Apparently movies are coming out many years from now and in preparation certain areas of the internet are getting ready for a fight. A big fight. Do you support Marvel’s Captain Marvel or DC’s Wonder Woman? It seems there can be only one and to support the other means you probably secretly hate women.
At least when I’ve stalled the DC fan section there at least is feeling of unity. And why not? Was there ever any doubt that Wonder Woman was going to be the first DC movie heroine? Sure, there was doubt there was going to be a standalone lady-led movie, but if there was it was a sure bet it was going to be Diana.
But on the Marvel side there is much gnashing of teeth. Online yelling over whether or not it should have been Black Widow. Speculation on the confusion on the name Captain Marvel vs Ms Marvel. Proud pundits who label everyone who isn’t 100% onboard with the un-cast Carol Danvers movie as women-hating, jock-trolls from HECK!
So, I guess that is what I am. Because I am not that excited about either movie. Which is a shame, because I want to be on board. On want to feel the joy I’ve seen posted about the idea of Carol Danvers getting a headline role. But I’m not there. And it is because of the current comics. Plus some other stuff but I’ll get to that.
First of all, let me just say that these are both characters that I want to like. I don’t always manage to, but I always make an attempt.
I’ve bought so many craptastic Wonder Woman issues just in the sheer hope that someone will make it better. And you know what? Majority of all the Wonder Woman I have read has been bad. Top creators get their hands on Diana and just fall apart. In my mind the best work with Diana is what Azzarello and co-horts have been doing with their 35 issue run. Fresh, compelling stuff. And if that were to remain the status quo, I’d be up for a movie. Instead, starting with issue 36 we are getting a new flavor of Wonder Woman. And it could be awesome. But it looks an awful lot like cheesecake. Yum? Not really. Also, I’ll admit another thing that makes me sigh about the new Wonder Woman movie is that in the one official picture, Gal’s Diana is wearing high heels. You know, just like the Grecian army did.
As for Carol. I’m just going to pull the bandaid off quickly and say it. I have not particularly cared for the Kelly Sue Deconnick issues. There. I said it. They do very little for me. It didn’t help that the first series had art that, well, wasn’t the best either due to the art or the coloring of what-not, but the stories were equally not my cup of tea. Carol goes to the past to meet people that may become important, but wow! look how interesting they are. Hope none of them turn out to be new villains. The Deconnick run seems to mean a lot to a lot of people. And I sincerely don’t want to take away from that. Also, Deconnick seems like a talented writer, but she keeps writing arcs I simply don’t care about. First in the past and now Carol has spent the first seven issues of the new series on a far and away planet in a storyline that just seems to drag and drag. Sure, there are fun characters and if the future of Carol was going to be in those worlds maybe I’d care, but I don’t. So far, her entire run has felt like a series of filler issues. And with that as the backdrop I just don’t really care about the movie. I’ll see it, there is certainly enough meat where it can be boiled down to a tasty soup, but so far there is nothing for me to anticipate. All it does is make me want to go back and read the Brian Reed issues.
So, yeah, I want tough kick-ass women comic characters. I want a variety of women and I variety of tales. I want there to be movies headlined by women characters who are more than just the endless parade of Buffy-clones that we’ve been given. But to get me excited about a project years away, I’m going to need something more than saying it is based on runs I either haven’t seen or, sadly, not been all that impressed with.
Deadly Troubadour 