I love the [Peter WW] drawings…but that is me.
——————————–

Oh, they’re great! As with “artists like Grunewald, Van Gogh, Beckman, Bacon [, whose] rendering approach is utterly necessary for what they want to get across (and no, of course I’m not saying Peter’s remotely in their league), Marston’s stories could not be better served by another artist.

(BTW, been meaning to ask: hope you’ve gotten the rights to use that artwork in your book, Noah…)

Neither too “realistic” nor too cartoony (i.e., “bigfoot” style), Peter strikes the right balance for these tales. Realistic enough so that the characters do not come across as the symbolic constructs they are meant to be (for instance, what is Steve Trevor but the typical well-meaning male doofus?), yet not so solidly fleshly (imagine Neal Adams drawing these stories!) that the symbolic nature of the characters, the amusing qualities of the stories, is overwhelmed.

Alex Ross’ Wonder Woman:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/13/wonder_woman_by_alex_ross.jpg

http://www.wonderwomanmuseum.com/aross1.html

http://t.wallpaperweb.org/wallpaper/fantasy/1024×768/TheManAlexRossWonderWomanTerroristAttack.jpg

…Here she’s just too much of a physical person, rather than an idea. (And utterly deadpan “serious,” too, the way the fanboys like things…)

———————————
I think the good vs. evil themes in Marston/Peter are fairly complicated, or at least lead interesting places. The most manichean moments are when he distinguishes between peace (good) and war (evil) — or, like I said, when he takes an uncompromising stance against violence against women.

There are bad guys, but they keep turning into good guys…and even when they don’t, they’re often so much fun that it’s hard to feel like it’s really supposed to be about overthrowing evil exactly.
————————————-

Am reminded of the many animes by the splendid Hayao Miyazaki, where there are few (if any) utterly evil villains, and which are particularly women-friendly. (Miyazaki’s brother described him as a “mama’s boy”!)

Anyway…Marston did express his ideas in non-popular idioms; he wrote a psychological treatise, for example. He also was a prosletyzer, though; he wanted to educate girls and boys in new gender relations which would make the way for a better world. So, yes, he wanted the readership, but not (or not solely) on capitalist grounds.

I agree that the best superhero comics tend to be parodies. I think Watchmen actually works in that vein to no small degree. Hadn’t thought of Wonder Woman as such, but yes, I can see it.

I have yet to read your article and am proceeding to it now.

I think the good vs. evil themes in Marston/Peter are fairly complicated, or at least lead interesting places. The most manichean moments are when he distinguishes between peace (good) and war (evil) — or, like I said, when he takes an uncompromising stance against violence against women.

There are bad guys, but they keep turning into good guys…and even when they don’t, they’re often so much fun that it’s hard to feel like it’s really supposed to be about overthrowing evil exactly. It’s more playful fetish masquerade than Manichean war to the death, for the most part. (Sharon’s piece about essentially identifying with the villains isn’t so much reading against Marston as it is a possibility that he actively flirts with and encourages, I’d say.)

Marston/Peter isn’t poetry the way Tsuge is, I don’t think, but it’s not exactly linear prose narrative, either. More like a dream that keeps repeating the same motifs, maybe. I mean, it obviously has action/adventure tropes, which is what you’re responding too, and it’s not crazy to respond to them or anything, but I think there is a lot more there (which you may well, and understandably, may not want to bother digging for.)

Deleuze’s point exactly.