Tagged: Wonder Woman

On This Day: Princess Diana/Wonder Woman

On This Day: Princess Diana/Wonder Woman

  • News
  • March 22, 2008

The Amazons of Paradise Island lived in peace for hundreds of years, safe from men and their cruelty. But their queen Hippolyta was not completely happy. She longed for a child of her own.

Shaping clay from the island into the statue of a little girl, Hippolyta begged the gods to grant her request and bring the statue to life. The gods took pity upon their beloved servant and the statue became a little girl who leaped into the arms of her “mother.” Hippolyta was overjoyed.

She named the girl Diana and raised her as her daughter and heir. Years later, when Captain Steve Trevor crashed on Paradise Island, Diana fell in love with him and saved his life. Trevor informed the Amazons of the war going on in the world beyond, and the goddess Aphrodite decreed that an Amazon should go forth and battle the Nazis on Paradise Island’s behalf. Hippolyta held a contest to select their champion and Diana secretly entered and won.

She journeyed to the outside world and became known as Wonder Woman. Since then Princess Diana has been a force for good throughout the world.

Cheeseburger in Paradise, by Martha Thomases

Cheeseburger in Paradise, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • March 22, 2008

It’s Women’s History Month, and time to confess that I’m inordinately interested in the daily lives of the Amazons. Not the historical/mythological Greek Amazons (although I’m somewhat fascinated at the idea of required semi-mastectomies to improve one’s archery prowess), but the DC Comics Amazons who live on Paradise Island, birthplace of Wonder Woman. In my opinion, DC has never handled the Amazons in a believable way. I suspect that’s because Wonder Woman was not consistently written nor drawn by women.

Women, left to their own devices, will develop their own language and customs, much like twins or the Amish. I know. I went to a girls’ boarding school for four years, then lived in a women’s dorm off and on when I went to a co-ed college. With some adjustments for the differences between life in classical Greece and the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I can imagine what Paradise Island would really be like.

In Wonder Woman stories, we often see certain groups of Amazons. The Queen has her court of advisors. The army trains to be ready for the frequent attacks from Man’s World. The priestesses perform the rituals demanded by the gods. Doctors heal. Librarians study. Although we don’t see them, I assume there are also cooks, seamstresses, architects and engineers, cobblers and clowns and musicians.

At my school, we had girls who were interested in all kinds of things. With no boys, there was very little jockeying for male approval (although there was a boys’ school with the same faculty and administration, where girls in the upper forms often had classes). There were athletes and scholars, actresses and musicians, rebels, writers, gossips, manipulators and nerds. But, unlike the Amazons we see on Paradise Island, sometimes these roles could all be found in one girl.

There were groups of girls who were friends, who perhaps shared an interest in riding horses or choir or drugs. However, these were not cliques in the sense we see them in popular movies. It was easy for a nerd to be friends with a jock, to find some common interest they both shared, whether it was Asian history or the Grateful Dead.

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Full Cast Revealed for ‘Batman: Gotham Knight’

  • News
  • March 19, 2008

Warner Brothers just sent out a press release announcing that the rest of the cast has been finalized for this summer’s Batman: Gotham Knight direct-to-DVD animated film.

Earlier, fans collectively breathed a great sigh of relief upon hearing that Batman: The Animated Series alum Kevin Conroy had signed on to voice the Dark Knight. Instead of filling the ranks with big-name stars (see Justice League: The New Frontier and Superman/Doomsday), WB picked up some lesser knowns to round out the voice talent.

Read the release carefully and you can pick up a few hints about the plot:

Gary Dourdan (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) and Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty) are heard in multiple segments of the six-story film as police detectives Crispus Allen and Anna Ramirez, key members of a special unit who learn to trust the Dark Knight’s motives. Parminder Nagra (ER, Bend It Like Beckham) supplies the voice of Cassandra, a mystical Indian woman who teaches Bruce Wayne to endure and manage his pain. David McCallum (Navy NCIS, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Great Escape) takes on the role of loyal servant Alfred. George Newbern (Father of the Bride) and Alanna Ubach (Legally Blonde) also join the cast.

