The Wonder of it All, Part 1

Writer/artist Phil Jimenez fulfills a dream by guiding the exploits of DC's 60 year old Amazon Wonder Woman!

By Arnold T. Blumberg     November 14, 2001

The young comic book fan inside Phil Jimenez must be doing cartwheels ever since the popular scribe took over the writing and artistic chores on DC's Amazon princess, WONDER WOMAN. Shaping the destiny of a pop culture icon with 60 years of history behind her can be daunting, but Jimenez is up to the task. He's also determined to lighten the burden on the crusading heroine and bring some happiness into her often morose existence.

"The outlook for the future is going to be more romance and more light-hearted adventure," says Jimenez. "Things got a little dark this year as part of my revamp."

Jimenez took on the title with issue #164 almost a year ago, and in that time he's turned an often uneven series into a monthly must-read. By necessity, the Amazon's career entered some pretty bleak territory, but that's coming to an end.

"The book was dark partly because the first story took place in Gotham City, and the second was about a war," says Jimenez. "Then there was a happy issue, and then, of course, her mom died." But all this was according to plan. "I know I was going to write some dark stories, because I knew by the end of the year things would look a hell of a lot better. But it's still a little painful, so the whole goal is to write and draw stories that are a little bit lighter, a little bit more adventuresome. [I'm going to] take her off-world for a little while and give her some romance."

It isn't surprising that Jimenez has a solid blueprint for Wonder Woman's life, particularly since it's a series he's aspired to write and draw for years.

"I've been drawing this character since I was a little kid, so I have a huge love for her, particularly this modern version of her. My problem was that the modern version, after George Perez left, has been written so inconsistently that I finally just said, 'Please let me do it.'" In fact, Jimenez actually moved to New York just to write Wonder Woman. "That was a long-term goal. I would have been happy to let someone else do it if they were writing stories I wanted to read. My biggest drive to do this book in the past couple of years was that I felt the character got sidetracked, and I thought ego of mine that I could get the character back on track."

Certainly Wonder Woman's career has been fraught with such pitfalls. Despite her status as one of the "Big Three" of the DCU alongside Superman and Batman, Wonder Woman has often been relegated to a supporting role in larger epics and mishandled in her own title. Jimenez believes this could be due to gender politics and Wonder Woman's intrinsic ambiguity as a character.

"It's weird, [but] partly because she's a female character, she may be considered less valuable as a franchise, a licensed character. [But she's] most likely the most recognizable female character out there. Even if people don't know her name, they know that image; they know her costume. I think the inconsistency comes from the fact that the character can be interpreted in so many different ways. [She] means different things to different people."

The next question is obvious: How does Jimenez view his star-spangled heroine?

"The reason I like this current version is that she's a character who is essentially a teacher," says Jimenez. "[She's] an ambassador for an idea, which is peace. My version of the character believes human beings can peacefully coexist with each other if given the proper tools to do so, and it's her job to help people acquire those tools, and to give examples of a different way of living." Of course, this doesn't mean that it's all UN meetings and touchy-feely stuff either.

"She gets caught up in all the superhero-supervillain action, not that she wants to, but out of necessity. That's why she appeals to me. I'm also fascinated by her because she's sort of an immigrant character. My version of her, when I write her, has an accent. I loved the idea that she's only been in our world for about seven years or so. She also comes from a world where the word 'fireman,' for example, would make no sense to her."

Difficulty with gender-based terms aside, Wonder Woman (once also known as Diana Prince in previous incarnations) has a great deal of experience in other matters and comes from a very rich mythological history. Her heritage informs her mission to Man's world in a big way.

"She comes from a world where women have lived for 3000 years and have had a hell of a lot of time to perfect their minds and bodies," says Jimenez. "I think that gives them a different perspective on the world. She's also a creature of Greek mythology she's an Amazon created by Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite. I think those aspects are very appealing to me."

Some writers have chosen to portray Wonder Woman as a militaristically-minded warrior devoted to justice at any cost, but this is one aspect of the character's personality that Jimenez doesn't accept at all.

"I don't mean to be argumentative, but that version of her became popular after KINGDOM COME," says Jimenez. "I think that version comes out of a basic misunderstanding of what the Amazons are. If you read [former WONDER WOMAN writer/artist George] Perez for the whole six years he was writing it, most of the Amazons were warriors and honed their skills on Paradise Island because they had to prevent the monsters underneath it from escaping. Once they did that, they gave up their armor and their bracelets they were like, 'Screw that, we don't want to fight anymore.' They were warriors because they had to be, not because they wanted to be. It was only during the war of the Gods, when Paradise Island was shunted back into our universe and was being bombed by American fighter planes, that they re-forged their weapons. So I think that perception of her as a warrior comes from KINGDOM COME, which is rooted in a completely different understanding of the character than I have."

Having set that record straight, how does Jimenez feel about the intimidation factor? The warrior version of Wonder Woman has usually been portrayed as a woman who intimidates those around her, especially men, and strikes fear into lesser beings' hearts with about as much regularity as Batman. Nope, says Jimenez.

"Oh, it's such a man-thing! Ugh. I actually don't believe that. There are two camps on this too, and I know that. [Cover artist] Adam Hughes and I see her so similarly. She doesn't intimidate people when she walks into a room she inspires them, she awes them. She's grace and strength and beauty personified. She doesn't frighten people. To be in her presence is like being in the presence of a goddess, not in a frightening way but in an inspiring way. You want to be a better person after you're done talking to her. That's how I interpret her and Adam Hughes interprets her that way as well. I find that version of her so much more appealing. Grant Morrison, when he was writing JLA, [thought that] people would be afraid of her and women would want to pick fights with her, and I think that's a horrible way to conceive her."

While Jimenez has a very specific interpretation of the character, there are countless other approaches. The decision to go one way or another with a heroine who has managed to withstand the test of time through all of these guises is a tribute to her core philosophy...but it can get on a writer's nerves.

"It's one of the most frustrating things about my job, trying to nail down a consistent version," says Jimenez. "It all depends on what people need and want from her. For example, my version of her as more of a pacifist is not as exciting. She's not as quick to whip out a battleaxe and chop down an enemy. I think that's less cathartic for people. The KINGDOM COME version, for many people who read comics, is action-adventure catharsis. They take their aggressions out through these characters. She is much more appealing."

TO BE CONTINUED