a DIACHRONIC study of the IMAGE of the POWERFUL FEMALE in POPULAR (and maybe other) CULTURES
Thursday, November 18, 2010
TOP 50 FEMALE/MALE FIGHTS IN COMICS: 46
Yes, Wonder Woman alone gets two posts. Why? If you have to ask the question, you won't understand the answer.
My main reason for including JUSTICE LEAGUE #143, written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Dick Dillin, is for its "clash of icons" resonance. The battle itself is just two pages, and comes about because Wonder Woman has been made the pawn of a villain. She and Superman trade blows briefly until the Amazon Princess trumps the Man of Steel by subduing him with her magic lasso. This therefore is a somewhat ambivalent victory, not least because the Amazon's not fighting of her own will. Still, though DC has never stated outright that Wonder Woman is equal in power to Superman-- and has strongly suggested the opposite in the character's own feature-- I approve of Englehart treating the two heroes as equals in power during the duration of the fight. It's the "old school" in me, no doubt.
Ironically, though I like Englehart's treatment of the heroine's powers, I don't like his treatment of her character. This Wonder Woman is needlessly abrasive and arrogant, both apparently in compensation for a crisis in the character's self-confidence. Perhaps this attitude could have been justified within the sphere of the Amazon's own series, but here in JUSTICE LEAGUE, it just seems like typical Marvelesque "hero with a problem" schtick. Perhaps an intemperate Wonder Woman would've been an improvement over the more typical "plaster saint" conception, but again, the world will never know.
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