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Post by berkley on Sept 12, 2023 21:47:28 GMT -5
I see in one panel Bruce Wayne seeing "we Americans must stick together" - is he referring to WW? Interesting that he considers her American, if so.
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Post by rberman on Sept 12, 2023 22:18:57 GMT -5
I see in one panel Bruce Wayne seeing "we Americans must stick together" - is he referring to WW? Interesting that he considers her American, if so. Good point, and yes, he is talking about Diana.
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Post by Chris on Sept 12, 2023 23:38:45 GMT -5
Why is it everyone that wears a plaid sportcoat in the DCU is evil?
Herb Tarlek must be practically the Devil Incarnate.
Oh, you have NO idea...
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 13, 2023 2:06:18 GMT -5
We are definitely talking Cordoba!
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Post by rberman on Sept 13, 2023 5:43:38 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #187 “Earthquaker!” (April 1970)Theme: Enter the Dragon Lady Art & Story: Mike Sekowsky Inking: Dick Giordano Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, boutique owner I Ching, old guy with lots of old friends Patrick McGuire, cargo plane operator Lu Shan, long-lost daughter David McLean, chief inspector of the Hong Kong Police Dr. Cyber, criminal mastermind Lum Fong, leader of the Tiger Tong The Story: Page one begins in media res with a literal bang and I Ching wounded, as depicted on the cover, then flashes back to the start of the story. (Sekowsky did something similar with the Grand Prix story.) I Ching receives an urgent summons to the Orient from one of his endless supply of old friends, and a ride there from yet another old friend who owns a cargo plane. Diana comes along of course, and en route they meet a stylish young woman who also is riding across the Pacific Ocean in the belly of the cargo plane. Her name is Lu Shan, which happens to be the name of I Ching’s long-lost daughter. This is because she is indeed I Ching’s long-lost daughter. But there are snakes on the plane – human snakes from the Tiger Tong who spring from a hidden compartment to threaten Lu Shan. They open the side hatch, so Diana kicks them out. Lu Shan manages to keep her floppy hat in place even when she’s hanging on to the outside of the plane; perhaps it’s pinned in place? Diana and I Ching protect Lu Shan and her mysterious cargo through the streets of Hong Kong. More Tiger Tong thugs are waiting for them, leading to two separate battles over the course of five pages while driving down the road. The cargo arrives safely at its destination on a junk in Hong Kong harbor… a junk owned by Dr. Cyber! Lu Shan shoots her father, whom she blames for the death of her mother. The crowded junk also hosts Lum Fong, gang leader, and Dr. Cyber’s co-conspirator in securing a cargo of earthquake devices. He plans to double-cross her and take the devices for himself, but she kills him first. The panels below are supposed to show Lum Fong getting skewered by jagged spears that shoot from the walls. But apparently this was too much for the Comics Code, since the scene is rendered in silhouette that makes it difficult to tell what is happening. A dying gangster fires his machine gun, knocking a brazier of burning coals into Dr. Cyber’s face. Ouch!! Each party flees with their wounded. Lu Shan escapes with the Earthquakers too. To be continued… My Two Cents: We’re back in Modesty Blaise mode. It’s a fun slice of Hong Kong gangster cinema, which I assume was already a thing in 1970. Sekowsky has plenty of story to tell; multi-issue plot lines characterize the Bronze Age. Once again, Diana’s latest “new friend” turns a gun on her by the end of the issue; Sekowsky has gotten a bit predictable in that respect. We never find out anything about the "old and valued friend" whom I Ching was supposed to help when he got to Hong Kong; after meeting Lu Shan on the cargo plane, he completely drops his original reason for crossing the ocean. How did Lu Shan know that her dad would be crossing the Pacific on that specific cargo plane at that specific moment? It’s not exactly the normal