I finally read the first collection of Gail Simone Wonder Woman comics, (“The Circle”). It’s definitely an interesting take on the character. In fact, among post-Marston creators, Simone is, I think, alone in avoiding the pratfalls which have plagued virtually every creator who has tackled WW after Marston. (Unless you want to count Alan Moore’s Glory.)
So how does Simone manage not to be tripped up by the bondage lasso, or the incredibly poorly defined mission to man’s world, or any number of other traps Marston has set for his unwary followers? Well, she does it primarily by writing fan fiction, and by treating WW as a Mary Sue — a character who the author loves too much. Fantasy author Mercedes Lackey says as much in the introduction to the volume, where she starts out by saying that she never liked Wonder Woman the character, and then goes on to praise Simone for creating a Wonder Woman that she (Lackey) could love. The ultimate standard, in other words, is not craft, or thoughtfulness, or originality, but loveability. Lackey wants a Mary Sue, and Simone delivers.
“Mary Sue” is usually a term applied to fan-fiction characters, where it tends to be seen as as a deadly insult. And there are many manifestations of it which are certainly unpleasant. I talked in an earlier post, for example, about the way in which League of One is basically all Mary Sue fanscruff pander, reveling in WW’s strength and purity and general awesomeness until you just wish she’d die tragically and beautifully already and get it over with. And there’s definitely more than a touch of that in Simone’s version too, with everyone and their aunt racing to tell WW how mega-awesome she is. Super-intelligent gorilla warriors fall on their knees before her; intergalactic genocidal Khund warriors build statues in her honor all over their planet. And while I don’t need WW to whine as much as Spider-Man or (god forbid) Greg Rucka’s version of the character does, it would have been nice to see Simone give the sainted Diana a self-doubt once or twice in the volume (and no, accepting your inevitable death without blinking doesn’t count as a self-doubt.)
Still, the truth is that WW was more or less intended as a Mary Sue to begin with. Marston loved her (even arguably overmuch) and he created her more or less to be loved by his readers — girls and boys alike. Nor was Marston’s version especially given to self-doubt (though unwavering confidence is a lot less irritating when you’re not subjected to it in internal monologues.)
So there’s a sense in which Simone’s Mary Sue pandering — her transparent puffery of the character — is very much in the spirit of the original. And Simone’s love of the character allows her to deal with the character’s structural problems as any good fan-fiction writer would — by reducing them to fan in-jokes. WW’s embarrassing bondage heritage is mentioned in passing by a callow Nazi, who cracks wise about wanting her to tie him up in her magic lasso. Then WW swoops in and threatens him with the real Lasso of Truth and he goes all weak-kneed like a baby man. The unfortunate sartorial choices Marston bequeathed are similarly deflated; there’s a really cute moment where an admiring onlooker mentions “I just want to say as a gay man that I miss the high heels on your boots…” The lesbian implications of Paradise Island get similarly defused in a joking aside (WW’s love-interest notes that courtship on Paradise Island must be between women, and WW responds “Aren’t you the observant one.”)
The humor in the book is probably the best thing about it — and the best moments of humor are those in which WW is most like a Mary Sue. Which is to say, since Mary Sue is often thought of as being an author surrogate, the high points of the book are those in which WW and Gail Simone seem closest to one another. My single favorite line in the comic comes when Diana Prince is having a birthday party at work. She’s musing about the fact that hugging her coworkers in gratitude for the surprise party would be frowned upon, and she thinks: “It is a strange culture that outlaws the hug. On the other hand…there is cake, and that excuses much.” Another gem is when WW looks at the statues the Khund have erected to her…which attempt to honor her by depicting her as a brutish looking Khund. WW looks at them, and then thinks to herself that she wants to call a friend (Donna Troy, I think) on her cell phone because she’d be really amused.
In some alternate timeline, perhaps, there’s a perfect Gail Simone fan-fic Wonder Woman, which is entirely composed of such moments — all romantic comedy banter, goofy relationship moments, and slice-of-life silliness, with the super-heroics mentioned occasionally in passing but never allowed to interfere with the real focus. Unfortunately, in the more hum-drum world we inhabit, Simone is writing a corporate comic, and there are certain hoops she’s got to jump through to get her paycheck. She has to, for example, make her story a comic, which means she needs art. And so we’ve got drawings by a number of pencillers (Terry Dodson and Bernard Chang predominantly). As mainstream illustrators go, neither is horrible. But just because they don’t make me want to gouge my eyes out doesn’t mean that they actually add anything of value to the story.
