Shenanigans & Tomfoolery

Let’s talk about comic book costumes again.

DC has set the internet ablaze once again, this time by drastically altering the look of one of its most iconic characters: Wonder Woman. There’s always going to be opposition against change in comics, even more so with a long standing character such as Diana, so I feel I have to at least commend DC for truly going all the way with such a bold move. The question (and raison d’être of this post) is whether this is a step in the right direction or not.

Click on the image above to see a beautiful Alex Ross rendition of the classic costume and click below for the new Jim Lee version.

It goes without saying that most people aren’t too thrilled with the costume (to the right) but the negativity is coming from the internet where being cynical is the norm so the costume’s true “approval rating” is still up in the air. I’ve surmised from some of the comments on the web that Jim Lee is taking the blunt of the attacks when story writer J.M. Straczynski had a fair amount of input in the design, perhaps most notably with the jacket.

The jacket is one of the bigger points of contention in this design and rightly so, as it’s arguably the most noticeable change in the new outfit. I’m not completely averse to Wonder Woman wearing a jacket but I’m just not digging the design of it. I don’t like the shoulder pads, I don’t like how it’s unnecessarily loose and I don’t like how it’s rolled up at the elbows. I’m actually curious as to how much people’s opinion of the design would change without it.

The other elements are sort of a mixed bag. Her tiara has eschewed simplicity with perhaps too many angles and her wristbands are now needlessly complicated (and they supposedly leave a “W” mark on whoever she hits but that could be another discussion in itself) but I do like how less emphasis is given to the golden ornaments in her torso. I can’t put a finger on what it is I don’t like about those pants yet but I’m thinking it could be the way they just merge into her shoes.

And the choker? I have no words to describe how dumb and pointless that is.

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate some of the thinking behind this. Wonder Woman is a warrior that fights in a swimsuit, so give her some pants. Give her a jacket so she can actually have pockets to put trinkets or whatever in. That stuff makes sense (even if I could argue against the necessity to ground super hero comics too much in the real world), I just don’t think the costume is a good one. And I could chalk it up to some desire of mine to stick to tradition but despite any attempt of mine to find the root of my dislike for this costume, I always come back to the same question: why Jim Lee? Why not Alex Ross? Why not J.H. Williams III? I think either of those guys could’ve done a better job with what was asked. Don’t get me wrong, Jim Lee is one of my favorite artists in comics but a strong character designer he’s not.

At least they’re justifying the drastic costume change with a story of time travel and altered timelines wherein Wonder Woman was raised “in the streets” as opposed to Paradise Island so it’s not something that’s being done on a whim. It’s also been stated that the story is finite so the possibility of the Diana going back to her old duds at some point does exist.

I ultimately feel that, while I may not be a fashion connoisseur, I’ve read enough comics in my lifetime to be able to discern between a good superhero costume and a bad one.

This Wonder Woman costume is not in the former.

Related posts:

1. On Wally West’s “new” costume
2. SKRATCHJAMS: Wonder Woman Redesign

Posted in Comics |