Wonder Woman Rogues Gallery Appreciation 2022

[Primal Slayer]

That design is GREAT, I just don't like it for WWs, Circe

[Frontier]

They should've stuck with the longer hair.

Thinking back on it Rucka had a bit of a habit of toning down the Wonder Rogues during his Rebirth revamps. Aside from Cyber.

I love the breastplate, I just wish the rest of the costume matched it in extravagance instead of mostly being plainclothes.

I don't really get the breastplate. I guess it's got her family sigil or her fathers' symbol or something? But armor on Circe seems unecessary.

Neat! I've said plenty about my feelings on this Circe design ("nothing gaudy???" Circe should ONLY be gaudy!!) but I do adore Bilquis Evely's artwork and the details on the vest and jewelry are awesome.

Where did you find this?

Yeah, I don't get the point of a Circe look that's not flamboyant and extra.

[Perseus]

It is an AMAZING design (I even like her with red hair here), just not Circe to me. I do like the breastplate though, should get one commissioned lol. Maybe incorporate the sigils of her family on her necklaces? but on her older design.

[WonderScott]

A great design for a modern look.

It kind of makes me want Kevin Wada to do some fashion designs for the Olympians when they’re hanging out and causing trouble in human guise on Earth.

[WonderScott]

My work is closed tomorrow due to the blizzard affecting the Midwest of the United States, so… a good day to work on my Wonder Woman Series Bible Thingee.

I think I’m going to work on Wade Dazzle, C.O. Lector, Badra and Lya.

[Mel Dyer]

It is an AMAZING design (I even like her with red hair here), just not Circe to me. I do like the breastplate though, should get one commissioned lol. Maybe incorporate the sigils of her family on her necklaces? but on her older design.

This Who-ish Circe in Greg Rucka's Rebirth story turned me from the most vocal Circe-hater on these or any forums to an instant fan.

It left me wanting to see writers explore her Tardis, Aea, ..and rallying for 'Young Circe' backup stories in WW. It's not the WW fandom's fault that the slinky Mishkin and Perez versions were tired, Hollywood cliches, when finally they reached us in the early-mid 80s, ..but they were. I think what Rucka did with her was absolute genius, leaving the door open for James Tynion's JLD 'Witching War' to razor-define her motivation. Making Circe a heroic sorceress princess, betrayed by the mortals she had devoted her life to healing and protecting ..was a great platform for future stories.

Phil Jimenez tried to pull together that mess of a backstory she had in a way that made her a natural enemy of the Amazons. As I see it, he just couldn't make that work in a compelling way, that made any sense, ..leaving Circe even more of a layered mess. The SUPERMAN-WONDER WOMAN added something about Amazons buying weapons from Circe and some ensuing betrayal, by them - a clear, but lukewarm fix, at best.

The betrayal she endured in Tynion's story stretches beyond the borders of Colchis. The Colchistines married her off to a wealthy, Greek king - in classical times, he'd have to have been a warrior and conqueror - who abused her...then turned on her and literally chased her into Hell, when she killed him. Prior to that, classical lit tells us Circe was renowned throughout the world for her healing abilities; so, imagine people coming from all over the world to be healed by her. Did she roam the Netherworld's darkest realms, learning the darkest magicks, before the Olympians imprisoned her on Aea? Her betrayal by the Colchistines would be a footnote in a larger, much darker narrative, ..one that would consume her in contempt for all mankind...

An obsession with our torment, subjugation and eventual destruction. If we're to follow Amazon creed, Circe's determination to subdue mankind, like beasts under her rule, is where she crosses paths with Wonder Woman, and I think that's easy enough to follow.

I'll always think Circe finding her unnamed, Greek hero husband's abuse had killed her unborn child or children - through sorcery, knowing the instant it happened - that drove her to slaughter him, like a pig. Tynion did not make that distinction, but, I've always hoped some writer would pick up that thread and set it ablaze.

Rebirth Circe, weird Ottoman-inspired attire or smartly Who-ish, deserves her revenge AND a limited series, exploiting her new, layered background. What potential she has, now!

Ok it's not THE worst but it's one of them.

