About damned time.

DC Women Kicking Ass:

At C2E2 today DC announced Cassandra Cain will be featured in the mini-series Gates of Gotham, appearing in the first issue. This is apparently the project that prevented her from appearing in the Birds of Prey.

Still sounds like a side character, but appearing in another book is an improvement at least. They'd better have a payoff for all the ignoring her.

The Costume

The new live-action costume:
Before we get into the complaining, I'm going to let you all know I was relieved when I saw it. It is not the revised Lee costume. It is not some ultramodern non-superhero thing. After years of "No tights, no flights" on Smallville and the general shame people engage in in comic book adaptations someone's got the guts to go and say "Look, we're going to try and do a superhero here."

But, since the vast majority of fandom is complaining, I'm going to address it at one by one so you know it's pointless to try and reason me out of my good mood. (Why yes, I did get to solder a connector today. That always puts me in a sunny mood, complaining about ops tearing up the equipment included.)

It's shiny, but I prefer Wonder Woman bright so I'm not bothered by it seeming vinyl/plasticky. (Also, I don't think it'll shine so much while she's punching bad guys in a dimly lit alley set as it does under these publicity lights.) We have Clark Kent running around in all black with an S spray-painted on his T-shirt so I'm just plain glad not to see them try and pull some sort of dark serious shit like that with her.

I am not bothered by the lack of star-spangled panties. I have been whining for years for solid blue pants, and now I have them, I like them. I don't subscribe to the "making her less patriotic" conspiracy theory because well... She's of the royal family for another country. Besides, they brought back Steve Trevor (granted, as ex-military but probably still a veteran and he works for the DOJ now) so we know she loves the troops.

I also like the bright blue. I'm sorry, Wonder Woman should not wear black. And really, there's no need to darken her with Navy Blue either.

I like the boots, yes the heels. Yes, heels are impractical, but these are pretty solid heels and Diana is nigh invulnerable so she's in that list of superheroines that can pull this off. (Batgirl and Batwoman look fucking stupid in heels, but Wonder Woman and Power Girl aren't going to suffer from having them.)

Also, they contribute to the cowboy feel. So do the gold stars on the side. I think it's the lasso, but I always kinda liked a little cowboy imagery mixed in with her Greek mythology and modern knight stuff.

The bustier? Well, it's pretty much her classic costume with pants. I can live without straps, as I have for many years now.

Yay on the tiara and bracelets.

What don't I like?

The girdle, the girdle, the awkward looking girdle. I hate that they put a half-logo on the girdle, it looks weird. Also not thrilled about the little WWs topping the boots.

She's wearing quite a bit of makeup here. I think that's actually the MAC lipgloss shade I have (named Wonder Woman).

Her boobs look... unsecure.

More TV Wonder Woman thoughts.

IMDB has Brett Tucker's role named.

I'm still a bit cautious, because IMDB does make mistakes, but I'm now trying to picture that gorgeous man in service dress. I understand the character's ex-Army, working as a laywer (*sigh* No handsome hats for lawyers) but there's lots of flashbacks in the leaked script. I really wish for an adaptation where he's Navy or Marines, because those two services have such stunning male uniforms.

I really like the cast they've set up for this. A bit heaving on the masculine side for a Wonder Woman revival, but a pretty nice spread. I know it's likely to be the Smallville for Wonder Woman if it catches on, full of relationship plotlines, in-jokes and everyone not being quite like they are in the comics. Diana will probably be as not-quite-our-hero as Welling's Clark. There's going to be some complete absurdity to it, no doubt.

Still, if it catches on, it's a Wonder Woman series. It's a Wonder Woman revival. It's a chance to see these actors weekly. It's a push for maybe another movie, and possibly a second comics. It's at least getting her origin story out there, and back into the cultural consciousness. And they'll have something they can mock every week on Comic Alliance now that Smallville is going away.

I want this to succeed, and I'm cautiously optimistic about it.

In the meantime, I went ahead and checked out the commentary for the old Lynda Carter Wonder Woman pilot. (It's on the first season DVD.) It's Lynda Carter and Douglas S. Cramer reminiscing. And it has Carter ogling Lyle Waggoner, which just made my day.

Wonder Woman's voice saying "Everyone was so helpf--LOOK AT HIS MUSCLES! WOW!" has to be the best thing I've ever heard in a DVD commentary.

Anything to look forward to in June?

DC's got their June solicits up and the teasers on Flashpoint are slim. However, not sure that "FLASH FACT! If she can’t have the world – no one will!" under Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 makes me hopeful. I'll still try the first issue, but I'm kinda sick of them making Diana the overly aggressive warmonger in dystopian timelines.

