What about the invisible jet?

June 29, 2010 9:40 PM

Wonder Woman has had many costumes over the years, but starting today her outfit will be a little more ... practical.
posted by thecjm (181 comments total)

Hmm, that won't make for good Underoos.
posted by Ruki at 9:44 PM on June 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

She's a semi-divine royal ambassador-warrior from a quasi-Utopian separate world - about damn time she got to wear some pants.
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:45 PM on June 29, 2010 [28 favorites]

(And yes, I know she briefly did in the 70s, but that didn't last; maybe this will - I've always hated those star-spangled panties, with their faux-Americana that looked totally out of place on a woman from a pseudo-Greek world. It's hard to get costume changes to stick when it comes to DC's core heroes, but I'm hoping this one will; she's one of the heavy hitters, usually portrayed as a power on a scale with Superman, and she deserves to look like an adult.)
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:48 PM on June 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

She deserves it after that Star Sapphire outfit. Yeesh.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 9:49 PM on June 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

I like my semi-divine royal ambassador-warrior from a quasi-Utopian separate world FABULOUS. This ain't it.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:53 PM on June 29, 2010 [8 favorites]

Maybe I've been reading Project Rooftop for too long, but that redesign is horrible.
posted by komara at 9:53 PM on June 29, 2010 [9 favorites]

Remember when Superman had a mullet for a bit?
posted by Artw at 10:00 PM on June 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

she's one of the heavy hitters, usually portrayed as a power on a scale with Superman, and she deserves to look like an adult

Since red belted panties over a blue spandex bodysuit is so dignified??
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 10:05 PM on June 29, 2010 [18 favorites]

The comments on the "starting today" link are hilarious.

This has to be a joke. I am literally sick to my stomach right now. This is a joke. You CANNOT destroy my reason for loving comics and superheroes like this. Not even for a single issue. Please stop this NOW!
posted by brundlefly at 10:06 PM on June 29, 2010 [12 favorites]

This has to be a joke. I am literally sick to my stomach right now. This is a joke. You CANNOT destroy my reason for loving comics and superheroes like this. Not even for a single issue. Please stop this NOW!

My people, they vex me.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 10:08 PM on June 29, 2010 [22 favorites]

I'm guessing here, but I must have been about seven or eight when I was watching an episode of Wonder Woman with Linda Carter. She was about to chase down some bad guys on a boat or something and she did the usual spinning around costume change. Only this time, she came out in a head-to-toe blue latex swimming suit. In my memory, she had a matching blue swim cap, but that could be just my imagination.

Seeing that was like having a bomb going off in my little, pre-pubescent brain. That costume suddenly seemed like the coolest thing in the entire world. And Wonder Woman was just...well...wonderful. I suddenly got the whole Wonder Woman aesthetic. The amazon thing. The golden lasso. The bracelets. It wasn't sexual, because my sexuality was just an undifferentiated yearning at that point. But it was the first time I realized that femininity had a power other than the maternal.

All this is to say that it was probably about time for Wonder Woman to join the 21st century, sartorially speaking. But I do wish the designers would have taken a moment to think of the children.
posted by felix betachat at 10:10 PM on June 29, 2010 [6 favorites]

Remember when Superman had a mullet for a bit?

I wish I could forget.
posted by MegoSteve at 10:11 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Needs more cameltoe.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:12 PM on June 29, 2010 [5 favorites]

Enjoy, felix betachat.
posted by MegoSteve at 10:15 PM on June 29, 2010 [31 favorites]

metafilter is so fucking awesome
posted by felix betachat at 10:16 PM on June 29, 2010 [15 favorites]

boys will presumably imagine what she looks like naked no matter what she's wearing.
posted by Hammond Rye at 10:19 PM on June 29, 2010

and some girls too, no doubt.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:24 PM on June 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

Also, Diana Prince has stepped down. Taking up the lasso: That one girl who works at the record store and maintains a detached expression at all times!
posted by ignignokt at 10:25 PM on June 29, 2010 [6 favorites]

Bring back the plane!
posted by vrakatar at 10:32 PM on June 29, 2010

Leggings? Really?
posted by fshgrl at 10:34 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

and some girls too, no doubt

Sure. That still doesn't make this costume any better.
posted by New England Cultist at 10:57 PM on June 29, 2010

I don't care if Wonder Woman wears pants, but let's all be honest: they've done this a dozen times each with a dozen major comics characters and it pretty much never sticks. Even if it is the best idea ever, it's still just a publicity stunt.
posted by paisley henosis at 11:05 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

omg! i remember that wetsuit!
and lordy,
there sure are a lot of clips of linda carter running in slow-motion on the youtubes
posted by sexyrobot at 11:11 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Practical? What the fuck purpose do those golden ankle-straps serve?

Now, she kicks a bullet out of the air and this Marvel boy might just go a little DC for her.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 11:21 PM on June 29, 2010

Given the original themes of Wonder Woman, I've always expected her outfit to eventually skew towards the dominatrix, with perhaps a golden CBT cage eventually replacing the lasso.
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:25 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

The bracelets are still there, but made more colorful, tied on the inside and over the hand, with a script W on each of them that form WW when she holds them side by side…and if you get hit by one of them, it leaves a W mark. This is a Wonder Woman who signs her work

Holy shit, I think I am little DC for her!
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 11:25 PM on June 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

there sure are a lot of clips of linda carter running in slow-motion on the youtubes

Yeah. Has she found a decent support bra yet? Some of the women here could help her track one down. (And maybe get a ride in a transparent plane out of the deal.)
posted by pracowity at 11:26 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Practical? With those nails?
posted by ursus_comiter at 11:44 PM on June 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

Actually the person who designed wonder woman was a psychiatrist with a fetish for being tied up by women.
posted by delmoi at 11:44 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I like it. It's very 90s.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:46 PM on June 29, 2010 [8 favorites]

Wonder Woman is one of the iconic superheroes, and her costume should be instantly recognizable as WONDER WOMAN, even to people who don't read comics regularly. This thing is just way too dark in its color patterns, and looks like it came out of the DC b-list female super-hero wardrobe department with that jacket. It's like Black Canary without the fishnets.

Personally, I always thought new costumes worked better on lesser known heroes or those who had been out of the public concsiousness for a while.

Luckily, this is the comic book industry we're talking about, so this change should last, oh, about 10 issues. Seriously, Electric Superman didn't even last a year, IIRC.
posted by KingEdRa at 11:50 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I really liked her Eagle armor from Kingdom Come - the whole battleskirt might not be the most plausible in this day and age, but it fit with the Greek warrior aesthetic, and, I always read it as kinda badass:

"My people are warriors, who've been around longer than Jesus, and they formed me out of clay because they wanted someone even MORE badass. I'm not changing my outfit to fit in with this bullshit 'civilization' that popped up overnight - I'm an Amazon and I'm going to remind you all what that means."

Of course, no one really takes it there, instead keeping her with the haltertop and panties bit. :(

(Also, does this mean Gail Simone isn't writing WW anymore? I will has a sad.)
posted by yeloson at 11:50 PM on June 29, 2010 [8 favorites]

Animal Man wants his jacket back.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 11:59 PM on June 29, 2010 [5 favorites]

This one is cool. (Jim Lee For Tomorrow?)
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:59 PM on June 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

No. This doesn't work. She needs a new outfit, but not this one.

