Byrne run

[CarolStrick]

I'm just beginning the Byrne era ( http://www.carolastrickland.com/comi.../synop101.html ) and would like to add a sidebar with fan comments about it. What did you think of it? Have your feelings about it changed over the years or stayed the same? Did it help or hinder the Wonder mythos? How do you feel about it in the long run?

Thanks for your input.

[Outside_85]

Comments just on these issues or one spanning the entire era?

[Don-Jack]

It's average. One thing that I liked was Hippolyta WW (though I didn't like Diana being the 'goddess of truth' and all that stuff. Boring.)

[CarolStrick]

The entire era, please, Outside.

[Maximum Impact]

It started out awful and got better along the way. There were too many favorites of Byrne that had nothing to do with Wonder Woman thrown in the mix. He had Darkseid kill half the Amazon population on a whim. The art was horrible until he stopped doing his own inks. However I do have to give him credit or introducing Cassie and temporally giving Hippolyta the spotlight.

[Outside_85]

Ok.
Overall I feel Byrne's run was when the book really started sliding downwards, WML may not have entirely kept the Perez-standard, but I thought it was good enough. Reason why I felt Byrne's was worse, is as follows:
Changes: I don't know if I am alone in noticing this, but Byrne made a lot of changes to stories from the past, some of those very recently told by WML. First of these things were the spell he added to WML's Contest story where just being near Artemis would sap Diana's strength (WML had one spell that made Diana equal to her sisters whenever she was on Paradise Island and the result was tailored to slow Diana down, while she was also burdened with random visions). Granted I think this was added purely so Cassandra could jump and save the day...before Neron showed up. Then there was the next change...the most unnecessary and destructive one...the one where he threw Donna's origins back into the air by reintroducing the Mirror Image origins...ever since then fans have been divided over what origins is the real one for Donna.
Support characters: People are right now complaining how Diana's support characters are stealing the spotlight, well Byrne kinda went the extra mile and made them the stars and Diana the support. Seriously, when you get into the run you will see Donna, Hippolyta, Cassandra, Artemis, Etrigan & Crew and a few more just about as much as you will Diana...got even worse when she ascended to godhood and couldn't get involved.
Stories/Genesis Overall the stories just weren't very good, because the entire run was one massive build-up to Byrne's own company crossover: Genesis...which in hindsight was a waste of paper that no future writers really bother with. We started the run off with Darkseid ultimately killing half of the Amazons (imagine the web boards had they been there) and getting away with it. Then there was the Artemis hunting Etrigan over to Neron leading to Diana's death and godhood which is really hard to piece together from memory, result however was a return to normal and Jason being a talking cushion poorer. Then came the whole Dark Angel story which seemed to involve Donna and Hippolyta more than it did Diana. During that story we had Genesis and the whole Godwave idea that never really caught on, ending up with Ares claiming either Hippolyta, Donna or Artemis was his daughter before doing what all dumb gods do and gets himself stuck in the Source Wall (never explained how he got out later on).

The good bit: However little I think of the rest of Byrne's run, he at least did something right; Cassandra Sandsmark. Almost in spite of the rest of the run Cassandra was a properly planned out character and not a accident like Donna essentially was. Since her introduction Cassandra has kinda been my poster-girl for fandom-dream-come-true, by this I mean Byrne created a girl who was a huge fan of Wonder Woman, who eventually ended up becoming her side-kick with her own powers and adventures. Best thing was; she did it because she wanted to, not because she needed to or had something to avenge...very much like Tim Drake before DC decided he needed to have the usual murdered family, friends and girlfriends to properly fit into the Batworld where sunshine stories are murdered on the six o clock news.

So in short:
Mostly forgettable WW run and company event.
Gave us Cassandra Sandsmark.

[Don-Jack]

The pillow guy. I will never forget him.

[SteveGus]

While I thought Byrne's WW had a lot of wasted potential, there were parts of it I liked.

