Sunday 22 February 2015

The Original Earth 2 Fury. Daughter of Wonder Woman or WAS SHE ?

I mentioned my love for the concept of the Original Earth 2 and the idea that these heroes from the golden age were allowed to grow up and age, and although via the "First" Crisis many of the heroes of this world would not and COULD not now exist the legacy of Earth Two still is around today.

One of the Biggest and popular Heroes from Earth Two "New" Generation was Power Girl , but as she was really a copy of Super Girl she was not totally original. She would transfer to the New DC One World Universe but would no longer be Kara from Krypton any more..... Watch this space Kara Zor-El maybe making an appearance to this blog very soon )

However the real breakout character from the 1970's version of Earth Two was the Huntress, daughter of Bruce and Selina Wayne, aka Bat-man and  Cat-Woman.
The BAT & The Cat and their Little Kitten or is that Hell Cat ?

As I covered Helena Wayne and her story a while back I will not bore you with re telling her tale.

However, a tie in to my look at all things Wonder Woman I need to acknowledge Hippolyta (Lyta)  Trevor , Daughter of Earth Two Wonder Woman & Steve Trevor.
GOOD The Idea and the  character      BAD Idea The Costume 

Lyta Trevor born with powers similar to her mother Diana, became a member of Infinity Inc in the 1980's, the Junior Version or "NEXT GENERATION"  the Old Justice Society of Earth Two made up of the Children of the WW 2 heroes.

The older Earth 2 Wonder Woman and her Daughter Lyta Trevor   aka The Fury.
Looks and Power from Her Mum Diana , But Hair from her Dad Steve's side of the family.

Her costume bears no relation to her Mothers Wonder Woman heritage and can be considered one of the worst ever designed. Never the less, Lyta Trevor as the Fury had a long career until The Crisis on Infinite Earths when she did survive, but now was  no longer the Daughter of Wonder Woman, but the daughter of the All Star Hero of  WW 2 ..... Helena Kosmatos who was herself was designed to help fit the gapes in the DC Continuity caused by Batman, Superman & Wonder Woman (and others) not existing at that time. Lucky for Lyta (named after Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons who was no longer her "Grand Mother" but a Legendary Hero that Helena liked ) her name and costume remained the same. Name Good, but Costume still sucked !

Here is my version of The New Fury from WW 2 Helena Kosmatos

Helena Kosmatos the Retro Post Crisis Wonder Woman replacement.


Another Mother Daughter Combination.
MOTHER ISSUES, will the Real Mother of Lyta Trevor please stand UP !


After a few years Fury (Lyta) would again become the Daughter of Wonder Woman after yet another CRISIS at DC.

Next time its a final Good Bye to Wonder Woman.


Until then ENJOY !


Wednesday 18 February 2015

Wonder Woman and A New Frontier

I cannot finish my story of Wonder Woman and her ever changing look without mentioning  how she along with the rest of the DC Universe were re-imagined by Darwyn Cooke in the 2004 mini series " A NEW FRONTIER "

Basing it's story and characters from the Golden and Silver Ages of DC, it had a retro look that gave the characters an fresh look but in an old style way. A way when stories were more straight forward and Heroes were Heroes, and the Bad Guys were real Villains.

Here is my take on the Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman Look.

This turned out to be very tricky to do, as Between the original Comic Book Series, the later stories and the DVD film, a few adjustments had been made to the over all look.  This is as close as I could hope at a Cooke inspired Wonder Woman.




The Retro Warrior Princess





Here is another complete with Darwyn Cooke style "Eyes"
Wonder Woman after Darwyn Cooke


Who knows I may do a New Frontier group of heroes in the future.


Until Next Time



ENJOY !

Wednesday 11 February 2015

WONDER WOMAN IN THE NEW 52 UNIVERSE 2011

Diana and most of the other Heroes in the DC universe had had many reboots or should I say adjustments over the years. Some were good and some not so. By the end of the first decade of the New Millennium comic sales were again not great, Fans now wanted something more from their Super Heroes, and in a attempt to win back the readers and add New ones to the fold DC decided to not just change one or two of their leading characters, they decided to change ALL of them and the Worlds in which they lived.