1) Too dark.
2) Star motif is missing.
3) The bracelets are too elaborate.
4) Her top needs red, gold and the eagle motif.
5) Needs a more prominent tiara.

You do the above and you can have a Wonder Woman costume. This . . . would it even be notable when you're clubbing?

Finally, her hair's kind of limp and weak. Wonder Woman at her best has badass, enormous Mediterranean hair.
posted by mobunited at 12:01 AM on June 30, 2010 [8 favorites]

Honestly, as iconic as the outfit was, it's about time she got to wear something, well, normal. I would imagine that even a deity would, after a while, get tired of that costume. On the other hand, stop with the story reboots. Wonder Woman is who she is. If you can't tell a story that incorporates her history and origin*, well, maybe someone else should be doing it.

^{Of course, this being DC, any discussion of a single character's history and origin would probably take a full week and a half, involve separatist factions willing to fight to the death over which version of alternate whoever was the 'real' one, and end with one of the losers in the fight planning yet another massive DCrises event that re-writes everything they way they want it.}
posted by Ghidorah at 12:05 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Even more important than the costume, they need to get the character back to her roots: "a 'distinctly feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to a world torn by the hatred of men.'" THAT is what makes her character great-- she is a woman who is the equal of the most powerful men in the world, and she's here to show them how to do this superhero thing the right way. This "new direction" misses the ENTIRE point of the character.
posted by KingEdRa at 12:32 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Animal Man wants his jacket back.

Actually, I think Animal Man has explaining to do.

Those half-jackets are a early/mid-80's fashion for girls. If you look up old Uncanny X-Men you can find Storm, Rogue, and Kitty all wearing those same type of jackets.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:35 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Very stylish. However, Wonder Woman is supposed to be iconic.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:45 AM on June 30, 2010

Yeah it's dumb. Never mind the costume, fuck retcons to hell and back. I'm dropping the title tomorrow just for that.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 12:48 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Animal Man wants his jacket back.

Maybe they're an item. Has anyone seen Animal Man wearing that jacket lately?
posted by pracowity at 12:53 AM on June 30, 2010

I like it.
posted by darlingmagpie at 1:01 AM on June 30, 2010

Wonder Woman.

Wonder.

Woman.

WONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMANWONDERWOMAN

Doesn't get any less stupid!

(ps like the outfit)
posted by Sebmojo at 1:23 AM on June 30, 2010

Well my prepubescent reaction to Wonder Woman was "Why is her costume so lame? That's not really fair to girls, on Halloween."

I like the new costume. Spelunking through Google Images Black Lantern Wonder Woman looks more appropriately Hellenic than these other ones though not any more practical, and I guess per Wikipedia she's supposed to be some sort of zombie as a Black Lantern.
posted by XMLicious at 1:41 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

This makes my special area sad.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 1:42 AM on June 30, 2010

about damn time she got to wear some pants.


You know, I love the original WW outfit. It's iconic, bold, visually great and instantly appealing with all these unique touches (the sandals!). On the other hand, I think think Diana, Princess Of The Amazons, deserves some goddamned pockets.


A History Of Wonder Woman's Outfits or : PANTS!


Also : Syd's Doctoral Fucking Thesis On Wonder Girl (Some NSFW images)
posted by The Whelk at 2:06 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Well, it was designed by Jim Lee. Could we expect anything else but a piece of shit?
posted by marxchivist at 3:39 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Well, the leggings may not be totally off the mark, classically speaking. I've always been curious about the Amazon fashion of zig-zag-design leggings and leopard (?) dotted tunics that I've seen on lots of ancient vases. Camouflage?

On the other hand, here's one that shows Amazon queen Hippolyta in a skirt similar to BrotherCaine's link, along with the golden girdle, of course (which Hercules is trying to steal), but she seems to have a little more protection up top.

The ancient statues tend to pretty uniformly depict Amazons in short draping, toga-type outfits, with at least one breast bared, but this is probably more a property of the conventions of statuary at the time (I'm guessing) than any intention of accurately portraying Amazon fashion. Though one writer seems to think that revealing dress in Amazons was purposeful and specific: 'Their costume is usually a short tunic girt up for action, frequently open at one side in order to display the woman's figure. The effort is always, not to show them to be foreigners who wear a fantastic garb, but to indicate plainly that they are women warring with men.'

However, this frieze section seems to cast another vote for leggings, here with a long sleeved tunic-style top, as opposed to a lot of bare skin - which seems to be left to the Greek warrior fighting her.

The jacket, though - no, I'm afraid we can't find any historical excuse for that... and certainly not a contemporary one.

despite Michelle's unfortunate choice here
posted by taz at 4:06 AM on June 30, 2010 [7 favorites]

Also : Syd's Doctoral Fucking Thesis On Wonder Girl (Some NSFW images)

"The next obstacle I encountered was that there were way too many tangents that were not directly related to Wonder Girl, but some of which I thought were important for context. So, as penance, after long, unwieldy tangents, I have included pictures of Nikki Nova."

This approach would have gotten me past page 10 of Infinite Jest, FYI.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:11 AM on June 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

(People at work! Do not google Ms. Nova. You're welcome.)
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:12 AM on June 30, 2010

I cannot WAIT to go to the shop today. Imagine all the wailing and gnashing of teeth IN PERSON.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 4:44 AM on June 30, 2010 [5 favorites]

As long as she doesn't pair those leggings with Ugg boots and a North Face jacket this winter, we're still good.
posted by availablelight at 5:02 AM on June 30, 2010 [5 favorites]

"The Gods, for reasons of their own but which may have something to with their survival and perhaps the survival of Earth itself, have changed the timeline."

Alternate version: DC EDITORIAL STAFF, for reasons of their own but which may have something to with their survival and perhaps the survival of DC itself, have changed the timeline.

----

I'm of mixed minds about this costume/character change. On one hand, it means I can pick up Wonder Woman comics and read them in public. Even under Simone, I felt just plain skeezy reading a Wonder Woman comic out in the world. "Er, no, I'm not reading this for the main character's low cut top and heaving breasts! I swear!"

On the other hand, that costume is not very iconic. Honestly, I don't think it will last long. They'll switch back to the battledress in the next six months or so, whenever Diana faces off against the "dark figure" that destroyed Paradise Island. She'll need to power up, get mystical stuff, and after thanking Black Canary for the wardrobe loan, be back in skirts.

Some of the fan teeth-gnashing is not because of the costume change, but because of the change to the character. Of DC's Big Three, Wonder Woman was the outsider. She came from a literal island Paradise to a flawed man's world. She combined Superman's ideas of right and wrong with Batman's practicality, thus was the fulcrum for DC's iconic trinity.

With this revamp, they've taken that combination too far. Now she has Batman's dead parents and Superman's dead world. I'm sorry, Wonder Woman, you were always the least of the trinity, so you probably should not share an origin with the Big Two. Even if she has the "hunted and raised on the run" thing all to herself, is that something we really want for the biggest name female superhero? That she's spent her life on the run? I guess it will give a cool dramatic moment when she stops and says she'll run no more or whatever, but I can see it not setting well given the whole women in refrigerators issue.

Also, JMS has done this story before with Thor. And Pak has been doing it with Hercules for awhile. I'm not saying it can't be done again, but that a lot of the setup elements (mystical foes return to the world, yadda yadda) will be covering pretty well-tread ground.