Diet Vader and Grampa War have had their moments. I'd welcome a quirky, Dune-ish, Felliniesque Mars back, like that! LOL

[Primal Slayer]

E2 Cheetah...SMART

[Perseus]

This Who-ish Circe in Greg Rucka's Rebirth story turned me from the most vocal Circe-hater on these or any forums to an instant fan.

It left me wanting to see writers explore her Tardis, Aea, ..and rallying for 'Young Circe' backup stories in WW. It's not the WW fandom's fault that the slinky Mishkin and Perez versions were tired, Hollywood cliches, when finally they reached us in the early-mid 80s, ..but they were. I think what Rucka did with her was absolute genius, leaving the door open for James Tynion's JLD 'Witching War' to razor-define her motivation. Making Circe a heroic sorceress princess, betrayed by the mortals she had devoted her life to healing and protecting ..was a great platform for future stories.

Phil Jimenez tried to pull together that mess of a backstory she had in a way that made her a natural enemy of the Amazons. As I see it, he just couldn't make that work in a compelling way, that made any sense, ..leaving Circe even more of a layered mess. The SUPERMAN-WONDER WOMAN added something about Amazons buying weapons from Circe and some ensuing betrayal, by them - a clear, but lukewarm fix, at best.

The betrayal she endured in Tynion's story stretches beyond the borders of Colchis. The Colchistines married her off to a wealthy, Greek king - in classical times, he'd have to have been a warrior and conqueror - who abused her...then turned on her and literally chased her into Hell, when she killed him. Prior to that, classical lit tells us Circe was renowned throughout the world for her healing abilities; so, imagine people coming from all over the world to be healed by her. Did she roam the Netherworld's darkest realms, learning the darkest magicks, before the Olympians imprisoned her on Aea? Her betrayal by the Colchistines would be a footnote in a larger, much darker narrative, ..one that would consume her in contempt for all mankind...

An obsession with our torment, subjugation and eventual destruction. If we're to follow Amazon creed, Circe's determination to subdue mankind, like beasts under her rule, is where she crosses paths with Wonder Woman, and I think that's easy enough to follow.

I'll always think Circe finding her unnamed, Greek hero husband's abuse had killed her unborn child or children - through sorcery, knowing the instant it happened - that drove her to slaughter him, like a pig. Tynion did not make that distinction, but, I've always hoped some writer would pick up that thread and set it ablaze.

Rebirth Circe, weird Ottoman-inspired attire or smartly Who-ish, deserves her revenge AND a limited series, exploiting her new, layered background. What potential she has, now!





Diet Vader and Grampa War have had their moments. I'd welcome a quirky, Dune-ish, Felliniesque Mars back, like that! LOL

Buddy, I don't think I've ever agreed with your takes. But I was just talking about her DESIGN, not her whole ass character arc. Like, relax.

And you are never going to convince me that what you just posted for Ares is better than what we have, like sorry not a fan, not my taste.

[Gaius]

Main thing I miss is the purple hair if I'm honest.

[bardkeep]

It's not the WW fandom's fault that the slinky Mishkin and Perez versions were tired, Hollywood cliches, when finally they reached us in the early-mid 80s, ..but they were. I think what Rucka did with her was absolute genius, leaving the door open for James Tynion's JLD 'Witching War' to razor-define her motivation. Making Circe a heroic sorceress princess, betrayed by the mortals she had devoted her life to healing and protecting ..was a great platform for future stories.

I've really enjoyed Circe's arc since Rebirth as well, just not a fan of the new aesthetic.

Though counterpoint on the Hollywood cliché...doesn't matter, we love a sexy vain witch.

And you are never going to convince me that what you just posted for Ares is better than what we have, like sorry not a fan, not my taste.

We've got a no on Diet Vader and no on the classic Mars design...clearly it's time for hot fuckboy Ares to make his triumphant return.

[Perseus]

OHHH, I just realized that Lyta, Circe's one-time daughter with Ares, who has been absent this whole time could use this breastplate design, that be cool. Keep the general look, long hair (sometimes tided up) and breastplate with the symbols but on a different character. We keep the sexy Circe look and this new one. Lyta could be older now, possibly an ally to Diana, idk but a thought.

