DC announced that Wonder Woman will receive a new costume for her landmark 600th issue, which is set for release this week. Instead of her usual American flag bikini, she's now raiding Black Canary's closet and sporting a leather jacket, high heels and paint on clubbing pants with fingerless gloves. This was quoted as being, "a look designed to be taken seriously as a warrior, in partial answer to the many female fans over the years who’ve asked, 'how does she fight in that thing without all her parts falling out?'" I'm not sure anyone took ths quote seriously. More details and some better costume designs they could have used after the jump.
Why the new costume?
Well, there's the whole fighting in a bikini costume people complained about forever, but that's not the story reason for it. They are actually doing a soft-reboot of Wonder Woman's origin. Newsarama listed the changes as follows:
With the new costume comes a new direction for the title. The Olympian deities responsible for Wonder Woman's creation have shifted the timeline so Paradise Island — Wonder Woman's homeland — was no longer under their protection. As such, Wonder Woman's mother, Hippolyta, delivered her daughter to safer territory at the age of three, with the result being that Wonder Woman grew up in a modern, urban environment, with little memory or conection to her mythical origins.
Why she looks like a rejected 90's redesign for Wonder Woman is still a mystery. DC's The Source has more details.
Better Choices for a Warrior Princess
Many of these were found through Project Rooftop's Wonder Woman redesign contest. They pick characters and have contests for artists to redesign the costumes, but they seem to have a better grasp of the character and her origins than the official redesign.
An actual costume used in Wonder Woman's comic, they refused to let creators keep the metal skirt or battle armour that first started showing up in Greg Rucka's run on the book.
This design actually won the Project Rooftop contest. It wasn't my favourite, but again plays to her roots with the ornate armour while still maintaining the American colour themes many are familiar with.
These are proposed movie designs that show off the battle skirt design they refused to let creators use. Maybe sync up potential movie properties with the comics and go with something that works?
This was an interesting design I took a fancy to. Lose the belly top option and it's a more modern look if they were looking for something in that direction, though full body suits are a little more Donna Troy's style.
You're probably noticing a theme with my choices by now. Most keep the basic theme of the costume in tact with more sensibility placed on the skin covered and typically the use of armour in the Olympic vein.
What do you think?
Do you like the costume? What about this new origin/One More Day-like development? Are you going to pick up Wonder Woman #600 to see the changes? How long until they revert the look to sell more Wonder Woman Halloween costumes? How would you go about redesigning her costume? Sound off in the comments below.
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40 comments:
If you threw a cape on it I'd like the new costume. It's decent. Then again I've never cared for the character so I have no problem with changing anything and everything having to do with her.
The ones with her in sandals are odd.
I think the new origin is a dumb choice, but I really like the new costume.
I just can't quite believe it yet. If it was just the new origin, then maybe, but the new costume is what sets off my skepticism. Granted they put Robin in long pants some twenty years ago, but this is Wonder Woman. We're in Halloween costume and Underoos territory, as you said; I'm not sure it's not a gimmick.
This makes me hope than feminist comics readers will never have any influence over mangas. It's already bad enough that they are trying to kill the fan service in the comics.
However, as lame as the new costume is, I'm glad that they got rid of the flag. But we all know this won't last more than a couple years, because it's no the iconic look and comics are the more conservative media ever.
Mugiwara
I've always really liked the battle armor, but this look is good and seems very appropriate for the altered origin story. It's identifiable, but also fairly subdued. She could easily close up the jacket and slip away if she needed to. This isn't a Wonder Woman serving as a symbol of a society and a way of life. This is a Wonder Woman who has enemies and a small support structure, and sometimes needs to stay in the background.
So she has basically the same origin/storyline as Cassie Sandsmark now? Is she now in her 20s instead of around the same age as Batman and Superman? That's not cool.
And doesn't this f-over Donna Troy's origin for the 100th time?
I think this would be an awesome Donna Troy costume? Anyone?
For Diana? It is far too plain. Diana needs to project an other worldly aura that can't be done with a plainsclothes-style costume.
I don't like it.