Simone also needs DCU continuity porn, and she needs pulp action. She provides the first of these eagerly enough, and with some panache. Sure, the level of background knowledge needed to follow the story is pretty much ridiculous; I was occasionally at sea, and I’ve been obsessively reading Wonder Woman comics for months now, plus I actually know who Gorilla Grodd and the Green Lantern Corps and the Khund are — lord knows what an actual novice would make of this. Still, if you’ve already decided you don’t care if anybody but die-hards can follow you, it’s pretty great to end up with gorillas fighting Nazis. That’s genuine silver-age wackiness, damn it.
The pulp action is a little dicier. Simone has a certain amount of pulp smarts; she’s able to make Wonder Woman’s tactical ability somewhat believable — but only somewhat. . Whenever WW makes a brilliant military move the special pleading is audible. When Alan Moore has Rorschach outthink people, you feel outthought yourself. When Simone has WW outthink people, you always feel she’s throwing the character a bone. “Oh, the super-villain has you by the neck in your Diana Prince form…but luckily for you, the wall behind you is rotten, and you can knock through it with your head! The alien Green Lantern is going to beat the snot out of you — but luckily he flinches every time you say “Khund”, and you can use that to your advantage!” It’s not that it’s especially dumb. It’s just that it’s advertising itself as especially smart, and it’s not that either.
The real problem, though, is with the handling of one of the characters central contradictions: she’s supposed to be an avatar of peace, but she constantly is battling costumed yahoos. To her credit, Simone confronts this problem directly: every time WW goes into battle, she starts thinking about how much she likes fighting and how, at the same time, the Amazon code calls for ending fights as quickly as possible.
The problem is that repeating something and actually thinking about it are two different things. The issues of peace, violence, and non-violence which Simone raises are both complicated and (to me at least) important ones. They’re worth struggling with. But neither Simone nor WW struggle with them; instead, they merely present facile answers and treat the problems as solved. This is irritating and, frankly boring; it robs the narrative of much of its tension. For example, in the last story, WW is faced with a situation where she has to try to save the Khund, even though if she does so they’ll return to their genocidal ravaging of neighboring stars. The alien Green Lantern I mentioned before is all for wiping out the Khund, who murdered his daughter and threaten his homeworld and the rest of his space sector.
I mean, I am adamently opposed to the death penalty, and I think genocide is A Bad Thing. But…the way Simone structures the problem here, there is a pretty fucking good argument for allowing the Khund world to be destroyed. Reinhold Niebuhr would almost certainly say pull the trigger; I think you’d have a really good case under Just War theory as well. Gandhi would no doubt say you shouldn’t do it — but Gandhi was an extreme pacifist, and Wonder Woman is , you know, not. So you’d think, given all that, that our heroine might have doubts, or be conflicted, or have some level of moral conflict. But WW and her loyal sidekick Etta Candy don’t even hesitate; they’re just like — no, no, we have to show mercy to the Khund, that’s obviously the right thing to do. And not only are they certain down to their socks, but they convince everyone else too! Etta talks to a godlike ichor for five minutes and, hey presto! Godlike ichor reverses its position on capital punishment. These moral problems are just that simple. If only Orson Scott Card had known; Ender’s Game could have been a lot shorter and less tortured.
In the end, then, maybe I spoke too quickly when I said that Simone managed to avoid the traps Marston laid for her. She does outmaneuver several of them…but she’s left with maybe the biggest one of all, which is that, unlike most any other super-hero outside of Mr. A, Wonder Woman was actually about something. Marston had stuff to say, in his cranky way, about real issues, peace and war among them. His solutions to these problems were more or less crazy (have woman rule over the world and teach men submission and love as a way to combat war), but they were thought through and existed in a coherent (if cracked) belief system. Marston, in short, wasn’t glib. Simone, at least on these issues, is. When you write a comic about the glorious icon that is Superman, you don’t need to really think too hard about what the character means, because the character has always been vacuous. Writing Wonder Woman, though, forces you to confront some actual content — which is unfortunate when all you really want to do is love her and maybe create some entertaining genre product, more or less in that order.
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This is the latest in a series on post-Marston version of Wonder Woman.
Update: Simone herself has a gracious note or three in comments (keep scrolling.) She points out that there are currently two volumes of her WW series available, and that a third is forthcoming shortly.
I read the first couple issues of Simone’s run and lost interest pretty quickly. It was by no means a bad comic, but I didn’t really find it all that good either.
