Quote Originally Posted by witchboy View Post
On the whole discussion of Perez's effect on Steve, it feels like that it's a dated issue too of a strong woman not being able to have a relationship - like it's a choice, she can be strong, or she can have a man/love, but not both. I can't help but see a parallel with Star Trek Voyager and Janeway. Kate Mulgrew opposed letting Janeway have an ongoing relationship because she was it as something that could weaken the character. So that may be seen as an attitude that was part of that late 80s/90s era.
So not only did Perez erase the Steve and Diana romance, he didn't let Diana have any noteworthy romance. Other writers tried to do something with Diana's love life, Trevor Barnes comes to mind, and the name clearly was an homage to Steve Trevor - and it was daring at the time for Diana to have an interracial relationship - but her love life didn't really take off until Steve was returned in New 52, which I'll grudgingly admit is one of the few things New 52 did right.
I think aging Steve up was a short-term benefit, long term negative thing. It was an interesting route to take him at the time considering how Steve had been used for decades before that and also removed the whole “Diana falls in love with the first man she sees” thing. But long term it did end up contributing to her supporting cast being less consistent than other characters. Though that’s as much other writers as was Perez.