I read this article today and frankly I don't totally hate this new design for Wonder Woman. Jim Lee created it and it still projects a powerful sexy image.
So many female characters are dressed the way they are just to titillate the young boys who supposedly are the majority of the people who consume comics. These days, however, there are so many more female readers and female creators. It only makes sense to tone down the more sexually explicit looks that female characters have and instead try to focus more on their abilities and the positive message they give to girls.
In fact I would love to see a whole new re-imagining for the characters that are in the BIRDS OF PREY monthly. Let's see if it would sell as much if the girls didn't have their panties showing or fishnet stockings. Would Powergirl be any less popular if she didn't have that window to her cleavage taking up the front of her costume?
While some of the X-men characters are pure T&A (looking right at you Emma Frost), characters like Rogue and Shadowcat are nearly fully covered but still are amongst the more popular X-men.
I have mentioned before that I love the character ICE. She is nearly totally covered up because a superhero that creates snow and ice should not be running around wearing the chainmail bikini that RED SONYA does.
I might have been a larger fan of LADY DEATH if she wasn't such an exaggerated stereotype with her large breasts and sexual posturing.
Personally I think I can live with this new look for Wonder Woman. All the elements are there to easily identify her while not objectifying her with her costume. She is a role model I can more easily identify with and little girls, who see enough of their idols putting it all out there, need something like this to balance out the messages about what is beautiful that they are bombarded with daily.
There has been talk that some comics have gone the 'girl in the fridge' route (named for the time a female character was killed by a villain and stuffed in a fridge for the hero to find) in terms of violence against women. If that is the source of this trend away from that and the hypersexualization of female heroes then I for one say it won't take away from my enjoyment of comic books one bit.
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/06/29/unveiling-wonder-woman%E2%80%99s-new-costume-direction/
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11 comments:
I haven't really got a problem with this design either, but it doesn't say "Amazon" to me. As the picture shows, DC have been down this route a few times, but always return to a variation of the classic costume. We'll see...
I just feel like it is too far away from the iconic look of Wonder Woman. Couldn't they have tried to blend the old costume into the new one a little more. Sometimes, a slow change works better than a total redo. Look at the different looks behind the new one in your top pic. The slow changes lasted, the dramatic ones did not.
I think it is also far less 'dated'--leotards aren't really worn anymore except for gymnastics. I like your assessment though, and agree that more girls may read if the female characters weren't so obviously intended for masterbation of early teen boys.
Being female, I'm always of two minds about super-sexed female characters. On the one hand, I want positive role models for young girls that show that a female character can be strong and powerful without showing tons of skin.
On the other hand, I think that sexuality is a natural, wonderful thing, and that flaunting it on top of being a powerful, strong female character is not neccesarily a bad thing either.
The sexes are not equal in every way--how can we be when we are made so differently? But it's a balancing scale to me. Men have more upper body strength than women, but overall women's frames are stronger than men's. I think that sexuality can be a source of power for women, when historically men have had more positions of power. And like any power, it can be used for good or bad.
"I don't totally hate this new design for Wonder Woman"
I do.
The design makes her look like a character from a B-movie to me. She wouldn't have been out of place on that recent retched syfy version of Flash Gordon.
And, more to the point, it just isn't her. It's too much of a departure from who Diana is to be taken seriously by longtime fans of the character. This is so far removed from her iconic image that had I seen it out of context I might, might have assumed it was Donna Troy but probably wouldn't have even made the WW connection if the lasso hadn't been there.
Like all the other updated "new look" styles it will eventually go away (remember electric Superman?). The only characters whose new look stay around started out with bad costumes to begin with (Nightwing, Donna Troy). That's not the case here. It might get tweeked over the years but the original style need to remain.
I give it max of 20 issues before she returns to the classic look (something no doubt DC with promote the hell out of).
I think powergirl would still be popular, look at the marvel counterpart. Ms Marvel. The thing they have in common is neither one of them are twigs.
I prefer Vampirella over lady death for my over sexed characters.
It's all right. But like Wings I think it's way too far in one go. I too would have taken a minute or two to identify this as WW...
You all make great arguements in your comments. I wonder how this costume change would be looked at if it was Donna Troy's new long and not WWs. I am interested to see who this looks in the comic. Maybe I am accepting this so much because I know they will change back to the classic look. I hope that the return is handled really well as to give us the feeling that the costume is a classic for a reason.
I like the new look, but don't think it went far enough. At first blush, it looks like they moved from early 70's to early 90's.
As far as the super-sexualized ladies go? How timely? I was working on a couple selections from the Dawn comics for tomorrow :)
'Cry for Dawn' is one of those comics I don't read because like 'Lady Death' it seems to be all about the sexiness of the character and not the story. I will be interested in seeing what you come up with with your articles. Oh, and great minds DO think alike Ricky.
Dawn awaits...
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