The Four Color Media Monitor

I looked to see what creators are talking about the UN's rejection of Wonder Woman. I couldn't find that many, but those I did weren't exactly the most reliable people around (there was one, thankfully, whom we'll get to later). We'll focus here on Gail Simone, who wrote a list of tweets that Comic Book Global's helpfully combined together into whole paragraphs, making it easier to analyze. We'll start with this one:

It bothers me a lot for a multitude of reasons, and I didn’t want to just slop it out on twitter, it deserves a considered response. But there are a couple elements that really sting, that I haven’t seen talked about as much, and I have to at least mention them. And I might as well get it out that the fact that feminism seems to be the excuse used to bounce her is really odious to me. Okay, first, it’s sad that the one superhero who stands for peace as her stated goal is removed just when she is most needed as a concept. Wonder Woman doesn’t fight bank robbers, she fights against warlords and despots. She works to protect the innocent and stop bloodshed.

How strange coming from somebody who recently gave her approval for 3 steps taken in the past year by Dynamite to pander to SJWs hostile to beauteous imagery. The way she promoted what they momentarily did with Red Sonja as she was departing was certainly insulting; a major departure from what she was doing with Ed Benes and other such artists in Birds of Prey. If she doesn't have a problem with sexuality, why'd she go along with such idiocy? In doing so, she was basically saying even WW's famous costume is "dated".

And while combating despots and warlords is certainly a great idea, I don't think Simone's in a position to claim WW "doesn't" fight bank robbers. Mainly because there's plenty of heisters in real life who armed themselves with guns and knives and even took hostages while threatening them with violence and rape. If a story were written where WW went after robbers to rescue hostages from terrible violence, wouldn't that be defending the innocent? A mighty careless thing Simone said, I'm afraid. Let's remember above all, WW is a fictional character, so Simone shouldn't be limiting what forms of crimefighting Diana could perform.

The other thing I haven’t heard as much is this…yes, women everywhere, all around the world have been inspired by Wonder Woman. I have talked about this a thousand times…how one woman became an actual astronaut because of Diana. And so much more… People got through chemo because of her, they got out of abusive situations leaning on her example and borrowing her strength. If a literary character saves lives and heals souls, then goddamn, let her do her work, says me. We need as much of that as we can get.

But a fictional character can't do the work unless the real life scribes actually think of what to write her working on. And even Simone never exactly depicted WW fighting to save the lives of Muslim women who were threatened with honor murders by violent relatives for "disobedience". Even if DC's own editors weren't already declaring that a censored topic, I still doubt she would. As it turned out over the past years, Simone was one pure phony from a political perspective, and even from the perspective of anybody worried about women's rights.

But here’s the other thing I find bitter. Everyone is focusing on her inspiration to women, understandably. But there’s so much more. I traveled the world as a Wonder Woman writer, and I cannot begin to convey how important she is to many, many LGBTQ readers. Why aren’t people bringing this up? I have no idea. But it’s no secret to anyone who worked on the book. Wonder Woman saves LGBTQ lives. I have had untold numbers of gay men, non-binary teens, and transfolk tell me that Diana kept them going. That she spoke to them directly. I’ve lost count of the gay, bi- and poly women who have shrines to her in their homes, for the message of acceptance she gives.

At this point, I just remembered that Simone may have once said more than a decade ago she'd worked as a "goodwill ambassador" for the UN, and I get the feeling she's not very critical of their overall conduct, her WW argument notwithstanding. After all, this is an organization that turns its back on gays and lesbians in Muslim regimes just as much as they do anybody else, and she's not exactly criticizing them for that.

All that aside, I think it's idiotic how she's perpetuating a "cultural appropriation" I'm not sure even Bill Marston and Harry Peter ever advocated, and promoting an abnormal lifestyle. After all, when WW began in the Golden Age, Diana arranged with a military nurse who was getting married to take over her identity as Diana Prince. In other words, a story that respected heterosexual marriage as much as it did the US army.

And here’s the thing…we live in a time now where this message can appear in media, sometimes. But it’s been Diana’s message for DECADES. Even inside the comics industry, there are people who just don’t get her. I don’t think these people with the petition get her, either. And yes, she’s fictional. But she cares. She cares about those in need, she cares about those that bullies want us to feel don’t matter. So, the net loss is not to the UN or to DC or to comics, sadly, the net loss is to the kids who need that message and might not get it. Over what, really. A costume some don’t like? An American flag she doesn’t even wear any more? It’s just a shame. A complete misfire.

If she's hinting she considers western conservatives the root cause of all evil, that only dampens her argument, because she's turning a blind eye to the bullying committed by LGBT advocates against conservatives and Christians. Either way, what she fails to ponder is that she too is one of those people who worked in the medium who doesn't get WW.

Since we're on the topic, Simone also associated herself with Brad Meltzer while talking about making Black Canary a leader of the JLA, as if that excuses the atrocity that was Identity Crisis:

They were some fun stories, Brad. https://t.co/j9qbLXxtqz

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) December 20, 2016

This definitely isn't surprising, for anybody who knows about Simone's descent into ultra-leftist activism, any more than it is when you know what kind of contacts Hillary Clinton kept.

