I didn't know we were attacking each other for our lists - lists of fictional comic book characters, we were invited to make and were HAPPY to make. I posted a list like anyone else's, no better or worse than anyone else's, but...
This is a
teachable moment, ..especially for male Wonderfans, who post here.
There's some things that need to be said openly, even if they go in one, self-flagellating man-ear, and right out the other! Ha! What the teachable part? Free men, all biologies and all orientations, who work hard as any woman for their families' happiness ..and for our own, don't owe us anything, aren't required to take suffer for membership in our fan community ..and don't deserve to be punished for the Western world's continuing struggle toward freedom and equality among the sexes.
Being male, traditionally masculine and a Wonder Woman fan doesn't consign you to regular platters of crap, for expressing your ideas in this forum. No
Diana I every loved reading would stand for that, and neither will I.
I'm sorry, Scott. This thread really looked like fun, and it's BEEN fun, when you first posted it. All we need to do is treat each other with a modicum of intelligence and respect, and we could all have such a great time, with each other. All we wanted to do is post a list of our ideal Wonder Family and cheer each other on - it's JUST a comic! Why couldn't we just do that?
In advance...sorry, Scott. That said, my list stands
unchanged, with NO apologies.
And let me tell you something about Hunter Prince. He is a morose, post-feminist self-hating male...worse - a self-hating Superman!
His whole deal is being a Superman-level hero, tormented by what he perceives to be his mother's rejection of his gender. He's got all the power any male of any sexual orientation would dream of having, but can't enjoy it or be celebrated for it, because his masculinity isn't validated by Mama, and his sorority with the Amazons is an accident of his birth. Free, empowered women and their conscious male allies and other self-hating, apologetic men don't have to control or punish this 'Hercules', because his whole existence is a punishment! Misandrists men and women think all men must be controlled and punished; in their eyes, that's the PRICE Hunter has to pay to be a male Wonder. As I see it, that's the only reason he gets any traction with our fan community, ..many of whom hold misandrist beliefs.
Why does a Wonder Man or Wonder Boy have to suffer, as much as Hunter suffers, for his wonder-power and place in the family? Did Virbius Rex, ..even before his resurrection by the goddess Artemis?
I used to think Hunter was so cool, because of his awesome, Shazam-level powers, being Diana's SON [Wow!]...and a male Amazon? I was really excited about the possibilities of this character, before I figured out he's basically sad Superman. He's tormented by his origin, so he's safe and non-threatening to manhaters and self-flagellating, post-feminist men. Sorry...not participating in the unnecessary demonization of strong men or even all men, ..knowing it to be just as wasteful and destructive as oppression and demonization of free women.
I'm a proud, fifty-plus, liberal, multicultural, stridently heterosexual, post-feminist man. As a boy, with a Big Jack action figure in one hand and a Bionic Man in the other, ..I cheered on the bra-burning, picket sign carrying Women's Lib Movement, the real Wonder-women - an eye witness to it, every day! I know men, who loved those women...grew up with sons they raised, who honor them with hard work, that supports their families and empowers their wives and daughters - men, who bust their humps every day for someone else's happiness - EVERY day. I know men, who nurture their children and their friends, support disabled neighbors and elders and get next to no appreciation for it, from Oprah or anybody else - heroes in silence, no talk show topic...no fanfare. So, I don't need to rally around a sick, self-hating Superman fantasy for kicks...
And that's all Hunter has to offer us. Thanks, ..but no thanks.
Next to Egg Fu and Doctor Poison, I Ching [Ching Ai, properly?] ..is the most important and well-known Asian character in WW comics. Like any potentially great comic character, he can only shine with time and development, and he's had more of that in the Batman comics, than at home in WW. Proud of my selection, proud of I Ching and wouldn't change it for the world...
But you
bring up whoever you want, Kori, and I will bring up whoever I bloody well please. How's that?
I have no idea what makes you think [Are you thinking or obsessing?] that there weren't two or three different DCU accountings of Hercules, before Perez's rape/punishment/redemption story, ..just as there have been multiple accountings of scheming murderess Queen Hippolyta, sex pirate Amazons, black twin Nubia, mass-murdering Circe, heterosexual Achilles and whoever. Why you choose to look past the Harley Quinns, Circes, Silver Swans and even Cheetahs, to obsess over Hercules, is your problem - keep it your problem and don't make it mine.
While nobody could be more THRILLED about Cheetah joining the cast, which is the BEST since World War II, ..and I own total hypocrisy on THAT, ..I'm also cheering on George Perez's Hercules, who stood with the Amazons and led them into battle against their worst enemy, Circe, in WOGs. Long before that, in the Silver Age - the post-Crisis realism of 'Herakles', decades in the future - he was a fairy godfather sprinkling magic strength over infant Wonder Woman's cradle, ..willing that she would be more powerful and a greater legend, than ever he could have been. I celebrate him for that - you don't have to, preferring to punish ALL traditionally masculine men, who don't genuflect to female superiority, and who don't suffer or apologize for wielding great power.
God forbid they ever enjoy it...?
Anyway, Hercules has a long, complex and conflicting presence in the Wonderverse. He devoted his great strength (not as great as in Shazam comics)...pledged it to his struggling Amazon cousins, to call upon whenever they should need it - amazing! That is a testament to the transformative power of the Amazons, greater than any in the Wonder mythos, written by a beloved WW artist and storyteller, ..if you're not up to your neck in misandry.
I have no idea what makes you think you have to approve of mine or anyone else's 'ideal' Wonder family members - fictional characters in a comic book. Here's an idea...
You [?] ..don't.
Hercules might be the least likely of heroes to be honored among the Amazons - he was - or be moved enough by their struggle to lead them into battle. He did, though, and it was glorious, ..and I think he woud do it again.
So Hercules is on my list.