A drawing of Wonder Woman in a sporty, conservative costume design. The caption reads: it's 2020 in the name of Hera's horrid halitosis! What's a gal got to do to get an up-do and a super-suit WITHOUT CLEAVAGE?!
Two drawings of Wonder Woman. On the left, a text box reads: as we were saying... and Wonder Woman's speech bubble reads: sleek, sporty -- SIMPLE! That's the way you do it! The drawing on the right shows Wonder Woman in a Hoplie-inspired suite with metallic cuirass and a sword. Her caption in that image reads: and if we MUST keep revisiting this Hoplite motif (must we?) with the pteruges and greaves and junk, could I get an ACTUAL CUIRASS, please? Or am I doomed to eternal Xena: Warrior Princess pastiche?
Two drawings of Wonder Woman. On the left, a text box reads: as we were saying... and Wonder Woman's speech bubble reads: sleek, sporty -- SIMPLE! That's the way you do it! The drawing on the right shows Wonder Woman in a Hoplie-inspired suite with metallic cuirass and a sword. Her caption in that image reads: and if we MUST keep revisiting this Hoplite motif (must we?) with the pteruges and greaves and junk, could I get an ACTUAL CUIRASS, please? Or am I doomed to eternal Xena: Warrior Princess pastiche?
Wonder Woman Costume Notes Digital

I grew up at a time when Jose Luis Garcia Lopez was the official licensing artist for the DC superheroes, and man was he great at it. This was the era of the Super Powers action figure line, and when Super Friends was still on the air. Garcia Lopez's Wonder Woman was athletic, charismatic, powerful, energetic -- and not sexual.

That really changed in the late '80s, going into the '90s, as superhero comics tried desperately to become "edgy" and serve an older readership. I think that maximum levels of gratuitous fanservice were reached in the early 2000s, and have slowly been backing-off, but the degree to which Wonder Woman is presented as a "hot chick" still irks me.

These drawings were done in response to the many Wonder Woman redesigns that have happened in the last ~20 years, most of which still really miss the mark for me. I'd love to see the character's mainstream representation go back to the colourful, non-sexualized, fun, kid-friendly action hero that I remember from my own childhood (it's worth noting that DC does produce a lot of kid-targeted Wonder Woman books and comics, and they do a good job in these products).

Whenever I produce some commentary like this, there are inevitably arguments -- always from men -- saying that I'm either imposing my own prudish values on things and that I should butt-out (because they love sexy Wonder Woman), or that I am being sexist because I think that Wonder Woman can't be a good role model for little girls and be sexy (I've never said this; Superman can be sexy, but he's never presented in that way while Wonder Woman constantly is -- that's the issue), or that I'm a horrible misogynist for applying the logic: if you wouldn't put a male superhero on children's merchandise in a particular costume, you probably shouldn't put a female superhero in that costume in that context either.


This one should be indexed at year K..

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