If I rebooted Wonder Woman
This is the Wonder Woman I would choose:
She’s from Legends of the DCU: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1. The designer solved a problem that’s defeated every other attempt to fix her costume: he turned the eagle symbol into something that both holds up her costume and suggests armor.
I dunno who suggested that costume, but I suspect the writer, Marv Wolfman, suggested she look Middle-Eastern. It makes sense. In classical literature, the island of the Amazons has been located in Libya and Asia Minor.
While I like the skirt, I would be tempted to give her pants. And there’s something to be said for a longer skirt like the one she first wore:
There was an excellent analysis of Wonder Woman, “Wonder Woman, Delineated” at Fractal Hall, a site that’s no longer on the web. The writer proposed:
So, what makes her work?
A) Truth. Truth truth truth truth truth.
B) The hunt.
C) Magical gadgets
D) Super-strong, super-fast.Factor A is more subtext than explicit, but I think it’s fair to say that any Wonder Woman story has to have a theme of honesty or a counter-theme of dishonesty to it.
Part of what I admired about the Fractal Hall analyses of superheroes was the way they began with the essential differences in genres: Superman is a science fiction character, Wonder Woman is a fantasy character, and the Batman is what they called a crime character, but I would call a mystery character. The worlds of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are so different that they should only meet when the Justice League gathers.
Will Shetterly is the creator of [[[Captain Confederacy]]], the author of [[[Dogland]]], and the co-creator of [[[Liavek]]] with his wife, Emma Bull.
Wonder Woman doesn’t need armor anymore than Superman does however I will say the costume in that picture is a level or armoring I could possibly live with. I think what has hurt the character far more than her costume ever good (because it’s not horrible in the first place) is this constant over emphasis on the warrior thing.
Growing up as a young lad watching the Lynda Carter tv series (all its faults aside for a moment) I always thought it was rather cool that you had this awesome looking woman who could kick a villains ass with her bare hands and a rope but also had a genuine charm and kindness to her. I get the Amazons are athletes and fighters but I feel that creators tend to over compensate for her so hard by sticking an ax in her hand or soaking in her in blood that they just kinda end up making her Conan-chan which is more generic than it is “badass”.
Minor Correction: On the cover of Sensation Comics #1, Wonder Woman is not wearing a skirt. Her lower garment is a kind of loose-fitting pair of shorts known as culottes.
Lynda Carter’s outfit was the best.