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Right, sochaila asked me to talk about times when Diana showed up in a book other than Wonder Woman and I liked how she was written. This is actually quite difficult for me – I don't tend to read a lot of the team books that Diana has been part of (ie Justice League) because I generally don't care about enough of the other heroes. *g* When she does show up in other books, I also rarely like how she's portrayed! So the confluence of events doesn't happen very often. Ahem. However, I have come up with a few examples – and I didn't even cheat by including JLA: League of One, which technically would totally count as it's a Justice League book. :D?
ANYWAY.
You should, of course, assume spoilers for all the listed books. I did these in the order I thought of them, so there is no preference suggested.
Action Comics 761 – "For a Thousand Years"
Okay, so in this issue of Action Comics, Kal and Diana get pulled through a dimensional warp of some sort to Valhalla, where they spend a thousand years helping Thor fight off demon hordes. Yup. That happened. (No, not that Thor.) At the heart of the story, though, are Kal's relationship with Diana and Kal's relationship with Lois. On the surface, this is a story about how Diana – as a gorgeous powerful superhero – understands/suits Kal better as a partner than Lois ever would. What the story actually does, though, is disable and disprove those tropes. It does so through what I think is a brilliant portrayal of how Diana is different from Kal – and I think this issue hints at elements of Diana that show up in some of the best later writing in her book. (It's written, btw, by Joe Kelly, and I have read very little of his other work.)
The interesting bit starts when Diana responds to a call from Kal, who wants her to be aware that he's heading offworld or something and needs her to be Earth's next layer of defense. Awwww. But in the middle of Kal admitting that he doesn't think he'll ever come back and hasn't mentioned this little jaunt to Lois, they get yanked into that dimensional portal-y thing and appear in Valhalla, at which point Diana launches herself at a demon and goes straight into warrior mode.
Kal is quite distressed by Diana's blasé attitude (Kal: "Diana... you killed it?" / Diana: "Of course. What was I supposed to do to it?"), but it turns out that they're stuck in Valhalla until the demons are pushed back. Fret not, Thor says, it only took a couple of thousand years last time!
This is a Superman story; it's about Superman and his humanity, but it defines him by playing him off of Diana and demonstrating the many ways in which she is more than mortal. Diana and Thor are made for this type of combat; they understand that morality sometimes has to give way to the truths of good and evil. They are able to weather the endlessness of a thousand years of war, because they are immortal. Kal, on the other hand, starts losing himself and his memories of Lois. And Diana is there and beautiful... and yet he resists and clings to Lois, his one true love.
Diana in this book is a warrior first and Kal's friend second and a superhero, maybe, third. She is comfortable on the battlefield and on par with Kal and Thor; she understands the warrior culture and she understands Kal's humanity, and killing demons doesn't keep her from being able to tell Kal that she loves him. (I also really like that there's a suggestion that Diana would happily shag Kal and nothing would change for her, but she of course totally respects his decision not to.)
I find this particularly bittersweet given the current Wonder Woman/Superman shit. Sigh.
JLA 47-49 – "Into the Woods"
(goddamn the art on this is awful)
Yes, I love this a lot because the introduction of the Queen of Fables sets up the brilliant Gail Simone arc about the Wonder Woman movie a few years later. However, I also love that this is a smirking play on the fact that Diana is a princess. When the Queen of Fables is released from the storybook in which she has been imprisoned, she mistakes Diana for Snow White – and the rest of the League for Diana's loyal knights. A battle through fairytales ensues.
The story itself is... not amazing. I mean, it's loads of fun, and it's Mark Waid so it's got some great dialogue. Overall, though, it's much better at the end than it is in the beginning. But I love that Diana gets to be the leader without question, and that we're reminded that she's one of the only Leaguers who can do anything against magic.
In contrast to the previous story, where Diana is quite ruthless, here we see the effort she goes to to balance that ruthlessness and make sure that the sacrifices that have to be made are worthwhile.