I'm going to be honest, the first thing that popped into my head was: "Holy crap, she doesn't look like a stripper"
I think instead of making her more modern they should have focused on the mythological part like adding a sword more armory armor that kinda stuff
I like it; to be honest, I have never liked the "classic" costume, it screamed striperrific, which is kind of silly compared to the other major DC heroes.
I agree that the jacket is too 90s, but the pants are a great choice.
I'm digging it. I don't know much about Wonder Woman though, but it's at least going to get me to pick up #600 since it appears to be a good starting point for new readers.
Great idea! Let's change iconic costumes. Maybe Superman can wear an neon blue electric suit so as not to alienate energy-minded individuals. And Batman should get his nipples back so as to more accurately portray the male body (objectify men every once in a while).
This is ridiculous.
You will know this is a storyline and not an actual permanent change by the way that this will not appear on any of the merchandising stuff that is sold outside of the direct market comic shop ghetto.
Her image on shirts, toys, food products, underoos, cups, etc. will remain the classic. If that changes, then and only then you'll know it's more than a temporary thing.
I ... actually quite like it, which is surprising. I can see Diana switching between an armoured version of her classic costume and this modern version as the need arises, or simply as the mood takes her.
Had this been Donna or Cassies costume I'd have been all over it
But combined with the reset history (and I agree it sounds like a major arc rather than new status quo) it just screams 90's Kewl bad Chick
And not to mention the nightmare for continuity now, discounting both Donna and Cassie (which are MAJOR MAJOR problems now) Justice League Generation Lost is a reaction to Ted Kord's murder and Diana's execution of Max.
How will this impact Brightest Day if Diana never did these thing? Who killed Max so that he needed to be resurrected?
This does not make sense in any way I can figure.
Its not superhero-y enough for Wonder Woman. In my opinion, that's all due to the leather jacket and the choker and the really really really bad redesign of the tiara. Get rid of those element, give her her classic tiara and even if not a cape something that actually makes her seem more like a member of the Trinity. This design could have worked for me, but its 90s-isms detract from anything that may have worked.
This is a win for JMS and DC so far. Number of people talking about WW a few days ago=0. Today every blog, site, and forum is talking about WW so now the pressure is on JMS. He has our attention, now he has to deliver.
I think Steven's right on the costume being temporary; it's just going to be storyline specific until the gods go back and change the timeline back.
The costume's interesting though it looks more Wonder Girl than Wonder Woman, more so with the jacket and that the sketch makes her look way younger than how she's normally drawn.
So they're dumping the actual best part of Wonder Woman's origin - the fact that she's a "fairy princess" - and going with an origin that makes her even more of a Superman-rip-off than she was after the Crisis reboot. Huh. Hooray - let's make Wonder Woman even more of a generic superhero than she already has been for the last few decades. Yay.
The costume, while kind of meh, is at least more inspired than either the awesomely bland "white jump suit" costume that Mike Sekowsky had her in during the Denny O'Neil foray into making Wonder Woman a bland character in the 70s. And it's less stripper-iffic than the costume that Mike Deodato did for her when Bill Messner-Loebs was actually doing some interesting stuff with her in the 90s (that no one ever really saw as interesting because Mike Deodato's soulless art dominated everyone's view of the book at the time). So for a temporary costume shift it's not bad, and it is temporary because eventually everything shifts back to the iconic version of characters for "licensing" purposes. I'd actually prefer it to the one-piece swimsuit costume if they'd shift the color scheme around a bit, add some boots and drop that ugly choker necklace (black is not really a good color for WW, and if those pants are supposed to be blue then they need to pick a lighter shade).
But come on - she's a cross between a fairy princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How the hell can DC NOT be able to market that when the Disney Princess/Fairy lines are kicking ass and the Twilight saga stuff is showing that young women actually are interested in fantasy - just not the kinds of fantasies that young men are into.
I remember Ellis/Cassaday creating an interesting costume for their WW analogue in one of the earlier Planetary issues, that could work. Also, the Jakita Wagner get-up is pretty good in it's own right.
The whole thing about alternate timelines is that it doesn't have to affect anyone else's book because the timeline will always be reset to the present DCU. Same goes for all the time traveling stories. In the end it's all self-contained.