travel route. Just a stunning coincidence? A trans-oceanic airplane would have a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet or so to avoid the weather. Not so, says this guy who opens the cargo hatch mid-flight. This issue happens to be the one in which government-mandated circulation figures were published. They reveal that on average, paid circulation was 171,197 for each issue, including a mere 197 mail subscriptions. But “office use, left over, spoiled after printing” accounts for another 151,457 copies of each issue. I assume these are the remaindered copies, returned unsold with their covers removed? That would mean that the sell-through rate was slightly higher than 50%. The market sure has changed a lot in the last fifty years; a title selling 171,000 copies an issue would be a runaway success today. However, this is about a 22% decrease in sales compared to the 1967 statement of circulation from issue #168. Fashion Plate: Diana spends the whole issue in the same white minidress, which she comments is excellent for fighting. Sexual Politics: All the main characters are women. I Ching doesn’t do much but get shot. We also meet two minor male characters: Patrick McGuire owns (but does not pilot) the cargo plane that carried Diana to Hong Kong. Chief Inspector David McLean of the Hong Kong police looks rather like Alec Guinness. They expend their testosterone squabbling with each other. I assume "David McLean" is a reference to David Lean, who directed Alec Guinness in the 1957 film "Bridge on the River Kwai." Here they are together on the film set. The trope of the “Dragon Lady” may have older exemplars, but it got going in earnest in the 1924 film The Thief of Baghdad. Douglas Fairbanks plays the titular thief, who breaks into the place to steal treasure but instead finds his heart stolen by the princess living there. The princess' unnamed Mongol slave was portrayed by Anna May Wong. As the film progresses, she proves herself to be devious and ruthless. By 1931, Wong received top billing in Daughter of the Dragon, playing Fu Manchu’s daughter, probably the trope-setting appearance of this sexy, steely character type. See her in action at the 59:30 mark. Milton Caniff introduced a character named “Dragon Lady” into popular newspaper strip Terry and the Pirates in 1934, and she became very popular both for her sinister schemes and her sometimes racy attire. In Sekowsky’s story, both Dr. Cyber and Lu Shan fit the Dragon Queen model. Bond Girl: Before leaving the United States, Diana tells Cathy Perkins to mind the boutique. This makes sense, but does anyone else find Cathy’s response overly submissive, especially considering her slave collar backstory from issue #185? Does She Cry? No, not even when I Ching is shot. Diana is all business this time. She does flinch and cover her eyes at the gory sight of Lum Fong getting skewered, though. Body Count: Five bad guys are thrown off the cargo plane. A bunch more are thrown from a moving truck but not necessarily killed. The guy below on the red motorcycle appears to be an innocent civilian who gets caught in the machine gun spray, but the dialogue and captions don’t even mention him. Is this the first explicit bystander casualty in a DC Comic? Dr. Cyber’s booby trap kills Lum Fong and his two bodyguards. Unknown whether anyone died when the junk exploded. Lettercol: Fan mail about issue #184, the conclusion of the Paradise Island story: “I’m simply wild about the new Wonder Woman!” vs “It stunk. Bring back the old Wonder Woman!” (Though this tale could have been told with the old Wonder Woman just fine. Also, I read through some mid 1960s lettercols, and they too whined about the then-new (but now "old") Wonder Woman.) “Why did you do it?” Editors respond that this most recent revamp of Wonder Woman was a desperate attempt to forestall cancellation due to low sales. Concerning #185, Martin Pasco recognizes that the S&M theme of the “THEM!” story was pushing the limits of the Comics Code. Paula Nast says that story “didn’t excite me” and wants more of Dr. Cyber. Shirley Gorman says “Diana Prince is doing just beautifully” and say cryptically that THEM “represents an element of our society that is fastly making itself known.”
