Cassie sandsmark appreciation 2024

[Psy-lock]

Yeah, but that was awesome, and I loved it. Why do you hate it?

Why do I hate that a sidekick of the feminist superhero was reduced to "the girlfriend"? Hmm...I wonder.

IS she being written as a teenager or a young woman? 'cause the Conner thing? In THAT story she was explicitly over 18.
to me those stories felt like "woman in 20s" as well. So the way she was drawn MADE SENSE.

I don’t know which story it is, but it's the same outfit she had in the New 52, where she was certainly not 20. And no matter what age, this "armor" is still ugly and OOC

[Koriand'r]

Why do I hate that a sidekick of the feminist superhero was reduced to "the girlfriend"? Hmm...I wonder.



I don’t know which story it is, but it's the same outfit she had in the New 52, where she was certainly not 20. And no matter what age, this "armor" is still ugly and OOC

I honestly don't think so. The ugly part was the writing, not the art.

[Primal Slayer]

I beg to differ. It all started with the silly midriff. That's also when her personality (outside of WW book) became "Conner's girlfriend".





I have no problem with her current look.

That outfit isn't sexy or britney spears. Mid-rifs were in. High school cheerleaders/dancers wear more revealing costumes

[Psy-lock]

I honestly don't think so. The ugly part was the writing, not the art.

I don’t know, I think the art and the writing were very complementary.

That outfit isn't sexy or britney spears. Mid-rifs were in. High school cheerleaders/dancers wear more revealing costumes

Cassie is no cheerleader though, she's the nerdy girl. The outfit may not be in-your-face sexy, but it's more revealing than her previous ones and was the first step to what came later. And the way she was often drawn in that era didn't help.

[Koriand'r]

I don’t know, I think the art and the writing were very complementary.



Cassie is no cheerleader though, she's the nerdy girl. The outfit may not be in-your-face sexy, but it's more revealing than her previous ones and was the first step to what came later. And the way she was often drawn in that era didn't help.

That's arguably her best costume. Bare midriff alone does not a sexy costume make. I was wrong before, this is when Cassie became Britney Spears, here she's a knock-out.

[Koriand'r]

What's weird to me is Connor has always been quasi-sexy, gay guys cosplay his 90's Superboy suit all the time. He was 16 too, but no one ever mentions how he was portrayed as beefcake, especially later on in his t-shirt and jeans era. Selective outrage is annoying.

[Primal Slayer]

Cassie is no cheerleader though, she's the nerdy girl. The outfit may not be in-your-face sexy, but it's more revealing than her previous ones and was the first step to what came later. And the way she was often drawn in that era didn't help.

Exactly. Her outfit wasnt that revealing like a cheerleaders. Cassie was the nerdy girl who was growing up and trying new things, being rebellious. Even Willow Rosenberg's fashion upgraded from the softer side of sears. And it isnt as if they put her in sexy clothes 24/7. Her civilian wear was still very intact with who she was.

And we cant call her red outfit "sexy" and act like its out of the blue when she was already showing her midriff during YJ.


Civilian wear


Starting a new phase in her life.

[Psy-lock]

What's weird to me is Connor has always been quasi-sexy, gay guys cosplay his 90's Superboy suit all the time. He was 16 too, but no one ever mentions how he was portrayed as beefcake, especially later on in his t-shirt and jeans era. Selective outrage is annoying.

Conner is definitely sexualized, but he was like that from the start. Cassie wasn't conceived as a bombshell, and Byrne wasn't happy with how she was depicted. Not that I consider Byrne the authority on the subject, but I agree with him here:

"I've had to train myself not to care, because when we let go, we have to let go. A somewhat recent example is what they had done to Cassie Sandsmark in Wonder Woman once I had left. I'd done this 'all elbows and knees' fourteen year old girl, and they turned her into Britney Spears. And that's because there's an awful lot of artists out there, sadly, male, who can ONLY draw Britney Spears. They can't understand, and there's an awful lot of fans who won't accept anything else. There were a lot of males saying how 'ugly' Cassie was, and I'd say "She's not ugly, she's ordinary. You guys are just used to seeing these cookie-cutter whatnots.""

[Primal Slayer]

Cassies evolution

[ComicNoobie]

Cassies evolution

Good stuff! Cassie's evolved over the years. I love her dorky bad fashion.

But anyway there's a real debate going on here. Like you can still be an attractive 'cheerleader' girl and still be into nerdy stuff at the same time. I don't see the issue with that. It reminds me of a Fairly Oddparents episode (anybody ever watch that show?) where the prettiest most popular girl in school was into comic book nerd stuff but disguised herself whenever doing so because that wasn't the social norm of her school or something like that. So I don't see why Cassie can't be attractive and still be a nerd. I don't know, this just doesn't seem like the worse thing to complain about involving Cassie but that's just me.

[marhawkman]

"I've had to train myself not to care, because when we let go, we have to let go. A somewhat recent example is what they had done to Cassie Sandsmark in Wonder Woman once I had left. I'd done this 'all elbows and knees' fourteen year old girl, and they turned her into Britney Spears. And that's because there's an awful lot of artists out there, sadly, male, who can ONLY draw Britney Spears. They can't understand, and there's an awful lot of fans who won't accept anything else. There were a lot of males saying how 'ugly' Cassie was, and I'd say "She's not ugly, she's ordinary. You guys are just used to seeing these cookie-cutter whatnots.""

As a counter-point though.... This quote is like having the original creator of dick Grayson talk about how he's unhappy they made Dick into Nightwing. Sure, YOU wrote her as 14 when you introduced her, cool... she's not going to stay 14. It's like with Nightwing... she grows up and then she looks like a demi-goddess.

Oh yeah, Byrne also wrote her as needing all those magic relics to have powers too. The demi-goddess thing was a retcon.

[OBrianTallent]

I know people have a lot of opinions about Cassie and the change in her character and this probably wont change anyone's opinion and will just incite others, but I really think Tom King had the best description in issue #5 when Cassie arm wrestled Diana. The arm wrestle was just enough of Cassie's old thought process....tough as any boy tomboy type, but then what she said about herself is character growth. Obviously not the growth that some want her to have, but it's excellent in my opinion.

tumblr_43b5bc47e88d6214bb3963f8ce4c1b65_8a13dce7_1280.jpg

[Digifiend]

I get the feeling Cassie would love what Nintendo have done with Princess Peach recently. Originally she was the damsel in distress kind of princess, that as that page proves, she's no fan of. But in the Super Mario Bros Movie, it's Luigi who needs rescuing, and Peach helps Mario to do it. She also has her own game out which doesn't involve Mario at all. That's the kind of princess she likes - one who actually fights for what they believe in, as Diana does. That's how a tomboy like Cassie became a princess fan.

[marhawkman]

In fairness, capturing Peach supposedly isn't easy. Also she's a target because she has great power... just in the first few games we never see that. However, the logic of why the Mushroom Kingdom exists is based on Peach's powers.

[DisneyBoy]

Since I didn't really get to know Cassie until the Rucka run essentially, I'm rather partial to the bare midriff look. I like the red pants and top. It's an easy, "believable" look, with a bit of superhero flair still. But then, because I didn't see her as a geeky misfit type, her being basically Connor's girlfriend wasn't an issue for me. She never seemed "Britney Spears"-ish really. Maybe in one or two issues somewhere, but overall, not really.

The Wonder Girls has never felt particularly necessary in the overall scheme of things, but at least Cassie had a good arc and grew into her role. I suppose one could say the same of Donna, but her story is so complicated and she keeps coming in and out so...