This Picture From A Wonder Woman Porn Parody Is Sadly The Best Live Action Wonder Woman I’ve Ever Seen

In what is sure to be a first for this site, I’m about to praise a Wonder Woman porn movie.  This picture from the upcoming Wonder Woman XXX: An Axel Braun Parody starring Kimberly Kane as Wonder Woman is pretty much the best live action Wonder Woman costume I’ve ever seen:

It’s based on the New 52 Wonder Woman, and seems to have more in common with Cliff Chiang’s version than Jim Lee’s.  And it’s VERY good.  It blows that terrible costume from the David E. Kelly pilot right out of the water, and captures the style of the comics while still looking cool and workable in real life.  I’m really quite impressed with it.  I hate Wonder Woman porn because UGH have we not objectified the character enough, but this costume is extremely well done.

Also, how sad is it that the best live action Wonder Woman we’ve seen since Lynda Carter comes from a porn parody?  Get it together, Warner Bros.  Make a Wonder Woman movie, and maybe talk to Axel Braun’s costume designer.  It’s a sad, sad day for Wonder Woman when a porn director is more committed to getting the character right than the company that actually owns her.

Wonder Woman Is Back On The Cover Of Ms. Magazine!!

It’s Ms. magazine’s 40th anniversary this year, and in celebration they’ve put Wonder Woman back on the cover for their special anniversary issue.  The cover is by Mike Allred, now pretty famous outside of comics for doing the art for the Wonder Woman MAC cosmetics campaign last year.  The cover may or may not be coloured by Laura Allred.  They usually work together, but the cover doesn’t specify.

This is a fantastic cover!!  I love the tie-in to the current war on women and the need to vote in the upcoming election.  Having a lady in a “This is what a feminist looks like” t-shirt is really fun too.  And, of course, the cover is an homage to the very first Ms. cover from 1972:

That issue also included some actual Wonder Woman comics, a few pages of her origin story from All-Star Comics #8.  I wonder if we’ll get something similar this time?  A few pages of Mike Allred doing a Wonder Woman comic would be really fun.

Apparently, if you sign up for a subscription you get the issue AND a poster, which is awesome.  It seems to only be available in the US though.  Boooooooooo.  If anyone wants to send me a poster, I’ll be your pal forever.

Anyway, Wonder Woman is back on the cover of Ms.!!  That’s very fun.  Look for the issue on newsstands soon, and pick it up.  It looks like a good one!!

David Arquette Got A Tattoo Of Wonder Woman From Sensation Comics #81

While recently on Bethenny Frankel’s talk show Bethenny (SIDENOTE: I have NO idea who this is or why she has a talk show), David Arquette revealed that he got a new tattoo on his torso.  It’s impressively large, going from just above his waistband to halfway up his ribcage, and it depicts a panel from Sensation Comics #81, published in September 1948.  Here’s the tattoo:

And here is the panel:

The tattoo is on the right side of his body (his right, not our right) so it makes sense that they’d flip the art so as Wonder Woman would be looking towards the center of his chest.  That’s just Tattooing 101, really.  They couldn’t put it on the other side of his torso because he already had tattoos there.  So yeah, it’s a big tattoo, and a random panel to reference!!

The panel is from a story called “When Treachery Wore a Green Shirt”, where Wonder Woman breaks up an anti-immigrant organization in a small town that was about to lynch an immigrant named George Zenko and his employer.  Zenko sounds like a fairly Eastern European name, though his country of origin isn’t specified.  The Green Shirts are all up in arms that a “foreigner” got a job instead of an American, so they’re fixing to hang the two men when Wonder Woman comes by and busts them up.  Then she gives the lovely speech about being friendly to all that Arquette tattooed on his torso.

It’s worth pointing out that this story is SUPER white.  The message of tolerance thus comes across as a “white people should be nice to white people” speech.  There’s no mention of America’s massive racial problems at the time, be it the segregation of African Americans or the resentment towards Asians that lingered after the war.  Instead, we learn to be nice to people that look like us.  Of course, this is a very 21st century reading of it… for 1948, the speech was a reasonably progressive message.