On the other hand, the single most anticipated Wonder Woman issue of the year will come out the same month:

WONDER WOMAN #612
Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI and PHIL HESTER
Art and cover by DON KRAMER and WAYNE FAUCHER
1:10 Variant cover by ALEX GARNER
This is the one you’ve waited for! The year-long “Odyssey” storyline comes to an earth-shattering conclusion! Can Diana defeat the powerful forces that destroyed her entire reality? And even if she wins, she could still lose everything!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On sale JUNE 29 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Yes, that's the light at the end of the tunnel. That is the END of the JMS plotted timefuck. I can't say what fresh hell awaits us in issue #613, but at least it won't be from the mind of the guy who did Superman: Earth One.

That cover's a variant, so I don't know if it means anything but it beats any Wonder Woman cover since the Dodsons were on art.

And there's a Showcase Presents for the old "Trial of the Flash" storyline. Carmin Infantino days.

Aside from that, I'm intrigued by this:

STATIC SHOCK SPECIAL #1
Written by FELICIA D. HENDERSON
Art by DENYS COWAN, PRENTIS ROLLINS and others
Cover by DEREC DONOVAN
A special one-shot paying homage to Dwayne McDuffie and the world of Milestone Media, with tribute material from Milestone co-founder Denys Cowan and other Milestone alumni.
One-shot • No ads • On sale JUNE 1 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Having our cake and eating it too.

I've been watching the second season of the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman show, and I can't help but think that Lyle Waggoner's not really a love interest in this. He's her closer friend and coworker, but really they seem to have lost their romantic chemistry from the setting change.

See, the second season is set in the 70s, when Steve Trevor Jr is on a plane that wanders into Paradise Island airspace during a hijacking attempt. Diana goes on, sees that everyone is unconscious and there's a guy on there who looks exactly like Steve Trevor. And she knows several decades have passed and this is impossible. It turns out to be his son, and her Steve has recently died of old age. As she can assess there's an obvious danger to the guy, she asks to go back.

We have a different Hippolyta, a redhead this time, and she's the best one yet. She wants to deny it, but they put it to a council vote and Diana just has to face one challenger in Bullets & Bracelets before she's off to Man's World again.

Now, from the start it looks like they want to continue the same character dynamic, but it doesn't work. They changed his character. She was in love with his father, not him. He was raised on stories about her, and of course he geeks out when he sees her. At the end of the show they even do the thing where Diana misspeaks and says "Well, I'm sure she came back for you--I mean us" when speculating about Wonder Woman's motives. (This was common in the first season. We'd see him get this modest/embarrassed look after she made those slips, because it was obvious to everyone from FDR to General Blankenship's dry cleaner that the most beautiful woman in the country had a crush on him.)

Jessica Walter (I don't know her character's name but fuck it, it's Jessica Walter) picks up on Diana Prince's looking at him and they even try using an imposter Steve against her. (Who comes onto Diana Prince and chases her across the apartment until she locks herself in the bedroom, changes to Wonder Woman, and comes around the building to

After the first episode, though, they seem to put this aside and it's just a professional relationship. I don't know if that was the actors being unable to adjust the character change, or the writers just discarding it. Either way, it didn't work and I think it's because it wasn't really her Steve. She wasn't following him around because she loved him so much as she was protective of the kid of a guy she loved. I'm only about halfway through the season, but they seem to have settled into close platonic friends. He's a pretty important part of the series as her boss, closest friend and most influential ally, (and he still admires the hell out of Wonder Woman) but I do not see these two dating even casually.

When he gets promoted to being her boss he gets moved off the frontlines, so they cool a bit further. She has solo adventures and when they want to pair her up they come up with a brand new male character for each episode. It's really close to the Rooster Roulette we've seen post-Crisis. I think this was more because they realized Lynda Carter could carry the show all by herself. (Either that or Waggoner was sick of being tied up every episode.)

Funny thing, though, I think this demonstrates a way to keep older Steve and bring back a love interest Steve. Steve Trevor will be a different character according to the period of time he was raised in, he'll default to that generation's healthiest expression masculinity combined with a progressive view (and genuine like and respect for) of women. That's different for a guy in the Army in the 40s and a guy in a spy service in the 70s even if they are played by the same actor. That's going to be different for a guy born in the 40s and a guy born in the 80s. It's not a bad shot on either version of the character, it's just natural.

So, why not go the way of the TV show and introduce a younger character of the same name? They could retcon the first couple Perez stories a little (to add that Steve was married before) or a lot (to substitute the younger Steve for the one who crashed on the island) if they like. They can write out the backstory of the mother and what happened to her. Because Diana never had romantic tension with older Steve, they'd be free to explore the younger version as a love interest. And they can go into the future with the family, because old Steve would undoubtedly have dad angst and Etta would have to deal with a stepson who is very close to her own age.

Of course, then there's always the problem of where has this guy been all these years. For that, I have a convenient plotmaking chart. Just fill in the blanks from the appropriate column:

Steve Trevor Sr's (Column A) of the same name has been (Column B) for many years due to the machinations of (Column C), who took him (Column D). Diana must fix this.

Click to enlarge

And I've also made one for any future storylines they might need. With decompression, this should last them another 600 issues.

Click to enlarge