Wonder Woman #600, Royal Historian of Oz #1

Wonder Woman #600

Even I was surprised at the number of comments, complaints, praises, and general remarks made about Wonder Woman #600, which of course mostly centered around the redesign of Wonder Woman's so-called "iconic" costume.  I'll get to all that in a moment. 

First, though, I'd like to say what a wonderful issue this was - this truly was what a centennial issue should be like.  After the disappointing Batman #700 and the moderately good Superman #700, WW#600 really pulled out the stops to make this a bang-up read, and succeeded where her more commercially popular partners failed.  There were six stories in the issue, three utterly forgettable, three pretty nice ones, plus an array of pinups done by some really fab artists.  My favorites were Nicola Scott and Adam Hughes, and of course the Phil Jimenez 2-page splash was amazing. 

Now to the stories that mattered - the first was by Gail Simone, one of my favorite WW writers; this was called Valedictorian.  The beginning of the story outlined a huge, epic battle against IVO's Cyber-Sirens, who are able to brainwash and stupefy men, but not women.  So we get almost the entire DCU's roster of female heroes fighting alongside WW, who is leading the charge.  This was nice for me because of the level of reverence and awe the other hero-grrlz have for Wonder Woman; the Question struggling to strike up the courage to ask for an autograph, and Batwoman inviting her out for a drink - it was really really fun.  The second part of the story didn't work as well for me.  WW flies off after the big victory, turns herself into Diana Prince, and attends the college graduation ceremony of Vanessa Kapatelis.  This was mainly a nod to older readers - but I have to say that someone coming into the stories as a newbie would have a tough time figuring out the relationships here.  On top of that, I'm no great fan of George Perez's, as heretical as that may be.  I frankly thought his cover for this issue was not just not really special, but downright ugly.

Still, Simone's skill wins through every time, and the touching interaction between Vanessa and Diana brought a tear to my eye, after all they had been through.  I will miss Gail Simone on this character, as I thought she was finally hitting her stride with WW, and had begun to draw a real and memorable personality for her.  I hope that after JMS completes his run, she'll return to the series and pick it up from there.

The other story worth discussing was the Amanda Conner piece, "Fuzzy Logic" - OMG, this was beautiful!  First off, seeing Conner drawing both Power Girl and Wonder Woman for five whole pages was Swoon City for me.  Conner is a truly great penciller for women, and she nails both of them.  The dialogue was a bit stilted for me, but a little artistic license here is allowable because it made the story play even cuter.  It all centered on a little-used ability of WW's - she can talk to animals.  When PG asks for "relationship help" and WW agrees to mediate the situation, we realize that it's PG's cat that's the problem.  It was cute and funny, and everything a short story should be - a completely satisfying resolution, while still feeling like a Wonder Woman story.

The other stories were entirely forgettable - a mystifying Geoff Johns piece that just seemed to be a recap or retelling of her history - no idea why that was even in there except to serve as a prologue to a prologue, which is what JMS's story ends up being.

OK.  Now to the outfit.  She has pants now.  I like that.  She has a cropped leather jacket, which would be totally bitchen ... in 1990.  Dude, it is sooooo dated!  Designed by Jim Lee, there are more good things about the costume than bad, but that shortie jacket is stupid.  I really am totally over the star-spangled bikini panties, and just generally hate the trend of skimp-wear on female heroes.  I really do appreciate Batwoman, the Question and Cassandra Cain's Batgirl, for that reason.  I mean I know they're skin-tight, but at least they're realistic fighting duds.  Beyond that... so what?  Superheroes change costumes quite often, really.  Look at Batman.  Or Superman.  Or Green Arrow.  Whatever.  None of them are running around in their panties (well, they are, but at least they're also wearing pants under them ;D ).  I just think it's much ado about nothing.

The story itself is the big drama in my mind.  So here's the premise:  WW suddenly steps out of her own life into a completely unfamiliar reality, with no memory of what was.  She is one of the very few survivors of a massacre on Themyscira, raised by Amazons in a shelter someplace beneath New York City (?).  She visits the Oracle, who used to be the Oracle at Delphi or something, but now is a blind goth chick living under a bridge.  The Oracle has knowledge of the other reality, and tells Diana she is "everything and nothing that she was before," and then proceeds to show Diana her vision of the destroyed Paradise Island. 

Here's the good:  JMS has a history of writing tremendous female characters.  His Commander Ivanova, Ambassador Delenn and Lyta Hall (from Babylon 5 - heavenly choirs sing praises, amen) were paragons of strength, compassion, and intelligence, and all while remaining utterly female, mostly not bitchy, etc.  This is, apparently, nearly impossible to achieve, if you look at the way most people - including women - write female characters.  I hate it when stridency, shrillness, and bitchiness are used to represent strength.  I also hate it when female characters take every opportunity to emasculate, castrate, and otherwise render null, all males in their wake, and this is something I've seen far too much of in film, television and comics.  So, I have hope that JMS will be able to fashion a true and real person out of Diana at last.