The Grand Comics Database credits H.G. Peter with the writing for this issue.  Clearly it’s his art, but I don’t recall Peter ever writing anything.  Marston had died about a year before this issue came out, so I doubt he wrote it either (the story says “by Charles Moulton”, but they ALL did until the mid-1960s).  It was more likely Robert Kanigher, who was the regular writer on Wonder Woman and most of Sensation Comics at the time, or maybe Sheldon Mayer, the book’s editor.

The story usually gets credited to Marston, however, because the story was reprinted in the 1972 collection of Wonder Woman stories published by Ms. Magazine with introductions by Gloria Steinem.  All of the stories in the book are credited to Marston, though a couple of them are from late in the 1940s and his authorship is unlikely.  Also, a few of them seem to have actually been written by Joye Murchison, Marston’s assistant.  I bet Steinem would have loved to know that when she put the book together!!

I don’t know where David Arquette first encountered this panel, but I’m betting it was this book.  It’s that, or he’s got an EXTENSIVE Golden Age Wonder Woman collection.  This story has yet to be collected in an any of DC’s reprint series (Archives, Chronicles, Showcase, etc.) and the Ms. book is fairly well known. 

So good work getting a classy tattoo, David Arquette!!  I’m a little concerned for the guy, what with his divorce and lack of much of a career lately.  Getting a random, MASSIVE tattoo can sometimes be a step in a downward spiral (particularly if it’s of a strong, brunette woman and you just got divorced from a strong, brunette woman…), but hopefully he’s just really into Wonder Woman and things are going well for him.  Either way, it’s a cool tattoo!!

Kelly Ripa As Wonder Woman OR No Regis As Steve Trevor? Disappointing.

I didn’t watch the TV Land awards this weekend, largely due to the fact that I had no idea they were on or that a channel that airs mostly reruns actually gives awards.  It all seems very nonsensical to me!!  Nonetheless, they exist (apparently it’s the tenth one!!) and this year Kelly Ripa was the host.  In her opening, she dressed up as several famous TV characters, including Catwoman, Velma from Scooby Doo, a non-descript Star Trek character, and Wonder Woman:

Here’s a closer look at the costume, which isn’t nearly as detailed as the Lynda Carter TV version.  It’s certainly very sparkly though:

In the opening, Ripa refuses all of the outfits before settling on a Catwoman costume, and rejects the Wonder Woman look because:

It’s too flashy!!  But let me wear this home for Mark. *wink*

Carson Kressley was also in the opening sketch, so yeah… that was a thing that happened. 

While the opening was all sorts of cheesy, it’s fun that Wonder Woman has remained such a cultural icon.  Even though she hasn’t been brought back in movie form like every other superhero, the legacy of the 70s TV show is really quite impressive.  Movies have made lesser known characters like Iron Man, Black Widow, and Green Lantern household names outside of comic book fandom, but people have known Wonder Woman for DECADES largely due to an old TV show that only ran for three years.  Wonder Woman certainly made her mark.  While a reference at the TV Land awards isn’t really the world’s biggest platform, Wonder Woman gets referenced all over the place, all the time. 

With that kind of name recognition, you’d think there’d be a movie by now!!

From Daily Mail, via the always wonderful DC Women Kicking Ass.

Maggie Q As Wonder Woman On Young Justice

This weekend’s episode of Young Justice featured a side plot where the Justice League debated admitting new members, and Nikita‘s Maggie Q played Wonder Woman in what I think is the character’s first time speaking since the series began.  Wonder Woman’s been in the background of a couple episodes, but hasn’t said much.  While I expected a lot more ass kicking (there was none… I was jazzed to post some sweet mid-fight screencaps!!), her appearance was still pretty fun.