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 13, 2023 11:16:50 GMT -5
It's "Modesty Blaise," not Honesty. I think that was her cousin. In the early 70s, Hong Kong cinema was dominated by the Shaw Brothers studio, with lots of kung fu films. Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest was doing the same thing. There are also some comedies and other things; but that is the lion's share. The real era for the crime films is the mid-late 80s through the 90s, with guys like John Woo, Ringo Lam and a few others directing, as well as the Jackie Chan Police Story films. With affidavit returns, the stripped cover or masthead would be returned, not the coverless comic. They were supposed to be destroyed; but, some distributors sent in the covers for the return credit and then resold the coverless comics for a lower price, through a secondary market. Newsstand periodicals still mostly work under that system. One of the regular tasks at B&N was stripping the off-sale magazines for return. We then put the stripped magazines into boxes for recycling (in later years; when I started with the company, in 1993, we tossed them into the trash and people used to dig through our dumpster to pull out stripped books and magazines). You sure David McLean isn't a reference to the one-time photographer and voice of Indianapolis wrestling, and creator of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, David McLane? Sekowsky could have been clairvoyant. I'm pretty certain that Sekowsky's influence here is Caniff, more than 30's cinema, though it all goes hand in hand (and Sekowsky was born in 1923, so he could have seen some of those films). By the way, here's a bit of Sekowsky fun, from this series.....
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 13, 2023 11:32:51 GMT -5
ps If you have never seen the original GLOW tv show or, shudder, Indianapolis wrestling, circa 1985/86, the true horror of listening to David McLane cannot be conveyed...
(Recorded off a tv screen by someone)
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Post by rberman on Sept 13, 2023 16:22:19 GMT -5
It's "Modesty Blaise," not Honesty. Whoops! Fingers working without connecting to brain, again. I should have known better since I just purchased an original Modesty Blaise strip last week. Yes, those images are included in the hardback Wonder Woman compendium which prompted me to start this thread. There she is, white dress and all.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 13, 2023 18:05:35 GMT -5
What is fascinating to note, from the pictures, aside from Sekowsky using a model (not sure if that was just publicity or whether he used her to create actual issues, or just develop the overall look) is the variety of non-superhero comics being published, at the time. Of the covers I can make out clearly, there are 6humor titles aimed at young children and pre-teens, at least 7 romance comics, 1 definite western (Bat Lash), one definite war comic (Our Fighting Forces, featuring the Hellcats), a mystery/horror (House of Secrets) a sci-fi (Strange Adventures) and 5 superheroes, plus 1 I can't see clearly enough (in between Young Love and House of Secrets) but looks like a humor book, one at the model's right elbow that looks sci fi or superhero, one behind her arm that looks like a superhero book, and one at her left elbow that I can't make out enough detail to guess. You cansee further titles in the upper picture, though it is smaller and I can make out less detail, overall. Still, it is remarkable how wide their line was, compared to how it would end up, across the 70s.
ps Nice Enrique Romero sequence there in the Modesty art. I like the look of his art and he gave Modesty more Eurasian features, as O'Donnell described, but original artist Jim Holdaway handled a lot of the better stories. Romero di handle one of my favorite lighter strips, "Wille the Djinn", where Willioe Garvin plays a genie to gain the trust of a pre-pubescent Middle Eastern princess, much to Modesty's amusement.
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Post by rberman on Sept 14, 2023 22:10:56 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #188 “Cyber’s Revenge!” (June 1970)
Theme: Jack Bauer would be proud. Art & Story: Mike Sekowsky Inking: Dick Giordano Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, action hero I Ching, missing in action Dr. Cyber, criminal mastermind Lu Shan, dragon lady Patrick McGuire, Diana's sidekick David McLean, chief inspector of the Hong Kong Police The Story: Escaping the burning junk from last issue, Diana barely has time to shower and change clothes before the Earthquake device is activated, causing mass devastation. Dr. Cyber’s henchwomen (including Lu Shan) take to the streets in a bizarre nine wheeled buggy; apparently they knew right where to find Diana and Patrick McGuire in the middle of Hong Kong. Diana defeats the four henchwomen and takes one captive, torturing her (yes, torturing her) until she agrees to take Diana to Dr. Cyber’s lair. Patrick is appalled. Nobody’s home, but the Earthquaker device is present and humming. The henchwoman tries to get Diana to activate a booby trap and then pulls a knife, so Diana tortures her a second time, driving her knee into the woman’s clavicle until she agrees to deactivate the Earthquaker safely. But wait! That was only one of six Earthquaker devices scattered throughout Hong Kong. Soon, another one triggers, causing yet another catastrophe. Somehow the police station is still standing, though. Diana once again threatens her captive with torture, and soon the other locations of the other five devices are known. Diana