Wonder Woman! The Untold Story of American Superheroines Extended Trailer

The crew of  "Wonder Woman! The Untold Story of American Superheroines" have released an extended trailer for the film, which you can watch below, in anticipation of the film's public airing on PBS.
The film talks about the history of Superheroines, particularly Wonder Woman, and the parallels of the feminist movement, and you can read more about the documentary at the film's website.

Visual.ly's Infographic Roundup

 

Visual.ly has a round-up of several superhero infographics, a few of which have been featured on this blog before, with a focus on the recent superhero movies. You can check them all out here.

An Extensive History of Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Feminism

California State University student  Marina Hollon has published a thesis on the history of Wonder Woman and Supergirl and their objectification. From the thesis summary,

"This study argues that comic book publishers, editors, writers, artists, and fans imposed multiple limitations on Wonder Woman’s and Supergirl’s powers and independence. Although Wonder Woman and Supergirl embodied significant liberated characteristics: superpowers, independent lifestyles, higher education, white-collar careers, and financial independence, they were most limited by advertisements aimed at males and were also portrayed as unintelligent women, disempowered, and objectified. 
This study compares 242 of Wonder Woman’s and Supergirl’s comics from 1959 to 1984. The plots, images, and letter pages were analyzed in the context of Second Wave Feminism and the Cold War era. This study indicates a change over time from the superheroines’ portrayals of liberation to sexual objectification and the editor’s, writer’s, artist’s construction and fans’ reception of the women’s movement in comic book culture. The present study enhances existing scholarship in the fields of Women’s Studies, Media and Popular Culture Studies, and Sociology challenging popular cultural images of empowered superheroines. Although this study may seem of concern to only a small group of scholars and comic book fans, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about why gender inequity continues to exist. My original contribution shows how the influences of fans’ letters in Wonder Woman and Supergirl and the editors’ responses to the fans’ requests limited the superheroines’ liberated powers and behaviors by encouraging a sexualized style of superheroine art." 

The full 163 page thesis can be read here.

io9 Roundup of Superhero, Political and Futurist Articles, Part 8

Today we've got a roundup of recent, relevant, and few just really cool, articles from the science, science fiction and fantasy blog io9.com. Stay tuned for all the parts.

• Is this the Justice League’s big, bad villain?
• Man of Steel poster imprisons Superman in handcuffs and lens flare
• What would it take to be Bane? A Dark Knight Rises infographic
• Japan’s new ‘communications robot’ will prevent astronauts from getting lonely in space — by being absolutely adorable
• How to make your voice sound like Darth Vader
• The sci-fi inspired buildings that communism built
• At first glance, The CW’s Wonder Woman show seems to be getting back to Diana’s roots
• Remember that time Willie Nelson and Frank Sinatra teamed up to do a PSA for NASA?
• Your First Look at the Animated Remake of the Soviet Union’s Most Monty Python-esque Movie
• The Top 10 Claims Made by Creationists to Counter Scientific Theories

Gizmodo and io9 Roundup

Today we've got a roundup of some political and comic related articles from Gizmodo.com and sister site io9.com.

• Neil DeGrasse Tyson to Appear in Upcoming Issue of Superman
• 5 Amazing Real Life Facts About Superman from Neil DeGrasse Tyson
• NOVA does show on William Marsten, creator of Wonder Woman and the Polygraph Test
• Who defaced Mount Rushmore best? Featuring mostly superhero examples
• What if the Justice League defended the Ottoman Empire?
• 9 Reasons to Elect a Supervillain President with examples of supervillain presidents
• 9 Incredibly Nice Animals Who Ran for Public Office
• There's an Official White House Petition that Wants the US to Build a Death Star
• Evolutionary Anthropology Shows Ayn Rand's Theories Fail
• Could DNA Hacking Be Used to Wipe Out World Leaders?
• Man in a Red Skull mask robs a bank, is foiled by Jewish vigilantes

The Big Picture Part 1

Today we've got a roundup of some videos from Bob "MovieBob" Chipman's The Big Picture series about superheroes, politics and related pop culture. Tune in tomorrow for the second part.

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Who's Afraid of Captain America?