The costume: the huge tiara I can do without, but turning the bracelets into proper bracers and the simplification of the stars on the pants were fairly sound ideas. His generally athletic and muscular build for Diana was also a sound idea.

While some of his stories were odd, he unfailingly depicted Wonder Woman as being extremely powerful, and for that I am grateful.

[Xeres]

I've read the Byrne run a few times over the years. Until Rucka's run it was my least favorite run that I've read. I still feel that way.

• Byrne's art is pretty bad. That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it.
• It feels like Diana was a guest in her own book. On top of that, she's a guest to a lot of characters from outside her own circle of characters. The title of the book for a good while should have been, "...and Wonder Woman".
• Hippolyta as the golden age WW I didn't care for. I won't go crazy about it but I disliked it.
• WW's death. Not some brilliant scheme or great fight. It was an after thought from a fleeing villain. Come on.
• Some of the dialogue is just cringe-worthy. Go read the issue where she fights the fake Flash as an example.

The best part of Byrne's run? Mike Schorr. I'm reaching but there it is.

As far as the WW mythos, IMO the run muddled it even more. We'd just had a period of time when Diana wasn't WW Then this run starts and she is WW again then she died, then became a god and now someone else is / was WW for a period of time.

[onecimo]

I did like some elements of his run, power level, Cassie as a happier character, the introduction of Gateway City, I can never truly express my love for Gateway and how much I miss it!!! One thing that I didn't enjoy was how Diana became a supporting character and her cast became the stars of the show so to speak. I have never understood why a writer would have trouble with her voice.

[Rob_Olivera]

I'm just beginning the Byrne era ( http://www.carolastrickland.com/comi.../synop101.html ) and would like to add a sidebar with fan comments about it. What did you think of it? Have your feelings about it changed over the years or stayed the same? Did it help or hinder the Wonder mythos? How do you feel about it in the long run?

Thanks for your input.

If nothing else, I was certainly glad to see Byrne up the ante on Wonder Woman's power. While not altogether cconsistent about it he certainly made it clear she was a force to be reckoned with in a big way! I don't think She Hulk was too far in the back of his head with some of his interpretations of Wonder Woman.

[md62]

I liked the Darkseid story arc/ the WWII JSA arc/ Hippolyta as the GA WW.

Did not like Diana feeling like a guest in her own book/ the confusing Donna Troy origin.

[donnafan]

I hated the costume re-design. The clunky tiara, the huge belt that looked like it was going to stab her cleavage, the two stars that were stretched almost beyond recognition. I used to be a huge fan of Byrne's art. His run on Uncanny was beyond description for me. On WW, I felt that it was lackluster. I did like how he gave time to the supporting cast, but hated what he did to Donna's origin. Specifically, how she was a reflection of Diana. I felt like that undermined the character the most; that she was no longer a person in her own right, but a mere reflection of someone else. Ugh! I think that instead of adding to the mythos of the character is made her origin more confusing and convoluted. I also agree with other posters who said Diana took a back seat in her own book. I felt like it could have been a separate book with her cast of characters, kind of like the Wonder Woman Family instead of her main title.

[Ontir]

Over all, I really enjoyed it.
I don't think they should have let him put Diana back in her old costume, straight away.
The return to it would have made more sense at a later point in his story arc.
I also thought they should have spun her off into a new book, more along the lines of Thor with her having been transfigured, and made Donna Wonder Woman.

[klinton]

I hated it at the time. I skipped entire issues out of disgust over the art and her constant need to reitterate how strong she was out loud to whom ever was in earshot.

Looking back on it as a whole though, I can see that his heart was in the right place. He brought back the invisible plane. He redeemed Hippolyta (after her character assassination in Mesner-Loeb's run). He set the ground work for Giganta's return. He gave us Cassie - who I hated at the time, but adored in John's Adventure Comics. He put a viable (albeit shaky) eplaination forward to connect Donna's various origins.

It was one of the few runs in that whole era where changes stuck, long after his departure. He left elements that propelled every writer after him. I would probably have raved about it if he were simply plotting rather than writing and drawing the book.