The cast also features popular voice over artists Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Kevin Michael Richardson, Will Friedle, Jason Marsden, Jim Meskimen, Pat Musick, Scott Menville, Hynden Walch, Corey Padnos and Crystal Scales.

The bonus features on the double-disc release include a documentary on Bob Kane, a documentary about Batman’s villains, some of Bruce Timm’s favorite episodes from Batman: TAS and a sneak peak at the upcoming Wonder Woman animated film.

Batman: Gotham Knight hits shelves on July 8.

Video: Darwyn Cooke Draws Wonder Woman

Video: Darwyn Cooke Draws Wonder Woman

  • News
  • March 11, 2008

On a really good day, I’m occasionally able to draw something that actually resembles a human shape, but that doesn’t make me an artist. I’m reminded of this when I see footage like this recent video of artist Darwyn Cooke from MegaCon.

The video, shot by Adam and posted over at the Drawn! website, shows Cooke working on a drawing of Wonder Woman, one of the characters featured in his critically praised New Frontier miniseries and its recent animated adaptation.

 

Wonder Woman: Objectified and Subjectified

Wonder Woman: Objectified and Subjectified

  • News
  • February 29, 2008

Here’s a good illustration of the difference between subjectifying and objectifying comic book characters. 

On the one hand, io9 reports on a paper published by feminist comics blogger Karen Healey (who’s writing a dissertation on the fan culture of American superhero comics) and Terry Johnson on the Comparative Sex-Specific Body Mass Index (BMI) in the Marvel Universe and the “Real” World. 

As you might expect, the BMI range for the fictional women is much less varied and more unrealistic than the other three groups (fictional men, real men, real women), particularly if these characters are supposed to be athletes.  You can think up any in-story explanations you want, but they only cover up the limited range (or imagination) of many artists who draw these characters.

On the other hand, there’s DC’s iconic female character Wonder Woman.  Seen here as portrayed by Lynda Carter and as part of the newly-revealed Alex Ross cover for the book The Age of TV Heroes, to be published in November by Two Morrows, WW has certainly had her share of objectification and questionable storylines, even from her inception.

But she’s also been more of the subject of her own story than any other female comic book character, inspiring not only countless feminists but avid collectors as well. One of them, Kyall Coulton, has created an entire site of WW memorabilia, The Ultimate Wonder Woman Collector’s Guide.  The site currently features over 1200 items, the largest online index of its kind, as well as short biographies of participating collectors.  And the categories!  Everything from original art to jewelry, bedding, food items, clocks and watches, even cookie jars!  (If you’re seeking contributor Joel Thingvall’s famed WW gallery of original and commissioned art, it’s accessible from the links page.)  You can even enter a trivia competition to win a memorabilia pack! 

Recent coverage by the NY Times and other mass media can only inspire more collectables to come.

Review: Brian K. Vaughan’s ‘Batman: False Faces’

With the recent and much heralded conclusion to Y: The Last Man, the continued strong run of Ex Machina and a gig writing for Lost, Brian K. Vaughan is living pretty high on the hog nowadays. But it can easily be forgotten that Vaughan wasn’t always a superstar writer, and the new collection of comics from his formative years at DC serves as a telling picture of the artist in progress.

In Batman: False Faces ($19.99), we’re taken back to Vaughan as a struggling writer, working a day job at the psychiatric ward of St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York. Three stories in the collection feature Batman or his rogues, and the fourth sets Wonder Woman against Clayface.

As Vaughan writes in his introduction: “[A]nyone who thinks that pitting a character made of magical clay against friggin’ Clayface isn’t a totally awesome idea is a dirty communist.” True enough. But while the setup is golden, the execution isn’t. What could have been a deeply introspective story is more cursory and trivial, while also moving a bit too slowly in places.

