Ranking the Four Recent Wonder Woman Origin Stories

[MajorHoy]

Traditional? What tradition? I hated Perez, was bored to tears by both Rucka runs, and loved Azzarellos take on Wonder Woman. ive been a Wonder Woman fan since childhood, she is the first comic I bought back in 1995, and the only book I've bought every month since I started.

Aaaah, a youngster (at least to guys like me).
While I really enjoyed the Azzarello/Chiang Wonder Woman run, I have no problem with referring to it as "non-traditional". It discarded many of the ideas / concepts that typical long-time Wonder Woman fanatics held as sacred, but then again, this came at the start of a reboot to all of the DC universe. I didn't buy/read it at first because on the surface it seemed very antithetical to all that came before. But then again, all that came before had started to become a bogged-down, confusing mess.
Once I accepted that it didn't need to represent / keep everything from the previous nearly 70 year history, it became quite a pleasure to read and experience. Many of the more "traditional", old-school Wonder Woman fans apparently weren't able to deal that concept, so the Azzarello/Chiang version seems to have become their anti-Wonder Woman.
(And for the record, I started reading Wonder Woman stories probably before you were born, though I gave up on comic books in general for a while between 1995-2010.)

[Bound4olympus]

Aaaah, a youngster (at least to guys like me).
While I really enjoyed the Azzarello/Chiang Wonder Woman run, I have no problem with referring to it as "non-traditional". It discarded many of the ideas / concepts that typical long-time Wonder Woman fanatics held as sacred, but then again, this came at the start of a reboot to all of the DC universe. I didn't buy/read it at first because on the surface it seemed very antithetical to all that came before. But then again, all that came before had started to become a bogged-down, confusing mess.
Once I accepted that it didn't need to represent / keep everything from the previous nearly 70 year history, it became quite a pleasure to read and experience. Many of the more "traditional", old-school Wonder Woman fans apparently weren't able to deal that concept, so the Azzarello/Chiang version seems to have become their anti-Wonder Woman.
(And for the record, I started reading Wonder Woman stories probably before you were born, though I gave up on comic books in general for a while between 1995-2010.)

I have no disagreement with you. Azzarellos take was non traditional, but to call fans of that run non traditional, or to insinuate that fans of the Perez run are somehow the true set of fans is offensive and ridiculous. This post features four new origins for Wonder Woman. None of them are the same. In my lifetime I've seen many iterations of the character. I've read many golden age stories and I love them. I see why that version of the character was so popular. That character and the character Perez created are NOT THE SAME PERSON. They are incredibly different. Perez is actually partly responsible for the Zeus origin if you ask me. His myth heavy take on the character lead her away from "any woman could be Wonder Woman" and made her essentially a demigod, child of hippolyta and the female deities. Just a short step away from making her a goddess.It just needs to be said. I'm happy for moving forward putting Perez behind us. Putting Rucka, and Azzarello behind us as well.

[WonderScott]

If forced to choose, I'll go with Rucka's Year One for its portrayal of the Amazons, but there are elements of Earth One that I like too.

The Legend of Wonder Woman was good despite the somber mood on the island.

[Agent Z]

I have no disagreement with you. Azzarellos take was non traditional, but to call fans of that run non traditional, or to insinuate that fans of the Perez run are somehow the true set of fans is offensive and ridiculous. This post features four new origins for Wonder Woman. None of them are the same. In my lifetime I've seen many iterations of the character. I've read many golden age stories and I love them. I see why that version of the character was so popular. That character and the character Perez created are NOT THE SAME PERSON. They are incredibly different. Perez is actually partly responsible for the Zeus origin if you ask me. His myth heavy take on the character lead her away from "any woman could be Wonder Woman" and made her essentially a demigod, child of hippolyta and the female deities. Just a short step away from making her a goddess.It just needs to be said. I'm happy for moving forward putting Perez behind us. Putting Rucka, and Azzarello behind us as well.

Perez didn't introduce the idea of Diana being created by the gods. Marston did that. And Azzarello's run was far morbmyth heavy than Perez. Diana had villains besides Ares while almost everyone Azz had Diana interact with was connected to the Olympians. Even the supposedly single normal person was an Olympian in disguise. The only non Olympian was Orion who isn't even a WW character. Perez in addition to bringing back Steve and Etta also has Mandi Mayer and the Kapatelis as characters of importance. Perez paid more respect to Marston than most other WW writers.

[SeanT]

Perez didn't introduce the idea of Diana being created by the gods. Marston did that. And Azzarello's run was far morbmyth heavy than Perez. Diana had villains besides Ares while almost everyone Azz had Diana interact with was connected to the Olympians. Even the supposedly single normal person was an Olympian in disguise. The only non Olympian was Orion who isn't even a WW character. Perez in addition to bringing back Steve and Etta also has Mandi Mayer and the Kapatelis as characters of importance. Perez paid more respect to Marston than most other WW writers.

