JMS' Wonder Woman: Is "density" an interest?

[AaronJ]

I've been really into Morrison's Batman lately. And on the DCMB, we're doing a massive re-reading, from the Black Casebook through everything else, in preparation for The Return of Bruce Wayne in May.

One thing Morrison does is to tie in all sorts of seemingly minor points from past stories into what he's doing now. And then he wraps everything with oblique references to lord knows what. One has to use Wikipedia and all sorts of occult books and everything else to "get" all the references.

The discussion, at least on the DCMB, concerning Morrison's Batman is fascinating and engaging.

My question is this: Do people here want Wonder Woman to explode intellectually the way Batman has? Do we want it so dense that we need to discuss it on a constant basis to even break it down? Is it something anyone is interested in, or are people just wanting "fun" stories?

Can JMS even deliver on something like this, with Diana?

I don't know. I'm very interested in the new direction, and when I look at something like Batman, I'm fascinated in the possibilities. But I'm not sure it's possible with Wonder Woman.

What say you?

[Larfleeze]

If you've ever watched Babylon 5 (essentially JMS' magnum opus), then you'd know that JMS has an amazing talent for making seemingly inconsequential things from early on explode in a big way later. He is great at planting seeds for later story lines, and revealing new information about things that happened previously. However, he manages to do this in a way that the reader (or watcher) is engaged and excited, but not weighed down under obscure references and haughty superiority.

I would love to see JMS work this into Wonder Woman. On Babylon 5, he focused on a specific period of time (five years), but still managed to play around with a thousand years of mythology. Wonder Woman is a perfect venue for this talent.


[Not that I have anything bad to say about Grant Morisson or his run on Batman. I enjoy Morisson's work, and I enjoyed his run on Batman. He just seems to enjoy making things fly over people's heads sometimes.]

[Constantine Drakon]

My question is this: Do people here want Wonder Woman to explode intellectually the way Batman has?

No.

I'd prefer if it was actually good.

[AaronJ]

No.

I'd prefer if it was actually good.

Oh, you're SO witty!

Thanks a lot ... for absolutely nothing.

[LightningRider]

Uhhh...

Sometimes. But it never ever hurts to have those wonderful single issues every now and then that don't seem complicated.

[Karl O'Neill]

Check the Batman forum here. Retro and Detective Dupin and many others including myself have been Annotating Morrison's groundbreaking Batman work in one big thread.

The man is fascinating.

Thankfully I have most of the books he draws inspiration from

[Constantine Drakon]

Oh, you're SO witty!

Thanks a lot ... for absolutely nothing.

Your wit is positively razor-sharp too.

And thanks for the "would you like JMS to be Grant Morrison?" thread.

[AaronJ]

Check the Batman forum here. Retro and Detective Dupin and many others including myself have been Annotating Morrison's groundbreaking Batman work in one big thread.

The man is fascinating.

Thankfully I have most of the books he draws inspiration from

Coolness.

I wish I could get my hands on Dark Knight/Dark City though. It really irritates me that I can't seem to find it.

[NickFury90]

Your wit is positively razor-sharp too.

NUH UH! THATS WHAT YOU ARE DURF DURF!

This is gonna be a good topic, I can tell.

[sonofblaine]

As a longtime MArvel fan, I'm really looking into getting into some DC and Wonder Woman is something I've wanted to read. My own preferences in comics, I'd like to read a Wonder Woman that's a nice mix. Good smart story mixed in with some colorful, fun super-heroing.

[Evil Eleanor]

I have no idea why it was necessary to bring Morrison into this, especially knowing the strong negative reactions he often inspires. He and JMS are extremely different writers. Why not just ask what sort of writer JMS is if you're unfamiliar with his past work? And if you are familiar with it, why would you expect that to change? Honestly it comes off as a roundabout "would you want Morrison writing the book?" a topic that's been discussed to death.

Will the run have "density" in the exact way Morrison's Batman has, i.e. symbolism so dense you could cut it with a knife, stories full-to-bursting with allusions to old comics, turning obscure and forgotten background characters into major players? Hell no. It'll probably be largely self contained. I suspect it will still be "dense" in its own way, but if you're looking forward to an esoteric scavenger hunt, cracking open old Wonder Woman books to hunt for references, scouring every issue to spot Easter Eggs and hidden meanings, you're probably looking in the wrong place.

And I'll probably enjoy what JMS gives us a lot more than Morrison's Batman, which, quite frankly, I can't stand, and all the hidden references to old comics in the world isn't going to change that.

[AaronJ]

I have no idea why it was necessary to bring Morrison into this, especially knowing the strong negative reactions he often inspires.

I thought I made it clear in my initial post why I invoked Morrison's Batman. Maybe it wasn't clear enough. I don't know.

Obviously, this thread was a bad idea.

[LightningRider]

JMS can do it. He can do it. But right now, not a whole lot of us is interested it.

Good Topic, Bad Timing I guess.

[Evil Eleanor]

JMS can do it. He can do it.

Depends on what "it" is. He can write good solid stories that will inspire discussion. Will they be like what Morrison writes, where you can annotate the hell out of each issue, looking for references to old comics, or arguing about the real meaning of colors?

Maybe he's capable of doing such a thing, but if he had to, but that's not how he's written in the past.

[LightningRider]

We're not even talking about old comics here, that's all pretty much speculation from the fans over at the Bat Board.

We're talking former issues, which I would like. Remember, Genocide is the dragon, the queen will give birth to the dragon, Alkyone is the queen, never mentioned..

We're talking like that.

But once again, it's just fueling discussion. Means nothing unless it comes true.

Unless you already got that, I have nothing else to say. Cheers.