- How do you like this depiction of Wonder Woman, from how she’s written and drawn?
In terms of writing, she feels pretty close to who we know her to be today. She’s strong, wise, compassionate, willing to talk things out but will throw down when required. I liked her more competitive and entertaining side, which is something we don’t see a lot, like when she goes in to save lives in both the circus and the bullfighting, she saves the lives and then she puts on a better show than the entertainers.
The only things I wasn’t so into with how she fell in love with Steve from the start. I like them nowadays as a couple, but dude, Diana here fell in love with him while he was in a freaking coma. I much prefer how it’s done nowadays, where she takes Steve back as an obligation, and as they work together she starts to truly fall in love with him.
Drawing wise, I like it. She’s definitely drawn more demure than she is nowadays, and while I tend to prefer her as being outwardly athletic, I do like it as both a visual gag and as a statement. A woman might not seem as strong or powerful, but she is just as strong, if not more so within.
- Do you lean more towards the original clay origin or the current demigod origin?
I don’t hate the clay origin, but I think the whole “golem” idea made those who writer assume she is something other than human, made her too perfect or too aloof or both. Ironically enough, I feel like making her part-god made it so she’s written more human in recent years.
That said, it is interesting seeing Diana be so referent to her gods here and in the Perez run, and then seeing her handle some of the Gods more like douchebag extended family in New 52 onward.
- Can you see from these early Wonder Woman stories, why she became an icon?
Absolutely. She had strong stories from the start (even if, like @msgtv shows, there are a LOT of problematic elements in some of these early stories), and they feel different from every other story at that time. There’s a bit of whimsy and humor to it as well as ass-kicking action. The closest I can think of other books around that time like that are Captain Marvel, which was one of the more successful because of those attributes.
- What would you say are some defining qualities of Wonder Woman that are evident right from the character’s beginnings?
Kind of got into that in the first question, but definitely her sense of compassion and strength. Her reverence and belief in the Gods.
