At some point, there will time to reflect on the success and failures Gloria Steinem brought to the women's movement. This isn't that time. Instead, we'll note that if you talk about comics, you need to know about comics.
We don't make embarrassing statements claiming that other titles led to Congressional hearings. We're fully aware of the sadism and bondage themes in early Wonder Woman titles and how those moments were part of the criticism of comics. Gloria's 2010 e-mail indicated she wasn't.
In addition, we don't think Diana Prince having a father is the end of the world. And we have to wonder about Gloria's state of mind when she wrote that infamous 2010 e-mail decrying that, in the latest reboot, Diana went from made of clay by the Queen of the Amazons to the product of a clandestine affair between the Queen and Zeus.
There are more alarming things to worry about.
We were reminded of that as we read 2008's Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Volume One. This softcover title grabs up Wonder Woman comic books in 1968 and 1969 -- the worst period of the title.
This is where people get upset that Diana Prince renounces her powers to stay in the mortal world while the Amazons of Paradise Island enter a new dimensional plane to fortify their powers.
That's how this period is usually summed up. But as you read the awful comics, you realize it is much, much worse than that.
Steve Trevor is injured and Diana stays for him. Then, later in the comics collected in volume one, he dies. So she stayed for no reason, you could argue. But worse, she renounces Wonder Woman because, as she says of Steve, "He hates me now -- he really hates me! And as Wonder Woman I'll never be able to help him --!" It's The Little Mermaid except she's already on dry land and has a deep desire to cut herself apart in order to please a man.
She's really pathetic and that's before she renounces her powers, that's while she's still Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman is at a cocktail party -- yes, that does sound like the start of a good joke, sadly, it's not -- and a man insults her. Steve Trevor tells him to stop. The man then calls Wonder Woman a freak. He then grabs her from behind and she's unable to fend off the drunk? Steve punches the guy and Wonder Woman and Steve head off . . . to go parking. Many years ago, Mad magazine did a hate-filled spoof where Wonder Woman is in the kitchen and pregnant and battered by Steve Trevor who wants to watch his TV and have her bring him his dinner. That spoof wasn't too far removed from the Wonder Woman of the second half of the sixties -- not just when Mike Sekowsky and other creeps take over as 1968 draws to a close. See, Steve and Wonder Woman make out and then Wonder Woman has to go "crimefighting" so Steve goes to a club and tries to pick up an unnamed hippie. The drunk Wonder Woman was grabbed by earlier? He ends up dead and Steve is arrested the next day.
After she clears Steve of murder, he's hugging her but thinking of Diana Prince leading Wonder Woman to wonder, "If he can fall for Diana like this, he can fall for any woman! And I'll lose him forever if I don't do something to keep him interested in me! Wonder Woman must change . . ."
Trying to bring down a villain named Cyber, Steve gets shot. That's when she decides to stay, while he's in a coma. She loses all of her powers and her invisible plane. Her new mentor I-Ching shows up to train her in the martial arts so that she can help him defeat Cyber. They team up with private detective Tim who calls her a "chick" in a voice over and "a dumb chick" when he first speaks to her.
He'll call her chick over and over until he finally deserts her due to greed. By which time, she's fallen for him. ("No! I can't believe Tim has really . . . betrayed us ! He can't be bad!") A few panels later -- in the same issue of the comic book, she meets Reggie and falls for him. "Anything you say," she tells him as they hit Swinging London and he plays Richard Gere taking her Julia Roberts to a mod clothing store where he buys clothes for her. Then they're in his car kissing with him proposing marriage and Diana thinks -- as does anyone reading it -- "What's happening to me?"
When Reggie tries to kill her, the former Wonder Woman starts crying -- tears streaming from her eyes -- screaming, "You lied to me! You said you loved me!"
Then she and I-Ching go to Paradise Island. Apparently men are no longer a big issue on Paradise Island the way they were when Steve Trevor was nursed to health back in the 40s. No concern at all over I-Ching. And when Paradise Island is under attack, Diana gets the 'brilliant' idea of how to save it: Men!
Yes, it is that sad.
By contrast, Diana becoming the daughter of Zeus? Not all that important. Not worth getting all stirred up over.
But this period when Wonder Woman wasn't even the star of her own comic, wasn't even top billed (check the illustrations, it's "The Incredible I-Ching! and. . . The New Wonder Woman")?
Those are things worth getting outraged over. Diana Prince getting Zeus as a father? Not really.
