Wonder Woman Has Decided to Cosplay as ’90s Superboy

?Wonder Woman has a new outfit. Really. DC announced it yesterday. While I’ve long been on record as thinking Wonder Woman’s costume was stupid — a mythical Greek Amazon wearing an oddly colored Stars and Stripes swimsuit — I’m not sure this is an improvement. First of all, the short jacket looks insanely ’90s, a dark time when the only thing superheroes wore more than jackets was pouches. Second of all, it appears she’s not wearing pants but leggings, and she’s not wearing shoes — just some little doohickeys. Third, and this may just be me, but the belt bothers me, because I don’t know if it’s part of the shirt, part of the leggings, or an actual, extremely oddly shaped belt. I don’t mind the guantlets, though.

This new, Jim Lee-designed outfit (yeah, really) is part of Wonder Woman’s #600 issue extravaganza, where J. Michael Straczynski will start writing along with a brand new origin. Check it, courtesy of JMS himself:

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.

I actually have no problem with the gods rewriting WW’s origin — seems a fine way to straighten the character out — but I don’t know that Diana growing up on the mean streets straightens anything. I’ll leave it for you guys to ponder in the comments, although I’m especially interested in hearing what the nerd girls have to say. (Via DC’s Source)