Showing posts with label Wonder Woman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wonder Woman. Show all posts

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Wonder Woman in "The Angle Menace"

Here's another Super Sugar Crisp minicomic from 1980, this one featuring Wonder Woman in "The Angle Menace."

In this story, Angle Man steals an Egyptian stone tablet from a museum because that's the kind of thing that DC supervillains steal.


I have to say, "The Angler" is a pretty dumb name for Angle Man's weapon. Why not just "Angle Gun"? And what exactly does this weapon do? Sure, it opens up triangle-shaped portals and bends stuff, but it also shoots blasts that aren't particularly angular and circumvents alarm systems. I think it exceeds the purview of the gimmick.

I don't really get the sense that Angle Man has wholly committed to his gimmick. Or, at the very least, he tapped it out long ago, relying on more vaguely defined geometrically based crimes. In fact, he's a pretty lame villain overall, but that seems to be par for the course with Wonder Woman. Her rogues gallery begins with Cheetah and ends with Dr. Psycho. If you have to go three deep, you get Angle Man, and at that point, the barrel's bottom is scraped. Of course, the creators of these minicomics needed villains that could be handily defeated in about 30 panels, so the inclusion of Angle Man makes sense here.

Following the robbery, Wonder Woman is called in to investigate, and she takes one look at the stone tablet and quickly figures out Angle Man's plan.
That is kind of a show-offy way to exit.

Wonder Woman's invisible jet takes her to Egypt, where she catches Angle Man in the act of stealing a pyramid:

I see what Wonder Woman is trying to do there, using parallelism to equate Tuk-Hotep with Angle Man, but isn't it a bit of a stretch to call Angle Man "greatest of super-villains"? Maybe it's just PR. If she says it enough, maybe people will starting thinking he's a real threat.


Angle Man then fires some decidedly nonangular blasts at Wonder Woman, which she deflects with her Amazon bracelets while also explaining that she is deflecting the blasts with her Amazon bracelets.


We also get a sense here about how ridiculous Angle Man's plan is. He's stealing the pyramid to "loot it at [his] leisure." What? This seems simultaneously lazy and inefficient. And where is he going to keep this pyramid while he gets around to looting it for treasure? I can tell him from my own experience with projects that I would eventually get around to--it's just going to collect dust in his garage.

Clearly sensing that defeat is inevitable after his stupid angle gun is destroyed, Angle Man tries to make his escape by distracting Wonder Woman with a falling pyramid.
Once again, Wonder Woman helps the reader along by explaining exactly what she is doing in these panels.

Finally, Wonder Woman messes up Angle Man's ride, Kool-Aid Man style:

Wonder Woman misses an opportunity here to close the deal with a humorous and demeaning quip. I would have gone with, "That was 'a cute' attempt to escape, but now you're going to jail." Or, "You would have to be pretty obtuse if you thought you could get away with this." Or, "You thought you had the right angle, but it turned out to be all wrong!" Or, "Multiply one-half the base times the height, and the answer is some serious jail time!"

Monday, January 12, 2009

Oh Bondage Up Yours!

The DC Vault, by Marty Pasko, is filled with some amazing culled from the DC archives, even moreso than what we find in the Marvel Vault, which came out the previous year. This may be due to the fact that DC has a much longer and well-recorded history.

One of the true gems is the following 1943 letter from All-American Comics president M. C. Gaines (father of EC and Mad founder William Gaines) to "Doc" William Moulton Marston, creator of Wonder Woman:

(Apologies for the crooked scan--the DC Vault doesn't fit on my scanner too well.)

Anyone who's read Golden Age Wonder Woman stories knows of Marston's notorious bondage fetish. Here's an example that may very well have been the tipping point for the reader who sent in the complaint discussed in Gaines's letter:
Wonder Woman, in a gimp mask, chained up and dumped in a water tank. (From Wonder Woman 6, Fall 1943)

This letter is fascinating on several levels, especially the sequence of events that must have led to this letter. First, Gaines and Marston apparently had several conversations about the preponderance of bondage in Wonder Woman comics. The problem, however, is not bondage in general, but the excessive use of chains. A recent conference between Gaines and Marston has set a goal for chain-bondage reduction by 50-75%. Gaines seems to assume that Wonder Woman fans will be satisfied with other forms of bondage and don't necessarily need it to be chain-specific.

So, Gaines has Miss Roubicek, who I assume is his secretary, put together a list of acceptable "methods which can be used to keep women confined or enclosed without the use of chains." It's a shame that Pasko doesn't include that enclosed list of methods, but I imagine the scene playing out something like this:

Gaines (wearing suspenders and an open-collared shirt with tie undone, while holding a lit cigar, calls from his office): Miss Roubicek! I need you to take something down!

Miss Roubicek (putting down her red nail polish and quickly grabbing a No. 2 pencil and yellow legal pad): Right away, Mr. Gaines!

Gaines: Miss Roubicek, I need you to help me with something--how can I confine or otherwise enclose a woman without the use of chains?

Miss Roubicek: Well, gee, Mr. Gaines, I don't think I'm that kinda...

Gaines: C'mon Ruby! Don't kid a kidder, sweetheart. Bondage--no chains! Go!

Miss Roubicek (chewing her gum thoughtfully): Well. let's see...there's rope...

Gaines: Natch! I need more creativity, chop chop! (Claps)

Miss Roubicek (more quickly): ...silk scarves, rubber bands, other forms of elastic material, leather straps, stocks, a mink stole, the plastic tubing hospitals use to administer intravenous fluid, ivy (but not the poisoned kind), a garden hose, the cord from venetian blinds, the belt from a terry cloth bathrobe...