I also love that in this, Diana's lasso of truth has an incredibly harsh power – we see the way it tears through the Queen's fancies and absolutely destroys her. I think that often the lasso is portrayed as if it simply reveals what is true and that's just how everything is meant to be, but here we see that the weight of erasing the Queen's delusions is what undoes her. The truth is painful and difficult to handle, and that is often the case. It's a powerful weapon (and this makes it all the more incredible when we think about Diana wrapping herself in it and submitting to knowing all the truths about herself).
Also: I love that they trap the Queen in the tax code in order to steal the power of imagination from her.
Secret Six 10-14 - "Depths"
Okaaaay, kiiiinda cheating because Gail Simone. :D?
There's actually very little Diana in this book, though if I want to really cheat I could say it counts twice because it also has Artemis. Double the Wondy, double the fun! What I like is seeing the way that other characters related to Diana and the Amazons. Jeannette teasing Artemis is kind of hilarious (and I want that backstory).
I have to admit that the cover for issue 12, with Diana holding a beat-up Jeannette, was the first solicit I saw when I was getting into Secret Six and was somewhat responsible for me starting to pick the book up. But that is also one of the things I love – I love seeing Diana as a fighter, as may be coming clear through this post. I think it takes some effort to write her as the hardened warrior who still has that steel core of compassion. Jeannette really pushes that core to the brink by taunting her and Artemis.
I had a lot of conversations around this arc about Gail and her tendency to write super super-powered women who are next to impossible to take down. I mean, I'm really not complaining, for the most part. But it was interesting to see her writing one of her superwomen – Jeannette – as having a way to take down one of the ultimate superwomen – Diana – in a very fitting fashion. I think that Diana's inability to stand up to the pain and suffering of Jeannette's banshee cry is quite poignant. And I love that Artemis wants her to lead the Amazons and she refuses.
Also, not to be shallow, but Diana should always be drawn by Nicola Scott, and Nicola Scott should always draw Diana.
Also also: "It's Santa Ragdoll, bringing stocking stuffers for those heterosexuals with enormous feet! Who ordered a busty meatloaf?" And Ragdoll trying the boots and tiara on. I love it.
More spaces, if you want to make me talk about stuff! Click on the link up there.
Right, so
chaila asked me to talk about times when Diana showed up in a book other than Wonder Woman and I liked how she was written. This is actually quite difficult for me – I don't tend to read a lot of the team books that Diana has been part of (ie Justice League) because I generally don't care about enough of the other heroes. *g* When she does show up in other books, I also rarely like how she's portrayed! So the confluence of events doesn't happen very often. Ahem. However, I have come up with a few examples – and I didn't even cheat by including JLA: League of One, which technically would totally count as it's a Justice League book. :D?ANYWAY.
You should, of course, assume spoilers for all the listed books. I did these in the order I thought of them, so there is no preference suggested.
Action Comics 761 – "For a Thousand Years"
Okay, so in this issue of Action Comics, Kal and Diana get pulled through a dimensional warp of some sort to Valhalla, where they spend a thousand years helping Thor fight off demon hordes. Yup. That happened. (No, not that Thor.) At the heart of the story, though, are Kal's relationship with Diana and Kal's relationship with Lois. On the surface, this is a story about how Diana – as a gorgeous powerful superhero – understands/suits Kal better as a partner than Lois ever would. What the story actually does, though, is disable and disprove those tropes. It does so through what I think is a brilliant portrayal of how Diana is different from Kal – and I think this issue hints at elements of Diana that show up in some of the best later writing in her book. (It's written, btw, by Joe Kelly, and I have read very little of his other work.)
The interesting bit starts when Diana responds to a call from Kal, who wants her to be aware that he's heading offworld or something and needs her to be Earth's next layer of defense. Awwww. But in the middle of Kal admitting that he doesn't think he'll ever come back and hasn't mentioned this little jaunt to Lois, they get yanked into that dimensional portal-y thing and appear in Valhalla, at which point Diana launches herself at a demon and goes straight into warrior mode.
Kal is quite distressed by Diana's blasé attitude (Kal: "Diana... you killed it?" / Diana: "Of course. What was I supposed to do to it?"), but it turns out that they're stuck in Valhalla until the demons are pushed back. Fret not, Thor says, it only took a couple of thousand years last time!
