Wonder Woman Earth One: Discussion Thread

[Tayswift]

Seriously, I thought there could have been more gender politics. Steve remarks about laying off the feminist jihad, but I thought the comic soft balled the feminist ideas

it just did a 180 and is exactly the deturped vision that misoginists have from feminism

[t hedge coke]

I'm weirdly happy to have the advanced science and culture put back in. Weighing this against something like Azz's, it's just a relief. Getting the Hercules thing over with, heroically and intensely, right away, and not building to a big fight was a relief.

Seriously, I thought there could have been more gender politics. Steve remarks about laying off the feminist jihad, but I thought the comic soft balled the feminist ideas

There could've been more. And, I'm not enthused with the "girls," line, to be clear. I just don't think it's as bad as it would be if she didn't immediately continue to go on about boy and youth and boyish war gods, etc. I do think it's a denser comic than it seems to be, it's just not announcing "analyze me" the way some of his more superhero-y stuff goes "look, I'm referencing science, mysticism and Green Arrow #17! Annotate!" It is a softball social tract, but well, it's a hundred page adventure comic/scifi mystical family drama.

Steve, the decent guy, being threatened inasmuch as he is seemed pretty pointed. And, silly.

[Tayswift]

Did I say that? Not that your version follows, either, but I didn't say anything like that.

I said, you and he disagree. I didn't say either of you knows better or is wrong. You said someone was wrong and someone knew better.

But, as a white man, like Marston, does it follow, then, that Morrison understands Marston better than you? (No.)

Which, actually, makes me realize, we've got a transvestite writing about Wonder Woman dressing up as a man (Hercules) for performative reasons. That's something, at the very least, worth acknowledging, since I don't recall that being something in Wonder Woman before.

the feminism on Marston amazons needs updating and Morrison just regressed it even more.

Would you mind expanding on that?

amazons being misandrists and body shaming other women, also the fact that all of them looks like perfect top models.

[t hedge coke]

amazons being misandrists and body shaming other women, also the fact that all of them looks like perfect top models.

I don't think they really approached misandrist levels. For nothing more than they weren't going out and hurting anyone.

The body-shaming was deliberately put in, for sure, but well, they're an old culture that's grown in serious isolation. It's not as if the comic is asking us to side with them on that. They're an imperfect culture that's just, in many ways, better than any one that we have.

I don't know if I like it, though. Or, the general stodginess, even if I get it.

[NYCER]

Grant Morrison is overrated. I liked his JLA run but FINAL CRISIS was just a hot mess.

I just finished reading WONDER WOMAN EARTH ONE. I loved Yanick Paquette's art but I'm not sure what the hell Morrison's point was with his revision of Wonder Woman's origin.

[t hedge coke]

Grant Morrison is overrated. I liked his JLA run but FINAL CRISIS was just a hot mess.

I just finished reading WONDER WOMAN EARTH ONE. I loved Yanick Paquette's art but I'm not sure what the hell Morrison's point was with his revision of Wonder Woman's origin.

Cross-cultural understanding is good? Youths carving their own path and having a grand adventure in the big world is fun? Slavery is always pretty crap? Jousting on kangaroos is cool?

[ed2962]

I'm weirdly happy to have the advanced science and culture put back in. Weighing this against something like Azz's, it's just a relief. Getting the Hercules thing over with, heroically and intensely, right away, and not building to a big fight was a relief.



There could've been more. And, I'm not enthused with the "girls," line, to be clear. I just don't think it's as bad as it would be if she didn't immediately continue to go on about boy and youth and boyish war gods, etc. I do think it's a denser comic than it seems to be, it's just not announcing "analyze me" the way some of his more superhero-y stuff goes "look, I'm referencing science, mysticism and Green Arrow #17! Annotate!" It is a softball social tract, but well, it's a hundred page adventure comic/scifi mystical family drama.

Steve, the decent guy, being threatened inasmuch as he is seemed pretty pointed. And, silly.

LOL! I think I would have liked it more if it had more of this. I expected him to really combine the mythology and politics and magic and sci-fi and silly campy silver comics in a compelling way. Instead we kinda got "WW Origin: Yeah She's Bi,That's It For Now"

[sax]

Interesting story and great art.
Not what I expected, but enjoyable all the same.

[CRaymond]

I'm glad Morrison dug in.

He'd admitted he was averse to the character and didn't know what to properly do with her in Final Crisis. He's since done his homework and crafted a hell of a good little story in his maddeningly-fast-characterization fashion.