guesses correctly which location holds Dr. Cyber but is captured upon arrival and chained to the wall, fulfilling the cover image. But not chained well enough; she breaks free and uses her chains as a weapon to smack every villain in sight. Dr. Cyber accidentally electrocutes herself and, with her dying breath, activates her Earthquaker’s booby trap bomb. Lu Shan escapes and vows vengeance on Diana… My Two Cents: Diana’s magic lasso conveniently allowed her to render her opponents docile without harming them. Without that plot device, Sekowsky’s version of Diana has a very blasé Bronze attitude toward violence, repeatedly inflicting pain on her captive to get the information she wants. Even her colleagues comment negatively about her vicious techniques. Sekowsky turns in numerous impressive action sequences and anguished faces. The explosion below tests the limits of the color processes available at the time. I called this issue “Cyber’s Revenge!” because those words appear on the cover. But unusually, there’s no actual interior title beyond the Wonder Woman logo. No interior credits either. Fashion Plate: Diana’s sole pantsuit is pure white, with a huge dangling ring for its zipper. There’s some inconsistency in the location of the top of the zipper, though. In some images, it appears to be right under her neck at the midline. In others it starts below her left shoulder and zags diagonally to the midline lower down. At the end of the story, Diana acts like her clothes have been shredded, though the art doesn’t corroborate her. Sexual Politics: Diana is fully in charge of this show, fully eclipsing her male supporting characters. She saves Patrick’s life twice. I Ching is totally absent – first because he is hospitalized, and then because he has sneaked off to China to help the old friend who seemed quickly forgotten in the previous issue. Does She Cry? Not one bit, despite the hundreds of civilian casualties she encounters. Bond Girl: The cover says it all, no? It’s a very small part of the story yet forecasts the direction this series is headed – and not only this one, but also many upcoming covers of Lois Lane’s and Supergirl’s books. Body Count: Last issue showed one civilian casualty. The earthquakes in this issue must have caused thousands. These four ambulance workers get buried while carrying a stretcher, for instance. Lettercol: Jade Tani wants Diana to get her powers back. The next three letters say the opposite. Two letters ask for Diana to start dating handsome Tony Petrucci.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 15, 2023 22:49:20 GMT -5
I would argue that Diana's approach is motivated by the ticking timebomb of the earthquake devices, the destruction already wrought, and the lack of alternatives in the short time available. This type of thinking dominates situations like this, even in democracies with laudable goals and with heroes. The question becomes do I compromise my principles because the need is so great and the situation so desperate or do I stick them and make others suffer for what could be perceived as my pride? One of the first things I learned as a naval officer was that I was going to face hard decisions, upon which lives might depend and I was going to have to make them quickly and with the resources available, at the time. There isn't always a neat and clean answer and you have to decide which will bring the greater good. You then have to decide if you can live with that decision, afterward, but you have to decide. No decision led to graver consequences. I kind of found myself in such circumstances, minus destruction and loss of other lives, in this past November. Barb was dying, and that was clear. She was being kept alive by a bi-pap machine, helping her breathe. I was able to get her estranged family there to make peace and say goodbye; but, her son wasn't ready to let go and didn't want anything done before his youngest son's birthday, which was at the end of the week (this was a Wednesday). He didn't want her dying on his son's birthday and I could see his point; but, it was clear to me, via discussions with th doctor and nurses and my own eyes, that she wouldn't survive 24 hours without the machine and the birthday was two days away. So that really wasn't the issue. He kept saying what if she hangs on and fights. To me, he just wasn't ready to say goodbye to her and had his own guilt over their distance wrapped up in things. So, I had to make the decision to do it anyway, because it was best for Barb and all concerned and not just her son not being able to face his mother's end. I explained to him exactly why I was making the decision and that I was sure that it would still avoid the issue of her grandson's birthday; but that she needed her peace, so I was going to consent, with or without his blessing. In the end, he agreed, but couldn't bear to see it happen. Conceivably, I could have told the doctors that we aren't ready to give consent until the weekend; but, the responsibility ws mine and I felt it was the best option, despite her son's grief. I also felt he would face that grief better if he couldn't drag it out and it also relived him of any guilt around making the decision. Now, it isn't directly comparable, as taking Barb off life support did not mean life or death for thousands of other; but, it was a circumstance of defying another to do the greater good and accepting the consequences that came with that decision, for good or bad. That's what a lot of people don't get about leadership; being in charge means you sometimes have to be the bad guy, because it is what's best for all, in the situation. I had to help fire an employee