But I’m not a diehard fan, just a casual one, so the Diana Sue approach didn’t really appeal to me.
One minor correction: Donna Troy is Diana’s little sister, not just a friend.
Yeah; it didn’t make me resent it’s existence, the way the Hiketeia did, but I’m not exactly eager to go read more either.
And yeah, I can never remember what the relationship between WW and Donna Troy is supposed to be. Didn’t they retcon them once or twice or something? Ah, whatever.
According to Wikipedia, she started as a human orphan rescued by WW and “given Amazon powers by Paula Von Gunther’s Purple Ray.” I think that business about the ray is pretty crazy. Remembering the Les Daniels, the 60s WW stories were as nuts in their own way as the Marston version.
Donna Troy and her retcons makes my head hurt: currently (trying to sum it up as concisely as I can), she’s a magical duplicate of Diana that was kidnapped by a villainess named Dark Angel, who tortured her by causing her to live horrible lives in alternate timelines over and over – in the “real” timeline she became a superhero by being raised by the Titans of Myth.
So she wasn’t actually raised on Themiscrya, but as WW’s magical clone she’s considered her sister, of sorts.
Oh, and that Dark Angel turned out to be the Donna Troy of an alternate Earth.
Huh. Apparently there’s two volumes of this, ’cause the story that I read didn’t have Nazis.
(It had a bunch of seventies era DC Conan knockoffs like Skull the Slayer. I liked it, except for the parts with Wonder Woman in it which were just god-awful.)
I think there are several volumes of Simone’s WW now available. The Circle (which I read) is the first one.
Does anybody have a recommendation of Gail Simone to read that’s really worthwhile? She seems like she could be a fun writer to read in the right context. I’ve heard really mixed things about Birds of Prey, though….
I left the interview in TCJ 286 impressed. Not a series, but still.
Yeah, that’s my response too. The interview shows you somebody very smart and funny with a lot to say. I haven’t seen her comics writing, though I did check out one or two of her old humor columns and was a bit let down.
If you regard continuity porn, pulp action and general pulpiness as inconvenient obstacles that dilute moments of humor and humanity, instead of pleasures in their own right, then you’re probably going to find most of Simone’s work frustrating. Having read her BIRDS OF PREY, WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY and SECRET SIX, I’m pretty sure she’s really into all that.
My big problem with this essay is that you end it by calling INSANITY preferable to glibness, while ignoring that Marston was at least as glib, if not more so, than Simone on her worst day. Of course, most if not all comics from this period were. Marston was unusual in that what he was glib ABOUT was different from the standard white-bread middle-America morality, but if he had written about the Khund, I don’t think he would handle it too differently. He was pretty sure of everything he had to say, and there wasn’t much room for characters to argue and maintain the author’s respect.
In fact, that’s probably something that could stand to be added to the Wonder Woman series at this point– a respected opposing viewpoint. Etta, Steve, Tom and the rest are stalwart and all, but there’s no one in the series who REALLY challenges her way of thinking on a regular basis. That wouldn’t be too Marstony, but it might read a bit better to a contemporary audience.
I think, in art (though not necessarily in life) insanity is often preferable to glibness. Philip K. Dick or Isaac Asimov? I’ll take PKD every time, thanks.
Marston doesn’t put in competing viewpoints, and he is sure of what he has to say — but that’s not glib. Glib is being sure of what you have to say without having really thought about it. Marston has thought about everything he puts into his WW comics — oh, man, has he thought about it. He’s got the repetition compulsion, he’s go the obsession, he’s got the teetering tower of crank theorizing. That’s not glib; that’s the opposite of glib.
I could do without the continuity porn overall. I actually like pulp action — but Simone’s not very good at it, is the problem.
I quite liked the short Killer Princesses series that Simone did with Lea Hernandez.
It’s likewise somewhat light-hearted fun, but it does have a bit of a point to it, and I was actually vaguely disturbed by what the characters’ agenda was revealed as being at the end.
It’s probably quite cheap to pick up too.
Thanks Anon; I’ll keep that in mind.
Noah,
I’ve been reading your posts on Wonder Woman. I’m the guy wgo pointed out tge saytrs and gave you the hunters protect ducks analogy.
I’ve always wondered just what Marton’s point was because the only people getting chained were women. Now I’m convinced the loving authority is male. There’s good male and bad (evil underground dwellers).