I think there's a big difference between the characters you use and the spirit of the character herself. So even though Perez used Steve and Etta, he basically made them the reverse of what they originally were. Steve was the love interest, the whole reason why Diana left the island and was able to win the contest. Perez made her a brother type. Etta was fearless and spunky and Diana's best friend. Perez made her insecure and morose and jealous of Diana, a rival, not a friend.

Perez also took away everything that Marston had created-- his own Wonder Woman mythology (Aphrodite as supreme diety, the bracelet mythology, the Amazon training, Transformation Island), and replaced it with more conventional "mythology." (Although it could be argued Marston, even with his muddying of some mythology, understood it way better than Perez ever did-- not that Perez didn't muddy it himself.)

Azzarello was truer to Marston's character in that she was a creature for whom love was her greatest strength, and restored what was Diana's original and most important purpose-- transforming enemies into allies. Azzarello even restored one aspect of the Marston bracelets-- that they help contain her destructive impulses. His character for Diana was much more like the original than the timid, humorless, goody-goody Diana Perez wrote.

I think Marston would prefer that the spirit and purpose of his character were preserved, as under Azzarello, than using characters in name only, stripped of their purpose.

[Agent Z]

I think there's a big difference between the characters you use and the spirit of the character herself. So even though Perez used Steve and Etta, he basically made them the reverse of what they originally were. Steve was the love interest, the whole reason why Diana left the island and was able to win the contest. Perez made her a brother type. Etta was fearless and spunky and Diana's best friend. Perez made her insecure and morose and jealous of Diana, a rival, not a friend.

Diana leaving the island because of the first guy she gets the hots for was never going to fly with modern audiences. Steve’s relationship with Diana either needed to adapt for the times or be jettisoned. Whichever option Perez took, Marston fans would have hated him for it. He picked the lesser of two evils and given how many writers ignored the original depiction of the relationship, it’s not like he was alone in feeling it wasn’t necessary to Diana’s development.
As for Etta, if conflict disqualified you as a friend, then 99.999% percent of friendships in superhero comics are non-existant.

Perez also took away everything that Marston had created-- his own Wonder Woman mythology (Aphrodite as supreme diety, the bracelet mythology, the Amazon training, Transformation Island), and replaced it with more conventional "mythology." (Although it could be argued Marston, even with his muddying of some mythology, understood it way better than Perez ever did-- not that Perez didn't muddy it himself.)

Perez also kept and updated on things that Marston created. The Cheetah went from an outdated depiction of women with mental illness to a cunning and dangerous enemy, more women were given prominence in the Amazons creation (wasn’t Marston all about sisterhood and female empowerment?), Hippolyta bested Heracles based on pure skill without a cheap power up from a goddess, and the Amazons were more racially diverse. Perez also used more than Greek myth and while he got rid of Amazon training, but he still had the Amazons as accomplished fighters, healers, artists, musicians, philosophers and architects. Azzarello just made them human looking Klingons whose skill in battle was more an informed attribute.
Transformation Island is repulsive as a concept, it’s not even worth swearing at. The less WW has to do with it the better.

Azzarello was truer to Marston's character in that she was a creature for whom love was her greatest strength, and restored what was Diana's original and most important purpose-- transforming enemies into allies. Azzarello even restored one aspect of the Marston bracelets-- that they help contain her destructive impulses. His character for Diana was much more like the original than the timid, humorless, goody-goody Diana Perez wrote.

You and quite a lot of others really overstate how much this “transforming enemies into allies” thing was important to either Marston or Azzarello. The number of times this happened can be counted on one hand and most of the time she just solved her problems by beating up her enemies same as any other superhero.
Azzarello used the bracelets as a check on Diana’s full strength. Marston’s berserker rage was never shown as coming with any battle advantages. Under Azzarello, the bracelets’ only purpose is to keep Diana from stomping her enemies into the dirt in seconds. In fact, Azzarello’s Diana is more of “goody goody” than you claim Perez’ to be as the latter actually has an arc to go through about growing out of her naïve and childish view of the world (which the movie also used).
Perez also maintained the importance of the Lasso as a weapon and tool, while Azzarello ignored it for the most part.
So yeah, Perez is far closer to the spirit of Marston than Azzarello could ever hope to be. Yeah he made updates, but that’s how Diana would have survived.

[SeanT]

Diana leaving the island because of the first guy she gets the hots for was never going to fly with modern audiences. Steve’s relationship with Diana either needed to adapt for the times or be jettisoned. Whichever option Perez took, Marston fans would have hated him for it. He picked the lesser of two evils and given how many writers ignored the original depiction of the relationship, it’s not like he was alone in feeling it wasn’t necessary to Diana’s development.
As for Etta, if conflict disqualified you as a friend, then 99.999% percent of friendships in superhero comics are non-existant.