Gaines: Yeah, yeah, yeah--that's the stuff!

Miss Roubicek: How 'bout handcuffs? Do those count?

Gaines: Y'know what? I think I'm going to have to count that as chains. But we've got a good start here. Now take a letter for that perv Doc Marston...


Man, those were the days!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Everything Is Going to Be All Right

In one fell swoop, Gail Simone makes everything all right:



From Wonder Woman 14, art by Terry and Rachel Dodson.

There are a lot of great moments in comics this week, what with the new Scott Pilgrim and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books, but I wanted make sure this great moment didn't get lost in the mix.

Monday, October 15, 2007

DC Comics January Solicitations

Today, DC released their solicitations for comics coming out in January, and there are some quite noteworthy products coming out at the beginning of 2008.

DC is doing something I never thought I'd see: they are actually publishing Bob Haney's final Teen Titans story, which has been in the can for several years. Here is the solicitation copy:

TEEN TITANS: THE LOST ANNUAL
Written by Bob Haney
Art by Jay Stephens & Mike Allred
Cover by Nick Cardy
Don’t miss the TEEN TITANS LOST ANNUAL, featuring the original Teen Titans: Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy and Aqualad! Classic Teen Titans writer Bob Haney sends the Titans into space to rescue President John F. Kennedy in this story illustrated by Jay Stephens (The Land of Nod) & Mike Allred (Madman, X-Statix)! Meet new alien races, witness a startling betrayal, and more! It’s a secret space adventure that couldn’t be told…‘til now!
On sale January 9 • 64 pg, FC, $4.99 US

Man, this just sounds completely awesome: JFK in space! Plus, Jay Stephens and Mike Allred have the right artistic sensibilities to pull this off. Even if you don't read comics, you still need to get this.

By the way, I was sitting next to Chris Sims at Heroes Con in Charlotte when he demanded from Dan DiDio that he publish this comic. DiDio's response, and I'm not making this up, was, "Whatever you say, Mr. Sims! You own the internet."

Other things that make me happy in DC's January/February comics:

DIANA PRINCE: WONDER WOMAN VOL. 1 TP
Written by Dennis O’Neil & Mike Sekowsky
Art and cover by Sekowsky & Dick Giordano
In this volume, featuring stories that have never been collected before from issues #178-184 and SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE #93, Wonder Woman faces Mars, god of war, the murderous Dr. Cyber, and more!
Advance-solicited; on sale February 6 • 176 pg, FC, $19.99 US

These 70s Wonder Woman comics, where she loses her powers, dresses like Diana Rigg, and travels the world with her blind martial artist companion, I Ching, are chock full of crazy. I love these comics, and they are truly hard to find in back issues, so I'm looking forward to this collection like you wouldn't believe.


TIME MASTERS TP
Written by Bob Wayne & Lewis Shiner
Art and cover by Art Thibert & José Marzan Jr.
Collecting the often-requested TIME MASTERS #1-8 and material from SECRET ORIGINS #43, featuring 52’s Rip Hunter! Hunter forges alliances with DC heroes including Cave Carson, Metal Men creator Doctor Will Magnus, Dr. Fate, the Viking Prince, Arion and others to stop the threats of immortal super-villains including Vandal Savage and his Illuminati.
Advance-solicited; on sale February 13 • 224 pg, FC, $19.99 US

I have a lot of fondness for this series, and I've re-read it pretty recently. Parts of it won't hold up very well--especially the way that disaffected teenagers are depicted. Still, Wayne and Shiner did their homework on conspiracy theories about the Illuminati's influence on world history, and they tie it into the DC Universe well. As far as I can tell, though, the rules about time travel they establish here have never been enforced in any story after this one.


THE SPIRIT #14
Written by Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier
Art by Mike Ploog
Cover by Jordi Bernet
Join the new SPIRIT creative team of writers Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier (Groo the Wanderer) and Mike Ploog (Abadazad) for a case of murder! A string of killings is plaguing Central City…and the Spirit — with Commissioner Dolan — is on the case!
On sale January 16 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

I was saddened by the news that Darwyn Cooke would be leaving this series, but the announcement that Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier would be writing piqued my interest. Now the news comes that Mike Ploog will be drawing it makes this the greatest comic ... of 1974! Seriously, Ploog is a great choice for this job, and I, for one, will be glad to see his art appearing regularly in a comic again. The plot summary here, though, sounds like they could have just written, "Insert generic SPIRIT plot here."


Things that have me nervous:

CATWOMAN #75
Written by Will Pfeifer
Art by David Lopez & Alvaro Lopez
Cover by Adam Hughes
The Joker. The Rogues. The Cheetah. And they’re just the beginning of Catwoman’s problems.
The world’s most violent and dangerous villains have been sent to the Hell Planet from SALVATION RUN, and Catwoman’s just arrived! Selina Kyle’s got skills, cunning and craftiness, but she’s also going to need to make a deal with the devil in order to stay alive!
On sale January 16 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

I have loved what Will Pfeifer has been doing with this series since the One Year Later jump, but I worry about including her in the Salvation Run storyline. Pfeifer has done a great job of establishing Selina as a new mother, but shipping her off to a prison planet seems to undermine that ongoing storyline. I'm going to trust Pfeifer on this, though.


Oh well:

GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #4
Written by Judd Winick
Art and cover by Cliff Chiang
The second story arc of this hit new series begins with a tragedy for Oliver Queen!
On sale January 9 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

I have a feeling this solicitation might spoil something. Am I wrong?