Thursday, April 26, 2007

WW#8 - It burns us, precious. The Gail must fix it, precious!

I was going to respond to Ragnell's Wonder Woman squee. But my disjointed thoughts are just too much to put in someone else's journal.

My confusion should be home-stationed.

Or something.

I think I'm still in La La Land from reading WW#8. And I don't mean Hollywood.

But WTF Bad Storytelling Much?

It seems needlessly convoluted and unexplained and some parts needlessly over explained and preachy and caricature.

But three things stood out beyond all the rest.

1 - The Spoiler seems unbalanced to me and I wonder how the other Amazons don't notice the situation, is quite frankly, crazy. Crazy ass. Crazy ass crazy wtf, stupid, wtf, bbq? Huh??

2 - WW's relationship with Nemesis just...

Moving aside from the cracks about her not knowing how to answer a phone - which just makes me go: "This woman knows Batman. Batman is all about the gadgets. So is Mr. Terrific. This is a woman who hangs out in the WATCHTOWER. Little doohickeys everywhere. And yet this bullshit about her lack of tech no how persists???!"

Ok, maybe I can't just leave it aside, and that makes it technically 4 things that bug me.

So, 2a - Nemsis and WW? The whole 'Pervert/Birthmark' exchanged cemented the dynamic for me.

WW, to me, is a confident, sexy, in control, goddess of a woman. I mean if I ever met a WW, and she even just wanted to be my friend, far less someone to watch my back - I'd be a happy melty puddle on the ground. And then of course I'd do my best to be mature enough to stay her friend.

The WW in WW#8 doesn't have that. It's like watching a 15 yr old strive towards WonderWomanHood. It's her book, but it's the male character who's being suave. It's the male character making jokes about birthmarks and liquid glue and WW's own power and personality.


It's not being written, to me, as Nemesis dealing with his awe of WW. It's reading like WW being in awe of this normal, mortal man.

Now, I don't know what the boy's got going for him. But he ain't no Batman and he ain't no Ted Kord and he ain't no Mr. Terrific and quite frankly the list of purely mortal men Diana knows who can deal with incredible odds is long. Very long. And that's not counting the villains.

Why is it her book but written as if she's the guest star? The guest star, wide-eyed ingenue who's full of potential and who has connections, and an enemy of her own, but the story really isn't about her.

It made me think of Supergirl, actually. And Supergirl's 16. So I guess my personal impression of the situation is off by a year.

3 - Finally, my last wtf impression. The Amazons. They're here. They're formidable. They will whoop your ass! All while showing off their femoral arteries so one shot can have them on the floor bleeding to death? WTF?

WTF WTF WTF WTF?

Blades strapped to bare thighs, and loincloth's showing bare thighs and ...what?

These are warriors. These are avatars of some of the most kickass goddesses ever. All these women do (and by the way, all the ladies and chicks and little ladies shit by the men - was that on purpose? Sexism on purpose to show how little reguard the world of men has for the Amazons?), is train and kick ass all day long. They train, they learn, they kick ass all day long. Kunfu martial artists in fictional movie universes only wish they could kick ass Amazon style. And yet?

Bare thighs?

Seriously? SERI-f*cking-OUSLY?

They're not all WW and impervious to bullets y'know. They're just kickass. Kickass but sensible. Because true warriors don't flaunt weak-spots and hope the other side is too dumb to take a shot.

*breathes*

I need to find Greg Rucka's WW run and read it again. It will soothe my soul.

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