They updated it in the movie just fine. She's clearly fascinated from the start.

As for Etta-- under Perez, they weren't friends. Marston was all about positive female depictions. Perez went for the obvious-- she's overweight, so of course she must be insecure, and jealous.

Perez also kept and updated on things that Marston created. The Cheetah went from an outdated depiction of women with mental illness to a cunning and dangerous enemy, more women were given prominence in the Amazons creation (wasn’t Marston all about sisterhood and female empowerment?), Hippolyta bested Heracles based on pure skill without a cheap power up from a goddess, and the Amazons were more racially diverse. Perez also used more than Greek myth and while he got rid of Amazon training, but he still had the Amazons as accomplished fighters, healers, artists, musicians, philosophers and architects. Azzarello just made them human looking Klingons whose skill in battle was more an informed attribute.
Transformation Island is repulsive as a concept, it’s not even worth swearing at. The less WW has to do with it the better.

So jealousy is okay for friends but not for enemies? Mental illness is outmoded? Everything you're arguing is that Perez updated things by removing the things Marston was interested in. There may have been more goddesses involved in the origin, but I don't see how that's female empowerment, especially when love (as shown in the movie and Azzarello) is her foremost motivator, but under Perez Aphrodite became incredibly useless, crying to herself while Ares was going mad. (Under Marston, she snapped her fingers in his face and plotted ways to better him).

And Transformation Island is repulsive? A prison where they attempt to reform people? Okay.

You and quite a lot of others really overstate how much this “transforming enemies into allies” thing was important to either Marston or Azzarello. The number of times this happened can be counted on one hand and most of the time she just solved her problems by beating up her enemies same as any other superhero.
Azzarello used the bracelets as a check on Diana’s full strength. Marston’s berserker rage was never shown as coming with any battle advantages. Under Azzarello, the bracelets’ only purpose is to keep Diana from stomping her enemies into the dirt in seconds. In fact, Azzarello’s Diana is more of “goody goody” than you claim Perez’ to be as the latter actually has an arc to go through about growing out of her naïve and childish view of the world (which the movie also used).
Perez also maintained the importance of the Lasso as a weapon and tool, while Azzarello ignored it for the most part.
So yeah, Perez is far closer to the spirit of Marston than Azzarello could ever hope to be. Yeah he made updates, but that’s how Diana would have survived.

Of course, she punched her enemies. No one's disputing that. She punched them to defeat them, then brought them to Transformation Island to help reform them. Under Marston she reformed Paula and Atomia and all the prisoners who fought back during the revolt on Paradise Island and fought back against Paula when she tried to attack Mala. And just the fact that, for the biggies who didn't get reformed, there was often a struggle there. Putting the inklings of wanting to act "good" into a villain's mind is a victory of a sort.

And it doesn't matter how often it happened. It's that it was her main purpose-- to transform character. It was how Wonder Woman would save the world, and Perez ignored it.

As for the berserker rage-- what does it matter if Azzarello took a Marston concept and tinkered with it? He was exploring the Marston mythology of the bracelets, something, again, that Perez ignored.

The lasso-- again, Perez stripped it of its original purpose to make people submit, and turned it into a truth-rope, which lead to the concept that Diana was more about "truth" than "love," which is something Marston never intended. So if it's simply that she used the lasso, then Azzarello used it, too.

And maybe goody-goody is the wrong term. How about a pill, a stick in the mud? Marston's Diana loved to laugh. She was wise-cracking and mocking. She had a worldliness and a knowingness that made her seem, for the lack of a better term, "with it." Perez' Diana seemed like one of those super-serious, reserved people who didn't even have any peers in her own age bracket, never wanted to offend, somewhat uncomfortable around people. The most fun she ever had was off flying by herself.

Bottom line-- Marston's Diana was about the transformative power of love. Forgiveness, redemption. Azzarello got this.

Perez' Diana was a diplomat with a fuzzy way in which she was helping the world. She wasn't supposed to be a super-hero, but that's what she ended up being. There were a couple of summits and events but I don't really recall any concepts of how Diana was supposed to actually be changing the world.

[Agent Z]

They updated it in the movie just fine. She's clearly fascinated from the start.

They emphasized her wanting to be a hero over the fascination and the romance was downplayed. Diana doesn’t actually fall for him until he shows his good qualities and doesn’t just jet off cause she finds him hot. Steve also dies at the end.

As for Etta-- under Perez, they weren't friends.

Yes they were. They had issues to sort through but they were friends nonetheless. We’re not talking about Steve Trevor and Tony Stark during Civil War or Batman and Superman in TDKR.