because she was badly fowling up at work, because of a drug problem that was out of her control, after the company had given her help to try to cope with it. In the end, she needed to face her problem and heal, while we couldn't continue making excuses for her. I felt horrible about when we told her; but, I stood by the decision for the store, as a whole. There was no good solution, in that. It's an old ethical problem. You have a group of people who are ill, but only enough medicine to save 3 of the 5. You could give everyone less of a dose and hope it is enough or, you could give full doses to those in the most dire need or with the best chance of success. In the end, there is no good answer that doesn't involve sacrificing at least part of someone else's chance. You can't always cheat your way through the Kobayashi Maru test. Speaking of the Kobayashi Maru, there is a Star Trek novel that explores how Kirk cheated and also relates how other characters handled the test and what it showed about their personality and character. Sulu, refuses to enter the Neutral Zone on the basis of just a distress call, as violating the treaty would bring about greater loss of life than just the crew of the ship. He nearly has a mutiny of his bridge team, in the simulation, until his XO backs him up (which is their job). His decision is in part based on recently losing a beloved grandfather, making him see how precious life is, so he acts to preserve the greatest life he can, under the circumstances. Scotty uses his ingenuity to fight the problems of the simulation, which leads the computer to throw more obstacles at him, growing exponentially as he solves each dilemma. He starts doing things that are only theoretical until sheer weight of numbers leads to the end. one of the things he does has been proven impossible, in research, yet it works in the simulation and an instructor questions him about it and he says he knew that the computer couldn't differentiate between the reality of the situation and its programming. The stunt in question proves feasible, on paper and in computer simulations; but, practical experiments proved it was unworkable and the computers could define the flaw. The instructor finally gives in and makes a recommendation that Scotty be bypassed as a command officer and be the engineer he solely wants to be and is best suited to be. At the end, he discovers that the research that disproved the theory was conducted by Montgomery Scott. Diana is in a Kobayashi Maru; she either sacrifices a few principles, to gain the information to save the city, or more people die because she doesn't want to be seen as having a darker side. To me, it makes her a more human character than before and more relatable. it is also part of why I like this era more than what preceded and followed, before Perez rebooted things and after Marston. Diana wasn't perfect and she couldn't rely on magical gimmicks. The Marston stories are more parables and fairy tale stories, with a kinky edge to them that makes them memorable. This run has Diana as a more human and flawed character. In between was a lot of bad storytelling and bland characterization and after this was a lot of generic and bland adventuring, until the reboot, with a few small pockets of something better, but never sustained for long. ps. You are right about the covers of this era. Bondage and peril becomes an overwhelming theme with the books headlined by female characters. The month of January, 1972, features the covers of Adventure Comics, Lois Lane and Wonder Woman with a damsel in bondage distress, though the cover of Adventure #16 has Wonder Woman, not Supergirl, as it is a 100 Pg issue, with all female stars in each story, including a reprint of the "Villany, Inc" story, from classic Wonder Woman, which is just a bondage festival, with women tied up in every other panel, as we scenes of domination and a bit of gender-bending (one of her enemies is a woman, who masquerades as a man). The guys get in the game, just as much, that month, as Adventure #17 also came out at the end of the month, with Supergirl coming to the rescue of a group of chained men, who are facing an all-female firing squad (which is all kinds of Freudian, in its own right), Spider-Man is chained up and suspended in Amazing Spidey #107, Mister Miracle is chained up on a spinning target and Our Fighting Forces has a prisoner tied to a bayonet, stuck in a wall, as the Losers are drawn into an ambush. However, aside from Mister Miracle, the guys are a rarity, wile Lois Lane and Wonder Woman have multiple bondage & peril covers in this period, and Supergirl has a few, though proportionally less than the other two ladies. Of the next ten issues of Wonder Woman, half feature either Diana, her mother or a friend bound and imperiled, even after she regains her powers. Lois Lane has 3 of 10 (and one has Superman tied on a frame, with Lois aiming a spear at him, so they may just be flirting). Supergirl has 2 of 10, but loses star billing after 7 of those isses, so her percentage is higher. I always wondered if that was a Carmine Infantino thing or if it was just because of the relaxing of the Code to allow more horror imagery. Lois and Supergirl get grabbed by oozy tentacled things on several, including a really creepy one of Lois, with a constrictor snake wrapped around her..... That's right out of my childhood nightmares, after a Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom episode and an episode of the Six Million Dollar Man (where a snake creeps toward and unconscious Oscar Goldman) I had a very great fear of snakes and those shows stuck in my head for decades.