The Batman stories (which Vaughan wrote later) show the expected improvement. Further exploring issues of identity, Vaughan takes a thoughtful look at Batman’s two-bit-criminal alter ego Matches Malone in one story, and then he explores the diseased mind of the Mad Hatter. When Hatter says, “The only way you shall ever comprehend insanity is by ducking the shallow gerund,” Vaughan reveals the savvy and linguistic dexterity that would go on to make him a star.

[[[False Faces]]] isn’t for everyone, but for Vaughan devotees or those interested in the development of a talented creator, it’s a must-have collection.

ComicMix at Toy Fair: DC Showroom Tour

ComicMix at Toy Fair: DC Showroom Tour

  • News
  • February 20, 2008

Here at ComicMix, we’ve already shown you Mattel’s "Infinite Heroes" and other DC Universe products, but there were even more comics-inspired collectibles on display just a block away at DC’s showroom in New York City’s "Toy District".

From upcoming lines of Minimates, action figures inspired by classic stories and box sets to statues, busts and "trophy room" replicas, there was, well… a lot to absorb. Heck, they even had Superman’s Cape.

After the jump, check out our complete photo tour of DC’s showroom, including several characters receiving their first action-figure treatment in comics history!

 

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ComicMix at Toy Fair: Mattel’s ‘Infinite Heroes’ and ‘Dark Knight’ Showroom!

ComicMix at Toy Fair: Mattel’s ‘Infinite Heroes’ and ‘Dark Knight’ Showroom!

  • News
  • February 19, 2008

As promised in our earlier announcement, we have a ton of photos from the ComicMix tour of Mattel’s showroom.

You might have already heard about "Infinite Heroes", Mattel’s new line of 3.75-inch figures based on a wide assortment of characters from the DC Universe, but have you actually heard about it? Check out today’s installment of ComicMix Radio for an interview with Mattel’s "Infinite Heroes" guru, P.J. Lewis.

We’ve also included photos of Mattel’s upcoming line of toys based on The Dark Knight, including figures based on Heath Ledger’s character, Joker, as well as Christian Bale’s Batman. Oh, and for those of you who’ve always wanted a Bat-suit of your own, we’ve got something for you, too.

Finally, we have some photos of Mattel’s line of superhero-incpired toys for their youngest demographic — but we won’t make funof you if you buy a couple for yourself.

So enough with the introduction, check out the full gallery of photos after the jump…

 

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ComicMix at Toy Fair ’08: Tonner Does DC and Spider-Man

ComicMix at Toy Fair ’08: Tonner Does DC and Spider-Man

  • News
  • February 17, 2008

In the first of a series of reports from Toy Fair 2008 in New York, ComicMix checks out the comics-inspired dolls of the Tonner booth, featuring characters from Spider-Man 3 and a cast of DC superheroes and villains.

 

[Gallery After the Jump]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Early Review: ‘Justice League: New Frontier’

Early Review: ‘Justice League: New Frontier’

 

Like many of you out there, a bad taste was left in my mouth coming off of Superman: Doomsday, so of course I was wary of DC’s next direct-to-DVD flick. I wasn’t a huge fan of the graphic novels (Isn’t that what we call thick comic books these days?), but I am certainly a fan of the [[[Justice League]]] and its animated counterpart. 
 
I’ll start with a warning to those who aren’t totally familiar with The New Frontier and its universe, but ARE fans of the established animated DC universe: this is a whole new direction from shows like Justice League Unlimited and others, but it is full of exciting DCU fan favorites. In fact, my biggest complaint about [[[Superman: Doomsday]]] was that there were no outside DC heroes, even though they were all over the original story. But I digress.
 
Looking at the animation first, I was very pleased that Bruce Timm (main creator of the animated DCU) and Darwyn Cooke (wirter/artist of The New Frontier graphic novel) were able to find a happy medium between the already established look of the animated Justice League and the very stylized look of Cooke’s art, thought I do think the eye-slits works much better for Superman than the baby blues. The entire artistic feel practically beamed with that golden age look, which is what attracted me to the books in the first place.

 

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