The Escapist : The Big Picture : The Devil & Mr. Parker

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Continanity

The Escapist : The Big Picture : A Guy Named Joe

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Nerd Gods

The Escapist : The Big Picture : All The World Is Waiting

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Conspiracy Weary

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Fair Game

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Magneto Was Right

The Escapist : The Big Picture : MovieBob: FAQ

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Correctitude

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Groan Saga

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Captains Courageous

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Done With Dark

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Skin Deep

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Going Green: Part I

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Going Green, Part II

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Americana

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Turtle Maki

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Hollywood History 101: Part 1

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Hollywood History 101: Part 2

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Hollywood History 101: Part 3

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Hollywood History 101 Supplemental: The Code

Wonder Woman! The Untold Story of American Superheroines

There's a new documentary in the works called "Wonder Woman! The Untold Story of American Superheroines" which talks about the history of Wonder Woman and the parallels of the feminist movement, and you can watch the trailer below.

President Wonder Woman

I've told you about the times Superman, Captain America and Batman were President, but how about the time Wonder Woman was President? And she did it in 1943 in her 7th issue,  long before the others. The flip side of it is that it's a vision of the future, the year 3000, when women rule the world after the creation of  the "Life Vitamin" that grants eternal youth. I'm not sure what to take from that. Did the writer and Wonder Woman creator, William Moulton Marston, think that there could never be equality, only one sex dominating the other? Did he also think that women wouldn't achieve any such gains for a thousand years? Given that the issue also features an electronic dictation machine that makes your hands auto-type on a typewriter, numerous ridiculous outfits and prisoners find copious amounts of rope and chain in an abandoned dungeon in the prison, I'd say this issue is full of the typical craziness that was in comics at the time, and I haven't even gotten to some of the crazier stuff.

So to start off, Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyte summons Diana back to Paradise Island for a visit, and when Diana comes in her secretary outfit to surprise her, Hippolyte decides to show her what the outfit will look like in the future, as predicted by her Magic Sphere device. When Diana wonders about all her friends in the future, Hippolyte starts showing her when she and her friend Etta Candy discover the Life Vitamin that grants eternal youth after mixing water from the Amazonian fountain of youth with candy, allowing all of humanity to live for thousands of years. Hippoylte then shows Diana the year 3000, where women have taken control of the world after a woman was elected President of the United States and the worst of the men put in prisons. Diana's boyfriend Steve Trevor is now a Colonel and military aide to the president while Diana is secretary to the commissioner of the United States police. (Don't ask me why Diana is still a secretary after a thousand years, because the book doesn't say.) At any rate, it's revealed that the "Man's World Party" is planning a revolt, with the first order of business being breaking their leader out of prison, which is apparently really easy when the warden is overly concerned with forcing people into submission. (Seriously, it's bizarre how easily the prisoners take over the prison, especially when they find an abandoned dungeon for chains and ropes in the prison. I know Marston had an S&M fetish, but this is just ridiculous, as you can see in the page at right.) Wonder Woman eventually takes out the villains by tricking them into drinking the Anti-Life Vitamin, which quickly turns them to dust since they're over a thousand years old.

