Fan Rants

Warner Brothers this week released the first images for their new TV show of the iconic DC comics character Wonder Woman. Starring Adrianne Palicki and premiering this fall on NBC.

Press Release:
Please find attached the first image of Adrianne Palicki starring as the title character in the new NBC pilot “Wonder Woman,” from executive producer David E. Kelley (“Boston Legal,” “Ally McBeal,” NBC’s “Harry’s Law“). The pilot was written by Kelley, who also serves as executive producer with Bill D’Elia (“Boston Legal,” “The Practice,” NBC’s “Harry’s Law”). Jeffrey Reiner (“The Event”) is directing. Based upon DC Comics character, “Wonder Woman” is from David E. Kelley Productions and Warner Bros. Television. (C) 2011 NBC and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photo Credit: Justin Lubin

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• “First photo of Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman” and related posts (dcu.blog.dccomics.com)

Big news today on the cape front. NBC has finally announced who will be filling the red/white/blue bikini of the Amazon warrior known as Wonder Woman. It is none other than Adrianne Palicki.

Her name may not jump at you right away, but she does have some acting chops in her background. Most recently on the TV show Friday Night Lights, she was also seen on the big screen film Legion last year. She was also a recurring character on Supernatural and if MGM ever gets their finances maybe we will see her in the remake of Red Dawn.

Now this NBC property is a ‘retelling’ of the Wonder Woman story, so don’t expect an invisible plane or the Super Friends showing up.  According to Deadline magazine, “Wonder Woman/Diana Prince is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A. but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.”

I really wish someone would just make a TV show based on the comics that sticks even closely to their storyline. Everyone wants to do their own ‘vision’ of the character, but ya know, if a comic has been around for decades it probably has something going for it.

Regardless, I will be very interested in seeing what the show turns out to be…and if they keep her comic book outfit at all.

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• Adrianne Palicki is WONDER WOMAN for NBC’s New Series (collider.com)

This week sees a major change in one of the most iconic characters in comic books. Issue #600 of Wonder Woman will start the new era of the character, including a brand new history. And yes, it involves changing her past to change her future.

Normally I am wary of writers mucking around with canon, but this is starting the storyline by J. Michael Straczynski and JMS has a great history of breathing new life into old characters, so he has my attention at the moment. Here is the official statement from DC:

Suppose you woke up one morning, or turned a corner, and suddenly the life you had been leading up to that moment…was not the life you were leading.

Suppose someone went back in time and changed one thing, and it changed your life to the point that you had little or no memory of what life had been like before the change happened. What would you do to get it back? Should you get it back? Who did it? And maybe more important…why did they do it?

That is the question faced by Diana starting in issue 600.

The Gods, for reasons of their own but which may have something to with their survival and perhaps the survival of Earth itself, have changed the timeline. In the new timeline, years ago the Gods removed their protection from Paradise Island, and left it vulnerable to attack. And attacked it was. Led by a dark figure, a veritable army descended upon the Island, equipped with weapons that could kill even the Amazons. Outgunned, doomed, Hippolyta gave over her three-year-old daughter to a handful of guardians who spirited her away as Hippolyta led one last desperate battle against the forces that had come to destroy all she had created. In that final battle, she and most of the Amazons were killed, though some managed to escape.

It’s now nearly twenty years later. Diana has been raised in an urban setting, but with a foot in both worlds. She has little or no memory of the other timeline. She knows only what she’s been told by those who raised her On the run, hunted, she must try to survive, help the other refugee Amazons escape the army that is still after them, discover who destroyed Paradise Island and why…and if the timeline can be corrected or not. She also does not yet have access to her full powers, but will be gaining them as she goes. Along the way, she will face a range of enemies — human and otherwise — who we have not seen before.

What we also haven’t seen before is her new look, the first significant change in her appearance since the character debuted in 1941 (not counting the mod look used briefly in the sixties, about which the less said the better). 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. It reflects the two sides warring for ultimate victory, and underscores the path she must take.

It’s a look designed to be taken seriously as a warrior, in partial answer to the many female fans over the years who’ve asked, “how does she fight in that thing without all her parts falling out?”) She can close it up to pass unnoticed…open it for the freedom to fight…lose the jacket or keep it on…it has pockets (the other fan question, “where does she carry anything in that outfit?”, it can be accessorized…it’s a Wonder Woman look designed for the 21st century. The bracelets are still there, but made more colorful, tied on the inside and over the hand, with a script W on each of them that form WW when she holds them side by side…and if you get hit by one of them, it leaves a W mark. This is a Wonder Woman who signs her work…letting her enemies know that she’s getting closer.

This is Wonder Woman reborn, literally and metaphorically: fast, elegant, tough, smart…the savior of her people, their guardian and protector…avenging the fall of Paradise Island, searching to discover why Paradise Island was abandoned by the gods. In the end, what she discovers will change her life and the world forever…and she will come face to face with a decision that will mean life or death for the entire human race.

Well not quite, but its been reported by the Source that J. Michael Straczynski is taking over the writing responsibilities of not only Superman but also Wonder Woman.

Starting in July with SUPERMAN #701 and WONDER WOMAN #601, superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski — a man who’s created layered and compelling characters and worlds on the big screen, on television and across the comic book spectrum — dives head-first into the DC Universe by taking the ongoing writing reins for two-thirds of the fabled DCU trinity.

We’ll have more details about who’ll be teaming with JMS on both titles — not to mention the exciting new directions he’ll be pointing our heroes toward — in the coming months. But today is about JMS and how he sees these great characters and what they stand for.