For a comic book character that’s been around since 1941, it’s surprising how few women (five) have written DC Comic’s biggest female protagonist. The character is as least as popular and visible as DC’s other superstars, Batman and Superman, but it’s not until recently that we’ve seen her potentially coming to the big screen, while the other two have dominated DC’s movie output in recent years.
It’s exciting, then, to hear that the comic book itself is getting some new creative energy: Meredith and David Finch, a husband and wife writer/illustrator. While David has some serious comic book cred, from Ultimate X-Men (with Brian Michael Bendis) and Batman: The Dark Knight, Meredith Finch has some chops as well, as seen in her short stories for Zenescope Entertainment. This will be her first lead comic writing gig.
Meredith reminds us that having a female writer for one of the most iconic female superheroes is important. “It makes sense if you’re going to try to attract that female market that you appeal to them on every level,” she told USA Today, “– your writing demographic reflects the demographic of your readership.”
“Women were just transitioning into the workforce, and because of that [Wonder Woman has] been taken on as an icon for feminine power and empowerment.”
Wonder Woman came on the scene in 1941 from the fertile imagination of William Moulton Marston. The book has had few women writers since then, however, including best-selling fiction author Jodi Picoult and long-running series author Gail Simone.
While the latest incarnation of Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang focused a lot more on Wonder Woman’s Greek mythology origins, the new team wants to bring a more human approach to the character. Meredith Finch was inspired more by the 1970s TV show starring Linda Carter than anything else, which represented to her a big shift in how females were portrayed in the media.
“You had the mom roles but you didn’t really have big heroic women saving the day back in the ’70s,” Meredith told USA Today. “Women were just transitioning into the workforce, and because of that she’s been taken on as an icon for feminine power and empowerment.”
Here’s hoping that the new creative team will be successful based on their merits as sequential art storytellers, and not on their gender alone. That said, it’s great to have another female voice in a male-dominated industry, and having her work with a male artistic voice. It’s a great combo.
“I hope that between the two of us,” said Meredith, “we’ll be able to bring that balance so she’s got a really complex character as we go forward.”
Source: USA Today
Image: David Finch/Twitter
