New look for Wonder Woman

[Werewolf]

I understand some of DC's desire to strip the overtly U.S. patriotism from the character to make it more marketable worldwide.

It's like when they removed the US flags from the GI JOE uniforms in the new live action movie. I think the US needs to stop being so self loathing with that kinda stuff.

I understand the perceived and possibly necessary move to dress the character in more than just a swimsuit.

I think it is far more to do with this marketable worldwide mindset. But no matter how much they cover her up she is still not going to fly world wide like Spiderman or Batman. To this day there are some cultures that will not accept a female superhero that strong.

But it seems with Wonder Woman 600, Wonder Woman won't be Wonder Woman anymore. That change just saved me 5 bucks.

Yep, she isn't Wonder Woman anymore. Just another character that with the same name.

[HardyGirl]

I don't care what anybody says, that is NOT Wonder Woman!!

[madmarva]

In a story on Newsarama, it says there is a timeline change. Diana has flash memories of the old time line.

Instead of being raised on Paradise Island and being a hero who helped formed the JLA, this 18-year-old Wonder Woman is raised by guardians in New York. Sounds an awful lot like Donna Troy's origin.

Honestly, why not just retire Diana and come up with a new Wonder Woman or just a new character in general.

I understand some of DC's desire to strip the overtly U.S. patriotism from the character to make it more marketable worldwide. I understand the perceived and possibly necessary move to dress the character in more than just a swimsuit. I'm pretty sure the costume had a lot to do with why Warner couldn't get a worthy actress to commit to a script.

But honestly what I fins most appealing about Wonder Woman was that even though she was raised in a Grecian culture, she recognized the nobility of the U.S.'s ideals of freedom, liberty and equality and basically decided to drape herself in the U.S. flag. I know the origin changed over the years, but that's basically the original idea behind the character.

Some would say the American trappings to her origin ties her to a period of time long past — WWII — and, yes, certainly the character's roots are grounded in the 1940s. But, at least to me, American ideals aren't rooted in just one decade. American ideals come from governmental philosophy formulated more than two centuries ago, but to me, those ideals are as worthy today as they have ever been.

Now, has the U.S. always or ever totally lived up to those ideals? No, of course not. Not in 1776, 1860, 1941, 1961, 2001 or in 2010. But that does not make those ideals invalid or lame or old-fashioned or any less worthy today than when our forefathers pledged their lives, liberty and sacred honor to split from England and form our nation.

I've always seen characters like Superman, Wonder Woman and Captain America as icons to remind us of those ideals, to remind us that we can be better than we are and that even when we fail to live up to those ideals, that we still aspire to them. Most ideals can never be reached, but if they are forgotten, they can never even be aspired to.

To me what those characters stand for is what lifts them above or makes them culturally more significant than others.

Cutting Wonder Woman off from her origin devalues what has been and is special about the character. Instead of being the icon for all super heroines, she becomes just another character. The new origin as explained in news article sounds a lot like Donna Troy's.

Certainly, I can understand DC's move with the character. Don't tie her too closely to the U.S. because it would hurt the marketability of the brand across the world. Good business move? Maybe.

Is a brand still a brand when you change what made it a brand in the first place?

Coca-Cola tried to change what made it "the real thing" back in the 1980s and the public balked.

From the way JMS explained the plot, he and/or DC editorial has built a way to backdoor out of the changes for some time in the future if they don't prove popular.

I'm not a stickler for continuity. To me continuity should work for the characters not the opposite. I primarily want good stories.

But it seems with Wonder Woman 600, Wonder Woman won't be Wonder Woman anymore. That change just saved me 5 bucks.

[The Toyroom]

This may answer a lot of everyone's questions....

J. Michael Straczynski: She doesn't really remember any of it, because in this timeline, it never happened, so there's nothing to remember. However, she does keep getting brief flashes of images that we will recognize as being from the Wonder Woman timeline that we know.

Someone has been watching too much Lost

In a way, the person she's become is searching for the person she was ... and maybe she'll find that person, maybe she won't, and maybe they'll meet somewhere in-between.

As it stands now, Diana was taken from Paradise Island 18 years ago, when she was a child. The island was under a massive assault, and Hippolyta wanted to be sure that her daughter survived. The queen led the final defense of Paradise Island, but in the end was defeated. She and most of the other Amazons were killed, with some taken prisoner while the rest escaped to the four winds.

