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Queer Comic Book Characters: Grace Choi (Oct 23rd)

Grace Choi is part Bana Amazon and metahuman. She has super strength, durability, and healing powers. Grace has mostly appeared in DC’s The Outsiders. She’s pretty distinct as a 7-foot-tall Asian American woman with many tattoos. Grace is known to date both men and women.

Grace Choi

Grace Choi
Grace Choi

As a child, Grace was caught in a prostitution ring. When her metahuman powers developed, she escaped her slavery. Before she was recruited by the Outsiders, she worked as a bouncer in Metropolis. Thankfully, this is where Grace’s horrible stereotype of a childhood ends and she comes into her own as an adult.

On the team, Grace is the muscle. Continue reading “Queer Comic Book Characters: Grace Choi (Oct 23rd)”

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Queer Comic Book Characters: Achilles (Oct 6th)

A gay icon for decades, Wonder Woman finally got a gay friend. Okay, first she had a gay enemy. One who rides an awesome flying elephant named Mysia.

Achilles, aka The Olympian

Achilles rides Mysia
Achilles rides in on Mysia to save the day.

Achilles came to Themyscira as part of Zeus’ attempt to force peace into the world. First, Achilles gets himself the heart of a god (Kane Milohai’s after Zeus kills him). Second, Achilles and his fellow Olympian soldiers (men) storm the U.N. building in DC. Wonder Woman shows up to stop him. Continue reading “Queer Comic Book Characters: Achilles (Oct 6th)”

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Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Wonder Woman #1, part 1 of 4

Wonder Woman Wednesdays

Wonder Woman Vol 1 #1

Wonder Woman #1 was published in the summer of 1942 and was the first full-length comic book featuring only Wonder Woman stories. It’s composed of four stories, and so I’m choosing to spread out this issue into four blog posts because Wonder Woman #1 is important.

As an introduction, there’s a biography of Miss Alice Marble, associate editor of Wonder Woman. Which is basically a fluff piece on how she’s making sure Wonder Woman stays true to herself and as a hero for girls. Plus, how even grown women love Wonder Woman. While Marble was famous for playing tennis, her secret life a spy on Nazis was perhaps far more interesting. She retired due to being shot in the back while obtaining Nazi financial information in Switzerland. Now that’s some serious real life bad guy fighting. Interestingly enough, this all took place after she started editing Wonder Woman.

In addition to Marble’s bio, there’s also a page called “Who’s Wonder Woman?” where Greek gods — Aphrodite, Athena, Mercury, and Hercules — are used to explain Diana’s powers and beliefs as an easy introduction for new readers.

The first tale is a retelling of the origins of both the Amazons and how how Wonder Woman came to be in America. Some details are rehashed, some are new, and others have been edited. I felt like Marston had an editor’s red pen scribbled all over his original story. Here there is little to none of his cabinet of curiosities, and while there are still some ridiculous elements, the tale feels a lot tamer and less full of wacky what were they thinking moments. Wonder Woman’s original origin story appears in All-Star Comics #8.

The story’s framed by a doctor at the army hospital finding a parchment dropped by Wonder Woman. He realizes it’s ancient and sends it to the Smithsonian. The parchment contains the story of the Amazons and how they came to inhabit Paradise Isle, among other things. Continue reading “Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Wonder Woman #1, part 1 of 4”