Amazon Hot Pants
Nov. 29th, 2015 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kybearfuzzBack in the late 1960's/early 1970's, DC Comics made the decision to have Wonder Woman give up her Amazon powers (as the result of the Amazons leaving this dimension for another) to stay in "Man's World." Without her powers, Wonder Woman left the Justice League and opened a mod-fashion boutique. She trained with a mysterious martial artist named I Ching and became an adventurer, fighting street thugs and the occasional spy. Comparisons to Emma Peel of The Avengers TV-show were made. The title of her comic became "Diana Prince: Wonder Woman" and she did not use her Wonder Woman alias.
Recently, I bought three trades of the Wonder Woman series from this era. I was curious, having only read sporadic issues I bought here or there, how the series ran. In my opinion, the writing and artwork for the series was better than it had been, but Diana Prince still lingered in the shadow of the super-powered Wonder Woman and it's hard to say that the latter wasn't missed. According to history, even Gloria Steinem called in to DC to complain about Wonder Woman's power loss.
Between crime-fighting battles, Diana Prince worried about her hot pants orders.
Diana Prince wasn't left out of the DC continuity though. She teamed up with Superman and Batman on occasion in their respective books, still being referred to as Wonder Woman. She also appeared in the Justice League of America comic during one of the summer JLA/JSA crossovers.
The power loss lasted for around 23 issues of her book. Eventually, Diana regained her Amazon powers and rejoined the Justice League as Wonder Woman.
Whether the "Diana Prince" path was a good creative decision for DC has been long-debated. Many considered it a brave choice for the time, bringing in a then-modern and original storyline. Others have stated that the most iconic superheroine in comics had been defanged, pointing out that the writers wouldn't have done this sort of thing to Superman.
In reading it myself, I think the stories were good (okay, minus the hotpants panel above), but I think DC could have very easily created a new heroine to be the mod-super spy. One thing I think the change did do was force the comic to be more modern in its approach, maybe even more gritty, which it sorely needed.
Recently, I bought three trades of the Wonder Woman series from this era. I was curious, having only read sporadic issues I bought here or there, how the series ran. In my opinion, the writing and artwork for the series was better than it had been, but Diana Prince still lingered in the shadow of the super-powered Wonder Woman and it's hard to say that the latter wasn't missed. According to history, even Gloria Steinem called in to DC to complain about Wonder Woman's power loss.
Between crime-fighting battles, Diana Prince worried about her hot pants orders.
Diana Prince wasn't left out of the DC continuity though. She teamed up with Superman and Batman on occasion in their respective books, still being referred to as Wonder Woman. She also appeared in the Justice League of America comic during one of the summer JLA/JSA crossovers.
The power loss lasted for around 23 issues of her book. Eventually, Diana regained her Amazon powers and rejoined the Justice League as Wonder Woman.
Whether the "Diana Prince" path was a good creative decision for DC has been long-debated. Many considered it a brave choice for the time, bringing in a then-modern and original storyline. Others have stated that the most iconic superheroine in comics had been defanged, pointing out that the writers wouldn't have done this sort of thing to Superman.
In reading it myself, I think the stories were good (okay, minus the hotpants panel above), but I think DC could have very easily created a new heroine to be the mod-super spy. One thing I think the change did do was force the comic to be more modern in its approach, maybe even more gritty, which it sorely needed.
