Thursday, July 8, 2010

MORE EVIDENCE THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT'S IMPORTANT IN LIFE

I've just been castigated by a fan in a message that, as someone who's written Wonder Woman, I haven't spoken out publicly on the burning issue of the Amazing Amazon getting pants.  (Do I REALLY have to type "lol" or the sarcastic-face emoticon?).

6 comments:

Monica Mayall said...

I was just discussing with a friend how "Lol"s and emicons were crutches for the less skilled and proficient texters and emailers... Vonnegut wrote entire novels filled with sarcasm and we never needed something extra to help us "get it."

But in a world where emails are unnecessarily abrupt, lacking any trace of social grace, and some bosses still type everything in ALL CAPS (and we think privately, "what an under qualified example of the Peter Principle), we need those little helpers to soften the blows of a society not fluent enough in it's primary language to express emotions accurately with just words.

BTW, I am outraged to hear Wonder Woman got pants! That's like putting Betty Boop in an arobics outfit! Or taking away Death's eyeliner and black wardrobe! The gall! John Ashcroft was covertly involved I'm sure. I can't believe you're not leading the charge against this puritanical censorship! Next thing you know they'll be coming after Sponge Bob & Mickey's shorts!

Monica Mayall said...

I was just discussing with a friend how "Lol"s and emicons were crutches for the less skilled and proficient texters and emailers... Vonnegut wrote entire novels filled with sarcasm and we never needed something extra to help us "get it."

But in a world where emails are unnecessarily abrupt, lacking any trace of social grace, and some bosses still type everything in ALL CAPS (and we think privately, "what an under qualified example of the Peter Principle), we need those little helpers to soften the blows of a society not fluent enough in it's primary language to express emotions accurately with just words.

BTW, I am outraged to hear Wonder Woman got pants! That's like putting Betty Boop in an arobics outfit! Or taking away Death's eyeliner and black wardrobe! The gall! John Ashcroft was covertly involved I'm sure. I can't believe you're not leading the charge against this puritanical censorship! Next thing you know they'll be coming after Sponge Bob & Mickey's shorts!

Paul Chadwick said...

How nice to discover your blog. Fantazine, the dishy, insiderish, crammed-to-the-margins fanzine you did with Alan Brennert was my introduction to fandom (after Marvelmania) and remains a fond memory.

As a former Roseanne writer, maybe you can help me. A young woman who served briefly on the writing staff (I gather a lot of writers served briefly in that unhappy writing room) wrote a memoir of her therapist, who was a pathological liar, bragging about the triathalons he'd won,and all matter of other fables. She later learned he died in a S/M setting (accident? Murder?) in San Francisco.

What's that woman's name and the book? It's haunted me ever since I read it.

Bob Buethe said...

@Paul: A few seconds with Google turned up "The Day I Went Missing" by Jennifer Miller. I think that's the one you're looking for.

Julian Perez said...

Incidentally, I've never been much of a Wonder Woman fan, but I always liked the story you co-wrote with Alan Brennert in "Wonder Woman," featuring the Golden Age Wonder Woman. In addition to yourself, I've always thought that Alan Brennert is one of the greatest talents in the superhero-adventure comics field.

I remember an interview with you where you said how, despite the fact that run isn't remembered all that well by posterity, that you thought the Wonder Woman run where she loses her powers and switches to martial arts was viewed as edgy and interesting and a breath of fresh air on a stale character. Finally! Someone that agrees with me...

It should be mentioned that I'm a big fan of Hawaiian history (in fact, I just finished a great nonfiction book about the real-life inspiration for Charlie Chan, a Chinese police detective at the turn of the century) and Brennert's "Moloka'i" is one of the most powerful and emotional books I've ever read, and one of the few books that isn't focused all around Father Damien, who was an incidental character in "Moloka'i."

I saw the new design for Wonder Woman's costume and I kind of like that they finally gave her pants.

What I think is often forgotten for heroes in continuous publication is that the meaning of certain symbols in our culture change. For instance, in 1945, wearing short pants on a woman meant that she was athletic, possibly muscular, about to do something unladylike like sports, was a tomboy.

Today, they don't send that message. Wonder Woman's costume to me isn't worth getting hard-assed about.

Dwight Williams said...

As far as I'm concerned...Diana should always have more than one option in her combat wardrobe.

This works.

Good to be pointed here via the new Superman Encyclopedia...and thanks much for your work with the Blackhawk Squadron not so long ago. It is remembered...and appreciated.

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