Back in the present Diana is glad a woman will be president in 3000, but her mother warns her that a man might be elected again, even if Wonder Woman ran, which she'd like to see, so they move the dial forward to 3004. Turns out the new leader of the Man's Party is Professor Manly (see what they did there?) and he wants Steve Trevor to run for President under the Man's Party banner. Despite being warned by Diana and the US Police Commissioner that Manly's just going to use Trevor, Trevor believes to highly in Manly to see the obvious comic book plot. Things get worse when it's revealed someone is breaking the law and manufacturing guns and the police woman investigating is shot and killed. Signs point to Manly being the culprit, but the issue is quickly dropped (seriously, they stop talking about this even though they have the murder weapon and an eye-witness, and the commissioner who's been looking for reason to lock Manly away just disappears while people are campaigning) when Trevor and Manly tell the President they'll be running for President and Vice-President. Miss President declares she won't run against Trevor (for no reason what so ever) so Diana gets herself and Etta nominated for the Woman's Party. (For some reason Diana chooses to continue wearing her dictation gloves even in an evening gown.) When it looks like the women will win, Manly has his supporters take over vote counting rooms at gunpoint and rig the election. When Manly tries to have Trevor order the ballots destroyed, Trevor refuses so Manly has him kidnapped. Manly quickly frames Diana and has her arrested. Diana decides it's time for Wonder Woman and escapes. Trevor awakes to find himself among all the kidnapped election officials (you'd thing that would've been reported on pretty quick) and learns the truth of the election results. Trevor is brought before Manly, who still wants Steve to have the ballots destroyed instead of him even though he's now Acting-President, but Trevor refuses, so Manly puts Trevor in a giant glass bottle and lowers that into a glass container of liquid air. (I think this officially makes Manly a supervillain, just for the insanity of the idea.) Wonder Woman soon arrives and saves Trevor by breaking the glass container, freezing herself and all the villains in the room. The lot are eventually thawed thanks to Etta, Manly and his gang are locked away, and Diana and Etta are sworn in. Present day Diana laments what happened to Trevor and wishes he had won, but her mother comforts her with the words "All men are much happier when their strong aggressive natures are controlled by a wise and loving woman!" and the story ends.
That's only half the comic. The other half has a brief story about Joan of Arc (which isn't bad if over simplified), a story of a 3700 President Diana going on a diplomatic mission to Primal Island, which turns out to be kidnapping and enslaving girls, so she takes over the island with an army of women equipped with rings that squirt muscle relaxant on to people when you punch them, and finally a story about Wonder Woman teaching a little girl the importance of kindness by fighting a giant octopus. If you think I'm making these up, you can read the issue, along with the rest of the first 8 Wonder Woman Comics, here at Old Comics World.

A History of Female Superheroes

From the beginning of superhero comic book history, women were usually delegated to supporting roles, and were usually portrayed as either career women, romance-story heroines, or comedic teenagers.
This all began to change in the 1940s, as part of the growing women's empowerment of the time. The first known female superhero is Fantomah, a jungle woman with super natural powers, who debuted in Fiction House's Jungle Comics #2 on February 1940, made minor minor appearances in a few comic before disappearing, eventually lapsed into public domain and has since made several appearances in modern comics with the rediscovery of her first female superhero status, most recently in Hack/Slash. 1940 saw the arrival of several female superheros, including the original Black Widow, the first costume superheroine, Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, the first comic strip superheroine, and Nelvana of the Northern Lights, the first superheroine to headline a comic book. Femme fatales started becoming common archetypes. Wonder Woman, the most famous superheroine, soon made her debut in All Star Comics #8, published January 1942 and is frequently used as a feminist symbol, usually in a positive fashion.
Things changed in the 1950s with the implementation of the Comics Code, which placed certain restrictions on things like the portrayal of women in comics, like DC's In-house Editorial Policy of "The inclusion of females in stories is specifically discouraged. Women, when used in plot structure, should be secondary in importance, and should be drawn realistically, without exaggeration of feminine physical qualities". This resulted in women being relegated to supporting roles for some time, but writers began pushing against this by creating or reintroducing superheroine versions of popular superheroes, like Supergirl, Batwoman and Batgirl.
As the 50s changed into the 60s and second-wave feminism started, superheroines became more predominate, becoming equal (albeit gradually and often outnumbered) members of superteams, such as The Fantastic Four's Invisible Girl's developing the additional ability to generate force fields and transitioning from a damsel in distress to a confident second in command before changing her name to Invisible Woman and the increase in more prominent women on the X-Men. While at first often the "token female member", eventually they stated becoming the leaders of superteams, such as Storm becoming the leader of the X-Men. 1975 saw the reintroduction of the X-Men to the public after a five year hiatus, with the regular series Uncanny X-Men being written by Chris Claremont, whose 16 year run as the book's writer, in addition to other comics, was lauded for things like the creation of several strong female characters, including Shadowcat, and Mystique, and growing existing superheroines like Storm and Jean Grey. Claremont's depiction of smart, powerful, capable and multifaceted superheroines is credited for reinvigorated the portrayal of women in comic.
Feminism became a recurring subject in comic books, both positive, like the feminist solidarity symbol Ms. Marvel with her women's magazine editor day job and tagline "This Female Fights Back!", and negative, like the feminist "parody" supervillian Man-Killer. Superheroines saw a significant increase in their own titles, with some comic books like Spider-Girl becoming major sellers. The 90s saw an increase in more sexually open (and sexually explicit) comics as LGTB issues became story topics and underground and alternative comics grew in popularity with characters like Tank Girl. The rise of the internet allowed people to come together and re-examine past comics, and sites like Women in Refrigerators, which collected incidents of discrimination against women in comics and seek to analyze why these plot devices are used disproportionately on female characters, were created and incidents of women being portrayed as sexual objects are quickly reported and derided, such as the Mary Jane Laundry Statue or the recent Sexpot Starfire Controversy. Because of the attention these kinds of incidents have gathered depictions of women as stereotypes, sexual objects and victims of brutality has decreased in recent years.
Given that the audience for superhero comic books was primarily male until recently, female characters were designed to be targeted towards the male demographic. Despite the number of female superheroes created few have had significant stand alone success. It has long been debated if the perceived lack of female readership was due to male writers being uncomfortable or unable to write for or about women or if they are afraid that trying to appeal to women will lose them male interest. Some have said that women in general have a lack of interest in comics, but the rising number of women artists and writers, especially outside the superhero genre, suggests that's not the case. Whatever the reason, the growing trend of empowered and realistically portrayed women and superheroines is a positive sign for the industry, even if there are occasions where people in the industry lapse into misogynistic mindsets.