Called the "New 52" DC re worked every character. Some would be erased like Donna Troy aka Wonder Girl and other would be re born... IE Barbara Gordon was Bat-Girl again.

This overhaul of the characters did not stop at origin and back stories, it involved costumes as well. The idea was to bring a fresh look to all the Super Hero and Super Villain community.

This change was news around the world. Superman lost his trade mark RED Pants. as did Batman. (But Bats had lost his a while back when Bruce Wayne came back from the Dead a few years prior.) In all most heroes looked the same, but a bit more stylist you could say.

Wonder Woman too changed. Her Golden elements of her costume, Tiara, Eagle-WW, Girdle etc became Silver. Her Red boots changed from Red to Dark Blue. And her Short Pants became Long Tights.
No Eagle, no Bare Legs either !

Promotional pictures of the "NEW" look heroes were met with some positive supporters but many fans hated that Diana lost her trade mark short shorts with stars.  So a quick change redesigned Diana's tights back into shorts.
More leg and the Stars come Back


However,  some of the Art work on the covers had already been produced so in some of the first comics she worn Long and sometimes short pants. This was passed off as Wonder Woman having an alternative costume. Her Lasso remained Golden and she adopted the use of a Sword also. A Little bit more Warrior along with the Wonder.

So here is Princess Diana the Wonder Woman of the New 52.

A New Wonder Woman for a New Age

Next time a look back ward to time When Heroes where reaching New Frontiers .

Until then    ENJOY !

Friday 6 February 2015

Wonder Woman Hits 600 , and Changes Yet Again.

As the first decade of the New Millennium was coming to a close Wonder Woman was about to get another make over. The Wonder Woman comic had been renumbered many a time in the last few decades, mainly to get new readers on board, and allow for some complete rewrites of Princess Diana's history and back story. As it turns out by 2010 taking in connection all the past Wonder Woman main titled comics would now  be reaching its issue 600#. Not bad for a Comic featuring a Girl in a mostly Boy-Fan based  industry.

By this time DC had gone through many changes. It had been through more " Crisis' " than any other comic publishers. Many of the most popular Heroes had been rebooted, killed off, deleted from History, brought back to life, altered, re altered, redesign, re worked etc many times over. It now seemed that it was no longer OK to have a character have too much back history, as it gave new writers problems in not always allowing them the freedom they wanted or demanded in some cases.

If a hero or villain in the 1960's  was compared to his or her counterpart in the 1940's or 1950's they would be basically the same. This was true also in the 1970's and 1980's. The first Crisis, did sort out a better understanding of DC Universe History. ..... But once DC had got away with this stunt (which had worked) they kept on doing it again and again and again.

Every year it seemed another Crisis was on the horizon. It was done to encourage new readers, whilst the older ones either accepted it or moved onto another comic title or in some cases other comic companies.

Sometimes it did not take a Crisis to change a character, it took clever marketing by the Comic industries. Which brings me back to Princess Diana.

With issue 600# looming and with the Amazonian Princess now being around for nearly 70 years it was decided to bring a more updated Wonder Woman to the World. She would have the same values, be a bit more feisty, and look like she belonged in the modern times,  No more Skimpy shorts, forget the stiletto boots this time, with less flesh on show this time, it was a case of  More Wonder, less Woman.

At the same time a new TV show was going to be launched with Wonder Woman the star, More gritty and exiting than the original 1970's comic cut version seen before. However, the pilot never went down well with the Broadcasters or schedulers and this project was shelved. However in June 2010, the new Wonder Woman appeared on the scene.

She was more violent than she had previously been.  She worn long trousers and no more long boots. Her Tiara was more like a head hand... but no more bare shoulders. The new Wonder Woman wore a Jacket.

Here is Wonder Woman as she appeared in June 2010 and issue 600#

The "NEW" WONDER WOMAN from issue 600 #