What Are The Ingredients For a Great Wonder Woman Run?

[Timothy Hunter]

What did the revered Wonder Woman writers like Marston do right when others did wrong?

[Alpha]

Personally, thinking of Diana as a person with enthusiasm for the world, understanding that feminine identity should be at the heart of what she is talking about, and being full of creativity.

[Nyssane]

1. Depicting Wonder Woman as compassionate and loving, yet also a warrior who is willing to throw down if she has to. She is NOT a bloodthirsty warrior and she does NOT "take care of her enemies" in a murderous way.

2. A modicum of continuity from previous runs. I'm not a huge continuity-stickler, but there should be at least some attempt to retain consistency.

3. Only introducing 1-2 new characters, and not having them as the spotlight. Maggie was the worst culprit from G. Willow Wilson's run, where Diana even says in a panel "This is your story." Uh, no. I didn't pick up a comic titled MAGGIE: WAITRESS WARRIOR did I? And to go along with this ingredient, stop making up random Amazons when Mala, Euboea, Menalippe, Hellene, etc. are rarely ever used.

4. Building upon Wonder Woman's rogues gallery. Introducing a villain here and there is okay, but don't have your whole run be about them and don't try to make someone new into "Wonder Woman's Arch-Nemesis" (I'm looking at you, Grail). Too many writers have been guilty of using their pet villains (White Magician, Devastation, Genocide, Dark Angel, First Born, and The Morrigan all come to mind). But the well-regarded runs are usually ones that build up her established rogues, usually the ones that Marston himself introduced.

5. Good art. I'm accepting of a variety of art styles, but I don't want to see a babyfaced Diana with big pouty lips, or overly cheesecake art. She is THE female superhero, and deserves to be treated with more respect than that.

6. A balance of science and magic. Wonder Woman's a superhero so she should have her superhero adventures, but she's also born of myth and should have mythical adventures as well.

[Amazon Swordsman]

I’m thinking along the lines of older and possible new readers...

1. Strong and consistent characterization. What is it about the characters in the book that you want readers to notice and care about? There’s several premodern and modern themes that can be explored in Wonder Woman.

2. Make her stance and opinions on various topics clear so there’s little ambiguity. Her ideals as a person that inform her heroics, her warrior philosophy would be good to dive into.

3. There’s no need to constantly press the reset button and recreate the wheel to make enemy obstacles for her. A history of her mythos will reveal there are several rogues that can challenge her in a variety of ways, and it’s not a trade off for putting her against villains “of her caliber”.

4. Show and don’t just tell. It’s purely symbolic if people say things like “she’s one of the best melee fighters in the DC universe”, but show nothing that would support that. Don’t just pay lip service to the audience. Show and prove.

5. Don’t lecture the reader

[Perseus]

1. Depicting Wonder Woman as compassionate and loving, yet also a warrior who is willing to throw down if she has to. She is NOT a bloodthirsty warrior and she does NOT "take care of her enemies" in a murderous way.

2. A modicum of continuity from previous runs. I'm not a huge continuity-stickler, but there should be at least some attempt to retain consistency.

3. Only introducing 1-2 new characters, and not having them as the spotlight. Maggie was the worst culprit from G. Willow Wilson's run, where Diana even says in a panel "This is your story." Uh, no. I didn't pick up a comic titled MAGGIE: WAITRESS WARRIOR did I? And to go along with this ingredient, stop making up random Amazons when Mala, Euboea, Menalippe, Hellene, etc. are rarely ever used.

4. Building upon Wonder Woman's rogues gallery. Introducing a villain here and there is okay, but don't have your whole run be about them and don't try to make someone new into "Wonder Woman's Arch-Nemesis" (I'm looking at you, Grail). Too many writers have been guilty of using their pet villains (White Magician, Devastation, Genocide, Dark Angel, First Born, and The Morrigan all come to mind). But the well-regarded runs are usually ones that build up her established rogues, usually the ones that Marston himself introduced.

5. Good art. I'm accepting of a variety of art styles, but I don't want to see a babyfaced Diana with big pouty lips, or overly cheesecake art. She is THE female superhero, and deserves to be treated with more respect than that.

6. A balance of science and magic. Wonder Woman's a superhero so she should have her superhero adventures, but she's also born of myth and should have mythical adventures as well.

This is a pretty solid list I would say. However I would also add...

7. Diana as an action/adventure hero. This is a comic book about a magic woman from a magic island with other magic ladies that live there. I would want excitement and wonder in the stories she's in. No more dull or inconsequential story beats.

8. Diana as a god level powerhouse super hero. Diana needs to be doing more impressive things besides blocking bullets and fighting canon fodder. This is a character that Marston made to be Superman's equal.... if not 100% then dang near close to it. She can bust planets and lasso black holes, survive a super nova, and fight beings like Darkseid. I want to see her at that consistent level, no more street level villains or grounded "realism" action sequences. Lets see her lasso and use a moon as a wrecking ball!