So Diana's task now is to a) find out where, how and why the timeline was changed, b) who did it, c) if it can be undone, and d) stay ahead of the forces trying to kill her while e) helping as many of the surviving Amazons stay alive as possible, since they too are still being hunted.

Straczynski: She is still Diana. She was raised in New York by other Amazons and guardians who escaped the destruction of Paradise Island, so she has a foot in both worlds. (There's this kind of cool underground location where some of her guardians have been posted for decades, and it's a very shadowy, candle-lit place...so you can go from the urban environment to something far more mythic looking in a second.)

She knows her background, having been told about it over the years, but remembers very little of it herself. She knows that they're all relying on her to put it all back the way it was, that one day the Princess will return to restore Paradise Island to its former greatness, and that's a huge responsibility for her. Sometimes she chafes against it.

Also, by virtue of being raised off the Island, and other factors involving the timeline shift, she doesn't have her full range of powers. She's nearly but not entirely invulnerable, can't fly (yet), and the lasso was taken from her mother after her death defending Paradise Island. So one by one, she has to pick up these skills or powers, allowing us to examine them more closely, and give them proper weight, rather than taking them for granted.

Someone like Superman would only know of her in the current timeline, whereas others with a more supernatural origin — Deadman, Phantom Stranger — might be able to perceive what was and what is at the same time, and could be very helpful. (Yes, you may assume that this is going to happen at some point.)

I'd rather let the Donna Troy folks speak for themselves, rather than my trying to characterize their approach. Just seems polite to do so

BAH!

[The Toyroom]

Good point. I didn't even think about that. Maybe she'll just go back to being an adopted Amazon, instead of all that goofiness about her being drug around by the Dark Angel through different lives. Or were the John Byrne years retconned out and I missed it?

The way I read it, the Amazons are going bye-bye for now....so it seems like WG/DT is out in the cold....again.

[kingdom warrior]

Return of The awful Jacket craze from the 90's.......No sir I don't like it....

[Bizarro Amy]

And I'm sure this F's up Wonder GIRL's (Donna Troy) continuity once again......

Good point. I didn't even think about that. Maybe she'll just go back to being an adopted Amazon, instead of all that goofiness about her being drug around by the Dark Angel through different lives. Or were the John Byrne years retconned out and I missed it?

[Werewolf]

She will not remember her former history, memory will be foggy and her powers will not be all there at first.

So, they are going to depower her...again. This just keeps on getting better.

[The Toyroom]

Also, just notice that the parts that were really changed the most were the American flag bits. I wonder if that's intended to perhaps make her more marketable in other countries?

How marketable is Wonder Woman REALLY in other countries when they don't even know what to do with here in the good ol' USA?

[The Toyroom]

And I'm sure this F's up Wonder GIRL's (Donna Troy) continuity once again......

[The Toyroom]

Am I reading that right or does it say that this will be an alternate history? Will this be part of her regular continuity?

Apparently something happens where the Olympian Gods feel the need to change the course of history....As a result, they no longer offer their protection to Paradise Island and the Amazons. The island is attacked and young Diana is given to someone else to raise. She will not remember her former history, memory will be foggy and her powers will not be all there at first. So she has to find out who she really is and discover why the Olympians did what they did....which may or may not result in history being fixed.

At least that's what I got out of it....The whole thing sounds like something that would have been better as an Elseworlds series.

Again, if THIS is the type of "Wonder Woman" JMS wants to write, then maybe he shouldn't be writing "WONDER WOMAN". If he really felt strongly about this storyline he should have mapped it out for Princess Power, the WW knock-off from his Squadron Supreme take over at Marvel.

[toys2cool]

still hot but no way

[johnnystorm]

Also, just notice that the parts that were really changed the most were the American flag bits. I wonder if that's intended to perhaps make her more marketable in other countries?

[Werewolf]

Am I reading that right or does it say that this will be an alternate history? Will this be part of her regular continuity?

My understanding is the re-imagined continuity replaces her regular one.

[johnnystorm]

Yet one more example of Dan Didio being unable to come up with any new ideas that weren't already tried in the 1980s. Like was already said, this is just a retread of the Mike Deodata era. I expect there to be another Wonder Woman show up ala the Artemis period within the next six months.