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Post by rberman on Sept 16, 2023 9:34:33 GMT -5
I would argue that Diana's approach is motivated by the ticking timebomb of the earthquake devices, the destruction already wrought, and the lack of alternatives in the short time available. This type of thinking dominates situations like this, even in democracies with laudable goals and with heroes. The question becomes do I compromise my principles because the need is so great and the situation so desperate or do I stick them and make others suffer for what could be perceived as my pride? One of the first things I learned as a naval officer was that I was going to face hard decisions, upon which lives might depend and I was going to have to make them quickly and with the resources available, at the time. There isn't always a neat and clean answer and you have to decide which will bring the greater good. You then have to decide if you can live with that decision, afterward, but you have to decide. No decision led to graver consequences. American adventure fiction operates under numerous tropes. Dying heroes get a final speech. Captured women are not sexually assaulted. Captured villains are treated with all the consideration of the Geneva Convention, no matter how deadly their ploys. Sekowsky is rejecting that last trope to tell a grittier Bronze Age story in which heroes not only inflict pain to save lives, but feel no recriminations about it, and make no apologies. I can't even imagine that experience. "Sorry for your loss" seems inadequate. The Infantino hypothesis is interesting. He did carry that aesthetic to Marvel in his work on Spider-Woman. That's three out of five consecutive issues. The cover to #4 was by Cockrum, but Infantino did the comparable interior art, from a story by Marv Wolfman. She's hogtied at the end of issue #4 and starts issue #5 in a chair scene essentially identical to the cover of issue #6. For some reason Infantino left this idea off his list of "seven covers that sell a comic book."
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 16, 2023 10:43:33 GMT -5
I'm really enjoying the reviews of this gem of an era for Wonder Woman. American adventure fiction operates under numerous tropes. Dying heroes get a final speech. Captured women are not sexually assaulted. Captured villains are treated with all the consideration of the Geneva Convention, no matter how deadly their ploys. Sekowsky is rejecting that last trope to tell a grittier Bronze Age story in which heroes not only inflict pain to save lives, but feel no recriminations about it, and make no apologies. Well, we do know as the "Big Two" left the violent 1960s and entered the arguably more violent 70s, there was a desire to tell darker stories, whether as part of an arc, or a single issue. With the exception of some top DC titles, most (the Bat-titles, Green lantern / Green Arrow, some Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes stories, Aquaman, the Rose and Thorn back-up from Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane, etc.) were taking a more mature, occasionally bleak view of the world, and DC was far better off for taking that creative route.
