Armchair Screenwriter: How I'd pitch the Wonder Woman movie(s)

Who Is Wonder Woman? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So the legendary Joss Whedon screenplay for Wonder Woman has been leaked online, so I'm blatantly using this as an excuse to dredge up my old Wonder Woman movie pitch I wrote on June 9, 2009.
---
A while ago, Rich Lovatt wondered whether we hadn't dodged a bullet in not getting a Wonder Woman movie. This week, Graeme McMillan over at io9 asked why Wonder Woman gets no love. Rich answered this first by saying what nobody is ever willing to admit about Wonder Woman, she's the world's most famous superheroine by virtue of seniority, rather than her actually being a great character.

Wonder Woman's origin is goofy, her powers are all over the map, and she doesn't have any great mission other than being a "warrior for peace," which is such a paradox it became a punchline -- from Batman, no less -- in Mark Waid's seminal Kingdom Come.

Batman, by the way, is the elephant in the room during this whole "Why can't we get a decent Wonder Woman?" movie conversation. Dark Knight blew the doors off the box office last summer, and in some measure legitimized superhero movies, largely on the basis of its dark, timely, political tones and Heath Ledger's post-humous Oscar buzz.

Thus, the world is primed for a high-profile, serious, major studio production of Wonder Woman. But, as McMillan pointed out in an earlier post, just because Wonder Woman is popular doesn't mean making a good Wonder Woman film will be easy. Nick Nadel over at Sci-Fi Scanner has 5 tips for making an awesome Wonder Woman movie, and I agree with four of them. Sorry Nick, but I'm keeping the Invisible Jet.

Okay, so enough stalling, what's my take on Wonder Woman?

My controversial opinion on why rebooting comic book characters isn't controversial

Beta Ray Bill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sci-fi fandom's biggest mensch, Paul "Prince Jvstin" Weimer, allowed me to ruin an otherwise perfectly wonderful SF Signal Mind Meld discussing the fallout from Marvel's recent recasting of Thor as a woman and Captain America as a black man, and to follow up with a proposed reboot of a comic book icon.

Basically, I jump right on the landmine of why comics fans who hate change are idiots, and explain why the "still pure" Batman isn't just boring, but nigh-offensive.

Thankfully, authors and experts like Seanan "Mira Grant" McGuire, Sigrid Ellis, Sara Kuhn, Erika Ensign, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Cheryl Morgan, Shira Lipkin, Michael Lee, Cassandra Rose Clarke, Andrew Wheeler, Fabio Fernandes, Erica McGillivray, Abhinav Jain, Lynn M. & Michael Damian Thomas, and my occasional podcast sparring partner Jeff Patterson are there to add a few thousand cogent words to overwhelm my fanboyish pedantry and trolling of narrow-minded Batman traditionalists.

The unabridged (and voluminous) article is available here. Don't judge my peers by their company.

Related articles

• 5 Superheroes Who Went from Guy to Gal
• Women Want to Be Thor - So Why is the New Avengers Line-up Cause For Ire?
• Think Female Characters Don't Sell? Marvel Is Proving Everyone Wrong
• Sorry White People, Captain America Is Black Now
• Surprise, Surprise: People Are Pissed That Thor Is a Lady

The DC Comics reboot I wish had happened

Lee's depiction of DC Comics' Superman and Batman. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)UPDATE

Whatever you think of the recent DC Comics reboot (AKA DCnU AKA New 52), most of us agree that it hasn't been all that new-reader-friendly. The real goal of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee appears to have been attracting lapsed readers -- those of us that gave up on DC after one too many crossover events or needlessly grim storylines.

I wish DC had been serious about a bold story direction designed to attract new, first-time comics fans. If I was somehow granted carte blanche to remake the DC universe, here are the fairly radical changes I would institute.

