On Tuesday, Bleeding Cool reported that David Finch would be drawing Wonder Woman after Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang leave later this year. I was not pleased, and still have my fingers crossed that this rumour doesn’t pan out. Now, Bleeding Cool is reporting that the book will be written by David Finch’s wife, Meredith Finch. I’m not overly enthused about this either.
Meredith Finch has one writing credit, a story about the Cowardly Lion in Zenescope’s recent Tales From Oz #2. This is a cover for the book, by the way:
Zenescope’s “Grimm Fairy Tales” line takes fairy tales and makes them all sexy and dark. Characters who are young girls in the classic tales are aged up, so as the stories can include bare midriffs, cleavage, and barely covered rear ends. It’s all pretty gross. You don’t want to see Dorothy in this Tales From Oz series, I promise you. Stick to Marvel’s Wizard of Oz adaptations.
To be fair to Meredith Finch, I tracked down her issue and her story wasn’t overly exploitive, relative to Zenescope’s usual fare. It was about a lion tribe mostly, and the sexy witch wasn’t in it a lot. Nonetheless, a writer whose only previous work is at a sexual exploitation-heavy publisher like Zenescope, where apparently she’s got some more stories lined up, doesn’t seem like the best fit for Wonder Woman.
On top of that incongruity, Finch’s story wasn’t particularly good. It wasn’t awful, but I would call it subpar. It was confusing to read, repetitive, and very surface level. Characters spoke in declarative statements that exactly described their state of mind in a constant flow of exposition that was all tell and little show. The story lacked any nuance or subtlety, though a lack of nuance and subtlety is Zenescope’s modus operandi, so I suppose that Finch hit the nail on the head in terms of house style.
In short, it wasn’t a well-written story. Nor should it be; it was her FIRST comic book. It is literally the first piece of graphic storytelling she’s ever had published. It’s silly to expect a homerun out of the gate, but it’s just as silly to give a new writer a major series like Wonder Woman and hope for a homerun. There was nothing in Tales From Oz #2 that suggested that Finch is a new, visionary writer with the right stuff for a legendary character. It was, at best, an average first attempt at comic book writing.
Whatever your feelings on the current run of Wonder Woman, it is being produced by established industry professionals and is the closest thing to an auteur book that DC is currently publishing. Azzarello and Chiang have a clear, unique vision for the book, and both creators are considered among the best in their field. Azzarello in particular has won or been nominated for pretty much every comic book award as a writer. The guy wrote 100 Bullets. He’s a legend.
Wonder Woman deserves creators of a similar pedigree after Azzarello and Chiang leave, and Meredith Finch just isn’t there yet. I know that there’s an argument to be made for fresh voices and new perspectives from people who aren’t mired in the superhero industry grind. I understand that. But I think that there’s a bigger argument to be made for craft and experience. Finch might turn out to be a fantastic writer down the road, and I sincerely hope she keeps at it; as regular readers will know, I am all about having more female creators in mainstream superhero comics. But she’s not ready for Wonder Woman yet. NOBODY who has only had one comic book published is ready for a high-profile superhero gig like that.
So yet again I am fervently hoping that Bleeding Cool is wrong. The odds aren’t in my favour: Bleeding Cool had the scoop on next September’s New 52 event way back in October. They’re good at rumours. But this rumoured creative team seem likes a terrible fit to me, one for their inexperience and one for their mismatched, T&A heavy art. It’s no way to follow two master craftsmen like Azzarello and Chiang.
If this is the direction that DC goes, the message they’re sending is that all they care about is putting a high-profile name like David Finch on a book to boost sales and good storytelling be damned. Wonder Woman is a character that means something to a lot of people, and after the J. Michael Straczysnki fiasco, raping and murdering Amazons, and the ridiculous Superman romance, this creative team would prove definitively that DC just doesn’t care about Wonder Woman as a character at all. Be better than that, DC.
TIM HANLEY 
Bleeding cool may be good with some rumors, but terrible at others. They also announced yesterday that All-Star Western was cancelled and it hasn’t been.. so.. they can be 100% wrong here. I’m hoping they are or if they aren’t, that this is vastly better than anyone thinks.
That’s a good point about All-Star Western. Hopefully they’re just off their game this week!
I don’t think DC cares about any of there characters, as more time in this new 52 passes by I doubt the care about the readers.
With editing issues
Superman: Doom storyline (that is and isn’t the death of Superman)
Continuity in General
The batman worship
Disrespect for Milestone characters even wildstorm
There are some good books great even (like anything Jeff Lemire is writing) but so much of it is just blah
Yeah, things have been pretty gimmick-heavy at DC lately, and constantly tying into events and whatnot to boost sales. Lately I’m more enjoying Marvel’s approach, with a wide array of different, often weird books, though their constant relaunching is a little bit annoying.
I stopped reading marvel for the most part (I read Superior Spider-man and check out daredevil)
Feel myself slowly backing away from DC comics. depending on who takes over Wonder Woman, and whatever happens next in Green Arrow. I’m a huge Batman fan but his books remind me of Hollywood super-hero movies with huge plot holes. As for Superman…I read all the books but tired of them crossing over, the were-doomsday thing is kind of dumb to me and Geoff Johns Justice League fails to impress me so how am I suppose to care about his Superman?
I been reading image’s Invincible and anything related to that
I’m with you on not being excited for Geoff Johns’ Superman. Romita’s art didn’t do much for me either. Invincible is a fun book, though! I read it in trades and I’m a few behind; I need to get caught up.
It seems like anything in pop culture that’s sexually appealing to hetero-males (such as the Zenescope titles) automatically get labeled sexist, misogynistic, exploitative, objectification etc. What’s really ironic is that the majority of the people who read Zenescope titles are women.
Honestly, after the amazing run that Azz and Chiang have had, it seems like any new creative team would be a downgrade. The only writer in DC’s current stable who I think could possibly fill that void is Snyder, but his workload is ridiculous right now.
There’s sexually appealing and then there’s aging up little girls so they can wear low cut tops. Zenescope creeps me out. Do you have a source for your “the majority of people who read Zenescope titles are women” comment? Because that seems really unlikely to me. I’m curious to see the numbers.
Not sure how they gauge the numbers, but according to the execs at Zenescope female readers are what’s keeping them in business. I think its a believable statement, considering the high female turnout they have at cons and the only people who buy Zenescope titles at my LCS are women. I don’t read Zenescope titles, but I don’t think ill of them. Nor do I think there’s anything wrong with you not liking their comics. Different strokes for different folks. 🙂
But back on topic, who would be your ideal creative team to succeed Azz and Chiang?
Interesting. I’d need to see numbers to buy it; that seems so unlikely to me. I do think ill of Zenescope 🙂 But I don’t think ill of you for not thinking ill of them. Different strokes indeed!
I think my ideal creative team would be Kelly Sue DeConnick and Fiona Staples, as unlikely as it would be given that both are very busy. How about you?