Femme Fatale

Last time, I was blogging about DC's Legion of Super-Heroes, which has a varied distaff contingent: icy and efficient Saturn Girl, the mind-reader who swapped her severe uniform for a pink bikini; apparently-doomed barbarienne Shadow Lass; swooning buxom platinum blonde Dream Girl; highly-strung mystic Projectra; androgyne Light(ning) Lass; almost as many strong but tragic heroines as Coronation Street. Inspired by some Silver Age reprints, recently purchased on ebay, I wanted to discuss at DC's "Fighting Females", beginning with the third member of the Trinity, Wonder Woman.
Before the Easter holidays, I watched this animated movie on dvd, written by Gail Simone:

It's very much inspired by the George Perez version of the character from the 80s, in that it pits the princess against Harryhausen- style gods and monsters in modern-day America. I was surprised by the slightly racy jokes, language and situations, especially  those involving Nathan Filion's Steve Trevor. My favourite moment was when Diana taught a little girl how to fight and then instructed her to "Go.Unleash Hell". It was fairly entertaining and quite well-written but even with the Xena Warrior Princess characterisation can't obscure Wondy's sensation-al Forties origins:

The top-left image from the Villainy, Inc. story  depicts WW in bondage, as usual; captive of two Golden Age foes, the butch Eviless and the Cheetah (of whom, more later). The rather ornate pencils and fairy-tale worlds of Harry G. Peter don't really appeal to me; my first encounter with WW was as a member of the JLA. Shortly after, I discovered the Diana Rigg-inspired "New Wonder Woman" devised by Denny O'Neil and developed by the underrated Mike Sekowksy:

Deprived of all the fantasy elements and Marston's strange subtext of "loving submission", the Diana Prince-Wonder Woman was recast a globe-trotting Sixties-style adventuress, but was still imperilled and frequently rendered helpless. I think the Mod Diana was a much more resonant and inspirational figure but the Nostalgia Boom of the early 70s soon saw the character returned to her kitschy roots:

In the meantime, O'Neil had dropped depowered Diana from the JLA and replaced her with...another non-super heroine. When I first encountered her, I didn't know the Black Canary hailed from the 40s:

During the early 70s, widowed Dinah Lance Drake would find her "Sonic Whammy" transformed into a "Canary Cry" (although vocal powers don't really fare so well in the soundless medium of comics; just ask Tyrone- er, Tyroc).But for several years, black-tressed Dinah seemed a weepy, Weak Sister to me, defined by  her relationship with the histrionic Liberal, Green Arrow. This example of the Relevancy Era was my introduction to both characters, the Satellite and the groovy motorised cowboy, Vigilante.
 I wonder now why O'Neil didn't choose to add a more high-profile heroine; one from the Batman stable, who had loitered at first as campy comic relief:

Mousy Babs Gordon journeyed from librarian to Congresswoman in the 70s and had been in the public eye during the final season of the Batman show:

My first encounter with Babs was in this team-up with the Amazon Princess, bought at some point in the late 60s (at this time, I'd never heard of Bat-Girl Betty Kane):

Copperhead has a sssstriking, sssscary visual, By Sssappho!

One of my favourite Batgirl stories from the 70s has her entering the X-rated world of underground film-maker Billy Warlock and his superstar Infra-Red:

Holy Life-Imitating-Art, Batman!

But despite her hip credentials and a spoof letter about her appearance in JLA 100 ("Thralls of the Star Titan"?) Barbara was overlooked for the Girl Gladiator, Black Canary. DC had tried unsuccessfully to relaunch the Veronica Lake lookalike in the Sixties, with this novelty act: the first married Super-Villain couple -to my recollection, anyway:

I'll return to the Huntress anon. Suffice it to say that this issue inspired James Robinson's tacky story of an affair between Dinah and Starman Ted (the poor man's Green Lantern) in the pages of his hugely-overrated "Starman". Barbara Gordon meanwhile, was reduced to team-ups with Robin in Batman Family and with the Batwoman of the 50s:

Grant Morrison has recently revisited the Kathy Kane Batwoman in Batman Inc. and given this gimmicky gal with the ladylike weapons a vibrant and fascinating backstory-- including a performance of the Tango of Death! Kathy was killed off  at the end of the 70s however and Babs had an equally ignominious fate- crippled by the Joker in Moore and Gibbons' brutal, gratuitous and depressing Killing Joke. Barbara Gordon has subsequently spent more than twenty years in the role of Oracle, the disabled information broker: a more cerebral- and perhaps more inspiring- character for the Information Age. I didn't get Batgirl however until comparatively recently: when she was introduced in the Batman Animated Universe:

A blonde version of Batgirl replaced the silent ninja of the early Noughties and my movie Guilty Pleasure includes this schoolgirl niece of Alfred:

Barbara's BFF Supergirl was also left out in the cold by the JLA. She began her comics career as a plucky orphan with an evil twin from Kandor, Lesla-Lar, the blonde with the cleavage, below:

Just as Wonder Woman was revamped by Mike Sekowsky, so too was Linda Lee Danvers. She tried out a number of ginchy 70s fashions until settling on the choker-and-hotpants look. This is the second Supergirl comic I ever owned:

 Great Krypton! Symbolic castration?