And finally, the biggest problem I have is that if the Gods were going to change the timeline, where was Booster Gold? Stopping this stuff is kinda his entire deal right now. Especially when it comes to Wonder Woman as there is a direct line from the death of Blue Beetle to Wonder Woman killing Maxwell Lord. So Booster will probably figure in upcoming Wonder Woman stories (yay!) but that means the timeline will be reverted, meaning this whole thing is just spinning its wheels until everything goes back to normal.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:08 AM on June 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

She's a semi-divine royal ambassador-warrior from a quasi-Utopian separate world - about damn time she got to wear some pants.

Nah, I always thought her previous outfit showed a certain feminine strength that recalled classical statues. Throwing pants on her just looks so common place and ordinary, as seen from an actual comic. Hell, she looks like just another superhero there, not someone that would give you pause.

Not to mention the low brow sexism of the change:

Mr Straczynski told the New York Times that it had been time to bring the iconic character into the 21st century.

"She's been locked into pretty much the exact same outfit since her debut in 1941", Mr Straczynski said. "What woman only wears only one outfit for 60-plus years?"

A iconic god like woman perhaps?

Put a skit on the character ala Brother Caine's link, lose the dark colors and it's all good.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:16 AM on June 30, 2010

"Look, let’s be honest: nobody cares about any of this. Nobody really cares about Wonder Woman. There have been times in the past when people sort of cared about her for awhile, but it’s wishful thinking to say she’s as important—or even as interesting—as Superman or Batman just because she’s nearly as old."

Ten Reasons No One Cares About Wonder Woman
posted by Ian A.T. at 5:30 AM on June 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

I like some of it, but the biggest problem is the colour: black. No, black is not a colour that I associate with amazons or deities. Kick-ass superheroes, maybe, but we've got enough black-clad superheroes. If this outfit were white with some brilliant red and gold and blue accents, it would totally rock. But black? No. No no no no.

thatdawnperson, when I asked her to identify the sketch with no other context: "That's a really fucked up Wonder Woman. No."

So, yeah. It's New Coke all over again. Jerks.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:30 AM on June 30, 2010

I agree with Brandon - she should be an iconic figure, timeless, not a slave to fashion the way we mortals are wont to be.

And if we do want to move in a more realistic contemporary direction, I vote for this one as depicted on the big beautiful wonder woman blog. (most awesome blog, worth perusing the archives)
posted by madamjujujive at 5:41 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman (in the classic costume) is what me the young jonmc realize that he liked girls. I don't see this inpiring the same epiphanies.
posted by jonmc at 5:50 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Best Wonder Woman EVER. (Safe for Work)
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:57 AM on June 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

(People at work! Do not google Ms. Nova. You're welcome.)

Everyone's hugging!
posted by device55 at 5:59 AM on June 30, 2010

Surely there is a female out there they could have consulted on this costume. It clearly looks like the person designing it was trying really hard to come up with a modern woman in an urban environment should wear, and in so doing, completely missed the mark.

The jacket just has got to go, or at least should be one that could actually, you know, come over the boobage in front on a rainy day. And don't get me started on what are clearly leggings and not pants. Leggings!

Here's hoping Super Smize makes a guest appearance early on and takes Wonder Woman shopping.
posted by zizzle at 6:04 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Is there going to be lesbian bondage? I was told there would be lesbian bondage.
posted by yhbc at 6:08 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is Wonder Woman. She helped me discover my special purpose as a youth.
posted by Mister_A at 6:10 AM on June 30, 2010

This costume is what I'm thinking of in terms of putting a skirt on the character.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:11 AM on June 30, 2010 [5 favorites]

taz: On the dotted/striped look - the metopes on the western face of the Parthenon depict (or depicted, largely) Greeks fighting Amazons, but from what little the Christians have left it looks like the Amazons are dressed as Persians. Given that the restoration of the Athenian acropolis was done with money from the Delian treasury, and was repairing and replacing after the depredations of the Persian occupation of Athens, that isn't wholly surprising. The patterning of Persian clothing is traditionally represented on vases as dots, arrows or zig-zag lines - I think the Amazon you cite here is possibly dressed as a Scythian. So, I think the striped leggings and cloaks of Amazons are not so much an invented fashion for Amazon women, but a representation of Amazons as alien, and specifically as representative of the alien customs of Asia Minor (Persians and their allies are depicted as fighting in trousers and on occasion in what look like catsuits as Greek artists struggle to express the alien concept of fitted cloth - for example, here).

What you described as a "toga-type" is, I'm afraid, not very much like a toga. The amazon's dress there looks to be a form of chiton - a loose cloth garment wrapped over the body and secured at the shoulders with pins or grips and at the waist by a belt - but it's a young man's cut, exposing the legs. Likewise, the cloak is possibly something like a chlamys, maybe, but thrown back - that is, a soldier's cape from Classical Greece. I think you're right to an extent about the style of statuary - Classical sculpture tended to be interested in the human form and the depiction of draped cloth, so would not portray people in Persian dress, while the patterns of Persian dress were interesting to pottery painters (and I would imagine wall painters, but nothing from the golden age of Greek wall painting survives). That said, I'm not sure when that statue comes from - it looks like a Roman copy, but I'm useless with statues.

So, perhaps it's not so much that Amazon fashions are unique, but rather that people portraying Amazons in art were depicting them as either foreign, and specifically Asian, or depicting them as dressed like young Greek men, depending, I guess, on the medium they were working in and the effect they were aiming for.
posted by DNye at 6:11 AM on June 30, 2010 [14 favorites]

I agree that it's too dark, but even worse than that: it looks like she repurposed one of Peter Parker's old outfits that she picked up at the thrift store to make the top.
posted by djfiander at 6:33 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wonder Woman is an Amazon works at Amazon
posted by oulipian at 6:38 AM on June 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

When I was a kid I would spin around and around while simultaneously trying to strip off all of my clothes, including underwear (because I always assumed that Wonder Woman changed her underwear at the same time. A perfectly logical and necessary conclusion to a 6 year old boy). I never really succeeded, but it was fun and resulted in at least one head injury.

That is all.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:40 AM on June 30, 2010 [12 favorites]

Remember when they decided to change Superman's costume a few years back?

Yeah, me too.

I suspect this won't last. Even if Wonder Woman's costume is a little bit ridiculous, is it really anymore ridiculous then anyone else's costume? It's definitely iconic and instantly recognizable, even by people who may never ever read comics.
posted by chunking express at 6:48 AM on June 30, 2010

Is it wrong that I now want to see a Bryan Lee O'Malley-drawn Wonder Woman competing with Ramona Flowers for the Amazon employee of the month prize? Invisible jet versus subspace and rollerblades?
posted by DNye at 6:49 AM on June 30, 2010

Ten Reasons No One Cares About Wonder Woman

Oh... wow.

Guess I am going back to Marvel. Because I find Superman terribly boring, and if Wonder Woman is nothing but a knock-off Superman with big boobs for the fanboys...
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 6:50 AM on June 30, 2010

Animal Man wants his jacket back.

Actually, I think Animal Man has explaining to do.

I dunno, I think that the Kid Superman that turned up after Superman died borrowed it for a bit too.
posted by Artw at 6:51 AM on June 30, 2010

Ugh. HATE. Besides, Wonder Woman was rocking the little-to-no-pants look long before Lady Gaga, and she was a formative part of my childhood...

(hello posing in my Underoos! woo! lookee meee! I'm FLYING!)

...and making her look like an irritable record store employee is not going to solve anything.