I do agree that this looks more Wonder Girl than Wonder Woman.
It's not that I actively dislike it, and I wouldn't mind it at all in an alternate universe or Elseworld, but as her main outfit? It doesn't say "warrior" to me. The pants are a welcome imprevement, but the jacket, choker and gloves are not doing it for me.
Now that I think about it, get rid of the lasso and some of the more intricate gold ornaments, and this looks like the "Her-oes" version of Wonder Woman.
I was already planning on picking up JMS's Wonder Woman. I'm not really a Wonder Woman fan, so I can't say anything for the character. But I do like the new costume. I think DC needs to update more of their costumes. I know they're supposed to be iconic, but some of them are just goofy.
Not sure about the origin change, though. This is from the same guy who threw such a fuss over One More Day, then he goes and does the same thing?
I am not feeling the new costume so much. I do think she needs a new look that is less stripper / male wank fantasy and more fundamental to actually fighting villains.
reminds me of the Mike Deodato designs.
@Patrick Hulman - Reminds me of the Bullets & Bracelet look from Amalgam Comics.
I don't remember when...I think it was when she killed Maxwell Lord...she sported a cape and a sword. That was a good look for her.
Her Kingdom Come costume was also pretty good.
I do agree that they have to change her costume in order for her to be taken seriously, but I'm not feeling the jacket. Poor choice, makes her look generic.
Some of those rejected designs remind of Xena: Warrior Princess... which, incidentally, reminds me of the premise of Wonder Woman. Go figure.
@twobitspecialist - those arent rejected designs. They were for a non-DC related site, Project Rooftop. They are unaffiliated with DC in any way. I just posted them for what I perceived as better choices from non-professionals that seemed to have a better grasp of the character.
I kinda like it. People here whine so much lol.
Does everything suck????
Enjoy the damn ride.
it'd be fine if they remove the jacket or make it less like superboy's.
The only thing I really don't like about it is the tiara. The old tiara could thrown like a boomerang. This just looks like a funky headband. I love the bustier. Sleek, functional looking and sexy without being cheesecake.
I do agree that there could have been more of a nod to some of Diana's warrior/God roots, but in #600, JMS wrote that one of the big reasons for the change was that he found it uncharacteristic of a woman to not change or update her outfit, so perhaps we will see changes and tweaks to this look as JMS' run progresses.
Still, DC has people talking about WW for the first time in forever. Kudos to them, and JMS wants to put Diana in the top 20 for sales. I'm willing to see where he goes with this.
Got my thoughts here: http://interestant.tumblr.com/post/752739127/wonder-who-sorry-no-idea
But in short.... I REJECT.
Designed by Jim Lee, wasn't it? Someone should really stop letting him redesign costumes.
@Chris M. - Yup, and he seems to be taking the outlash in stride on Twitter. While he's an excellent artist, his redesigns have been very 90's in look, from Huntress's cross shaped belly top to this leather jacket and choker sporting Wonder Woman. What's odd is he's heading up the DCU Online game and his Wonder Woman there sports the battle skirt they don't allow in comic.
This costume design looks like they are planning a movie. The old costume may have worked in movies before, but just imagine one now. People would laugh, for a movie it looks like DC is trying to make Wonder Woman contemporary, but eventually I think they will revert back to the old costume. It's a classic.
This was quoted as being, "a look designed to be taken seriously as a warrior, in partial answer to the many female fans over the years who’ve asked, 'how does she fight in that thing without all her parts falling out?'"
Out of all the ridiculous things I've been asked to swallow in comics, this is the one I care about least. I always figured it was built around inside the costume or it was fucking magic. I've seen so many amazing redesigns of her costume - I favor armor based ones personally, and they pick this piece of crap.
Why is DC making all these hideous costumes lately? The Red Robin outfit sucks, and it should be noted if they make it brown instead of black, it's actually 17 times less horrible. The new Robin outfit looks like he stole random clothes from a 12 year old girl's hamper. Those purple quilted patches up the side of the Batgirl costume are just strange looking and I love purple. [I know why they are there. It's still stupid.]
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