Wonder Woman Cover Girl and Other Blips

 Wonder Woman is making an appearance on the cover of the 40th Anniversary Issue of Ms. Magazine in a cover similar to its first issue published in 1972 which also featured the superheroine, which you can read more about here.

Barack Obama will be making his first appearance as a second term president in a comic in Spawn #225, which we had previously mentioned would have a different story based upon who won the election. The issue will be released on November 21st, and you can read more about it here.

A new version of the Watchmen film has been released blending the "Ultimate Cut" with the original graphic novel. Director Zack Snyder has given an interview about the new version, the politics of Watchmen and the new Superman film he's directing, which you can read here.

Educational Comics Around the World

They a picture says a thousands words, so it's no surprise people are trying to educate people using comics and graphic novels, especially in places where literacy is poor to non-existent. So here are there stories about educational graphic novels around the world.

The first story is about a pair of brothers in India whose graphic novel, 40 Sufi Comics, explaining Islam and its ideology with graphical novel versions of stories from the Quran has gone international. The whole story can be read on The India Times.

The second story is about the Kenyan Government's efforts to teach ethnic tolerance to children using a storybook (or a comic book lite as some people call them). One of the pages can be seen at right. The whole story can be read at io9.com.

And finally the last story is one from last year, but is worth repeating. An agency in Mozambique produced a series of (authorized) posters featuring famous superheroines giving themselves self breast exams to raise breast cancer awareness. The full series of posters can be seen as Geek Tyrant.

Superheros' TV PSAs Part 2

In the continuing search for Superhero PSAs, here is the second part of a series featuring some television PSAs staring the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, among other heroes and role models.

Superheroes' TV PSAs Part 1

In the continuing search for Superhero PSAs, here is the first part of a series featuring some television PSAs staring the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, among other heroes and role models.

Wonder Woman Michelle Obama & Superman Barack Obama

Cartoonist J. Bone (Will Eisner's The Spirit, Wolverine/Doop, DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman) has drawn the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, as Wonder Women.

J. Bone explaines on his blog:

I'm not a very political person. Really. Unless I hear speeches that are incredibly ignorant (the current Mayor of Toronto is not exactly my favorite person) or especially rousing! Michelle Obama's recent opening speech at the Democratic Convention was one of those exciting moments to which I actually paid attention. Politics aside I like the Obamas. Watching her speech I imagined Michelle as the NEW Wonder Woman!

More of J. Bone's work can be found on his Gobukan site and his blog Man's Adventure.
[From ComicsAlliance.com]


And since we're talking about the Obamas and superheroes, I'll mention the Superman Obama image by Alex Ross that he created during the 2008 presidential election. Click the link for picture of Obama admiring the design.