In the 1,000 years in future story, Diana is still a secretary, albeit one with a device that translates words into electrical impulses that guide her fingers. You pointed out Trevor wore a silly suit with shorty shorts, but men were still in charge. Maybe that’s what he wants, men to be loving in their authority, which is nice and maybe a little silly.
But back to my point, his fetishes were built around women in chains. That’s not feminist, that’s selfish.
You pointed out that his girls being educated story was vile, but said consenting adults were OK, even if it’s a bit icky. I disagree because when you’re all about breaking someone’s will for your sexual pleasure, you’re basically a pimp. Women, kids, it just becomes a matter of degree when you see a class of people as something by which you get your rocks off.
Liking strong women so you can break them to your loving obedience, not so good.
Of course I could be wrong.
“Does anybody have a recommendation of Gail Simone to read that’s really worthwhile?”
Two words: Secret Six.
Hey Anon. All the people chained aren’t women; he really likes having men chained as well. And the loving authority is definitely female — Aphrodite and Hippolyta, and Diana herself in the future, where she becomes president.
There’s plenty of reasons feminists might object to Marston, and I respect that view. I do think he’s a lot more complicated than just wanting to break strong women to his will, though. He really isn’t D.H. Lawrence.
Noah,
When I wrote my latest comment, I hadn’t seen your latest golden-age blog. You’re right, in this one some men are chained. It still had his usual women tropes, but my bad. It also struck me that Steve is his Mary Sue. A virile man who can kill bulls, ripped and muscular – you’re as big as a woman – yet he gets tied up too.
Still, your insights are better than mine, I admit, my comments are more insights. I do want to point out that on the WW runs for prez cover she’s, if not bent over, slightly bowed. Could be something as simple as she couldn’t stand up because the logo would be obscured, but whatever the reason you can’t say she’s standing tall in that cover shot.
Or I could be wrong.
I’m violently seconding Killer Princesses. One of my 3-4 favorite Mainstream-y comics of the last decade. Welcome to Tranquility was quite good, too.
Noah,
This is a fun read. let me get that out first. I enjoyed it, in non-ironic fashion, honestly. But good lord, your premise is absolute and complete nonsense. I don’t like Mary Sues, I don’t believe in them, and I sure as hell don’t WRITE them. I find them intrusive, amateurish and insulting to the audience. The ‘evidence’ seems to be that:
a) I like the character, and
b) I like to show her in a positive light.
Well, dang, you caught me. She’s OBVIOUSLY a Mary Sue. Along with, oh, virtually every lead character ever written by anyone in a superhero comic. ;)
If I had a Mary Sue character, trust me on this, it wouldn’t be Wonder Woman, or Superman, or any of the other icons. I have absolutely no such connection.
Additionally, I found you REAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLY stretching to make your point in this article, which is a little funny, given the smugness that it embraces. I always say, wrong is okay, smug is okay, wrong AND smug is a little weird. ;)
I’m glad you liked some of the book, but of course sorry if you were disappointed overall. Wonder Woman is very subjective, and your piece here reminds me a lot of what I read on message boards, wherein there’s some resentment that the book’s author doesn’t write the Wonder Woman that the poster holds in his or her own imagination. It’s understandable, I’ve been there myself many times.
All that said, it was fun to read, at least partially because it’s interesting to see you pile up ‘evidence’ for a complete fictional and incorrect central conceit. It’s weird to be on the receiving end of that, but fun at the same time.
But ALSO because you have a punchy, entertaining style and presented an interesting case. I’ve since gone back and read some of the older pieces on WW that you’ve written and enjoyed them very much.
Hope that clears things up a little. I assure you, you couldn’t be farther off base with the WW-as-Mary-Sue premise , but it’s still a darn good read and I’ll definitely be watching for more WW commentary in the future.
Best wishes,
Gail
Oh, and…argh, I kind of hate to do this because it seems like nit-picking, but holy cow, I have to defend artists Terry Dodson and Bernard Chang here, two of the most
gifted and dedicated storytellers I’ve had the pleasure to work with. I’m not sure what your definition of good Wonder Woman art is, Noah, but if it precludes these two guys, I have to say that we have to part on this one right smartly.
That’s all, looking forward to your next WW installment!
Best,
Gail
One last bit…
“I think there are several volumes of Simone’s WW now available. The Circle (which I read) is the first one.”
There are two so far. The third volume is coming in a few months, and will come out in hardcover and softcover at the same time, which I think is a neat idea that should be the model for such releases.
As for Donna, sheesh, could not agree more. Her backstory is almost as convoluted as Hawkman’s. I hope to get around to it, but it will be a while, unfortunately.
