The late Darwyn Cooke's interpretation of Wonder Woman from DC: The New Frontier is a huge inspiration for the current Wonder Woman monthly series, writers Michael Conrad and Becky Cloonan revealed during a Comic Con@Home panel.
Conrad called New Frontier, which was originally published in 2004 and showcased an alternate 1950s history of the DC Universe, his "go-to" for writing Princess Diana. He pointed to a particular scene in the story where Wonder Woman, assigned to administer humanitarian relief in Indo-China alongside Superman, rescues a group of abused women. After disarming the rebels who have imprisoned the women, Wonder Woman frees them and allows them to pass their own judgment on their captors.
"These women had been living like this for weeks," an adamant Wonder Woman tells an astonished Superman, who berates her for letting the women kill their captors. "Nothing more than animals...sexual cattle. They stood in silence, facing their tormentors. I had placed the weapons in the clearing. The choice was theirs."
When Superman admonishes Diana for violating U.S. government protocol, Wonder Woman reminds the Man of Steel of the ongoing civil war in the region, and argues that she's given the women freedom "and a chance for justice...the American way."
Conrad said the scene showed Wonder Woman emboldening her fellow women above all else, making her stand out from other superheroes burdened with government responsibilities or confining codes of honor.
"For me, it showed a level of Diana that is rarely seen but I think is the refined definition of what she is, which is someone whose moral compass is self-defined, and that's one of the things that I find most exciting about Wonder Woman, Nubia, and all of the Amazons."
In a wry reference to Batman and Superman, Conrad argued that the Amazons weren't characters who have "suffered the loss of a mother or father and lived their lives on a vengeance trail" or "displaced aliens who have learned to be good from country bumpkin people with good old Americana." In contrast, they exhibited "evolving, self-defining" agency as iconic, powerful female characters.
Cloonan agreed with Conrad's assessment, calling Cooke's bold vision of Diana "the one that I always go to when I think about Wonder Woman."
Cloonan and Conrad's run on Wonder Woman began earlier this year with Wonder Woman #770. Their latest story, Issue 776, features art by Cloonan and Jill Thompson, and went on sale July 27.
Source: YouTube