She’s a Brainiac, A Brainiac, I Know — All Hail Gail Simone Wonder Woman Writer Supreme

Shopping on Christmas Eve at Borders I spotted what I’d been waiting months for. Wonder Woman as written by Gail Simone. After a disappointing year for Wonder Woman fans on many fans, after reading this issue with Ms. Simone at the helm I am looking forward to an exciting year. She said back in November that it was her dream job, and she is living the dream. Simone has got chutzpah, moxie, hips, the whole bit, to pull it off. Anyone who says, “It’s no longer a little niche industry of white guys who hang out in comic book stores and don’t have girlfriends.” should be given accolades. Hopefully other people in the comics industry have actually been paying attention to who attends the Comic-Con, for instance. That’s another article. In the meanwhile, with her talk of making the lasso the most powerful weapon in the DCU, and that, “It makes Wolverine’s claws look like Popsicle sticks.”

Simone has a lot to live up to.

It would be a lot for any writer taking over a huge mythos like Wonder Woman, but it’s been a tough couple of years for Wondy and her fans. We were promised a movie, finally getting Joss Whedon what we thought would be a green light writer. There was even a TV Guide poll as to who should play Diana. Unfortunately, Whedon immediatley gave off signs he would go south when he decried the entire pantheon of WW villains as being lame compared to Batman’s. Then came Wonder Woman playing scapegoat for killing Max Lord and her mission failing. They judged her by the value’s of what some call Patriarchs world and I call a Bureaucratic one. Diana is from the age of Heroes, when it was all right for heroes to kill. I doubt I was the only reader wondering if the next thing to pass would be the rape of Wonder Woman. Yah, let’s do that to sell some comics just like the Death of Superman and DC can have a penthouse style fold-out spread. That’s what I want my daughter to see littering the internet. The rape of the female hero who is supposed to be able to wear basically a bathing suit of body armor getting what the pimps think she deserves.

When I first heard about that possibility, I thought the person who conceived of this idea should have to be a woman in that situation. I wondered why DC hadn’t done it before. And it still seems a matter of time before they would do it at least in a what if setting. Perhaps a clause with the Marston estate has kept them form this course. If they did that, it would be saying to little girls everywhere, look at us we can even rape Wonder Woman, we can rape your dreams, that means we can rape you in your dreams. That’s where the culture of fear goes. Raping WW is like raping the All-American Cowgirl Icon, for WW is an icon of freedom and democracy, as well. I would hope if the WW being raped storyline was ever written it be done so that people could see how to be strong after it. It did happen to Hippolyta.

Wonder Woman fans are NOT your typical comic book fans, to be sure. Feminists, fans who love adventure, pop-culture fans who started reading WW after seeing the series on tv as a kid and were hooked for life, Greek mythology, gay men and women alike, those of us who still believe in democracy. Gloria Steinem might not have been Gloria Steinem Feminist icon if it weren’t for WW. And how about the way a certain future universe of Amazons was written by Frank Herbert, a man who loved giving the lie detector test invented by Marston? Doubtful.

As to what Simone has in store for WW it could be romance, surely plenty of adventure and a version of WW that might finally see the light of the silver screen. She did say in at least one interview that if she was at the helm of WW there would be no doubt WW is one fo the most powerful heroes. As for the romance aspect, I welcome it, it has been a longtime in the making. Everyone has been to afraid since Perez had it to do anything with Diana other than flings. I have to say I would like Diana to have a romance with someone ala Batman and CatWoman, a rogue who is not necessarily a villain. I like that her partner is named Nemesis. That whole bit with the gorilla saying they were ready to mate has me smiling in a way I haven’t in along time. The way Diana handles the gorillas Grod the Mastermind sends against her as a test for Superman is classic and will be aped in the years to follow. And the mystery of Hippolyta keeping yet ANOTHER secret from Di. Who is the Dragon? Remembering all the great action-packed character driven plots and mysteries, the subtlety of the dialogue in Birds of Prey that Simone wrote, I can only feel good about the year ahead for Diana. Gail Simone is the Brainiac of woman writers at DC. Hail Simone! Scribe of Themyscira, Queen of Comics, Her Majesty Gail Simone of Detective Comics.