Point: making BC a team leader alone does not prove the man's actually repentant for a book as disgusting as Identity Crisis was (as far as I know, he hasn't even apologized for the offensive fanfiction-ish scene where Deathstroke wraps a leather covering over BC's head and chains her arms, which could asphyxiate a human in real life), and that he's continually upheld the book without remorse over the years only compounds doubts about his sincerity. So too in fact does his leftism.

Besides Simone, there's at least one tweet by Dan Slott, who said:

Can we go back to the world where the UN still had Wonder Woman as an ambassador to peace. :-/

(And world Pre-November actually).

— Dan Slott (@DanSlott) December 13, 2016

How about if we were to go back to a time when phonies like Slott weren't employed by the mainstream, and a time when men like Slott didn't marginalize Mary Jane Watson so crassly.

And then, Kurt Busiek's got quite a bit to say about WW as well. His arguments are rather odd, given his own boilerplate leftism:

Call me nutty, but I’m not wild about the idea of corporate-owned properties being used to promote stuff for the UN to begin with.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

But from what I can tell, he's not exactly against using corporate properties to promote the kind of ultra-leftist ideals he upholds either, in terms of storytelling vehicles. Visions that are embraced by quite a few UN staffers as well. What are the odds he'd have no issues with using WW's series to promote his anti-Republican views and demands for allowing transgender men to use women's bathrooms at all costs? In which case, what's his point?

If Snoopy were the face of anti-diphtheria efforts worldwide and then was used to sell New York Life, that’s a pretty mixed message.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

If Superman heads up an initiative for inter-cultural respect and then kills a lot of people in a movie, that’s kind of confused.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

It's also confusing when Greg Rucka depicts WW killing Max Lord in a lead-in to Infinite Crisis to stop him from mind-controlling Superman into committing potential murder, and the Man of Steel lambasts her efforts to help him out of the dire predicament. So what's his point here too?

I like Wonder Woman a lot; she’s one of the pre-existing characters I’d still like to write someday. But she’s still a Warner Bros property.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

And as such, she’s under corporate control, to me used to do what the corporation values. I’m not in a hurry to tie that to the UN.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

Trouble is, what the corporation "values" today is some pretty repellent stuff, if we ponder the 9-11 metaphors Identity Crisis was built upon (speaking of which, one part featured WW using her lasso in a way that made her look like a mind-controlled cypher). Or, what they uphold now is some pretty vicious leftism. And what they uphold may very well be what the UN upholds too, despite any suggestions to the contrary.

Similarly, I don’t want the Trix Rabbit being the face of childhood nutrition, no matter how nice a rabbit he might be.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

But if any mainstream superhero's stories are used as left-wing propaganda vehicles, that's okay? I can't recall him complaining, so what's the use? He hasn't even complained about Kellogg pandering to leftist causes and insulting their customers.

And if large parts of the world don’t know as much about the parts of Wonder Woman’s literary history that we comics fans like, I think...

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

…that’s not their failing, but an indication that Wonder Woman’s presence in the larger world may not be what we-in-the-know see in her.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

But is is their failing...and his too. Now he's hinting he's not really disappointed with them for their reprehensible politics that led them to body-shame WW, and insult the memories of her creators.

And the UN’s job is not to promote an interpretation of Wonder Woman and change people’s minds, to the benefit of DC and Warner Bros...

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

…it’s to do good for the world and its member nations. They’re not a promotional arm of the comics industry.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

But they're not doing good for the world. They're not doing any good for women, and not even for Israel. Some of the UN's own employees even committed sexual abuse in past years. How is that doing anybody any good?

That said, I rescind all of these objections if the Teenage Glop from Outer Space can become the UN Ambassador of Sticky Youth.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

But in a manner of speaking, they did something almost like that, when Red from Angry Birds was made a mascot.

When another guy explains why WW was rejected, he said:

@snarke That’s what the petition was about. The UN’s choice was probably more about the numbers on the petition than the reasoning.

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

Umm, I don't see how such a paltry number as 45,000 counts so well when there's billions of other people in the world who didn't see why this was such a big deal.

@snarke I see a difference between actual people, who are what they are, and drawings of people, who reflect the intent of those who did...

— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 13, 2016

Huh? What "difference" is there? If we can't respect a fictional character's design, how can we possibly expect to recognize a real life person's humanity no matter how skimpily they're dressed? And if he thinks corporate properties shouldn't be used in political activities, then why doesn't he actually complain about DC and/or Time Warner's arrangement to let the UN do it in the first place? He's not making any good points at all.

I guess that's why Dan Jurgens' comment on the topic is surely the best:

When you get down to it, Wonder Woman would fire the UN for being an ineffective, useless organization anyway.

— Dan Jurgens (@thedanjurgens) December 15, 2016

And indeed, they are. So, how come most of the other creators/writers don't get that? Why don't they get that it's a pure waste of money to support a global organization that's only doing more harm than good for the world? And that the UN"s failure to adhere to any genuinely sincere positions is just what led them to reject WW as a program mascot, along with several real life women for the position of secretary general?

Labels: dc comics, islam and jihad, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, politics, violence, women of dc