By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Image from DCComics.com.

As we reported last week, Wonder Woman #600 saw the debut of the character’s new costume. The new look incorporates pants and a jacket into her look, as opposed to her trademark Wonder Onesie, which she’s worn for almost 70 years.

J. Michael Straczynski, who next month will take over as the regular writer for the series, went on record saying the character’s new costume allows her “ “to be taken seriously as a warrior, in partial answer to the many female fans over the years who’ve asked, ‘how does she fight in that thing without all her parts falling out?’…It reflects her origins in both the outside world and the world of Amazons: tough, elegant…a street-fighter’s look which also incorporates elements of her classic design…It reflects the two sides warring for ultimate victory, and underscores the path she must take…It’s Wonder Woman for the 21st century.”

Unfortunately, the Amazon Princess’ new look doesn’t seem to be a hit among fans. MTV News reported yesterday that the costume “fails the fandom test.” In a poll, 64 percent of respondents indicated they “hate” the costume, as opposed to the 36 percent who “love” it. Some readers indicated the look was too reminiscent of the ’90s, while some felt it made her look too ordinary. Still others felt that it did indeed make her look more modern and practical.

In addition, Deadline.com reporter Nikki Finke exclaimed: “DC Comics has ruined Wonder Woman, adding that Wondy was the only comic book character she ever admired, and “of course it took a bunch of men to ruin her.” (I wonder if she knows how many women have actually written Wonder Woman. I think you can count them on one hand.)

But hey, that guy from Project Runway likes it! Newsarama spoke to Tim Gunn, who said he loves the new look. “This new look says, ‘I’m confident, I’m powerful, I’m sexy, and don’t mess with me.’ Furthermore, she looks like a citizen of the real world rather than a creature from another land.”

While I feel like a lot of the reporters who’ve been covering this story are people who don’t really understand how the comic book industry works, they do have a point. Wonder Woman is one of a select few comic book characters that has transcended the medium, and been woven into the fabric of Americana. Not only that, but she has something that (dare I say) most other characters don’t: is a special connection with a specific section of the audience. As the decades have gone by, Wonder Woman has become a universal symbol of female power, strength, courage, and individuality. In a country thats has allowed women to vote and run for office for less than 100 years, that’s nothing to sneeze at. Especially when in some countries, women are still relegated to second-class status.

Art from ComicArtCommunity.com.

This may have been what Straczynski, Jim Lee (the man who did the actual redesign), and the rest of the DC Comics braintrust had in mind with the costume change. To some people, Wonder Woman’s costume made her look like a busty pin-up girl in a tiara, pandering to lusty male readers. While I understand where this opinion comes from, I feel like the folks who harbor it are missing the point.

I may not be the most qualified person to discuss this issue (I am a man, after all), but I’ve never felt like Wonder Woman’s costume objectified her. Yes, it might be needlessly skimpy, but that doesn’t take away from her dignity, strength or individuality (Power Girl is another story). To me, the character in her entirety is an example of a woman who is powerful, intelligent and beautiful, which defies our culture’s former expectations that qualities like that have to be mutually exclusive. Putting Wonder Woman in a Hilary Clinton pantsuit doesn’t make her any more dignified or relevant than she was before.

Personally, what I’ve found really interesting about this is that some of my female friends have given the costume the thumbs down. One such woman said: “I’m not liking the new Wonder Woman costume for the comics. I can see where they are going, but she’s not the same…”

Straczynski brought up the practicality aspect of the new costume, and how it makes her look more like a warrior. Also she can fight without her “parts falling out.” I’m not sure why he couldn’t have just said “boobs,” but oh well.

Again, I understand what they’re getting at. But since when do superheroes, i.e. people who can fly, lift automobiles into the air with their bare hands, and deflect bullets with their skin, need to worry about being practical?

Frank Miller has his critics these days, but he once said something that in a lot of cases really rings true with modern superhero books: “I think that there has been an attempt to bring a superficial reality to superheroes that’s ultimately rather stupid. They work best as the flamboyant fantasies they are. These are characters who are broad and big. I don’t really need to see sweat patches under Superman’s arms, I want to see him fly.”

You may not have liked The Spirit, but c’mon, that’s poetry right there.

Ultimately, if this is the path DC wants to take Wonder Woman down, I think we’ll all live. Straczynski, Lee, and the others are smart enough to keep her core essence intact. But given the way comic book fans often react to extreme change, the iconic nature of Wonder Woman’s original costume, and the way things like this have worked in the past (remember when they changed Superman’s costume in the late ’90s?), I’d be surprised if Wondy wasn’t back in her star spangled onesie in just over a year, two years at most.

Truth be told, the character was fine the way she was, and there was no need to try and “modernize” her, or to give us “Wonder Woman of the 21st century.” I mean, what’s with all the black, anyway? She’s an Amazon Princess, not a cast member on CSI: Miami.

I hate to go to another quote, but Alex Ross wrote something about Superman in Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross that I think really rings true for Wonder Woman in this case. I’ll paraphrase it…

“Wonder Woman should never reflect any fashionable trend or other affectation of a specific era – hairstyle, speech patterns, etc. She is beyond that. She is out of time.”