Right down to Earth, Wonder Girl #195–200, 2003–2004)
Author Greg Rucka’s Wonder Girl run rivals that of Pérez, not as a result of he rebooted or reimagined the character, however as a result of he took Pérez’s tales to their logical finish. In Rucka’s first arc, “Right down to Earth,” penciled by Drew Johnson, Wonder Girl remains to be an envoy to the remainder of the world, which implies that she should serve a political objective by representing Themyscira within the United Nations.
As an alternative of being embarrassed by the inherent goofiness of an Amazonian princess hanging out with diplomats in fits and ties, Rucka leans into the absurdity. A minotaur exhibits up within the workplace. Diana misses conferences to battle Physician Psycho. Rucka additionally provides Diana her personal Lex Luthor in Veronica Cale, a PR whiz who makes use of Wonder Girl’s personal phrases towards her.
Rucka likewise finds battle in the best way Diana’s idealism clashes with the remainder of the world. The scenes within the new Superman trailer, wherein Clark will get mad about being referred to as out for stopping a warfare, really feel like they arrive from Rucka’s Wonder Girl greater than they do any Superman comedian. However Rucka’s comics have one huge distinction: Diana is aware of that she represents her island and thus invokes the identical rights and respect as any dignitary, even when meaning combating hostile nations.
(*5*)Wonder Girl: Earth One, 2016–2021
This can be a debatable choose, and a few Wonder Girl followers will probably head straight to the feedback. For as a lot as Grant Morrison utterly understands Superman and Batman, they have a tendency to stumble when writing Wonder Girl. By their very own admission, Morrison moved Wonder Girl off the board early in 2005’s Last Disaster merely in order that they wouldn’t should take care of her.
The three Earth One graphic novels don’t show that Morrison, working right here with artist Yanick Paquette, has lastly cracked Diana. There are A LOT of off-beat moments within the story, together with an oft-shared panel wherein she asks Steve Trevor, a Black man on this universe, to permit her to chain him up. Nevertheless, even in that bizarre little bit of dissonance—which, it must be identified, isn’t ignored, as Trevor explains to Diana why her request is so offensive and she or he listens—Morrison tries to get on the operate of Wonder Girl.
William Moulton Marston created Wonder Girl in 1941 to unfold his worldview, one constructed on the idea that society features greatest if males enter into “loving submission” to highly effective girls. In consequence, there’s quite a lot of bondage in early Wonder Girl comics, which serves a philosophical operate greater than it does a sexual operate. That facet has been forgotten by most trendy Wonder Girl tales, however Morrison was proper to convey it again, even when they did so imperfectly.