haven't enjoyed, some plots which I think have holes, sadly a lot of art that I didn't respond to. But on the whole, I think there should be a place for people to talk about the book which isn't just a bunch of "she cannot grasp the character at all", "creator's pets" "good riddance to her" etc.

Constructive criticism is welcome; prejudiced pet theories or blanket negative statements are not.

Hope to see people in here soon!

[Gaelforce]

<ahem>

You can have a GWW Appreciation thread if you want

[kjn]

<ahem>

You can have a GWW Appreciation thread if you want

Thing is, I enjoy constructive criticism and discussing creative flaws as long as it's not negatively focused!

[AmiMizuno]

I don’t know a lot of the plots don’t often tie themselves together. She often made Diana not able to fight on her own. She always didn’t help. It’s meh at times. Nothing bad it was okay. She added people instead of using what she had. It’s fine but the fact Diana never gets a chance to actually have a stable cast is terrible. She made a lot of the character whine

[kjn]

I don’t know a lot of the plots don’t often tie themselves together. She often made Diana not able to fight on her own. She always didn’t help. It’s meh at times. Nothing bad it was okay. She added people instead of using what she had. It’s fine but the fact Diana never gets a chance to actually have a stable cast is terrible. She made a lot of the character whine

*ahem*

Lets start with Diana, she is after all the hero and the protagonist here. I think Wilson's characterisation of her is partly an attempt to interrogate the idea of a superheroic vigilante who is founded on the idea of love and compassion, partly an attempt to critique the way many late versions of Diana has been made more violent and more dependant on weapons (aka Xenafication).

There is a metafictional aspect to Ares's words to Diana back in #59, about innocence and being a bystander to atrocities. The words are not only meant for Diana as a character, but for the writers who continually recreate her. Other characters continue with this critique of Diana's actions and priorities, like Damon's calling out of that Diana is a privileged person in Man's World ("being invulnerable and immortal takes a toll on one's perspective") in#63, or Giganta's pointed question to Diana on why she wasn't happy.

I really doubt that it's Wilson trying to throw shade at Diana, or misrepresents her. Rather, I think Wilson is attempting to critique the way Diana usually has been written, but she's doing it in-story. A lot of her depictions of Diana where she appears off-center in the first arcs (up to when she finds the Amazons again) is because Wilson is not reversing Xenafication, but doubles down on it so she can expose it and correct it later to greater narrative effect. The key moment here is that Wilson also shows Diana as happy, back when she finds the Amazons again.

[kjn]

Next topic: the gods, that is Aphrodite, Ares, and Atlantiades.

Here, let me open with a piece of words from Diana written by Rucka, from the Wonder Woman 75th Anniversary Special

When we talk about the Patrons… outside of my culture, when the Patrons are discussed, they are always discussed as… they are granted an omnipotence that they do not have.

I think, perhaps, this is a result of the blurring of concepts of divinity versus godhood. There is a larger discussion to be had there, where a Judeo-Christian, monotheistic deity is presented as omnipotent, and may well be.

The Patrons are as—no, they are more flawed than—the people you will meet on the street. Thus they are as capable of, if not more capable because of their power, all the mendacity and cruelty and pettiness that you encounter in day-to-day life.

I have some quibbles with some of the word choices here, but it's neither here nor there. The point is that the way the Greek gods are usually depicted in modern culture are usually as wise beings and with a heavy emphasis on morality and of good and evil, and that has shaped nearly every depiction of them in Wonder Woman as well. Put another way, our view of most polytheistic gods have been thorougly shaped by Christian monotheism. But that's not how the Greeks saw them, or how most polytheistic cultures saw their gods. I don't think Rucka managed to break free of this Christianised view of the gods, but Wilson did.

The Ares that Wilson presents isn't only war: he is an expression of rage, fear, and passion. War follows him not because he wants war, but because war is one of the strongest communal expressions of those emotions.

Aphrodite is even more interesting. When was the last time she played a major role in the Wonder Woman title? And this despite Marston presenting her as the most important goddess to Diana and the Amazons. Wilson's Aphrodite is beautiful, passionate, fickle, wise, powerful, petty, and with some serious blind spots. And her death at the hands of Cheetah is shown as having real and powerful consequences for both the world and Wonder Woman.

Atlantiades is, to me, the best addition to Wonder Woman's cast since I don't know when. They are uninhibited but with a giant chip on their shoulders due to the way they were treated as a child. The relation between them and Aphrodite is a hot mess of love and anger.

I must also point out the way that Diana relates to the gods. She is not their follower or supplicant or agent. The relationship is way more complex than that. The gods have insight into her character that she herself may lack, but they cannot fix any of the problems they find. At the same time, the gods are primal emotional or elemental forces, and Diana are in lots of ways more mature than them. They respond more to passion than to reason, despite the way they talk, and that's shown in how Diana addresses them as well. For all the gods—not only Ares—Diana realises she has to give them a real good jolt before there is a chance they will listen.

[AmiMizuno]

I mean it's fine but whether it be the editorial staff or Wilson herself all of their symbolize still have issues that didn't really work. For example, why should the death of one love goddess end all love? Now it would make sense if the people around Diana can't feel love around Diana. Not that all the world lost loves. We never get how the Greek gods affected the other worlds.