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Post by rberman on Sept 16, 2023 17:11:01 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #189 “Red for Death!” (August 1970)Theme: China Syndrome Art & Story: Mike Sekowsky Inking: Dick Giordano Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, yellow-faced infiltrator I Ching, blind man, martial arts mentor Patrick McGuire, Diana’s pilot David McLean, Hong Kong police inspector The Story: Diana and Patrick don yellow makeup and secure an airplane so they can follow I Ching into China. How did a blind man cross the heavily guarded/mined border alone and injured, having been shot two issues ago? Just one of life’s mysteries. A Chinese fighter plane forces them to land in a rice paddy outside their destination, the village of Ashai, where they reunite with I Ching. The farmer villagers are soon to be relocated to harsh work in a mine, but I Ching has a plan to evacuate them via river. "When the regime changed" refers to the Chinese Civil War of 1949. Note that this story never explicitly mentions "China," but come on, it's China. The Chinese army comes, looking for whoever crashed the plane in the rice paddy, but Diana and Patrick use the old “hide underwater and breathe through a straw” trick. Patrick brings up the cliché aspect to forestall criticism. The writers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer call this "lampshading." If the writers pre-emptively have characters discuss how they are acting in a cliche or trope-laden manner (hanging a lampshade on a glaring light, so to speak), critically-minded readers/viewers are less likely to point it out to look smart. The villagers have a large cache of leftover Japanese armaments from World War II as well as “men who know how to use them.” They set out that night to rendezvous with the paddleboat. The Army tracks them down, leading to a prolonged firefight in two phases: one on land, and one on water. In the climax, three fighter planes strafe the riverboat, forcing Diana to grab a heavy machine gun. One fighter plane remains, and all seems lost, but the riverboat has finally crossed into British territory, where a gunboat comes to their rescue. Diana gets an official reprimand for invading China, but also praise for rescuing civilians. My Two Cents: Sekowsky suddenly gets very political. Up until now, we’ve had the expected pulpy villains, whether from the worlds of espionage, magic, urban crime, or mythology. But now comes a story in which the villains are very clearly the Chinese Army, and they very clearly get gunned down by our heroes. I guess this is what happens when Sekowsky gets to be his own editor! This story suffers from pacing issues. The first seventeen pages are a very slow build, followed by seven pages of intense gunplay and a one page denouement. For instance, below is a page on which literally nothing happens; it’s entirely superfluous, just showing the characters moving within the Chinese village. Fashion Plate: The story’s setting does not lend itself to haute couture. Diana wears a purple smock and red pants as her peasant garb. The colors are probably too bright to be realistic, but if everyone were wearing drab, it would be harder to tell who is who. This is also a good place to note that Diana wears a ponytail to secure her mane. Too often, heroines are shown with long hair wafting in the breeze as if they are in a Clairol commercial rather than a fight to the death. Sexual (and international) Politics: I imagine that the cover image (and its interior counterpart) of Diana shooting a heavy weapon would have been shocking even if America had not been involved in an actual armed conflict against “Reds” in Southeast Asia at that very moment. Doubly so given the Vietnam context. Does anyone doubt that we have left the Silver Age behind? Does She Cry? Nope. She’s grim and determined, but never upset. She apparently only sheds tears for people she’s close to. Body Count: Who can say? Three Chinese pilots, multiple platoons of Chinese soldiers, and an unspecified number of Chinese peasants killed in the uprising. Bond Girl: There’s nothing kinky in this story, but Sekowsky does include what I assume is the first “Wonder Woman bathing” image in the history of the character. It’s thoroughly gratuitous, having nothing to do with the plot or dialogue at that moment. Lettercol: Tom Tanner’s tirade runs for more than a full column even after being edited for length. He rips the new WW up one side and down the other: “a normal human woman with a retarded-looking sidekick: stringy-haired, saccharine, dressing in clothes that all look alike and are usually white… That THEM story was sick beyond belief…” Sekowsky says again that the book was teetering on the edge of cancellation: “I am quite pleased to have taken a sow’s ear and turned it into a silk purse.” He also takes a shot at his peers: “I personally feel that too many of DC’s stories are still being written and plotted for the year 1940 instead of 1970.”
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Post by zaku on Sept 16, 2023 18:13:35 GMT -5
Tom Tanner’s tirade runs for more than a full column even after being edited for length. He rips the new WW up one side and down the other: “a normal human woman with a retarded-looking sidekick: stringy-haired, saccharine, dressing in clothes that all look alike and are usually white… That THEM story was sick beyond belief…” And people are complaining about Reddit...
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