Also, I am annoyed Gail Simone is no longer writing it. On a similar note, I am pissed off that Amanda Conner is no longer drawing Power Girl. And speaking of which, if you want to update/make her look modern and somewhat cool, you could do worse than take a note from Conner's Power Girl playbook. Power Girl actually looked cool, and fashionable, and dressed like a real, live 2010 woman during Conner's run.

Man, fuck you, DC. You ruin everything awesome.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:04 AM on June 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

..she's one of the heavy hitters, usually portrayed as a power on a scale with Superman...

I guess it depends on what you mean by "a power". She's kind of a female version of Batman. She's strong and well-equipped and smart and fast, but not super per se. But I guess Batman is "a power on a scale of Superman" in some sense. He's important, just not that powerful. If Superman is the US and Batman is England, Wonder Woman is Canada.
posted by DU at 7:08 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Tights are not pants.
posted by mccarty.tim at 7:13 AM on June 30, 2010

DU - it's inconsistent, but the Who's Who of the DC Universe describes her speed, strength and level of invulnerability as "godlike" - of course, that's a much smaller unit in a universe where actual gods can be beaten in fistfights, but she's certainly a lot stronger, faster and tougher than a normal person, or even an abnormal person like Batman. She can throw trains around and hold her own, at least for a while, against opponents at a Superman power level.

Although "who would win in a fight between x and y" is a totally pointless exercise, Wonder Woman is portrayed as having fewer powers, and the powers she has being at lower power levels, than Superman, but having a lengthy period of quasi-military training and often a lack of sentimentality that allows her to be more efficient in battle to offset this.
posted by DNye at 7:24 AM on June 30, 2010

Wonderwoman has fought Ol' depowered Superman to a standstill (even when he was out of his mind with murder-want via maxwell lord... sigh I read too many comics)

Wonder Woman (like Batman) tends to be as strong and/or as capable as the characters current writer. Minus Retcons She's the tool of the Gods and made of magic clay, I mean, if that is not a metaphor for "Ultimate Mary Sue" I don't know what is.
posted by NiteMayr at 7:26 AM on June 30, 2010

I don't care if Wonder Woman wears pants, but let's all be honest: they've done this a dozen times each with a dozen major comics characters and it pretty much never sticks. Even if it is the best idea ever, it's still just a publicity stunt.

Robin pretty much always has pants (well, tights) nowadays, although he certainly didn't in the Silver Age.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:28 AM on June 30, 2010

How much of this design is merely because it's easier to draw?

A skirt, it would seem, is more difficult to get right in an action sequence.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:28 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Jim Lee? The 90's called. Your design needs more belts and pouches.
posted by straight at 7:31 AM on June 30, 2010

Has anybody linked to the Project Rooftop Wonder Woman redesign contest yet? No? Really? Awesome. Pretty much your go-to for entertaining alternate costumes for superheroes, I find.
posted by penduluum at 7:37 AM on June 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

She's kind of a female version of Batman. She's strong and well-equipped and smart and fast, but not super per se.

Wikipedia says she has powers.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:43 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Has anybody linked to the Project Rooftop Wonder Woman redesign contest yet?

Those are awesome. I especially like the pseudo greeky ones.

A skirt, it would seem, is more difficult to get right in an action sequence.

Probably true, but they shy away from capes and those are similar.

no capes!
posted by device55 at 7:44 AM on June 30, 2010

Wonder Woman's powers have varied greatly over time, but the recent incarnations are pretty well documented by Wikipedia. The highlights:

Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and fertility, blessed Diana with strength drawn from the Earth spirit Gaea, making her one of the physically strongest heroes in the DC Universe. She has been observed assisting in preventing large chunks of the Moon from crashing onto the Earth supporting the weight of bridges, hefting entire railroad trains, and even managing to physically overpower Supergirl. In fact, Diana is considered to be the most powerful female in the DC Universe.

Athena's gift that has enabled Diana to master over a dozen languages (including those of alien origin), multiple complex crafts, sciences and philosophies, as well as her Amazon legacy of over 3000 years of leadership, military strategy, and armed and unarmed combat.

The Eyes of the Hunter ability gives Diana a full range of enhanced senses, such as enhanced sight and hearing. Unity with Beasts grants her the ability to communicate with all forms of animal life, as well as to calm even the most ferocious of beast

Hermes, the messenger god of speed, granted Diana superhuman speed and the ability to fly. Through the act of concentration, Diana can mystically defy the laws of gravity and propel herself through the air to achieve flight. She is capable of flying at speeds approaching half the speed of light
posted by oddman at 7:49 AM on June 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

I think Animal Man has explaining to do

Brendan McCarthy made him do it. The guy had a jacket thing and passed it onto Morrison.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:50 AM on June 30, 2010

I should point out that my knowledge of Wonder Woman in particular is based mainly on Saturday morning cartoons and Linda Carter.
posted by DU at 7:52 AM on June 30, 2010

why in the friggin' hell they can't have women actually work on the redesign? here's what a real wonder woman has to say about this hot mess:

1. those tits, that bustier: am sorry, i know she is a goddess and all but i swagger a D-cup and a strapless bustier isnt gonna do it for my twins. Diana looks like she's out there in the DD's. give her a friggin' top with straps.

2. that jacket: is the jacket hiding maybe the straps i believe are necessary? what does the jacket do? it's too short for outside pockets, does it mean it has a wonderful cornucopia of pockets inside? you know, for your smartphone, your invisible plane keys and the necessary stay-on-all-day lipgloss? 'cause i aint feeling it's practicality even though i agree, she should have something with pockets.

3. tights are a good call but only if the have reinforced knee pads. i would have loved to see the tights to have more architecture to them. and, again, if you are not going to supply pockets in the damn jacket, then what the fuck are you doing with the wasted leg real estate? if you are not showing the damn gams, give the woman some pockets!


4. the shoes, almost make sense: i watched as any other eager teenybopper the Wonder Woman show with Linda whatever (yes, i am dating myself) and the only thing i couldnt believe was the ridiculous outfit: tits jiggling in that strapless top whilst she ran after the bad guys in her hooker boots. JUST ... NO.

Again, this guy Lee doesnt get women's fashion and practicality. I would have gone with platform boots with rubber soles. The platforms give you height and stability necessary for running and kicking your foe in the proverbial ass. The rubber gives your feet grip on any kind of surface and the boots make your legs look hawt.

So, nope. I give this redesign a D+/C- because it's a half-ass effort. This real-life wonder women deserve better :)
posted by liza at 7:57 AM on June 30, 2010 [6 favorites]

I'm not a comix guy. I have nothing invested. But the pants are too dark. Not too dark as a costume choice, too dark as a design element. Note how she dissappears in the bottom frame of this page.
posted by Trochanter at 8:01 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Plus they just look like emo jeans.
posted by Trochanter at 8:02 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Also, I am annoyed Gail Simone is no longer writing it.

I hadn't realized Gail Simone was writing it before, so she's who I would have picked to take it up. The fact that she was going back to BoP and the good things I head about Zatanna were making me consider getting back into comics, but JMS' approach, which seems like one more dark and gritty reboot kind of thing (bleah) which was part of why I got bored and stopped reading comics altogether, interests me not at all. I want Wonder Woman, the Animated Series, thanks.

Fashion bloggers on the new costume. I can't get behind it myself, but I like the Greekiness of the some of the Project Rooftop outfits.
posted by immlass at 8:03 AM on June 30, 2010

She has a invisible jet?
posted by Mister_A at 8:04 AM on June 30, 2010

why in the friggin' hell they can't have women actually work on the redesign?