[Gaius]

What Nyssane said.

[Agent 86]

Good writing - both in terms of characterisation and the storyline. Good art - Diana isn’t presented as T&A and doesn’t carry a sword everywhere she goes.

Consistency. If the story and characters can’t be consistent with the broader DCU, then the comic book at least needs to be internally consistent.

Good use of supporting characters - friends and foes.

A novel way to challenge Diana. We know she’s a powerhouse so challenges should be more than just a superpowered punch up. I like to see Diana’s ideals challenged in interesting ways. It’s good to see how Diana can use her compassion and diplomacy to solve problems instead of her fists.

Nods to the broader mythology, like the Amazons if they don’t feature in the story itself.

[Awonder]

I agree with much of what has been said already. To add my two cents:

1- Diana. This is a must; Simone did this very well (imo). I wasn't a big fans of the gorilla's and some other things, but Simone's voice for Diana was so good that I could go along enjoying the story.

2- Good, consistent art. I'm fine with a good book that doesn't have art at all, but if a story does have art, well, bad art can be really jarring and take me out of the story.

3- Don't be Donna. Donna's biggest problem has long been that they keeping changing her backstory; why do they keep doing this with Diana? "Here's your sister, Nubia." "Here's your brother, Jason." "The gods are dead. Oh, now they're not." Few, if any, of these types of changes have worked for me.

4- Keep your editorial-driven crossovers to yourself. How many enjoyable stories have been interrupted by a comic you don't care about?

5- Something old, something new. One thing that I loved about Rucka's first run was the embassy as a setting and how it was used in the stories. I'd never thought of WW in quite that way, but it felt like a perfect fit for the character. It worked well because it, also, used many of her existing foes. I liked the interaction of Veronica Cale trying to make use of Dr. Psycho.

[Zahina]

6. A balance of science and magic. Wonder Woman's a superhero so she should have her superhero adventures, but she's also born of myth and should have mythical adventures as well.

Isn't Wonder Woman a ambassador of the Amazon's values on a mission of peace and diplomacy?

[Perseus]

Isn't Wonder Woman a ambassador of the Amazon's values on a mission of peace and diplomacy?

This is a scenario in which you can have both. Her overall goal is to spread the amazon way of truth, justice, empathy, peace, etc... but she's also a superhero that fights aliens, super criminals, gods and monsters; so yeah she's there as a representative to the outside world but she's also a protector and hero.

[MajorHoy]

I keep seeing the title of this thread and automatically think:

"Sugar and Spice
and Everything Nice"

As opposed to: Frogs and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails

[Timothy Hunter]

Downplay the warrior aspect and play up the ambassador to man's world. I think that the greatest confusion among modern reader's about Wonder Woman today is how she can be a self-proclaimed pacifist while also be portayed as Conan the Barbarian lite. Too frequently Diana is portrayed as the most violent member of the Trinity and the one with the least qualms about killing. In an ideal world, this should be the opposite. Batman is akin to a police officer, Superman is akin to a fire fighter, and Wonder Woman is akin to a teacher. It goes without saying that she can get into fights, this is a superhero comic after all, but only as a last resort. Wonder Woman has been deacribed as an agent of peace, it's time for that to finally mean something.

[Amazon Swordsman]

I forgot to mention this, it kinda plays into the theme of characterization, but I also want to mention getting Diana’s voice right. I’m no WW expert compared to the heavy hitters here, but the little I’ve read of WW, I’ve come to expect a certain “voice”, so to speak. I read her in a very specific voice, and getting that right is important to me. I don’t know if others would agree with me on this, but I feel like there’s only been a handful of writers who really got her “voice” down pretty well.

[Mel Dyer]

1. Non-stop, high-stakes action
2. Strange, amusing side characters
3. Bizarre or exotic, faraway locales
4. Great female villain, with a clear, easily explained motivation
5. One heroic, fiercely independent, straight or pansexual, male character, ..who isn't Steve, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Batman, Flash or Superman

[WonderScott]

1. Diana as a compassionate and political emissary, who’s come to Man’s World to save us from our hate, bigotry, hypocrisy, and selfishness.

2. Diana as a fun-loving adventurer, whose joie de vivre is infectious to many caught in her orbit.

3. A mix of mythological, mystery, sci-fi, superheroic, magical, fantasy, space opera, soap opera, comedy, drama, and supertech elements.

4. Steve Trevor as her paramour and Etta Candy as her best friend co-adventurers.

5. A blend of mythological and costumed superhero allies and adversaries.

6. Themes of the understanding and empowering of minorities, challenging of the status quo, and redeeming evil-doers through words and actions.

7. Bracers and lasso and goddesses given abilities as her main tools in confrontation with her detractors and foes.