My favorite unappreciated alien invasion story

Image via WikipediaMy favorite unappreciated alien invasion story is revealed -- alongside the more cogent and/or traditional selections from Jeff Patterson, Lisa Paitz Spindler, Jamie Todd Rubin, Fred Kiesche, John DeNardo and Patrick Hester -- in the latest edition of the SF Signal podcast. Comic book nerds will probably get a jolt from my nomination, especially if you're younger than 25.

Give a listen. You'll love it or your money back.

As always my rap sheet of past SF Signal podcast misdemeanors is available here.

Related articles

• Why are we so excited about alien invasions all of a sudden? [Rant] (io9.com)
• Is Robert Heinlein still relevant? (jaygarmon.net)
• Are comic books a legitimate media for science fiction? (jaygarmon.net)

Nerd Word of the Week: Silver Age

Image via Wikipedia

Silver Age (adj.) - Describes a period in comic book history that saw science-fictional remakes of many famous superheroes, most of them in reaction to the publication of Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, a scathing indictment of comic books as endorsing delinquency, sexual deviance and even communism. The Silver Age birthed many inventive new characters and concepts, but is perhaps best known for the campiness and absurdity of the 1966 Batman television series, which epitomized the worst excesses of the Silver Age aesthetic.

I bring it up because: Today would have been Gardner Fox's 89th birthday. Fox, along with legendary editor Julius Schwartz, almost singlehandedly invented the Silver Age with science-fictional revamps of The Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern and The Atom. Fox in particular was notorious for sprinkling interesting factoids into his comic works, especially from forensic scientist Barry "Flash" Allen, who often introduced these trivial tidbits as "Flash Facts." Moreover, DC Comics has recently gone to great trouble reinstalling the Silver Age versions of many characters -- including the Fox-created Hawkman, Atom, and Flash -- to some less than enthusiastic response. While the campiness hasn't reemerged, the return of these fondly remembered but often outgrown Silver Age icons is viewed by many (myself included) as a move backwards.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Forgotten Drugs of the Silver Age: Reverso (politedissent.com)
• DC/Marvel Character Tourney Silver Age Region, Round 2 Winners! (goodcomics.comicbookresources.com)
• Life In Ivy Town (alertnerd.com)
• Nerd Word of the Week: Mythology gag (jaygarmon.net)
• Nerd Word of the Week: Multiverse (jaygarmon.net)

Nerd Word of the Week: Mythology gag

Image via Wikipedia

Mythology gag (n.) - Any subtle reference to the larger continuity of a TV show, movie, or book -- especially if it's the kind of namecheck that only devoted fans would pick up on. The 2009 film reboot of Star Trek got most of its comedy from well played mythology gags, and the TV series Smallville seems to stay on the air simply so it can perpetuate as many DC Comics mythology gags as humanly possible (quality optional).

I bring it up because: Apparently mythology gags are now so pervasive and expected that fans feel entitled to get upset about how they are presented. Case in point, fanboys getting bent out of shape that Angela Bassett is playing Amanda Waller in the Green Lantern movie. Waller, nicknamed "The Wall," is portrayed in comics as having roughly the same build as a starting NFL nose guard. Thus, having the slim and trim Bassett portray her is viewed by some diehards as a kind of fan betrayal. The outrage, by the by, has nothing to do with Hollywood once again skinnying up a curvy character for the mainstream; the fanboys are raging because Bassett as Waller is inaccurate. Nevermind that Waller is tangential as best to the Green Lantern mythos -- she has had almost no major encounters with the Green Lantern characters in comic book continuity -- and that including her in the movie at all is simply a gift to knowing comic book fans. There was a time when simply having any version of Waller in a Green Lantern film would have been a grin-inducing gift to comic readers. Today, we not only expect six dozen mythology gags in the trailer alone, but we want them on our terms. Oh, how fanboy entitlement hath grown.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Angela Bassett Joins 'Green Lantern' (cinematical.com)
• No 'Pink Bodysuit' For Blake Lively In 'Green Lantern,' Two More Actors Added To Film's Cast (splashpage.mtv.com)
• Greg Berlanti Talks Green Lantern & The Flash (screenrant.com)