Or just consult with woman.

i swagger a D-cup and a strapless bustier isnt gonna do it for my twins. Diana looks like she's out there in the DD's. give her a friggin' top with straps.

She "can mystically defy the laws of gravity and propel herself through the air to achieve flight" so using that for supporting DDs doesn't sound out of the question.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:05 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Diane Sawyer is doing a piece on this costume change tonight. FWIW, the second Wonder Woman in the iconic Wonder Woman slideshow is my oldest daughter. One of Diane Sawyer's producers contacted me a few weeks ago and asked for permission to use her photo.
posted by ColdChef at 8:06 AM on June 30, 2010 [7 favorites]

liza: that jacket is indeed covering some straps. At least Lee got that part right.
posted by komara at 8:09 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Sorry, should have provided proof via the fashion makeover discussion that immlass first linked to. They even mention them:

Gold straps! We approve, so long as she chooses a clutch that isn't too matchy.

posted by komara at 8:13 AM on June 30, 2010

You know how long this is gonna last? Not long.
posted by tittergrrl at 8:14 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

She "can mystically defy the laws of gravity and propel herself through the air to achieve flight" so using that for supporting DDs doesn't sound out of the question.

Yes, because I like using my powers of superconcentration and gravity-defyin' to support my enormous rack instead of using them to, oh, KICK BAD GUYS' ASSES?

Nah. Not buying it. See above re: Power Girl and the power of a good bra/realistic and fashionable outfit.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:15 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yes, because I like using my powers of superconcentration and gravity-defyin' to support my enormous rack instead of using them to, oh, KICK BAD GUYS' ASSES?

She's multi-tasking! What's the point of having Goddess like powers if you use them to enhance the everyday things?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:18 AM on June 30, 2010

Wonder Woman shouldn't need straps to keep her tits high and in-your-face. She's Wonder Woman! The more strapless and the more leg showing, the better!

She should be superhot, not super practical.
posted by heyho at 8:19 AM on June 30, 2010

The wiki entry on Wonder Woman's creator, William Moulton Marston is pretty interesting. Some choice quotes:

Given the go-ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman with Elizabeth (whom Marston believed to be a model of that era's unconventional, liberated woman). In creating Wonder Woman, Marston was also inspired by Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polygamous/polyamorous relationship.

In a 1943 issue of The American Scholar, Marston wrote:
“Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."

Marston's Wonder Woman is often cited as an early example of bondage themes entering popular culture: physical submission appears again and again throughout Marston's comics work, with Wonder Woman and her criminal opponents frequently being tied up or otherwise restrained, and her Amazonian friends engaging in frequent wrestling and bondage play (possibly based on Marston's earlier research studies on sorority initiations). These elements were softened by later writers of the series. Though Marston had described female nature as submissive, in his other writings and interviews he referred to submission to women as a noble and potentially world-saving practice, leading ideally to the establishment of a matriarchy, and did not shy away from the sexual implications of this:

"The only hope for peace is to teach people who are full of pep and unbound force to enjoy being bound ... Only when the control of self by others is more pleasant than the unbound assertion of self in human relationships can we hope for a stable, peaceful human society. ... Giving to others, being controlled by them, submitting to other people cannot possibly be enjoyable without a strong erotic element".

posted by electroboy at 8:20 AM on June 30, 2010

Through the act of concentration, Diana can mystically defy the laws of gravity and propel herself through the air to achieve flight.
posted by ColdChef at 8:22 AM on June 30, 2010 [10 favorites]

That is so awesome it hurts, ColdChef. In all the ones I have of myself at that same age in the 70s/early 80s underroos, I'm just sort of up on tiptoe, hands jutted outward forcefully. Hurray for modern camera technology!
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:30 AM on June 30, 2010

Well, if we're talking practicality, this is what I would go with.
posted by naju at 8:40 AM on June 30, 2010

I've never actually read Wonder Woman comics and cared for the character that much because it always seemed as those she was "superman for the girls" as opposed to an actual strong character of her own. Having been indoctrinated by Chris Claremont's female characters in early X-men, anything smacking of female character living in a male character's shadow was off putting.

What are the really good Wonder Woman stories, preferably in trade paperback form?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:47 AM on June 30, 2010

So if I were to do a Wonder Woman reboot, here's what I would do:

Okay, first of all, all of Wonder Woman's current continuity pretty much stands. She killed Maxwell Lord on national TV for all to see. The details we'll fudge will be the same ones that all long standing comic characters fudge ("you're how old again?"). This 'reboot' would occur during the same time as Bruce Wayne being lost in time and Superman dealing with all that Kryptonian nonsense.

So in the aftermath of the latest Crisis, Wonder Woman goes off to figure out what she is and what she should be. Like Batman and Superman, she is a product of outside forces, but unlike them she was wholly created by them. She had no childhood, no formative experiences at Pa Kent's knee or in a blood-splattered alley to set her on the path to heroism. She was just made that way, fashioned from clay with powers granted by her creator(s). She should never really had to wonder just who she is - she always just knew that instinctively.

Post-crisis, she starts some serious soul searching. Is she really just a product? Something fashioned by gods and myths who have not been completely relevant to mankind for centuries? She starts to notice that she's taken for granted. People just sort of expect her to show up and help, because that's what she does, what she was made to do. She's no better than a cog in a machine, really, but she can't help it - it's what she was made to do.

The fact that Wonder Woman was made really sets her apart from the rest of the trinity and to a large part, the rest of the DC universe. So she sets out to speak with some of the other created heroes and villains. This will let Geoff Johns get all his nostalgia in as Wonder Woman spends time with the likes of the Red Tornado, Skeets, and the Metal Men and other robotic DC heroes. However, these encounters are not very fruitful for Diana. Red Tornado, after all, has the memories of someone with an actual life, and the Metal Men are essentially disposable.

Surely there is another created being in the DC universe who is still doing what it was made to do, someone who maybe has come to terms with who they are and has some advice to offer? Of course there is!

Brainiac.

So against the wishes of pretty much everybody, Wonder Woman goes into the depths of the JLA vaults to meet up with a mostly deactivated Brainiac module. This isn't the 'main' Brainiac, but one of its drones from years ago. She can only really interact with it via some sort of virtual reality interface (which is a closed system in itself to keep that iteration of Brainiac from uploading itself to freedom). Of course, while learning how horrible it really is to be a slave to ones own design ("You're not a jailer, you're a prisoner!"), Wonder Woman's body is hijacked by Brainiac and goes on a rampage. Cue lots of Wonder Woman vs the DC Universe fights, complete with alternate covers showing a cybered up Wonder Woman beating the crud out of other popular heroes.

Wonder Woman/Brainiac, as a melding of magic and technology, is a pretty tough nut to crack, but eventually the DC universe (sans Batman and Superman) do it. However, the cost is pretty high - Brainiac has pretty much infected very bit of Wonder Woman's body, so even if/when they re-upload her consciousness to it, there's still the lurking threat of Brainiac.

Everyone thinks this is a great tragedy and they all weep for the Death of Wonder Woman as her body is condemned to ashes thanks to the combined efforts of Captain Atom, Firestorm, and whatever other "we will take you apart atom by atom" hero they have on hand. Wonder Woman, her consciousness still trapped in the VR system sees it a bit differently - this is a blessing. This is her chance to literally make herself. She can be everything she wants and needs to be now. She does not need to be shaped by others, she can build herself.

