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Wonder Woman |
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NEW! Check out the History of the Wonder Costume! It can be accessed either through the Costume Bar, the Index Bar, or by going there direct (you get more free flyer miles this way) via The WW Costume History Starting Page. On these section front pages I'm trying to display what my claim to fame is. You'd think with my WW fanaticism there'd be something but there really ain't. Oh, I've come close. First rejection I ever got from DC (and I think it was from Nelson Bridwell; someday I do have to file that letter so I can find it!) was when I was in sixth grade and had written a sloppy story proposal and script in which Mon-El of the Legion met this cute new girl who dressed in my favorite dress and was a telekinetic, and they both fell in love. Nelson gently rejected the idea, and about two years ago it struck me that my fantasy series, Three Worlds, is indeed that very idea, grown up and mutated with an extra head. No, I'm not off-track. In 1972 I was absolutely mad about Diana Prince! The concept was so fresh, so different, so invigorating! I was stuck at a sorta summer camp, NC Governor's School, that year, so I began working on this huge treatise about how DC should treat Wonder Woman to make the most of her. This was helped a couple years later by acquiring the Ms. book, Wonder Woman, which not only gave me my first real look at WW's Golden Age but also an "interpretive essay" by Phyllis Chesler, who explained that there were indeed historical Amazons and that the world had once been run by women (both theories are open to debate, imho). But I was off. Of course I designed scads of costumes for Diana, but I also brought in the entire population of Paradise Island. I showed how a general would dress compared to a lowly private. How an Amazon doctor (remember Amazon technology?) would dress, how an intern would. What an Amazon ambassador would wear that would hearken back to historical Amazon days. What Amazon kids wore. Who was related to whom. Who had kids, who had mothers on the Island? I was quite proud of the origins I came up with for the Amazons and Wonder Family which incorporated everything in the comic, fit neatly into mythology, and formed the basis for future plotlines. It reiterated the use of Amazon Training: a physical, mental and spiritual regimen that gave the Amazons immortality, super-strength, and the ability to glide on air. The better person you were, ethics-wise, the more power you had. I worked for a long time on the project, researching and creating. Finally grabbing the largest envelope I could find, I sent everything off to DC. It was returned to me. Nelson Bridwell was quite polite again and in fact, enthusiastic. He congratulated me for my work and said that DC had been considering incorporating a lot of my ideas into the book, but the decision had just been made that the scenario in the WW book was going to shift to mirror the WWII developments on this new TV show that was coming out. Which is just a minor reason why I didn't like the show. I mean, besides the fact that Lynda Carter couldn't act her way out of a paper bag, that the networks were in their Spandex era, and... Oh, don't get me started. By the time the Silver Age ended, though, the Amazons at least were referring to Themiscyra, little bits and pieces of Amazon history. I didn't think it came from me as that info is pretty much readily available to the beginning researcher. But then came Crisis and Perez relaunched Wonder Woman. Someone told me that he'd used some stuff from my package as background material for her. It was probably at Charlotte's HeroesCon that I had the chance to meet George and he did indeed confirm that he'd read a copy of my missive and it had influenced him. So I guess that's my contribution. At the very least, it was a heapin' helpin' of egoboo. Someone also told me that He Whose Name Must Not Be Invoked had taken some stuff from the same package, but I don't really believe that. I refuse to! Really, that would have taken place so incredibly long after I sent the stuff to DC that the paper must be mouldering somewhere and unreadable. But over the years I have managed to get a few letters published in the old book. For a while I published a Wonder Woman fanzine, Hola!, in which a lot of very enthusiastic WW fans found a creative outlet. Among them was Robert Rodi, author of What They Did to Princess Paragon, a hilarious send-off of comics fans and Wonder Woman and comics publishers that have no idea what to do with their characters. Hiya, Bob, wherever you are. (Chicago, isn't it?)  Lotsa stuff to plug into this section, and so little time. Just remember that Themyscira wasn't built in a day. I do have a life. Wonder Queen, Wonder Tot, Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman and the whole Wonder Bunch are copyrighted and probably trademarked as well by DC Comics, Inc. Buy their comics.
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