First, the Big Three are clearly in charge of the Young Justice universe, superherowise.  Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman all led the discussions and ran the show, and everyone else, including Hal Jordan, the Flash, and Martian Manhunter were on the sidelines.  In fact, of the all other Leaguers it was probably Aquman who got the fourth most facetime.  Wonder Woman was clearly a key part of the ruling triumverate, which is nice to see.

Plus, even though Wonder Woman wasn’t kicking ass against the bad guys, she was pretty kick ass in the meeting room.  When suggesting a new female superhero, Rocket, for the Justice League, there was this exchange:

Wonder Woman: Athena knows the League could use more female members.

Black Canary: Agreed.

Hawkgirl: Hear, hear!

[quizzical stares from all the dudes around the table]

It was pretty great.  Wonder Woman totally threw it down.

Finally, while there wasn’t a ton of excitement going on, I did enjoy Maggie Q.  She brought a classy, regal feel to Wonder Woman that had a warmth and friendliness to it as well.  I’d really like to hear more of her as Wonder Woman (maybe if we get Wonder Girl she’ll be around more often…) and I hope the appearance isn’t a one-off like Rob Lowe’s fabulous Captain Marvel, who I loved.  We get a lot of Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Red Tornado, and Black Canary from time to time, but I think more Wonder Woman is always fun.

My Little Wonder Woman Pony On Front Page Of CNN.com

For some reason, I’m hearing about My Little Pony ALL the time lately.  Either people have been super into for ages and are now talking about it or they’ve suddenly gotten into it, but it’s everywhere!!  And yesterday, it made the front page of CNN:

You can see it there on the bottom, where it says “‘My Little Pony’ goes geek”.  But check it out… that’s a Wonder Woman pony!!  Wonder Woman is all over the front page of CNN lately!!  It’s kind of great.

This Wonder Woman pony was created by Jodi Moisan, and it’s rather detailed.  It’s got the lasso and the tiara and everything.  The article says that Moisan doesn’t sell her art but that she has donated pieces for Women of Wonder Day, so good news for you all keen to get one… maybe next year you can snag one.

I so don’t understand this current fascination with My Little Pony, but Wonder Woman is cool in any form really.  I don’t know if it’s really front page of CNN cool (it’s a news site, right?  Aren’t there geopolitical issues they should be getting into?), but it’s still pretty impressively crafted!!

Wonder Woman On Harry’s Law Recap OR I Watched It So You Didn’t Have To

Tonight’s episode of Harry’s Law, “Gorilla My Dreams”, featured a plotline that revolved around a woman, played by Erica Durance, who dressed as Wonder Woman and brutally beat up abusive husbands.  I’ve never watched a full episode of Harry’s Law, and tonight’s episode did nothing to convince me that I’ve been missing out, but it actually wasn’t entirely terrible.

The main story of the show was about a gorilla, as you may have guessed from the title.  It was all about whether great apes can be treated as people under the law, and it was pretty dumb and melodramatic and this isn’t a gorilla blog, so let’s skip on past that.

The Wonder Woman story made up the secondary plotline.  For some reason, we got tons of gorilla backstory but we joined the Wonder Woman trial in progress, and had to piece the facts together as the show went along.  I’m still not entirely sure what she was charged with, but we’ll get to that in a minute. 

We start off by hearing from a couple witnesses, a man who got beat up by “Wonder Woman”, and a woman who found “Wonder Woman” online and called her when her ex-husband showed up drunk and angry.  In both cases, the men suffered various broken bones and other serious injuries.  The prosecution argues that vigilantism is illegal and that the beatings these men, and several others, received were criminal, while the defense says that these men were wife beaters and that “Wonder Woman” was just trying to defend their wives.