So with the help of Deadman and/or Dr. Fate (and maybe Detective Chimp because he is awesome), Wonder Woman goes on a quasi-mystical adventure to decide what sort of hero she wants to be. This would involve her 'ghost' popping up for cameos in other books (Wonder Woman wants to see how other heroes work) and engaging in a series of team-ups in her own book, either by possessing willing heroes or working along side them incorporealy. Barbara Gordon walks again, possessed by the spirit of Wonder Woman! Huntress gets a conscience (although one that's okay with a few extra beatings)! Booster Gold has a super-awkward date!

During these team-ups and crossovers, Wonder Woman and her retinue slowly learn about the process it would take to make her new body. They have to barter with mythological beings, go on quests, and do the sort of thing one would expect you'd have to do to build a super-golem. Cue weird magicks and wacky science!

Of course, when the time finally comes to shape the clay, Wonder Woman decides that to take total control of ones self is just as weird as being totally shaped by outside forces. So at the moment of creation, she opens herself to the world to let their hopes and needs filter through as well. (This would also give her some sort of spiritual link to humanity that could be played with some down the road. Future Wonder Woman could be a Gaia-like figure) What's more, DC would do some sort of write in/poll/campaign to let its readers, who have now been steeped in Wonder Woman via her cameos in their other books, crossovers, teamups, and so on to weigh in, to get a better feeling of attachment to the character than they may have had previously.

And finally, Wonder Woman is reborn. She still remembers her past and still has pretty much the same powers (by products of the creation process), but she also has these new feelings and motivations to explore, thus giving her more depth than Team Heavy or Angry Militant. Over the course of her adventures, she will have hopefully built a decent story engine of her own including a supporting cast, some unique villains, and can even have a snazzy new costume.

But at her heart, she's still Wonder Woman.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:51 AM on June 30, 2010 [72 favorites]

robocop is bleeding, if DC had half your brains, I wouldn't be saying "make mine Marvel" so often.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:57 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

That Wonder Woman slide show makes this whole redesign worthwhile. So awesome.

My first boyfriend's father loved to tell me the story about how my boyfriend used to play Wonder Woman, and he'd always throw his tiara and break it and ask his dad to fix it. Great guys, both of them.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:07 AM on June 30, 2010

I prefer the Whitechapel remodels.
posted by homunculus at 9:08 AM on June 30, 2010

In old Super Friends PSAs, Wonder Woman was the ambassador of banality
posted by homunculus at 9:09 AM on June 30, 2010

I'd come a damned sight closer to buying that story than I will the JMS book, robocop is bleeding. There's nothing wrong with the JMS book, but it's neither nerd continuity porn nor is it the classic character aimed at ten-year-olds, which should ideally be an audience for comics if not the only one (see also: Doctor Who).

The JMS book actually sounds pretty good, just not as Wonder Woman, unless it's an Elseworlds.
posted by immlass at 9:11 AM on June 30, 2010

The ComicsAlliance Roundtable: Wonder Woman's Costume Change - discussing Wonder Woman through the ages. Me, I kind of like the 1968 revamp.
posted by Artw at 9:16 AM on June 30, 2010

A few points to make:

1) Diana isn't going to fall out of her top, ever because it's not a strapless bathing suit, it's a breastplate. It's sort of flexible, but it's still armor--if anything, she'd probably have to worry more about gapping at the top. I really don't mind if it has straps or ties behind the neck, though, as long as it leaves her upper back bare, just because I think that a woman with a well-defined (not necessarily really muscular, just defined) back is really sexy.

2) She doesn't really need the armor, for that matter because she's tough enough to go toe-to-toe with Superman, which means that she doesn't really need to deflect bullets with her bracelets; she just does it, I think, to show off how damn fast she is. The whole thing with "well, the dudes have pants, even if they're tights" just leads back to the question of why Superman wears clothes in the first place (aside from having been raised by conservative farmers), which is why Alan Moore had Dr. Manhattan eventually not bothering to wear clothes at all.

3) She still looks better in armor because it harkens back to her classical Greek looks. There have been some nice variations on the armor theme done by George Perez (near the beginning of her 80s reboot) and Alex Ross (Kingdom Come), and other artists have riffed off of that (Darwyn Cooke did the leather-strips skirt in The New Frontier). It makes sense for her to have extra protection on her torso and keep her arms and legs free for general ass-kicking purposes.

4) The new costume is kinda lame because not only is the short jacket well-used by other superheroines (and Animal Man) but Diana herself has already done it; see the second link in the FPP, rightmost costume. Also, her bracelet-gauntlet things are supposed to leave the mark of W on people that she hits, but not only does that seem out of character for her to brand people that she fights, but also kind of awkward if she wants to position the mark to look like a W, rather than an M or an E or a 3. In general, the new costume looks more like something that either of the Wonder Girls (Donna Troy or Cassie Sandsmark) would wear.

Finally, here's a longer interview with J. Michael Straczynski--the Babylon 5 creator and new writer for WW--explaining and justifying the costume and his other proposed changes to the character and her backstory. I'm willing to give him a chance on this, but he's hit-and-miss with some of these things; his recent reboot of Marvel's Thor was well-received, and some of the elements that he introduced are apparently going to be part of the upcoming Kenneth Branagh movie, but his new stint on Superman began with a lady accusing Supes of letting her husband die of brain cancer because she thinks that he could have burned out the tumor (which apparently wasn't treatable by any other method, including gamma knife) with his heat vision, and he subsequently decides to walk across America. Also, he ended his run on Marvel's Squadron Supreme reboot in mid-story because he disagreed with the editors on something. So, we'll see how this one goes.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:17 AM on June 30, 2010

I like it. It's very 90s.

Yes, that's what I was thinking.

Looks like she's ready to go out for a night of club-hopping.
posted by krinklyfig at 9:20 AM on June 30, 2010

Diana isn't going to fall out of her top, ever

Hope springs eternal. motherfucker.
posted by jonmc at 9:24 AM on June 30, 2010 [6 favorites]

Hey, I loved Babylon 5, and top marks for having an epic plot arc that was actually planned out ahead of time and made some vague sense because of that, but pretty much everything J. Michael Straczynski has come up with since has been dull or stupid. Superman's walk of penance across America more than anything.
posted by Artw at 9:26 AM on June 30, 2010

When you judge Wonder Woman based on her appearance, you're demonstrating exactly why her character was created in the first place. So thanks, I guess.
posted by giraffe at 9:27 AM on June 30, 2010

although...in the movie Bobbi Jo & the Outlaw, Lynda Carter does get topless. So if it's Wonderboobies you seek, look no further. As a bonus her boyfriend in the flick is played by fallen boy preacher Marjoe Gortner.
posted by jonmc at 9:28 AM on June 30, 2010

All this rebootery just reminds me why I listen to, oh, any 80s band you can name instead of, say, The Killers -- aka THE EIGHTIES MONTAGE BAND.

(Although, if you've left your iPod at home accidentally, one Killers song has been proven to contain 99% of all your 1980s cliché requirements for one day).
posted by bitter-girl.com at 9:31 AM on June 30, 2010

I like it. It's very 90s.

I like this. More 1890s.
posted by adamrice at 9:40 AM on June 30, 2010

liza: "3. tights are a good call but only if the have reinforced knee pads. i would have loved to see the tights to have more architecture to them. and, again, if you are not going to supply pockets in the damn jacket, then what the fuck are you doing with the wasted leg real estate? if you are not showing the damn gams, give the woman some pockets!"

