Simple sexism has dogged the character ever since her supposedly feminist creator was unable to conceal his own personal fetish for having her tied up, shackled and rendered powerless every issue and reached a height when she was only allowed in the Justice Society of America with lightweights like the Atom and Johnny Thunder if she served as secretary (remember – she’s a notional goddess only marginally less powerful than Superman). Rumour has it that WW has only been continually published because a quirk in DC’s deal with her creator, William Moulton Marston, means that they’d lose the rights (and, of course, the merchandising deals) if they let her go into the limbo of characters they own who aren’t toplining their own titles. However, Linda Carter aside, Wonder Woman lags a long way behind the other two in terms of film and TV appearances – there was no 1940s Wonder Woman serial (whereas jungle girl Nyoka got two), there has been no modern-day movie blockbuster (though many scripts have been developed and dumped). Also like Superman and Batman, she has a long-standing pop culture presence outside the comics field – which, currently active Marvel and DC multi-media franchises notwithstanding, no other characters can come close to matching. Like Superman and Batman, she was created way back in the Golden Age of comics and has been continually published ever since - though her strip origins (she debuted the month Pearl Harbour was bombed) relate to World War II rather than the late ‘30s of FDR, the Depression and the New York Worlds Fair Land of Tomorrow vibe which informs the earlier superheroes. In theory, Wonder Woman is one of the tentpoles of DC’s superhero universe. My notes Wonder Woman (2009) – made when a live-action version seemed unlikely.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |