Wonder Woman's new look: At long last, pants!

For a long time, artists have been trying to get Wonder Woman into something more practical and Amazonian than a star-spangled bathing suit, but the DC hierarchy wouldn't let them. Now, current DC honchos Jim Lee and Dan DiDio are apparently more open-minded, since in the new Wonder Woman #600, debuting today, Diana of Themiscyra finally gets a new costume design courtesy of Lee himself. This is in conjunction with J. Michael Straczynski taking over the title and introducing an altered-history timeline that gives her a new origin (but don't worry, there's no deal with the devil involved this time). You can see the costume here, and practically everywhere else on the Internet that covers comics:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/06/29/new-wonder-woman-costume/

I like it, for the most part. It's less revealing, but I think it's more sexy, since it doesn't have the garish star-spangled panties or the elaborate bustier breaking up the lines of her body. It's definitely more practical, with pants, low heels, and shoulder straps. It retains enough design elements of the original to be recognizable, with stars on the belt and a diminished "WW" insignia on the neckline. The main thing I think doesn't work is the jacket, which is kind of a callback to the outfit she wore briefly when Artemis took over the Wonder Woman role in the '90s. Lose the jacket and it would look even more like her classic outfit, and be a little classier. JMS is apparently going for an "urban" revamp of the character, and the jacket fits that (and in the image at the link, she practically looks like she's snapping her fingers to the opening number of West Side Story or something), but I'm not crazy about that.

But for the most part, it's a good look, and I hope it's kept around after the timeline inevitably resets itself. Or maybe something between this and the classic look -- lose the jacket, keep the shoulder straps, keep the texture of the top but make the insignia bigger, keep the pants but make them blue, go back to the original tiara and bracelets. Maybe we could even get something like that as her outfit in the WW movie, if it ever gets made.

More coverage: Here's a snarky overview of Diana's outfits over the decades:
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/06/30/review-wonder-woman-costume-change/

And here's an interview with JMS on the revamp:
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/06/30/j-michael-straczynski-wonder-woman/

 

Call me a sexist pig but I definitely prefer the classic costume.

 

Agreed on the jacket. That's the one thing that doesn't work, it's very 90s, and gives her a faint "Rogue reject" feel.

Otherwise the costume is fine. I think they did overthink it a little. They could have kept the old top and just gave her the tights and new heels and maybe the new bracelets and called it a day.

The new backstory is great. I love the idea of smuggling het out as a child while Paradise Island is under attack. Clever way to keep the myth while keeping the character more based in the real world. I would like to see some variation of this for the movie.

 

I think it looks great.

 

The old costume will be back. It's too iconic.

 

This is the part I like. Hopefully JMS can do the unthinkable and make Wonder Woman likeable.

 

Wonder Woman's classic costume looks like the local BDSM chapter's contribution to a fourth of July parade's swim team float. Anything is better than that.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

Utter horseshit. The costume, the premise, all of it.

 

I love the new costume, though I'd agree on the jacket and I'm a little iffy on the gauntlets that replace the bracelets, but I certainly don't mind losing the bracelets - one of Marston's odder fetishes.

As for the new origin - I like it, though I'm suspicious. They left themselves a big old out with this being an altered timeline, and we may find all this reverting back to the more traditional storyline.

 

While there are some details I'm not thrilled with, I like the new look a lot.

What's amazing to me are some of the comments I've read. Not all from males, either.

Jan

 

Her original creator was into that stuff.

He also helped invent the lie detector.

 

Bloody reboots...

 

Ah, Jim Lee, he can't design anything that doesn't look like it belongs squarely in 1993 or so. This is just...dull.

 

I like it.

but that collar is amusing.

Surely that's an itemization of slavery which is a huge no no where she comes from?

Mark me, some one is going to clip a leash on it quickly and lead her around like a show bitch.

Followed 3 issues later by that "same ones" decapitation of course.

 

Nope, dumb and worse than the costume:

William Moulton Marston was also a "feminist theorist", I think he'd be laughing and seeing this as a desperate attempt to be politically correct, if anything he'd see this "de-sexualisation" as a mockery to his creation.

Its like a bad version of Black Canary's outfit by way of the 90's.

 

This is all clearly an AU that will be largely reversed as the story works out, so it's not really worth getting worked up about either way.

Nonetheless, as a story approach, JMS is doing the same slate-wiping tactic that every WW writer since Perez has done, which is the #1 reason that her mythos is so unstable. Jiminez and Simone were the only writers who realized this; Jiminez tried to synthesize all the past runs into a single status quo, but Rucka junked that (much as I love Rucka, and I do, he did repeat the cycle there), and Simone kept around the worst status quo since Perez as the solution, which is the sort of bad luck this character always seems to have.

As to the costume, it's fine as a design on its own terms, but as a design for Diana, it doesn't work. It looks like something a 21st century American woman would wear, and Diana isn't a 21st century American woman; her style is based on classical Greek (the classic costume is deficient in this regard too, but there have been numerous variants created that are more in tune with it; really, all she needs is a battle-skirt and some shoulder straps).

 

Agreed. The new costume is terribly lame, though it might be good for Wonder Girl for 5 minutes.

What's with all this movement away from superheroes looking like superheroes? Gimme some damn spandex!

 

Marston was a feminst theorist - unfortunately his theory was heavily intertwined with his sexual fetishes revolving around the loving domination of superior women and bondage. Now to each his own, but if Wonder Woman is ever going to "grow up" as part of the DC pantheon, her creator's idiosyncracies have to be dealt with (and dealt out because they do not have mass appeal).

And there's nothing desexualizing about the new costume anymore than there is about Superman's body-hugging costume. Superheroes are almost universally highly sexualized by their costumes and this is no different. Showing less skin does not necessarily make something less sexual.

The look of superheroes has routinely changed over time. What is one generation's bastardization of tradition is tradition to the next generation. Otherwise, you'd all be yearning for WW to be in a star-spangled skirt.

 

Yes, let's make Wonder Woman look less iconic. Looks like someone embarassed to go all the way at a costume party. It does looks like something they might come up with for Smallville so maybe that makes it more "realistic" I suppose but doesn't really seem to play up what makes comics unique.

 

Absolutely love the new costume. All of it. It's my new favorite superhero costume and it made me finally add Wonder Woman to my comic book pull list after merely thinking about doing so for many years...