This is a Superman story; it's about Superman and his humanity, but it defines him by playing him off of Diana and demonstrating the many ways in which she is more than mortal. Diana and Thor are made for this type of combat; they understand that morality sometimes has to give way to the truths of good and evil. They are able to weather the endlessness of a thousand years of war, because they are immortal. Kal, on the other hand, starts losing himself and his memories of Lois. And Diana is there and beautiful... and yet he resists and clings to Lois, his one true love.
Diana in this book is a warrior first and Kal's friend second and a superhero, maybe, third. She is comfortable on the battlefield and on par with Kal and Thor; she understands the warrior culture and she understands Kal's humanity, and killing demons doesn't keep her from being able to tell Kal that she loves him. (I also really like that there's a suggestion that Diana would happily shag Kal and nothing would change for her, but she of course totally respects his decision not to.)
I find this particularly bittersweet given the current Wonder Woman/Superman shit. Sigh.
JLA 47-49 – "Into the Woods"
(goddamn the art on this is awful)
Yes, I love this a lot because the introduction of the Queen of Fables sets up the brilliant Gail Simone arc about the Wonder Woman movie a few years later. However, I also love that this is a smirking play on the fact that Diana is a princess. When the Queen of Fables is released from the storybook in which she has been imprisoned, she mistakes Diana for Snow White – and the rest of the League for Diana's loyal knights. A battle through fairytales ensues.
The story itself is... not amazing. I mean, it's loads of fun, and it's Mark Waid so it's got some great dialogue. Overall, though, it's much better at the end than it is in the beginning. But I love that Diana gets to be the leader without question, and that we're reminded that she's one of the only Leaguers who can do anything against magic.
In contrast to the previous story, where Diana is quite ruthless, here we see the effort she goes to to balance that ruthlessness and make sure that the sacrifices that have to be made are worthwhile.
I also love that in this, Diana's lasso of truth has an incredibly harsh power – we see the way it tears through the Queen's fancies and absolutely destroys her. I think that often the lasso is portrayed as if it simply reveals what is true and that's just how everything is meant to be, but here we see that the weight of erasing the Queen's delusions is what undoes her. The truth is painful and difficult to handle, and that is often the case. It's a powerful weapon (and this makes it all the more incredible when we think about Diana wrapping herself in it and submitting to knowing all the truths about herself).
Also: I love that they trap the Queen in the tax code in order to steal the power of imagination from her.
Secret Six 10-14 - "Depths"
Okaaaay, kiiiinda cheating because Gail Simone. :D?
There's actually very little Diana in this book, though if I want to really cheat I could say it counts twice because it also has Artemis. Double the Wondy, double the fun! What I like is seeing the way that other characters related to Diana and the Amazons. Jeannette teasing Artemis is kind of hilarious (and I want that backstory).
I have to admit that the cover for issue 12, with Diana holding a beat-up Jeannette, was the first solicit I saw when I was getting into Secret Six and was somewhat responsible for me starting to pick the book up. But that is also one of the things I love – I love seeing Diana as a fighter, as may be coming clear through this post. I think it takes some effort to write her as the hardened warrior who still has that steel core of compassion. Jeannette really pushes that core to the brink by taunting her and Artemis.
I had a lot of conversations around this arc about Gail and her tendency to write super super-powered women who are next to impossible to take down. I mean, I'm really not complaining, for the most part. But it was interesting to see her writing one of her superwomen – Jeannette – as having a way to take down one of the ultimate superwomen – Diana – in a very fitting fashion. I think that Diana's inability to stand up to the pain and suffering of Jeannette's banshee cry is quite poignant. And I love that Artemis wants her to lead the Amazons and she refuses.
Also, not to be shallow, but Diana should always be drawn by Nicola Scott, and Nicola Scott should always draw Diana.
Also also: "It's Santa Ragdoll, bringing stocking stuffers for those heterosexuals with enormous feet! Who ordered a busty meatloaf?" And Ragdoll trying the boots and tiara on. I love it.
More spaces, if you want to make me talk about stuff! Click on the link up there.