The main defense lawyer, the guy Nate Corddry plays whose name I don’t know, knew “Wonder Woman” from high school.  Her name is Annie Bilson, and she was the sweet, pretty girl everyone loved, and of course he had a crush on her.  Then things went south for Annie.  Her husband was abusive and raped her repeatedly, to such a degree that Annie basically had a complete mental breakdown and shut down emotionally, and received extensive psychological treatment for several years.  Her breakthrough finally came when she channeled her feelings into a Wonder Woman persona and beat the hell out of abusive husbands.  She returned to a normal, happy life, and occasionally put on a Wonder Woman costume and kicked some ass.

For Annie, “Wonder Woman” is a persona she takes on.  Her doctor says that it isn’t actually her, that she’s not aware of her actions once she’s taken on the persona.  So technically she’s not responsible for her actions, but she also refuses to take any drugs that would stop her from slipping into the persona, which suggests some culpability.

There’s some drama… Annie gets mad at Nate for bringing up her abusive husband because she doesn’t want to be painted as a victim, but that never really goes anywhere.  Ultimately, impassioned closing arguments are made on both sides.  Nate gets all emotional talking about the girl he once knew, but in the end they agree to a plea deal where Annie serves three years in a mental institution.  Which is probably a good idea… having a violent persona you can’t control really isn’t an ideal way to go through life.

At the end of story, Nate and his lady lawyer associate, whose name I also don’t know, visit Annie at the institution, and Annie gives Nate her tiara and tells him to ask her out in three years if he’s still single.  Emotional healing!!  She can finally trust again!!

So that’s the rundown.  Really, the story didn’t make a ton of sense to me.  I mean, clearly the girl needed to be in a mental hospital to sort out her split personality issues.  I have NO idea why she’d be tried in a criminal court with proper jail time on the line, other than to make it more dramatic and let David E. Kelley use up his lingering Wonder Woman rights.

And that’s what was really odd about the episode… we see the Wonder Woman costume for like three seconds, in a grainy flashback video of her taking down one of the abusive husbands.  The pictures that were released a couple weeks ago, like the one at the top of this post, must have been from a scene that got cut for more gorilla time, because that wasn’t in the show at all.  For all but those three grainy seconds, Erica Durance is pants suited up or in her mental asylum sweats.  It seems to me that if you’re going to do a Wonder Woman-centric show, you should put in some Wonder Woman.

There were some shout outs, though.  The prosecution asks Annie if she has bullet-deflecting bracelets, a lasso of truth, or an invisible plane, and her doctor mentions that Annie knows she’s not “some immortal Amazon, born and raised on an all-women island”.  But that’s about it.  The show was really low on Wonder Woman, overall.

But there were some good things.  Robert Picardo was her doctor, for one… he’s the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager!!  So that was pretty exciting… I always like to see him in things.  And Mark Valley is on this show I guess, so that’s a fun Fringe connection.

What I liked best about the show, though, was that it got into issues surrounding domestic violence, and in decent detail.  Everyone talked about how domestic abuse is widely under-reported, and how it’s an epidemic for women of all walks of life.  They dropped lots of jarring statistics… some I knew, like 1 in 4 women suffer domestic abuse of some kind, but some I’d not heard before, like 1 in 3 women murdered in America are killed by an intimate partner.  And both the defense and prosecution spoke strongly about domestic violence.  It wasn’t a debate over the merits of women claiming to be abused… both sides agreed it was a serious problem, and instead the actual debate was about vigilantism.  It’s hard to dislike a show that uses primetime entertainment to make viewers more aware of the epidemic nature of domestic violence.

Ultimately, it wasn’t the best show.  The plot was pretty meh, the Wonder Woman stuff was minimal, and the guy lawyer helping the lady and getting a date out of it storyline was pretty lame.  The whole thing felt rather abbreviated, really, like it was meant to be the main story but then they cut it down in favour of the gorilla.  But again, there was a really consistent message about domestic violence, backed up with rather shocking stats and figures, that I have to respect.  I didn’t care much for the program, but I appreciated that component of it.

Plus, Robert Picardo!!  Star Trek actors on other shows are ALWAYS fun.