Monday, September 26, 2005

The Other Amazons

One of the advantages of becoming Marionette Twoblogs is that I can do things like this. Last week I wrote an essay for Dance of the Puppets and when I got to the final sentence I saw a whole different angle I could take on it, and so rewrote it from the start.

Only on the internet could you get to publish two contradictory versions of the same article.


Wonder Woman first appeared in 1942. By 1957 you'd think they might have heard of her over at Action Comics. And yet Action #235 features a story in which Lois Lane is shipwrecked on a desert island populated entirely by hot babes (well, about half a dozen) claiming to be Amazons. "Goodness!" Exclaims Lois, "They look like the legendary Amazons!"
It's not clear on what Lois is basing this observation, since her only experience of Amazons is likely to be brunettes in patriotic bustiers and star spangled panties. If I saw a fair skinned blonde in a white mini-dress on a beach and speaking perfect english I'd probably ask where the barbecue was. Even if she was carrying a spear.

Superman shows up as usual to bail Lois out of trouble but the Amazon queen Elsha takes a fancy to him and declares that as he is a male who has set foot on the island he has broken amazon law and must be sold as a slave. Superman smugly goes along with this for a laugh, believing that no chains can hold him, but he has quite forgotten that this is the Silver Age, where kryptonite can turn up anywhere, and guess what his chains are made of?

And yet the kryptonite fails to affect Supes, so he allows events to unfold while he tries to work out what is preventing the kryptonite from hurting him. The Amazon queen auctions him off in a cunning plan to get him all to herself, since she has more money than the other three Amazons, and she can always embezzle the royal treasury since (one assumes) any profits from the sale would go right back there. But she has reckoned without Lois' practiced cunning where Superman is involved, and makes the mistake of allowing her to bid with funds that she doesn't actually have access to at that point.

Changing tack, Elsha decides to end centuries of slavery by declaring emancipation, which would be a momentous change in any society that actually had more than one slave. This means that another entirely contradictory ancient Amazon law comes in to play where any male caught trespassing will be married off to the first woman who can give him a task he cannot perform.
You might be forgiven for thinking that Elsha is making this up as she goes along.

Anyhow, various of the women present enter into the spirit of things and send Supes off to do errands, though it's interesting to note that once again neither of the other Amazons get a look in. Elsha gives him the seemingly impossible task of making her a commoner, which on the surface of it seems a bit of a stumper, but if you are going to pose an insoluble problem to someone with godlike powers, it's generally a bad plan to have the answer written on your hat.

And yet Elsha gets the last laugh because once Supes has solved the problem by cremating her crown it becomes apparent that it was this that was counteracting the effects of the kryptonite, and Supes is so pissed that it never occurs to him to ask if there was any more where that came from.

And that's the last we hear of the alternative Amazons. Superman never bothers to mention to his fellow Justice League member that he's found a lost offshoot of her race camped out on a desert island. He's probably too embarrassed about the damage he has done to another culture in pursuit of personal interests.

Read More

16 Comments:

Blogger T. said...

Was there a Justice League at this point? Did Superman and Wonder Woman ever cross over yet? I think at this point there wasn't really a cohesive DC Universe yet, right? I thought the different editors treated each line like it's own self-contained universe apart from the World's Finest book?

Anyhoo, good stuff!

johnnytriangles.blogspot.com

9/26/2005 08:49:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, I think the different editorial stables pretty much operated independently until around the time the JLA was created - and even to a large extent after that, as the Superman and Batman editors were very territorial.

I remember a story about Julius Schwarz talking to his publisher, who asked him "So how come you don't have Superman and Batman participating more in the JLA?" Schwarz said Mort Weisinger (Superman editor) and I forget who the Batman editor was wouldn't let him, and the publisher got mad and basically told Schwarz he'd tell those two SOBs who *really* owns Superman and Batman....

But, yeah, continuity wasn't a big concern. Another prominent example is that Superman's Atlantis (home of Lori Lemaris) is quite different from Aquaman's. Until eventually they reconciled the two as being offshoots of the same common origin (anybody know when exactly they did this? I know Peter David's "Atlantis Chronicles" spelled it all out in detail, but that wasn't the first time, was it?)

9/26/2005 10:46:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think I've changed my mind since the first version of this post. Elsha isn't a fraud, but she's definitely no amazon, either - she's just a crazy person. Her "fellow amazons" are either incredibly suggestible fellow inmates escaped from the asylum with her during transit, or doctors and nurses from her hospital posing as amazons as part of an extended unorthodox therapy session.