Clearly they should have consulted with Rob Liefeld on this.
posted by brundlefly at 9:44 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

I followed a lot of WW last year, and all I have to say is this:

She led the Amazons in fighting off Zeus, Ares, an army of resurrected greek heroes, and chthulu-esque sea creatures. The Amazons had a division of megalodons who wanted to "die with honor".

Superman might be powerful, but his stories aren't EPIC.
posted by yeloson at 9:45 AM on June 30, 2010

Superman has managed a little bit of Epic lately.
posted by Artw at 9:58 AM on June 30, 2010

When you judge Wonder Woman based on her appearance, you're demonstrating exactly why her character was created in the first place. So thanks, I guess.

While William Moulton Marston had some... fascinating ideas... about the role of women in society and the bedroom, he certainly didn't create Diana solely to be a costumed hottie. Probably the one quote that sums up Marston's oddly compartmentalized view of women and of Wonder Woman is from a 1943 interview (cited in his Wikipedia article):

Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.

He was an unconventional guy in a lot of ways-- an early polyamorist, interested in female domination and bondage, a proponent of techniques later used for polygraph testing-- but he was thinking beyond appearance at least some of the time (although he describes Diana as having "the allure of a good and beautiful woman" as well).

Marston's a complicated figure in comics history, to be sure.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 10:00 AM on June 30, 2010

How is she supposed to do handle rope with those stupid fabric-ish hand things getting in the way?

They should have simply wrapped her in latex and thigh-highs and been done with it instead of this weird boring thing.

Disclaimer, I am convinced that wonder woman is a dominatrix.
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 10:02 AM on June 30, 2010

God damn it, this is that Martian Manhunter fiasco all over again.
posted by Greg Nog at 10:23 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

How is she supposed to do handle rope with those stupid fabric-ish hand things getting in the way?

I think she'll be OK.

Rock-climbing gloves for rope-handling

Rodeo gloves for rope-handling
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:27 AM on June 30, 2010

I like the top, it has straps finally. I like the metal hand bracelet thingies, they look clubby and weird. Not sure about the cut of the jacket, but the shoulders are great - what it needs is a single stripe down the side of her leggings to outweigh all that black. Perhaps just a single line, perhaps rows of stars. Just something.
posted by dabitch at 10:28 AM on June 30, 2010

I notice that in the DC kids stuff Powergirl's costume does not have the boob hole. Also I predict this costume change not making it over.
posted by Artw at 10:29 AM on June 30, 2010

Well, this one was pretty goofy.
posted by DaddyNewt at 10:39 AM on June 30, 2010

Wonder Woman #600 – One More Diana
posted by Artw at 10:43 AM on June 30, 2010

The Craziest Costume Changes in Comics.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:06 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

fuck you, robocop is bleeding. you haven't updated A Winner Is Me in 2 fucking years.

I KNOW BECAUSE IT'S ON MY RSS FEED, ASSHOLE.

get back to work.
posted by shmegegge at 11:16 AM on June 30, 2010

Heh, I know, I'm horrible. Also, my hosting is about to run out.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:22 AM on June 30, 2010

I grew up Marvel, but someone at scans daily put together a When Wondy Was Awesome retrospective some time ago. (It's been awhile, but I like A League of One, Hiketeia, and particularly when she fights Medusa.)

As it's SD, you don't get the entire comic and so there's a lot of exposition and explaning why it's they love this or that but it's what made me love the idea of Wonder Woman. An intelligent, powerful, compassionate woman warrior who is all for solving problems without violence but will shut you down if she has to.

The idea that in order to be relevant, Wonder Woman must start as a hunted, street-smart orphan with clubbing gear with reduced power levels, flusters me. It reads like a less pyschotic Faith from Buffy. It feels like an excuse for JMS to write however he wants without dealing with continuity. I can't even imagine how the character will be handled during DC's gazillion crossovers.
posted by zix at 11:25 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm sorry I said those things, robocop. You know I love you. You just make me so angry sometimes.
posted by shmegegge at 11:29 AM on June 30, 2010

It feels like an excuse for JMS to write however he wants without dealing with continuity.

JMS? write without dealing with continuity? you don't say!
posted by shmegegge at 11:30 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Sniff, come here, you.

I just couldn't keep up with the weekly updates once my initial enthusiasm started to flag. It felt like I was typing into the void sometimes (it's amazing the effect favorites have, eh?). Maybe I should track down some co-conspirators, get a free wordpress account, and see if between the four of us we could each churn out a comic synopsis-story a month.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:41 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm into it. Think it looks slick. Diana's a great character, but quite frankly her standard costume is something one would more expect to see on a spokesmodel at a Fourth of July car show. I especially like the "W" brass knuckle thing on this new get up.

I'm betting that this will be an interesting story and I'm betting that the status quo will get reset the minute JMS concludes his run.
posted by EatTheWeak at 12:10 PM on June 30, 2010

Clearly they should have consulted with Rob Liefeld on this.

Unfortunatly for this plan, in the DC-verse characters need feet (otherwise they fall over).
posted by bonehead at 12:18 PM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

So, at the request of my daughter I got her a Wonder Woman action figure. This is hard to do, as for some reason the Wonder Woman ones are all pretty awful. In the end I settled on this one, who, um, turns out to have very oddly proportioned legs.
posted by Artw at 12:21 PM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

I settled on this one, who, um, turns out to have very oddly proportioned legs.

I knew lots of things about Wonder Woman, but I never knew she was a speed skater.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:36 PM on June 30, 2010

Is that Chun Li?
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:39 PM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I just couldn't keep up with the weekly updates once my initial enthusiasm started to flag. It felt like I was typing into the void sometimes (it's amazing the effect favorites have, eh?). Maybe I should track down some co-conspirators, get a free wordpress account, and see if between the four of us we could each churn out a comic synopsis-story a month.

in our defense, there comes a point where you feel stupid saying "this is awesome" in every update, so you stop saying it after the first one.
posted by shmegegge at 1:17 PM on June 30, 2010

Is that Chun Li?

My first thought was that the thighs are from a chun li mold being reused. I still assume that is the case.
posted by shmegegge at 1:18 PM on June 30, 2010

If this redesign means Kristen Stewart is playing Wonder Woman in a movie, I'm going to have a stroke from impotent rage.
posted by gladly at 1:42 PM on June 30, 2010

Project Rooftop reviews the new design and is - in my opinion - unnecessarily kind. At least Jon Morris let his true feelings flow.
posted by komara at 2:13 PM on June 30, 2010

Not bad, robocop, but needs more Ambush Bug.
posted by The Bellman at 2:26 PM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

"Rock-climbing gloves for rope-handling"

I am not basing my highly scientific critique of her gloves on the fact that they're gloves so much as their specific design.

Also, what is the rope hanging from? I AM SO ANGRY GRRRRR BE MORE ACCURATE SUPER HEROES ARE ABOUT COMPLETE CONFORMITY TO THE REALITIES OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD BAAHHH
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 2:27 PM on June 30, 2010

"She looks like an Aerosmith groupie. She looks like an Aerosmith groupie’s mom … who is also an Aerosmith groupie."
posted by Artw at 2:28 PM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

This thread has resulted in my singing the Wonder Woman theme to my cats all through the day.
posted by ursus_comiter at 3:01 PM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Artw, you're making me really glad I already have a WW action figure for my desk.
posted by immlass at 3:07 PM on June 30, 2010

This is hard to do, as for some reason the Wonder Woman ones are all pretty awful. In the end I settled on this one, who, um, turns out to have very oddly proportioned legs.

