Quote Originally Posted by Tzigone View Post
I find the cursed sympathetic character rather generic, too - was new (or newly cycled back into fashion) and fresh once, but that was long ago. Can't deny the popularity of the trope, but I'm not into it and really tired of villains having personal connections to heroes before they were villains/heroes. Especially retconned ones (though not an issue in full reboots), since they contradict/twist previously established events. Even if you were going to make her the sympathetic type, I'd have preferred Diana learning, and being stunned by, the truth of her backstory several years down the road. Though I understand the difficulties of that from a writing perspective.

Gotta say, I still prefer the early post-COIE version over sympathetic Etta-girlfriend one. I mean, there were notable problems there, too, but all in all.
I think it works because while Perez's Minerva was cool and creepy, an easily grasped motivation and connection to Diana never materialized. You always knew what Priscilla's deal was. Rebirth took the best elements of both and combined them into one much better character (though I think the Alex Ross update for Priscilla could work on its own as well). It's a cliche, but most of these characters are the ones who invented the cliches in the genre. Diana did know Priscilla a bit before she turned, so this is really an expansion on an older concept being re-worked into a modern version.

Quote Originally Posted by Psy-lock View Post
The thing I dislike about Barbara being Diana's first/best friend is that this role is supposed to belong to Etta Candy. Without it she doesn't have a strong connection to Diana aside from being Barbara's girlfriend. And Julia also becomes utterly superfluous, and as a result WW's supporting cast is smaller and less interesting. I also didn't like that the other villains were responsible for her transformation into Cheetah. It makes her a victim of manipulation, instead of a victim of her own bad choices. Perez' version is still my favorite, she had just the right amount of tragedy and evilness to be a compelling villain, but the subsequent writers kind of wasted her.
There is that problem with Etta and while I'm not wild about Rebirth Etta in general (a lot of her scenes could be swapped out with Michaelis and Darnell and you'd not notice the difference), the focus on Julia in the Perez run created the exact same issue. Diana and Etta were never as close as they should have been in the post-Crisis era. The main thing I'd change in post-Crisis and Rebirth is swapping out Etta with her Holliday Girl incarnation, who actually is distinct.

Julia wouldn't have to be superfluous at all though. Barbara was only with Diana for a little more than a year before she was cursed. No reason at all that Julia can't be brought in as her replacement and they could form their own unique bond. It was on Robinson that we got what we got.

I wouldn't say Barbara was completely manipulated. She had choices along the way she could have made that she didn't. Diana warned her and she didn't listen. Cale and Godwatch gave her the funds and kept Diana out of the way, but they may have just sped up the inevitable. Comments from Urzkartaga indicate that he and Barbara made a bargain and it only went south when he discovered she wasn't a virgin and so cursed her, but before that she was on board. Later she "surrenders" herself to Cale when there is no immediate need to do so because she wants the Cheetah power back without the drawbacks and is willing to believe Veronica's lie, and then puts all the blame on her and denies her own actions. She's not a reliable narrator and deflects blame onto others for some stuff that is her own fault.