WW '87 - The Perez Era General Discussion

[Agent Z]

Another aspect that hasn't aged well is how the Amazons are victim blamed for taking revenge on Heracles's men.

Historia thankfully avoids this despite obviously pulling some influences from Perez.

[Agent Z]

Thoughts on how Perez drew Vanessa?

[DisneyBoy]

I feel like that panel is a weird photo because it doesn't really capture the features Perez typically gave Nessie...but yeah, I liked her design. She had a more pronounced nose in profile and was thin and like a typical teenager.

It was strange seeing her "grown-up" version later in the Jimenez run because her features seemed to have changed a bit. Obviously Phil is a fantastic artist and even going by the above picture, Perez sometimes changed her looks slightly here and there as well. But I liked the more distinctive, less typically "comic book pretty" Vanessa.

The character was so believably written. Flawed, selfish, loving, frightened, judgemental, compassionate, loyal...everything a young teen can be at that age.

[kcekada]

Decay was the first WW villain I ever saw that truly caught my eye with her striking looks and interesting powers. I also wish she was brought back, or revamped, or resurrected or whatnot.

Oh yeah. You'd think modern writers would reference Perez's run more since it was easily her the most successful WW run, post-Crisis.

[kcekada]

I feel like that panel is a weird photo because it doesn't really capture the features Perez typically gave Nessie...but yeah, I liked her design. She had a more pronounced nose in profile and was thin and like a typical teenager.

Something is off. I wonder if that was Perez inking Chris Marrinan -- the guy who took over art when George was only writing.

[Lightning Rider]

I've been making my way through each volume (on 6 now) and I've been blown away by Perez's run. It's one thing to hear people rave about it, another to experience it.

The sincerity with which he writes Diana is so well done, and the Kapatelis ladies are some of my favorite supporting characters in comics. A lot of women get strong voices in this run from different perspectives. I'm also a huge fan of Greek mythology and love the weight and gravitas he gave the Olympian gods. Very creative.

Even more importantly, I love seeing Diana really committed to her mission. The first new visitors to Themyscira and Hippolyta's visit to the UN felt like truly larger than life world events, in a way you can't really do with many other super heroes.

And of course, so many memorable villains. No shortage of ideas and rich themes. Even the imperfect or outdated aspects have an inherent worth going forward for her mythos.

Just great writing and world-building overall.

[John Venus]

Another aspect that hasn't aged well is how the Amazons are victim blamed for taking revenge on Heracles's men.

Historia thankfully avoids this despite obviously pulling some influences from Perez.

TBF the Amazons being victim blamed is something that was also present in the Marston run. Perez kept it but acknowledged the problematic aspect by having Pentheselia break away from the Amazons to form her own tribe.

Historia is the first time that we got a retelling that didn't carry it over.

[Dream Boy]

I grew up a pre-Crisis Wonder Woman fan so, when this first came out, I remember finding it so jarring. Steve older? Married to Etta? Boston? Vanessa and Julia!?!? It was a little bit much and it came at a time that I just stopped reading comics in general. so, I figured I had outgrown and was over them. A few years later, I found myself drawn back, started reading again, collecting the back issues I missed and fell in love with this run. Despite the changes to my childhood faves, I really felt that Perez brought many things that I really liked:

- Fleshing out the Amazons' origins. His Hippolyta was the best.
- Creating a tragic and terrifying Cheetah
- Diana as so sweet and naive
- Diana rehabilitating foes like the Silver Swan (I have always felt that we should see more of Diana's foes become friends after tangling with her)
- The Bana
- Myndi

Lots of really good stuff. It was a labor of love and you could certainly tell.

[Mel Dyer]

Ares is the biggest letdown, coming out of the George Perez Era, ..and it's not Perez's fault, certainly. Perez left a small array of interesting ideas on the table - Areopagus, Eris, Terror and Fear - any of which might have been developed into a world around Ares, comparable to Mongo or Apokolips. Instead, Ares is basically the same big pile of blueberry hot wind, he was at the end of the 80s. He stomps around in his period armor, blustering in Elizabethan-inspired English, ..glaring at us with the red-coal eyes, but never really doing anything particularly consequential on a global or cosmic scale.

He doesn't even amount to as consistently big a threat, as Trigon. Diet Vader. What a waste...

And, again, no fault of Perez's.

[Agent Z]

I grew up a pre-Crisis Wonder Woman fan so, when this first came out, I remember finding it so jarring. Steve older? Married to Etta? Boston? Vanessa and Julia!?!? It was a little bit much and it came at a time that I just stopped reading comics in general. so, I figured I had outgrown and was over them. A few years later, I found myself drawn back, started reading again, collecting the back issues I missed and fell in love with this run. Despite the changes to my childhood faves, I really felt that Perez brought many things that I really liked:

- Fleshing out the Amazons' origins. His Hippolyta was the best.
- Creating a tragic and terrifying Cheetah
- Diana as so sweet and naive
- Diana rehabilitating foes like the Silver Swan (I have always felt that we should see more of Diana's foes become friends after tangling with her)
- The Bana
- Myndi

Lots of really good stuff. It was a labor of love and you could certainly tell.

If I may ask, what did you like about the Bana?

[Mel Dyer]

You remember Shim'tar and the Banazons, Z. The lost city in the shifting, undulating sands of North Africa?

[Imagine only ONE, single 'baño' in that whole kingdom...way out in the desert? Now, that really would be sisterhood. Heh!]

[DisneyBoy]

Ares is the biggest letdown, coming out of the George Perez Era, ..and it's not Perez's fault, certainly. Perez left a small array of interesting ideas on the table - Areopagus, Eris, Terror and Fear - any of which might have been developed into a world around Ares, comparable to Mongo or Apokolips. Instead, Ares is basically the same big pile of blueberry hot wind, he was at the end of the 80s. He stomps around in his period armor, blustering in Elizabethan-inspired English, ..glaring at us with the red-coal eyes, but never really doing anything particularly consequential on a global or cosmic scale.

He doesn't even amount to as consistently big a threat, as Trigon. Diet Vader. What a waste...

And, again, no fault of Perez's.

I suppose that's fair, but I guess it all depends on what you want to see from a "main" villain. I agree the world around Ares could have been developed better. He is essentially a one-man show in spite of all the bits and pieces Perez introduced...but he's also the representation of war. Does he need to be more active to play that part? They tried that idea on Justice League Unlimited and it came off kind of silly.

Diana has other villains to punch and lock up. She can tussle with Cheetah or Circe or anyone else. I don't really mind Ares being off to the side a bit and grand.