Why We Need A Wonder Woman Cartoon Show
Jun. 7th, 2010 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwenfrankenstienSo I've started doing shifts at the daycare my mom works at, for the summer. Which is great! Because as much as I love (and also hate, often at the same time) working at a comic shop, retail pays shit. And children are great! People think because I am a sarcastic misanthrope that I must therefore hate children, but that is so not true. I love kids. I hate parents.
But anyway! Last Thursday, while the older kids were at school and the younger kids were napping, I started drawing. (Does anyone know how I can scan oil pastel without it smudging all over the scanner bed?) I drew Spoiler, and then Robin!Steph, and then New Batgirl, to finish the set. The kids started to wake up as I was finishing Batgirl, so inevitably, they started asking what I was drawing, who these people were, all that. So I said "This is the new Batgirl, before that she was called the Spoiler--" "Is that a girl?" "--Yes, it's the same girl. And she was also Girl Robin for a while."
"NO, ROBIN'S NOT A GIRL!!", interrupted the kids. These were the younger kids, so they've yet to accept that I am the Expert On Batman. (The older kids don't even challenge me anymore. It's sort of endearing.) So I pulled out my iPod, which has a bunch of icons and comics panels on it in case I need costume reference, and showed them the Girl Wonder. And then Batgirl, 'cos they asked, and also the Spoiler. (Who I think I have trained them to recognise, ahaha WIKTORY.)
So then I let myself become their Trained Art Monkey for a while, "DRAW BATMAN. NOW SUPERGIRL. NOW SUPERMAN. SHOW US THE PICTURES AGAIN! WHERE'S BATGIRL. NOW GIRL ROBIN. WHO'S THAT, IS THAT BATGIRL?" "That's Batwoman." "DRAW HER. NOW SHOW US BATGIRL. NOW THE SPOILER. NOW BATMAN, IS THERE A FUNNY BATMAN? SHOW US THAT." Which was great fun! Batwoman is sort of scribbly 'cos I was getting tired of drawing, at that point, and one of the kids thought it was a great idea to add to Batgirl's hair herself, but I generally actually like what I drew!
And then yesterday I was looking at the picture, and I mentioned how weird it was that nobody asked me to draw Wonder Woman.
"Oh," said my mom, "They don't know who that is."
"But one of those girls owns a Wonder Woman shirt! I've seen her wear it!"
"Yes, but she doesn't know that. She calls it Superwoman."
Now, I'm not the world's biggest Wonder Woman fan by any means. I don't particularly like most Wonder Woman stories; I've read pieces of Rucka's run, and I of course picked up Simone's, but other than that, I tend not to be particularly interested. But I'm going to argue in her defence anyway:
We need a big media push towards Wonder Woman. Here are little girls who love princesses, who want to love superheroes, and here is a superhero who is also a princess, and they have no idea who she is. There was a Wonder Woman animated movie-- But the DC Animated DVDs aren't for kids.
The reason a lot of people around my age got into Batman is the Timm/Dini Animated Series. I suspect people a bit younger than me will grow up always loving the Justice League or the Titans. Nobody is going to grow up loving Wonder Woman, unless they have parents who love her. There's nothing kid-level that's all about Wonder Woman. If they don't know who she is when they're three, when are they supposed to learn? And, if they never see her outside of a specialty comic shop, how are they supposed to learn?
But anyway! Last Thursday, while the older kids were at school and the younger kids were napping, I started drawing. (Does anyone know how I can scan oil pastel without it smudging all over the scanner bed?) I drew Spoiler, and then Robin!Steph, and then New Batgirl, to finish the set. The kids started to wake up as I was finishing Batgirl, so inevitably, they started asking what I was drawing, who these people were, all that. So I said "This is the new Batgirl, before that she was called the Spoiler--" "Is that a girl?" "--Yes, it's the same girl. And she was also Girl Robin for a while."
"NO, ROBIN'S NOT A GIRL!!", interrupted the kids. These were the younger kids, so they've yet to accept that I am the Expert On Batman. (The older kids don't even challenge me anymore. It's sort of endearing.) So I pulled out my iPod, which has a bunch of icons and comics panels on it in case I need costume reference, and showed them the Girl Wonder. And then Batgirl, 'cos they asked, and also the Spoiler. (Who I think I have trained them to recognise, ahaha WIKTORY.)
So then I let myself become their Trained Art Monkey for a while, "DRAW BATMAN. NOW SUPERGIRL. NOW SUPERMAN. SHOW US THE PICTURES AGAIN! WHERE'S BATGIRL. NOW GIRL ROBIN. WHO'S THAT, IS THAT BATGIRL?" "That's Batwoman." "DRAW HER. NOW SHOW US BATGIRL. NOW THE SPOILER. NOW BATMAN, IS THERE A FUNNY BATMAN? SHOW US THAT." Which was great fun! Batwoman is sort of scribbly 'cos I was getting tired of drawing, at that point, and one of the kids thought it was a great idea to add to Batgirl's hair herself, but I generally actually like what I drew!
And then yesterday I was looking at the picture, and I mentioned how weird it was that nobody asked me to draw Wonder Woman.
"Oh," said my mom, "They don't know who that is."
"But one of those girls owns a Wonder Woman shirt! I've seen her wear it!"
"Yes, but she doesn't know that. She calls it Superwoman."
Now, I'm not the world's biggest Wonder Woman fan by any means. I don't particularly like most Wonder Woman stories; I've read pieces of Rucka's run, and I of course picked up Simone's, but other than that, I tend not to be particularly interested. But I'm going to argue in her defence anyway:
We need a big media push towards Wonder Woman. Here are little girls who love princesses, who want to love superheroes, and here is a superhero who is also a princess, and they have no idea who she is. There was a Wonder Woman animated movie-- But the DC Animated DVDs aren't for kids.
The reason a lot of people around my age got into Batman is the Timm/Dini Animated Series. I suspect people a bit younger than me will grow up always loving the Justice League or the Titans. Nobody is going to grow up loving Wonder Woman, unless they have parents who love her. There's nothing kid-level that's all about Wonder Woman. If they don't know who she is when they're three, when are they supposed to learn? And, if they never see her outside of a specialty comic shop, how are they supposed to learn?