Closing A Chapter on Wonder Woman’s Family Album

With the release a few weeks ago of Wonder Woman Vol. 6: Bones, Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang’s spectacular run on Wonder Woman is now available in full in trade format. The story, told over 35 issues and a few annuals, is compiled in six volumes each sporting a one word title: Blood, Guts, Iron, War, Flesh, and Bones. I imagine DC will release the run in a more concise form- maybe two volumes? omnibus? In its current state, you’ll want to read all six volumes as it is one complete story with suspense constantly building to a very classy plot twist.

Tasked with rebooting Wonder Woman for the New 52, Azzarello and Chiang made the bold decision to alter her origin story- exposing her origins from clay as lie told to Diana by her mother Hippolyta to keep her own affair with Zeus a secret from Diana and more importantly, Hera, who have demanded retribution for another woman sharing a bed with her husband as is the custom among Olympians. This change to Wonder Woman’s origin story brought forth scores of fantastic characters, a true pantheon of pun-masters. The scripts for this story possess a wit rare in comics or any other medium- a wit that perhaps can only perform in the medium of comics and a wit unabashedly fond of puns.

I spoke at length about Wonder Woman’s introduction to her extended family tree at last year’s Comics and Popular Arts Conference at Atlanta’s Dragon Con. With each issue, Wonder Woman becomes more acquainted with the citizens and standard operating procedures of Olympus. Hephaestus, Hades, Eros, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Cassandra, Artemis, Apollo, Demeter, Strife, War, and a Wesley Willis-inspired Milan are just a small sample of the colorful characters Wonder Woman now finds herself related to. The whole family adjusts not only to Wonder Woman, but other surprise family members come in to shake things up- particularly the one known only as the First Born.

Because Wonder Woman has her hands full with all of this family drama, the rest of the DC universe stays largely off the pages of these books with the exception of regular appearances by Orion of New Genesis (not old Olympus). Readers who follow Superman/Wonder Woman know that Superman’s absence from the adventures outlined in this story has left the Man of Steel with some feelings of inadequacy.

The lack of other DC superheroes is a bit of a blessing. Readers can read this run without feeling the baggage of an entire universe’s continuity. The series has since the New 52’s inception been a title that non-superhero readers could digest more easily than more continuity-rich titles like Green Lantern, Superboy, or any of the Trinity (War or Sin) related titles. Because of this, I highly recommend the collection as a gift for beginner readers. While the book contains a healthy bit of violence, some sexual content, and an intrinsic critique of religion, I believe the book is not only appropriate for young readers, but particularly valuable to a younger audience as it introduces them to Greek mythology as well as sophisticated story-telling elements in a way that’s more enjoyable than formal education.

As the New 52 comes to a close, this run on Wonder Woman will be remembered as one of the best elements of the reboot. Unlike other great runs (Manupaul and Buccellato’s Flash, Williams and Blackman’s Batwoman (especially), Johns and Reis’s Aquaman) that have ended, this series demonstrates a more perfect overall architecture. As I read the final pages, I feel more satisfied as the story came to its conclusion. The only other run from the New 52 that comes to mind that demonstrated the kind of forethought seen here is Morrison’s Action Comics but the creative teams behind both titles approached rebooting two of DC’s biggest titles. I don’t include Snyder and Capullo’s Batman here because their run hasn’t ended (and hopefully won’t end for a good long while)

 

Lasso of Truth: Interview with Playwright Carson Kreitzer

As previously mentioned in the World’s Second Greatest Detective’s interview with Actor Matt Myers, Atlanta’s Synchronicity Theatre  will be presenting Carson Kreitzer’s Lasso of Truth, a play about Wonder Woman and her creator William Moulton Marston. The play opened on September 26 and will run until October 19, 2014 at the Synchronicity Theatre’s new location at Peachtree Pointe 1545 Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia. Here I’ve had the privilege of asking the scribe herself Carson Kreitzer a few questions about the play and her interest in Wonder Woman. Kreitzer has written several plays, many inspired by peculiar characters from history like Marston.