[Silvanus]

I loved Etta--brash, bold, and comfortable in her own skin--and caring, too. I liked Steve's reaction to Diana's kinkiness (or, from her point of view her offer of an opportunity show his strength by lovingly submitted); that part was pretty funny. The whole reworking of Diana's Day, from a very early marston issue, hit the right note: a mix of nostalgia, fantasy, and whimsical humor, for me.

spoilers:

It was interesting that Morrison, like Azzarello (but with different details), treated the clay birth story as a "fairy tale," or as a lie told by Hippolyta. I guess, since the 70s and the lie of omission about Nubia, the idea of having lied to protect her daughter or even to justify her own actions has really gotten baked into Hippolyta's character. I think I like the artificial insemination idea better than Azz's version, though I'm not sure I prefer Herc to Zeus as sperm donor. I like the idea that Diana was bred as a weapon of vengeance but became a force for peace and redemption instead.

end of spoilers

[Nite-Wing]

Loved the art
Morrison is almost writing everyone as a caricature with paper thin motivations
WW almost reads like a teenager
I really wish this book wasn't framed as such a caricature of everything about WW because there is some good concepts here and there but that's what you get when you bow to the alter of Marston and pretend everyone else is who got it wrong.

[NYCER]

Loved the art
Morrison is almost writing everyone as a caricature with paper thin motivations
WW almost reads like a teenager
I really wish this book wasn't framed as such a caricature of everything about WW because there is some good concepts here and there but that's what you get when you bow to the alter of Marston and pretend everyone else is who got it wrong.

I think you nailed it. I wasn't quite sure how to articulate why this version of Wonder Woman was so off but that's a great assessment of Morrison's take on the character. At times it feels like Morrison lampooned rather than revered the Marston concepts.

[SiegePerilous02]

the feminism on Marston amazons needs updating and Morrison just regressed it even more.



amazons being misandrists and body shaming other women, also the fact that all of them looks like perfect top models.

I'm not sure there really is a way of updating it while keeping their decision to remove themselves from Man's World intact. They can't consider men equal if they don't want anything to do with them and won't have any contact. Perez had the Gods charge them with guarding Doom's Doorway on their isolated island, and that takes agency out of their hands. Morrison didn't regress the ideals of Marston's Amazons, he just called them out on it. That's progressive compared to the old stories playing it straight. There's different degrees to approach this though; these Amazons aren't killing innocent sailors and chucking babies off cliffs at least.

As for the body shamming, the original Amazons were drawn to be glamorous models. The post-Crisis Amazons were all athletic looking super models as well. They were from a warrior culture and had no means of putting on weight like we do (lack of physical activity, fatty foods, etc.). Their reacting to the relative strangeness of Etta's body seems natural considering they've never seen one like it before. Mala is the only one who seems to mock it, Althea is concerned for her health, and Hippolyta seems to like Etta's whole attitude and dismisses Althea's comments about Etta's body. And Etta herself is awesome with her take no BS attitude.

[Agent Z]

I'm not sure there really is a way of updating it while keeping their decision to remove themselves from Man's World intact. They can't consider men equal if they don't want anything to do with them and won't have any contact. Perez had the Gods charge them with guarding Doom's Doorway on their isolated island, and that takes agency out of their hands. Morrison didn't regress the ideals of Marston's Amazons, he just called them out on it. That's progressive compared to the old stories playing it straight. There's different degrees to approach this though; these Amazons aren't killing innocent sailors and chucking babies off cliffs at least.

As for the body shamming, the original Amazons were drawn to be glamorous models. The post-Crisis Amazons were all athletic looking super models as well. They were from a warrior culture and had no means of putting on weight like we do (lack of physical activity, fatty foods, etc.). Their reacting to the relative strangeness of Etta's body seems natural considering they've never seen one like it before. Mala is the only one who seems to mock it, Althea is concerned for her health, and Hippolyta seems to like Etta's whole attitude and dismisses Althea's comments about Etta's body. And Etta herself is awesome with her take no BS attitude.

Dobt know if this is what you meant, but Perez never played Marston's themes straight. None of the post crisis writers have.

[Tayswift]

I don't think they really approached misandrist levels. For nothing more than they weren't going out and hurting anyone.

they are, they really hate and abomine men.

The body-shaming was deliberately put in, for sure, but well, they're an old culture that's grown in serious isolation. It's not as if the comic is asking us to side with them on that. They're an imperfect culture that's just, in many ways, better than any one that we have.

I don't know if I like it, though. Or, the general stodginess, even if I get it.

the problem of body shaming that it is something very from man's world and it is recently. for a good amount of time being fat was considered health and was attractive. this makes little sense to the amazons do