Absolute Wonder Woman and AU Storytelling

Absolute Wonder Woman offers the potential to reflect on the longstanding, increasingly financially relevant concept of alternate universe storytelling in the comics medium. #wonderwoman 1/11

In “No limits? Multiverses, alternate universes and the media franchises,” Anne Besson discusses the impact of alternative universe storytelling within fandoms: 2/11

“Alternate Universes pose a potential threat though and must be handled with care – too many disruptions, too many versions, and the centrifugal force of “the universe” may not be strong enough to resist the pressure.” 3/11

This is a particularly relevant concern for DC comics multiverse that has featured 160 alternate universes since 1986 in addition to 3 complete reboots of the entire multiverse. The coherence and continuity of the DC universe is an openly acknowledged problem. 4/11

Besson speaks to the importance of consistency quite directly: “A well-known and well-liked narrative must be respected, it is essential to fan communities: not everything can be done.” 5/11

And here we get back to the curious properties of the Absolute line: radical reinventions that, at the same, time, emphasize the innate consistency of DC’s most iconic and enduring characters. No matter how you change their circumstance, who they are does not change. 6/11

This same concern is aptly stated in one of the foundational works of English-Language comics studies, Umberto Eco’s “The Myth of Superman,” in which the legendary scholar and author writes “The mythological character of comic strips finds himself in this singular situation:… 7/11

“..he must be an archetype, the totality of certain collective aspirations, and therefore he must necessarily become immobilized in an emblematic and fixed nature which renders him easily recognizable (this is what happens to Superman);… 8/11

…but, since he is marketed in the sphere of a “romantic” production for a public that consumes “romances,” he must be subjected to a development which is typical, as we have seen, of novelistic characters.” 9/11

This paradox is exactly what the reboot approach, or even alternate universe approach has, historically, sought to address: stories that achieve new creative direction and character evolution without diminishing (or destroying) the central fabric of who the superhero characters are. 10/11

And indeed, this is the Diana that Thompson presents us with: a radically familiar iteration of an iconic character at once wholly unique and compelling but also consistent with the core values and attributes that Wonder Woman so powerfully represents. 11/11