[Perseus]

We've got a no on Diet Vader and no on the classic Mars design...clearly it's time for hot fuckboy Ares to make his triumphant return.

I would also be into this. And for totally mature and not devilish reasons.

And we have to stop with this Diet Vader crap, like he's closer to Sauron than Vader.

[Gaius]

I've really enjoyed Circe's arc since Rebirth as well, just not a fan of the new aesthetic.

Though counterpoint on the Hollywood cliché...doesn't matter, we love a sexy vain witch.



We've got a no on Diet Vader and no on the classic Mars design...clearly it's time for hot fuckboy Ares to make his triumphant return.

Love the detail Jimenez included on the last one of the hilt of the sword being the design of the old Perez helmet.

[bardkeep]

OHHH, I just realized that Lyta, Circe's one-time daughter with Ares, who has been absent this whole time could use this breastplate design, that be cool. Keep the general look, long hair (sometimes tided up) and breastplate with the symbols but on a different character. We keep the sexy Circe look and this new one. Lyta could be older now, possibly an ally to Diana, idk but a thought.

I could get down with that for sure, though I'd miss her lighter purple hair.

Love the detail Jimenez included on the last one of the hilt of the sword being the design of the old Perez helmet.

Omg! I don't know how I didn't notice that, it's absolutely amazing. Truly the most Phil Jimenez-y design choice of all time.

[Mel Dyer]

Buddy, I don't think I've ever agreed with your takes. But I was just talking about her DESIGN, not her whole ass character arc. Like, relax.

And you are never going to convince me that what you just posted for Ares is better than what we have, like sorry not a fan, not my taste.

Oh no, witcher...

I'm sorry that I left your quote attached to my comment...seriously. I started writing a response to something you typed, then completely forgot about it - more sorry I left you with the misunderstanding ..that I needed you to agree with something.

Sorry, buddy.

I posted James Tynion's revision of Circe's beginning, for the same reason I always post it. I posted it, because not everybody's been reading the comic, since 1986, ..or long enough to have read Tynion's Circe story in Justice League Dark or anything before Zero Hour, which gave us Disco Diva Circe ..and simply don't know this new, marvelously coherent origin! Nothing there for you to agree with, Witcher...

Obviously or less than obviously wasn't for you, then.

Anyway, Greg Rucka's Doctor Who inspired, wander-weary Circe is perfect prologue to Tynion's. They make sense. Her jaded POV and pessimistic regard for man's inhumanity to man, starting with her, AND why that should be especially problematic for Wonder Woman ..makes sense in a way her stories never did, before Rebirth.

Something else we might have missed, not keeping the Tynion story in mind - I certainly missed it...a dark, feminist twist, entirely fitting for a WW super-villainess. While the Colchistines, high and low, celebrated Circe for her brilliance and care for them, her divine mother qualities, it seems their adulation for a Greek king - a man - was greater. It was worship, the classical Greek world reserved for male heroes, that left them more than happy to marry her off to him, with no regard for how he abused her. I think this new wrinkle honors the feminist struggle in Circe's classical story and surpasses it, even.

So, Circe isn't a foppish, pee-oed party girl, anymore, ..or a slinky, female Dracula ..or a female Joker, with sorcerous ability. She's something much more sophisticated, now, ..while at once, also being a much more clearly articulated character - a refreshingly simpler and darker Circe. More than cartoonish hatred or jealousy or resentment or whatever WOGs was about ..informs her enmity with Wonder Woman, because someone bothered to make it make sense. Rucka and Tynion gave us a Circe worthy of respect...

And that's just my opinion. You don't have to agree with or understand any of that, either.

As much as I love George Perez, his Ares is never going to escape or outgrow the shadows of his betters - Darkseid, Darth Vader, a black hair dryer - enough for anyone outside of our fandom ..to care. The most we can hope for is that some imaginative writer will throw out the status quo and recreate him, as an entirely different character...motivation, tactics, all of it.

Phil Jimenez's recent, more mature work on Ares is certainly a step in the right and a more promising (I hope) direction.