The bad: How do you explain to the rest of the DCU that Wonder Woman just doesn't exist?  Where did she go?  Do any of them remember her?  I realize the Justice League no longer really involves the Holy Trinity (btw, that's stupid, DC peeps), but seriously?  And this story arc lasts just a year or so - then do we just reset to the status quo?

The ugly:  I am so over the deconstruction and reconstruction of big superheroes.  So now what's going on in the DCU?  Batman is fighting his way back from the dead (decon/recon).  Superman is fighting his way back from New Krypton and The 100 Minute War by walking - not flying - around the country (decon/recon).  And now Wonder Woman is gone, too, and is no longer even the person she used to be.  Her history, her family, her world ... phhhhht (decon/recon).  Notice that I don't say "retcon."  None of her past will be erased, I think.  But still... there certainly is an epidemic of this sort of thing going on in the DCU, and it's hardly original when you think about it.

The pragmatic:  Wonder Woman constantly circulates in numbers just high enough to prevent cancellation - the bottom of the Top 100.  As one of DC's Big Guns, Wonder Woman should be a Top 20 title.  It's all about making the character someone we can care about - someone we can know.  That hasn't happened, in all of her 69 years of history.  Is she a formal / awkward / royal?  Is she a warrior, stoic and silent?  Is she a warm, compassionate woman?  Is she all of these, none of these, some of these?  I've seen her written different ways when different writers take over.  There should be a unified version of the original Warrior Princess - and that's my bone to pick.  I know Xena better than I know Diana, and Diana's got 60 years of history on Xena (well, story-wise, I mean).  If JMS can solidify her character and personality into someone winning and wonderful, then I think that any good writer should be able to come in after the shake-up and take over.  In the meantime, we've had a lot of people who normally do not pick up Wonder Woman getting the issue and reading the story.  There's been a lot of buzz around WW.  That's a good thing.  We don't need to keep on writing to please the fanboys who have just kept WW in circulation - that's not enough.  We need to interest everyone else, and convince them to stick around for the ride.  Let's hope it's a good one.

The Royal Historian of Oz
Slave Labor Graphics has long been a favorite publisher, putting out a small number of really good books each year, most of them graphic novels.  SLG often stays away from serial comics, probably due to the capricious nature of them.  But this book is a winner, I think - written by Tommy Kovac (Stitch, Skelebunnies, Autumn), it's whimsical and atmospheric, just like his art.  Tommy's not pencilling this however, more's the pity.  The art is being handled by Andy Hirsch.  The book's a black & white, no color, and Hirsch's work is fine, even though I think I would enjoy it more had Tommy been able to pencil it himself.

Story-wise, it's super fun.  Jasper Fizzle is obsessed with Oz, and continually writes bad Oz stories.  He is warned repeatedly by the copyright holders to cease and desist, but simply can't.  As luck would have it, Jasper happens upon the Silver Slippers from the original Oz stories, and incredibly, they are no movie prop.  When he puts them on, he is transported to Oz because their magic transcends the Spell of Sealing put on Oz by Glinda the Good Witch - to keep people like Jasper from exploiting the denizens of Oz.  Jasper's son, Frank, is the person telling this story, so we see it all from his perspective.  When Jasper returns from Oz with a flying monkey in tow, then shows Frank the caravan he's brought along to house all of the treasures he has "appropriated" (illegally), it's as if Frank is stepping into some Oz-ian TARDIS - the wagon is much bigger on the inside, and filled to bursting with artifacts, books, and more.  Jasper is delighted because he is sure that now all he needs to do is write down things that really happened, and he'll be a published author, writing about the land he loves.  But back in Oz, Glinda and Ozma are none too happy with Jasper's filching, and are preparing to dispatch their crack team to track him down and take something of value to him in order to persuade him to trade for all he has stolen (his son, of course).  And so, next issue, we'll see The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion, accompanied by Scraps, the rag doll, as they begin the hunt for Frank Fizzle, son of the man who fancies himself the Royal Historian of Oz.

It's so great when we get all-ages books worth reading by readers of ALL AGES - not just kiddie books that parents have to endure in order to get their kids involved in comics and reading.  Even though I wish the book were in color, for the sake of involving more children, the story is good enough that if parents will take the time to read along with their kids, I believe all will have a merry time.  And for the bargain price of a buck - yep, this first issue is just ONE DOLLAR, peeps - there's little to lose.  I highly recommend this book.

So, what do you think?  Wonder Woman's outfit?  Great?  Horrible?  Why?  Royal Historian - worth buying? (I think so)  Let me know!