Body-Builder Barbie®
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:31 PM on June 30, 2010

Dang it, Robocop Is Bleeding, now I want to read YOUR Wonder Woman, not that dumb tights wearing dark gritty whatever that I have to look forward to.
posted by smartyboots at 4:57 PM on June 30, 2010

Well, your goodwill cracked my stony heart and I renewed and reposted. If I lag, please chide me. Or better yet, suggest stuff!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:58 PM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ten Reasons No One Cares About Wonder Woman

There is no reason why Wonder Woman should be gettin' cheated as a character. Of the Big DC Three, she's the least well-known and well-explored by the public at large. Everyone knows Superman is a Boy Scout (AND HIS PLANET IS DEAD! and Batman is the gritty one (AND HIS PARENTS ARE DEAD!) But Diana? She's an Ambassador.

Or think of it this way, Batman had to shed being human to become batman, Superman has to keep remembering his human roots to stay centered, but Diana? She's not from around here, she has a completely different set of values, and it would never occur to her to wear a mask.
posted by The Whelk at 6:50 PM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

That she's spent her life on the run? I guess it will give a cool dramatic moment when she stops and says she'll run no more or whatever, but I can see it not setting well given the whole women in refrigerators issue.


I can buy WW doing lots of things, but somehow going gritty is just...beneath her. She's literally semi-divine royalty Wrathful maybe, "gritty" no.
posted by The Whelk at 6:54 PM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

The problem with Wonder Woman as a character is the same problem with most of the DC characters.

She has no flaws.

Peter Parker is a teenager whose confidence shines through only when he's masked. Wolverine can heal any wound except, seemingly, ones that are emotional. Matt Murdock is literally and figuratively blind.

Diana Prince is ... is ... what?

A fish out of water? Is that it?

Boring.

Show me an interesting fear. A limitation. A block. A wound.

Something other than "Narcissist that wouldn't listen to her mother."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:27 PM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

I always thought a good take on Diana would showcase arrogance, entitlement, and a kind of nobilese oblige that tends to backfire.
posted by The Whelk at 7:29 PM on June 30, 2010

throw in some narcissist control issues and you got a good kind of character.
posted by The Whelk at 7:30 PM on June 30, 2010

robocop is bleeding: "Surely there is another created being in the DC universe who is still doing what it was made to do, someone who maybe has come to terms with who they are and has some advice to offer? Of course there is!

Brainiac."

And they have so much in common!
posted by Rhaomi at 8:45 PM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Peter Parker is a teenager whose confidence shines through only when he's masked.

Peter Parker is a dick. That's why Spiderman has never been on a team (until Bendis decided to shoehorn him into New Avengers). Various writers have tried to make him into a nice guy, but the dick always comes through. His wife is a self-centered supermodel. Why? Because having a husband who's a dick fits right in with her own personality. She doesn't notice, nor does he.

That said, I never really understood Spiderman until I took the train through Queens from JFK, and suddenly it was all clear. It's about feeling trapped by the outer boroughs, about only becoming who you really are when you get into Manhattan. Spiderman's webs are for crap in Queens, but he can fly when he gets into Manhattan. He'll put up with anything to be there, even the lousy freelance gig he has with The Bugle. But he's tied to Queens by Aunt May, he always has to go back to where he's a bullied little nerd with a hovering grandmother. It's every too-smart kid who dreams about The City writ large.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 9:06 PM on June 30, 2010 [6 favorites]

You can't compare Marvel characters to DC. The two universes work on very different power scales and narrative terms. Pretty much no one in the Justice League, Justice Society or Titans would work in the Marvel world (Beast Boy and Raven, being two possible exceptions), but then again the X-men would be bit players alongside the Doom Patrol in the DC World.

DC tends to go for EPIC power struggles between flawless god-like beings; Marvel prefers more psychological and personal narratives. Both are good in their own way. Criticizing one for not being the other is like complaining that the afternoon tea doesn't have enough flour in it.

A side note: Marvel very clearly makes a determined effort to avoid absurdly powerful heroes (with a few exceptions), and yet they still never die. I can understand that death is a temporary condition in DC where even minor characters can change the fundamental physics of a things (see the Daxamite GL that changed the color of the light of a star) and where Plastic Man can survive a couple of thousand years scattered as bits on the Atlantic sea bed, Plastic Man. Yet while almost all of the X-men can be killed by bullets and they have enemies with power suits, lazers, 30ft. robots and such, no one thinks to station a sniper on a roof top and just start blowing the heads off of Nightcrawler, Dazzler, Cyclops, Colossus, Storm etc? Heck, it never occurred to anyone to just boil Wolverine alive (how could he swim with that skeleton of his)? (or microwave him, or drop him in a vat of acid)

Sad.
posted by oddman at 10:07 PM on June 30, 2010

MetaFilter: like complaining that the afternoon tea doesn't have enough flour in it
posted by brundlefly at 11:46 PM on June 30, 2010

Superheros wearing jackets.
posted by empath at 8:57 AM on July 1, 2010

There should be a correlary to Rule 34 involving random combinations of things and Tumblr blogs.
posted by brundlefly at 9:00 AM on July 1, 2010

New Wonder Woman Loses Patriotic Costume in Favor of 'Globalized' Duds
posted by unmake at 9:46 AM on July 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is no good at all. Hopefully it is just a temporary measure to segue into a more traditional redesign. Ideally incorporating pteruges as referenced by BrotherCaine.
posted by Iteki at 3:03 PM on July 1, 2010

Holy crap unmake, I thought that was going to be an Onion link...
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:07 PM on July 1, 2010

Wonder Woman In Pants Is Not A Feminist Win
posted by homunculus at 3:08 PM on July 1, 2010

Now I totally want to see a Captain America redesigned as Captain UN.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:08 PM on July 1, 2010

Wonder Woman's new costume, as drawn by Philip Bond
posted by Artw at 3:19 PM on July 1, 2010 [3 favorites]

unmake: "New Wonder Woman Loses Patriotic Costume in Favor of 'Globalized' Duds"

Fox is not new to this.
posted by brundlefly at 3:30 PM on July 1, 2010

Holy crap, Artw, Bond's flickr stream is great--I especially like his portraits of female astronauts, although this one is scary.
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:41 PM on July 1, 2010

Heh.

Previously

I like Valentina Tereshkova the best, would totally buy large sized print.
posted by Artw at 4:15 PM on July 1, 2010

Aquaman's new costume
posted by Artw at 8:20 AM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

In other DC Universe news: Death is meeting Lex Luthor.
posted by homunculus at 9:10 PM on July 10, 2010

The reabsorbtion of Vertigo begins...
posted by Artw at 1:47 PM on July 11, 2010

DC Universe Online: The best superhero movie you'll never see
posted by homunculus at 3:01 PM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Batman wets his pants in "the worst Batman comic ever"

This of course backs my "famous movie types suck at comics especially Kevin Smith" hypothesis.
posted by Artw at 11:37 AM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

you had me at "especially kevin smith."
posted by shmegegge at 3:06 PM on July 29, 2010

I think he jizzed in his pants in this one.
posted by homunculus at 3:20 PM on July 29, 2010