It was an icky romance comic, so I didn't buy another. A more mature Supergirl made a better impression on me some years later, with this guest appearance:

I remember sneaking glances at this in History class, in the hut at Strathaven Academy!

Of course, as I blogged last month, Supergirl was a casualty of the Crisis in the 80s, when, despite her movie appearance, she was considered to be a worthless and expendable knockoff of Superman. Nowadays,  the contemporary teen incarnation of Kara is (finally) part of the JLA. But I can't imagine wanting to read about James Robinson's angsty Dark Supergirl.
In her 70s comics, Supergirl had back-up stories about Black Canary (by the stunning Alex Toth) and Zatanna, Smallville's own Diam fo Cigam. For many years, no-one knew exactly what to do with the character until Gerry Conway inducted her into the League as a kind of faux-Scarlet Witch. I don't want to post a pic of the ugly Perez- Las Vegas Satanist costume so here's the Pony-tailed Prestidigitator from 1978:

Zee was a major player in the Satellite Era, becoming Chairwoman no less, in a move that mirrored the ascent of  Captain Monica Marvel in the Avengers. However, it's her stenhsif- er, fishnets for which Zatanna's best known. This naughty strip by Paul Dini also featured Emo fave Constantine:

A four-issue series by Grant Morrison (part of his Seven Soldiers epic) saw Zee demoted to "spell-aholic" but, having been portrayed on tv, she's also starring in her own regular series at present: a rare achievement for a DC heroine.For any comics heroine, sadly.
Another mainstay of the JLA on tv is the Winged Wonder Hawkgirl. Originally debuting in the 40s as a ballsy broad, it was the Silver Age Shayera Hol version who starred in the animated League. Steve Englehart had added her to the League in the comics of the mid-70s:

I always preferred Shayera's look to Katar's. During this period, she occasionally appeared in adventures without her husband and her "Strange Visitor from Another Planet" persona was used to charming comic effect:

" I am a mere alien female. What is this thing you Earthmen call a Poker Face?"

More JLA poker and fewer Hal Jordan threesomes in my comics, please. I can't even begin to get my head around the "reincarnating lovers" status of the current Hawkgirl, Kendra Saunders. I simply think she- and her big mace- needs to be on the team.

One of the most celebrated of DC's femmes fatales is of course this larcenous lady, in the incarnation with which I was first acquainted. The alluring but treacherous Miss Kitka, played by Lee Meriweather is my default Catwoman:

However, Alan Davis drew the more elegant but impractical slinky Forties outfit impeccably well:

Selina Kyle's role as adversary and ally mirrors the career of the Harlequin (more of her later) but actually dates back to 1950's "The Secret Life of the Catwoman", reprinted in this tabloid edition I got hold of only last month:

The amnesiac, split-personality trope is explored more dramatically in the case of the Thorn -again, more later- but the Princess of Plunder's prominence as a cultural icon neatly returns us to Wonder Woman.
DC have worked at promoting her as the third member of its Trinity, alongside Supes and Bats. I'm not convinced that the character has as broad an appeal as the Big Two; or is able to transcend her kitschy connotations. There have been times, of course, when creators have brought me back to her book. In the early 80s, there was Thomas and Colan:

New bustier, new logo

John Byrne, as usual, played his Everything You Know Is A Lie card in the 90s, putting the WW into WW2, Post-Crisis style:

But, as parodied affectionately in Batman: Brave and Bold recently, it's never long before Diana's ludicrous rogues gallery- Dr. Psycho, Giganta or even Egg Fu- turn up. A new costume by Jim Lee, a new storyline by dilettante writer Straczynski and the gestation of a new tv pilot have raised WW's profile again. But for me, it's the regal and glamorous image of Lynda Carter that is indelibly linked to this preposterous character; realised here with great affection by Alex Ross:

Next time, I'll look at some of the lesser lights among DC's Leading Ladies to see if there are any contenders to replace Wonder Woman in this somewhat forced Trinity concept. Also, could any female characters entice new female readers to boost a shrinking, ageing audience?

The Legal Bit. This is a blog for fun and comment. All images are copyright of their respective owners. Hola!