therearecertainshadesoflimelight:

baudyhallee:

mayak46:

baudyhallee:

mayak46:

Superman 80 page Giant Vol 2 (1999)

Eric Luke, who wrote Wonder Woman v2 #141 (referenced in this story) did Diana no favors by making her secret desire to marry Clark Kent (that’s right he wasn’t wearing the cape) while he looked at Lois when he was standing at the altar.  

You mean this?

I did not like this story because it put Diana in an awful position.   She will always have to fight Lois’s ghost.

I’ve said this many times before, so bear with me.  

I had problems with the Crisis and one of them was pushing Steve Trevor off to the side.  It’s just my opinion of course, but I always felt Steve Trevor wasn’t deemed “manly” enough as Wonder Woman would rescue him more often than not.

The gender dynamic was off kilter.   Here you had a super heroine who was almost as strong as Superman with this mortal guy with no powers at all.  She saves him and they fall for each other.  That’s not how the story usually goes.

A man should be stronger than a woman as society used to teach us (I think it still does).  So who is stronger than Wonder Woman?  Superman.  The classic dynamic works with this pairing because now the man is mightier. 

Never mind there are many other types of strength. 

I know there are many other reasons for the pairing of course.  However, it bugs me because it puts Diana in the role where she has to wait on Lois to die and she then steps in to her shadow.   Ick. 

Not only that, I loved Steve Trevor.  As I said before, though I’m not a fan of the New 52, I’m thrilled that DC seems to be bringing Steve back in from the bench as a Diana’s love interest.   Welcome home Steve, I missed you!

Steve Trevor is great.  Diana thinks of him as a superior male.  Not because of ‘super abilities’ but because of his determination, heart and intelligence.  She is strongly attracted to him and for excellent reasons.  He’s a good man and a warrior like she is.

In a relationship it usually is a combination of opposites attract and like-attracts-like.  Personal traits may not be alike, but core values should be.  This is true of all the great couples.  Steve Trevor is a man’s man and Diana is a strong woman.  Without Steve (as we saw in Post Crisis) Diana’s heart gets pushed aside or shown not to be introspective.  She doesn’t have her soulmate/partner to connect to.  As a woman, her male writers may have thought having a heart, being in love was a weakness - so they took Steve out of the picture so they wouldn’t have to deal with the issue.  Diana’s heart and compassion are her strengths.  Diana loving Steve Trevor and vice versa is a strength not a weakness. 

Does Steve’s arms not give as much comfort as a superpowered man’s?  Does his innate knowledge of Diana’s thoughts and emotions mean less because he’s human?  Does his smile give her less pleasure because he’s mortal?  

Because he’s human and she is not gives the writers more material to use in stories that not only have action, but heart and intelligence.  The same can be said for Clark/Superman and Lois Lane.  It’s because of these differences that makes the characters even more interesting and intense.  Memorable in the minds and hearts of the readers.

I love Steve Trevor.  I feel legitimately sad that my generation grew up not really knowing who he was.   I really grew to love him because my mother and I used to watch re-runs of the old Wonder Woman series with Lynda Carter when I was growing up in the 80’s.  In fact, I just picked up the entire series on DVD this past Christmas at Best Buy and what a treat that was.   It was so fun to revisit that show again and to remember who I loved it so much as a kid. 

He’s a great character and I think the message that he sends is a truly needed message in a genre and culture where we have such limited ways in which we define “strength” between men and women.  When he’s written correctly, he has incredible honor and he’s a wonderful representation of the mission and sacrifice of the miltary.   He fits beautifully into Diana’s mission.  

And yes, putting Diana in a position where she’s literally waiting for Lois to die is gross.  I’m sorry but there just are no other words for it.  It’s gross.   The very idea that there is “room for everyone at the table” because Lois will eventually die is just flat out gross.  It’s bad for Superman.  It’s bad for Lois Lane.  It’s bad for Wonder Woman on every level.  A relationship that relies on waiting for another woman to die.

And truly, as someone put beautifully on Twitter recently, Superman would be a lot happier longterm if he was able to share in the legacy of his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren through Lois Lane than he would with an immortal wife. 

That was one of the things about Superman/Lois that All Star Superman got very right and it was taken even further and made more explicit in the film adapation.  In the film adapation of All Star Superman, it’s made more than clear that Lois is the mother of Superman’s future descendants and that these children and grandchildren will go on to uphold his legacy—-THEIR legacy—-for years to come.  It was the fulfillment of Grant Morrison gave us in the original book where Superman left Lois “their future” and the technology for them to conceive. 

THAT is the future for Superman and Lois—the legacy of their children.  Yes, Lois will eventually die.   Just as we will all die.  Death is a part of humanity and Superman has been raised like a human.  He’s not immortal.  He wasn’t raised to perceive life like a god like Diana was.  He has to accept death as part of his experience because he was raised as one of us and human life is fleeting.  Superman himself is not immortal.   But the way in which their love lives on is the same way it lives on for millions of other people in this world—-through your children and your grandchildren and their children.  Lois doesn’t have to be immortal or live forever for their love to live on.   All Star Superman did get that very right.