Marston was all about positive female depictions. Perez went for the obvious-- she's overweight, so of course she must be insecure, and jealous.

Positive female depictions? This is what we’re calling women who dress like Cheetahs out of jealousy and become supervillains because they are ostracised by their looks? Women who fall for guys who enslave them? Marston might have been progressive forthe 1940s but let’s not act like his take on women is beyond reproach and doesn’t have all kinds of ugly implications attached to it as well. Perez isn’t perfect but his depiction of women was far more progressive than Marston’s

So jealousy is okay for friends but not for enemies? Mental illness is outmoded?

As motivations for supervillainy? Yeah they are outdated. Etta didn’t become a supervillain under Perez’ pen just because of her insecurities.

Everything you're arguing is that Perez updated things by removing the things Marston was interested in. There may have been more goddesses involved in the origin, but I don't see how that's female empowerment, especially when love (as shown in the movie and Azzarello) is her foremost motivator, but under Perez Aphrodite became incredibly useless, crying to herself while Ares was going mad. (Under Marston, she snapped her fingers in his face and plotted ways to better him).

What does love have to do with female empowerment? Aphrodite was still involved in the creation of the Amazons and it isn’t like her depiction takes away from all the other women being written as powerful and useful. And she did even less under Azzarello who just had her lying around a pool while other people talked about how hot she is. It’s not even mentioned if she created the Amazons. Where’s the respect Azzarello showed her?

And Transformation Island is repulsive? A prison where they attempt to reform people? Okay.

Look up Identity Crisis. Reformation and brainwashing are not the same thing.

Of course, she punched her enemies. No one's disputing that. She punched them to defeat them, then brought them to Transformation Island to help reform them. Under Marston she reformed Paula and Atomia and all the prisoners who fought back during the revolt on Paradise Island and fought back against Paula when she tried to attack Mala. And just the fact that, for the biggies who didn't get reformed, there was often a struggle there. Putting the inklings of wanting to act "good" into a villain's mind is a victory of a sort.

And it doesn't matter how often it happened. It's that it was her main purpose-- to transform character. It was how Wonder Woman would save the world, and Perez ignored it.

Silver Swan, Heracles and Ares were reformed under Perez. That’s way more than Azzarello did.

As for the berserker rage-- what does it matter if Azzarello took a Marston concept and tinkered with it? He was exploring the Marston mythology of the bracelets, something, again, that Perez ignored.

He didn’t tinker with it. He changed it entirely. And Perez did not ignore the mythology of the bracelets. He kept the bullet deflecting and the use as a reminder of their enslavement of men. You seem to be really nitpicky as to what Perez did and did not keep simply because you dislike his run.

The lasso-- again, Perez stripped it of its original purpose to make people submit, and turned it into a truth-rope, which lead to the concept that Diana was more about "truth" than "love," which is something Marston never intended.

Then maybe he shouldn’t have called it the Lasso of Truth.

So if it's simply that she used the lasso, then Azzarello used it, too.

The Lasso had purpose and power under Perez. It was used to help Ares see the error of his ways and exposed Barbara Minerva’s duplicitous nature to Diana. Azzarello had one meaningless speech about how “truth was her weapon” and then it nothing of value was done with it.

And maybe goody-goody is the wrong term. How about a pill, a stick in the mud?

Those don’t describe her either.

She was wise-cracking and mocking. She had a worldliness and a knowingness that made her seem, for the lack of a better term, "with it." Perez' Diana seemed like one of those super-serious, reserved people who didn't even have any peers in her own age bracket, never wanted to offend, somewhat uncomfortable around people.

Or he wrote her as somebody who was from a different culture and was shown trying to adapt to a new land as opposed to just writing her like she was always from the good old US of A.

The most fun she ever had was off flying by herself.

That’s more than I can say about Azzarello’s version who seemed to have no inner life whatsoever.

Bottom line-- Marston's Diana was about the transformative power of love. Forgiveness, redemption. Azzarello got this.

I really felt the love when she sent First Born back into the same hell hole that turned him into a monster while mocking him.
The one redemption Diana had in Azzarello’s story was Hera and most of that was Hera being forced to change because of her circumstances not anything Diana really did.

Perez' Diana was a diplomat with a fuzzy way in which she was helping the world. She wasn't supposed to be a super-hero, but that's what she ended up being. There were a couple of summits and events but I don't really recall any concepts of how Diana was supposed to actually be changing the world.

Who says Diana was never meant to be a superhero under Perez? There was nothing fuzzy about the way she was helping people unless you don’t understand the concept of simultaneously using diplomacy and force to help protect peace. Diana’s methods were very much straightforward. Meanwhile, I’m not so sure how Marston and Azzarello’s empty platitudes about submission and love did anything for women who’d already had those ideas drilled into them by patriarchy.