WXL: What originally attracted you to the story of William Moulton Marston and the character of Wonder Woman?

CARSON KREITZER: Well, I was a Wonder Woman fan from way back.  Lynda Carter was huge for me. Then, a few years ago, I was writing a play that involved a scene with a lie detector.  (1:23, which was produced by Synchronicity in 2009)  I was doing some research on the lie detector, and came across all this information about William Marston and Wonder Woman.  And bondage.  And polyamory. And the two women living together after Marson’s death, raising the children in sleepy little Rye, New York in the 1950’s…. -that detail still just blows my mind.   And I thought, Holy Cow!  That’s my next play.

WXL: Marston’s original vision for Wonder Woman has undergone significant change over the years. These changes came about through the collective efforts of writers, artists, and the general public. Do you believe this democratic participation has strengthened or weakened the character?

CARSON: It’s gone up and down. She went through some terrible times after Marson died, in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  But then, the writers who picked up the mantle of her true strength and feminist core have been awesome.  Trina Robbins and Phil Jimenez are the ones I’m most familiar with, but I know she’s had lots of amazing talent creating her stories. I loved the Brian Azzarello/Cliff Chiang/Tony Akins Wonder Woman New 52 relaunch, Blood, Guts, and Iron, which I read as we were rehearsing for the first production in Marin in February. Lasso of Truth is a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, with productions at Marin Theatre Company, Synchronicity here in Atlanta, and Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City.  Like the ancient greek myths the story is rooted in, many bards step in to tell the tales.  It seems fitting.

WXL: Despite suggestions from certain magazines, Wonder Woman couldn’t legally become President of the United States because she was born in Themyscira. Is there an eligible superhero that you’d like to see in the White House? For our purposes here, you can assume younger American superheroes would wait until they were old enough to run.

CARSON: I guess I’ll say Rogue. Though Zephyr Teachout sounds like a superhero name, don’t you think?  With the ability to withstand the corrupting influence of money? Actually, I’m gonna say Elizabeth Warren.   She’s a superhero.

WXL:  I’ve never seen a play about Bob Kane, Jerry Siegel, or Joe Shuster. How is that you’re able to bring Wonder Woman to the stage, and in a sophisticated and challenging way, before DC Comics can bring Wonder Woman to the movies?

CARSON: Actually, there’s a bit of a movement going on with Comic Book plays!  There is a wonderful, heartbreaking play called The History of Invulnerability, by David Bar Katz, about the creation of Superman.  And there was just a play in New York called King Kirby, which I didn’t see, but it got great notices.  (Bob Kane may still be waiting for his play…)  And I don’t know why they can’t get it together for a Wonder Woman movie… although I do have empathy.  I think Lynda Carter left some pretty big red boots to fill.  She’s so indelibly connected with Wonder Woman, at least for anyone who grew up with the TV show.  I actually had no idea how much Wonder Woman had disappeared from the popular culture until I started working on this play. She was everywhere when I was a kid- TV, lunch boxes, the whole deal. It was shocking to audition actresses, and find that they had not had Wonder Woman to look up to, to emulate, as little girls.  It is definitely time for more Wonder Woman!

WXL:  What comics are you reading these days?

CARSON: I’m a bit more of a graphic novel buff, myself. Art Spiegelman’s Maus got me hooked, let me know what was possible with pen and ink and words.  Allison Bechdel’s Fun Home is one of my favorite works of art in any genre whatsoever, and I’m so thrilled she just won a MacArthur Genius grant!  I love Stitches, by David Small.  The combination of words and images is so potent, in some ways so like theater… But it’s also very personal and internal as an experience: you create all the voices in your own head, and you can linger on any page or image to fully take in the detail or the moment, or rush image to image as you race to find out what happens.  My mother actually just sent me Jules Feiffer’s Kill My Mother, which is pretty funny of her.  That’s what I’m reading as soon as I get home from Atlanta.