Wonder Woman gets major costume makeover; DC Comics's iconic super heroine sports new look. After 69 years of fighting crime in her trademark red-and-gold bustier and star-studded hip-huggers, Wonder Woman is getting a modern-day makeover.
Wonder Woman in her classic (art by Nicola Scott) and new (art by Jim Lee) looks
In the latest issue of the iconic super heroine's comic book series, which hit stores Wednesday, she is sporting a new, darker, more modern costume that would take away Superman's super-breath.
"It's a new contemporary look that matches the storyline of the series," Dan DiDio, co-Publisher of DC Comics, told the News. "We wanted to reinvigorate a character that has had a [look developed] in the 1940s for the current audience and hopefully attract a new audience."
Comic book fans, however, don't always embrace change: When Marvel Comics' Spider-Man ditched his familiar red and blue threads for a sleek black costume in the mid-'80s, the move was compared to Coca-Cola's ill-fated New Coke.
"When you're dealing with a seventy-year old character, you're dealing with someone with icon status," said Vito Delsante, manager at Jim Hanley's Universe comic store in Manhattan and himself a comic book writer. "Wonder Woman? I don't know if anyone can embrace it, because it's such a departure."
The new look comes in time for the series' landmark 600th issue, beginning a much darker storyline by writer J. Michael Straczynski, in which a change in time has reduced Wonder Woman's beloved Paradise Island to ruins. Our revenge-seeking heroine is also different on the inside, with no memory of the life she was supposed to have lived.
"What we also haven't seen before is her new look, the first significant change in her appearance since the character debuted in 1941," Stracyznski said in a statement. "It reflects her origins in both the outside world and the world of Amazons: tough, elegant...a street-fighter's look which also incorporates elements of her classic design."
Wonder Woman, created in 1941 by psychologist William Moulton Marston as an ideal of what young girls should aspire to, did in fact have one other major, if short lived, costume change in the 1960s as a blatant attempt to appeal to the feminist movement. Diana Prince, Wonder Woman's alter ego, even ran a mod-clothing boutique. ("The less said about that the better," Straczynski said in his statement.)
But fans back then clamored for a return to Wonder Woman's original look. DiDio is betting it'll be different this time around.
"If you take a half step back is there enough of Wonder Woman [in the new costume]," said DiDio. "It really captures some many of the iconic imagery associated with the character -- the tiara, the bracelets, the bustier, and the belt.
"We're really hoping it sticks." ( nydailynews.com )
Wonder Woman in her classic (art by Nicola Scott) and new (art by Jim Lee) looks
In the latest issue of the iconic super heroine's comic book series, which hit stores Wednesday, she is sporting a new, darker, more modern costume that would take away Superman's super-breath.
"It's a new contemporary look that matches the storyline of the series," Dan DiDio, co-Publisher of DC Comics, told the News. "We wanted to reinvigorate a character that has had a [look developed] in the 1940s for the current audience and hopefully attract a new audience."
Comic book fans, however, don't always embrace change: When Marvel Comics' Spider-Man ditched his familiar red and blue threads for a sleek black costume in the mid-'80s, the move was compared to Coca-Cola's ill-fated New Coke.
"When you're dealing with a seventy-year old character, you're dealing with someone with icon status," said Vito Delsante, manager at Jim Hanley's Universe comic store in Manhattan and himself a comic book writer. "Wonder Woman? I don't know if anyone can embrace it, because it's such a departure."
The new look comes in time for the series' landmark 600th issue, beginning a much darker storyline by writer J. Michael Straczynski, in which a change in time has reduced Wonder Woman's beloved Paradise Island to ruins. Our revenge-seeking heroine is also different on the inside, with no memory of the life she was supposed to have lived.
"What we also haven't seen before is her new look, the first significant change in her appearance since the character debuted in 1941," Stracyznski said in a statement. "It reflects her origins in both the outside world and the world of Amazons: tough, elegant...a street-fighter's look which also incorporates elements of her classic design."
Wonder Woman, created in 1941 by psychologist William Moulton Marston as an ideal of what young girls should aspire to, did in fact have one other major, if short lived, costume change in the 1960s as a blatant attempt to appeal to the feminist movement. Diana Prince, Wonder Woman's alter ego, even ran a mod-clothing boutique. ("The less said about that the better," Straczynski said in his statement.)
But fans back then clamored for a return to Wonder Woman's original look. DiDio is betting it'll be different this time around.
"If you take a half step back is there enough of Wonder Woman [in the new costume]," said DiDio. "It really captures some many of the iconic imagery associated with the character -- the tiara, the bracelets, the bustier, and the belt.
"We're really hoping it sticks." ( nydailynews.com )
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