Hey Gail. Thanks for commenting so graciously. I don’t have any particular desire to defend myself…but I would like to defend Mary Sue, who I think gets a bad rap. I talk about why at that link; you can read some of my co-blogger’s defenses of her here and here.
Thanks again, Gail. Take care.
Well, it’s my pleasure. My comments may appear to be peeved or something in cold print, but I can only assure you that that’s absolutely not the case. I had a good time reading the article and it’s definitely caused me to want to read the rest of your WW commentary.
As for Mary Sues, hmm. Well, while I can see your definition, I’m not certain that it is actually the prevailing one. And there’s no question that blatant Mary Sue-ism is mostly pretty hideous stuff to actually read, even when it ISN’T amateurish fan-fic.
But simply declaring a character to be a Mary Sue doesn’t make it so, as I’m sure you’ll agree. Whether or not you believe a Mary Sue is a bad thing (and I think your article betrays you here, because in it, you certainly imply uncharitable things about the practice), the evidence is far too scant to make the case. In this particular case, I find the basic argument to be fallacious on its own merits simply because the charge could be applied literally to almost every recent lead portrayal in a superhero comic. If the definition is that open-ended, so much so that it defies sub-categorization, then I’m sure you’ll agree that it loses all potency. And meaning, for that matter. If any such portrayal can qualify, then using the term at all has little meaning.
It’s an interesting discussion, because usually, I have a bit of a pet peeve about being told what I intended with a particular story or arc, but in this case, as I’ve said, I found it to be such good fun that I can’t take offense, I can only point out the truth of the accusation, in good humor and with no ill will.
I do find it interesting that you seem to dismiss the Circle as mostly pure pulp, as I think that story has quite a lot of interesting subtext about maternity and womanhood, in an kind of blemished manner that the book normally doesn’t embrace. I hope you pick up the next volume, as it fits more with some of your complaints about this book, and I admit it was more of a personal “I love this kind of shit” story than The Circle was, all about d-list forgotten barbarians and the like.
I completely admit that I wrote it because I do love that shit, and your charge of ‘continuity porn,’ which really doesn’t apply to the Circle (most of the elements in that book are new characters with little reference to DC obscurities) apply in godawful force in volume II, The Ends of The Earth. I admit it, and if you had written this article about that volume, I’d have to sheepishly take the heat. :)
It was worth it. Diana and DC’s Beowulf make a surprisingly strong dynamic, and it was good fun all the way through to write. Hope this volume hasn’t turned you off to that one.
Best,
Gail
Thank you, posters, for the kind words about Killer Princesses. Co-creator and artist Lea Hernandez and I wanted a series with some teeth in it, and the fact that it still surprises some readers is a nice testament.
If you want to try my DC writing without the continuity porn or whatever, the first volume of Secret Six is coming out soon, and it is certainly one of DC’s best reviewed books, for whatever that means. It’s pretty foul, which is what I like about it. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but I think it’s a very good time.
Thanks everyone, for the comments, both positive and negative,
Gail
Well, I think I’ll probably pass at least for a bit on the next WW volume…but I do plan to try other things you’ve written.
I actually argued in the review that the book was best when it seemed like WW was most a Mary Sue.
In any case, you didn’t sound peeved at all, especially considering the review in question. I’m glad you stopped by.
Fair enough, Noah, no harm done at all. Hope you like Secret Six, which is about everything that’s wrong in today’s comics, only moreso. And wronger.
Best,
Gail
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You’ve put your finger on why I can’t stand Wonder Woman and would avoid Simone’s more than any other. “Everyone rushing to tell her how mega awesome she is.” It astonishes me that women who want so passionately to be accepted as comics fans go fawning over this ludicrous character who’s been written well maybe twice in 70 years, insist EVERYBODY LOVES DIANA, and then scratch their heads when fans of both genders don’t want them anywhere in the fandom. They are an embarrassment, and no spontaneous demonstrations on Twitter will change that.
I’m not surprised Ms. Simone doesn’t recognize the sycophancy around her Diana as Mary Sueism. If you check her Twitter, she has a following of dozens retweeting and replying to her every utterance, reassuring her at every turn how mega awesome she is. No wonder she can’t see the point you’re making, she doesn’t think the life she’s given Diana is abnormal.
Well…that seems a bit harsh! I follow her, and think she’s quite funny and generally unassuming and approachable. So…you know, this article isn’t intended as an indictment of her or anything.