As far as the crown goes, if Superman had kept it, it just would've turned out to be made of some other type of kryptonite, the effects of which are only cancelled out by regular Kryptonite. Absolutely everything is made of kryptonite in the Silver Age. I believe Lois herself was revealed to be a solid chunk of Plaid Kryptonite in one of the later issues of "Superman Family"; the radiation she emits renders Clark completely unrecognizable despite his lame disguise.

9/26/2005 06:47:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

zhengjx20160723
nike air huarache
adidas originals
michael kors outlet clearance
true religion jeans
ray ban outlet
adidas yeezy
nike store
michael kors outlet
toms shoes
beats by dr dre
asics running shoes
coach outlet
kobe 8
louis vuitton bags
oakley sunglasses
timberland boots
true religion outlet online
michael kors outlet
coach outlet online
ladies cartier watches
timberland outlet
michael kors outlet clearance
michael kors outlet clearance
ray bans
michael kors outlet
celine bags
louis vuitton purses
cheap ray ban sunglasses
louis vuitton
michael kors handbags
nike free uk
kd 8
michael kors outlet clearance
christian louboutin sale
christian louboutin shoes
instyler
air jordan shoes
cheap toms
air jordan shoes
michael kors bags

7/22/2016 05:19:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

yeezy boost
tom ford sunglasses
lebron 13 low
golden goose sneakers
adidas stan smith uk
nike air max95
michael kors handbags sale
adidas ultra boost
adidas gazelle
adidas ultra boost

8/18/2017 10:37:00 PM  
Blogger raybanoutlet001 said...

ralph lauren uk
true religion outlet
oakley sunglasses
ugg boots
michael kors purses
polo ralph lauren
fitflops
mlb jerseys
carolina jerseys
ugg outlet

9/01/2017 11:14:00 PM  
Blogger raybanoutlet001 said...

dallas cowboys jerseys
cheap ray bans
polo ralph lauren outlet
fitflops sale clearance
nike blazer pas cher
49ers jersey
ferragamo shoes
oakland raiders jerseys
nike trainers shoes
fitflops sale

10/09/2017 09:35:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

kate spade handbags
tom ford glasses
westbrook shoes
kobe byrant shoes
dior sunglasses
hermes handbags
cheap nfl jerseys china
adidas online shop
supreme hoodie
nike dunk low

1/25/2018 03:06:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

cheap ray bans
coach outlet
snapbacks wholesale
louboutin shoes
fitflops sale
cheap nfl jerseys
tennessee titans jersey
ferragamo outlet
carolina panthers jersey
canada goose sale

4/05/2018 11:40:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

www0616



oakley sunglasses wholesale
true religion jeans
longchamp outlet
kate spade outlet
longchamp bags
valentino outlet
prada handbags
fitflops shoes
bally shoes
nike shoes

6/16/2018 02:18:00 AM  
Blogger wk said...

0802jejeMichael Zhu nike soldes femme running est un créateur qualifié de Il a nike roshe run liberty pour femme composé beaucoup d'articles ou de billets Air Jordan 31 soldes de blog dans de nombreux new balance basketball apparel contes d'activité Sneakers attrayants comme Air new balance ml999 femme blanche Jordan Fusion Dunk SB Air ou trouver des chaussures new balance a paris Max Trainers. Une personne peut asics pas cher marseille même avoir la chance de magasiner nike air max 1 essential phantom release pour d'autres produits dans les magasins.

8/01/2018 09:37:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

nike shoes for men
ugg boots clearance
basketball shoes
ugg boots
nhl jerseys wholesale
polo ralph lauren outlet
pandora jewelry outlet
coach factory outlet
tory burch outlet
kate spade outlet online
www0820

8/19/2018 08:44:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

www0905
nike air jordan
nike outlet
kate spade outlet
nike blazer
christian louboutin sale
nike outlet store
tods outlet
vibram five fingers
nike huarache femme
ugg boots clearance

9/04/2018 08:59:00 PM  
Blogger yanmaneee said...

supreme hoodie
balenciaga triple s
kenzo
air jordan 1
canada goose jacket
yeezy boost
calvin klein underwear
kyrie 4
supreme hoodie
kd shoes

1/21/2021 12:31:00 PM  
Blogger NFL Game said...

Cowboys Game Live News & Media Video Scores Schedules Standings. Dallas Cowboys Live Stream, Player News, Injuries, Player Rankings, Starting Trends and more you can’t imagine.For more info visit our site: Watch Dallas Cowboys Football Live Online

11/15/2023 08:38:00 AM  
Blogger NFL Game said...

Here is an updated college football TV schedule for the 2023 season, including weekly results and links to live scoring. This article will be updated throughout the season as more TV channels and game times are announced, through the bowl season and the College Football Playoff.For more info visit our site:Watch Alabama Football Live Online

12/10/2023 09:36:00 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home