Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Some Fun From DC....

DC Comics, that is! In particular, I'm referring to issue 41 of Wonder Woman, written by Gail Simone and illustrated by Chris Batista and Fernando Dagnino.






The lady duking it out with Wonder Woman on the cover of the magazine is called Power Girl, and she has the same powers as Superman, which means the two of them are pretty evenly matched. In fact, during the battle one particularly strong punch from Power Girl knocks Wonder Woman clear into Canada!

Now, since both of these characters are Superheros, why are they battling each other? The answer, it turns out, is that the Sons of Ares are loose upon the Earth, and they are determined to destroy Wonder Woman and the city that she protects.

So as to be able to carry out their mission without rasing any red flags, they look very much like boys attending a private school--cap, blazer, shirt, tie and knee-pants.






By using the standard weapons of war propaganda--rumors, suggestions, lies and innuendo that help raise sparks of distrust and fear in the populace--the "boys" manage to incite the people of the town toward a near riot, and even convince Power Girl into believing that Wonder Woman (Princess Diana) is evil, and may, in fact, be an imposter. This leads to the fight depicted on the cover. The magic of their mind poison is quite strong, and works only too well.

It takes some doing, but Diana manages to get Power Girl back to normal, and fills her in on what might be going on. They need to do two things: calm the mob that is gathering before they riot, and find the children and shut them down before they can affect the entire city.

Power Girl is all for shutting the little monsters down, saying, "Good thing I support corporal punishment huge!" (this statement is paired with an illustration of Power Girl smacking her fist into the palm of her other hand).

Wonder Woman surprises her, though. Wonder Woman will see to the children. She wants Power Girl to handle the mob. Power Girl isn't sure she can do it, but is willing to try. Wonder Woman has one more request to make, however, and hopes Power Girl won't take it the wrong way, but:







Power Girl goes off to confront the mob, but nothing she tries seems to work. They are slowly closing in on her from all sides, and things could get ugly in a hurry.

In the meantime, Princess Diana has located the children. They try their tricks on her, try to poison her mind, but it doesn't work. Wonder Woman's golden lasso is the lariat of truth--anyone tied in it must tell the truth. By having Power Girl loosely drape the rope around her, Wonder Woman has armored herself with the truth, and remains unaffected. "And now", she says--and there is a dramatic drawing of Diana's upraised fist--"I mete out a punishment you will remember!"

The scene cuts back to Power Girl, still having no luck with the mob. She finally simply speaks from the heart, telling them to look at the people they want to hurt--they're really all the same, friends and neighbors.

The scene cuts back to Wonder Woman and the boys, with one of the boys saying, "You can't....you can't DO this! You can't DO this!"

Princess Diana replies ominously, "I can and will. Who goes first?"

Cut back to Power Girl, and we suddenly see that the mob has turned away, and everything appears to be returning to normal. She seems more surprised than anybody that her words worked, but it certainly seems to have done the trick. (My own guess would be that the boys concentration and power were broken once confronted with Diana, but if Power Girl wants to believe her words had the desired effect--well, I'm certainly not going to be a spoilsport.)

At the end of the story, we see Wonder Woman and Power Girl relaxing, enjoying their success. Power Girl asks her what she did with the little monsters, and Wonder Woman tells her there is an island reformatory that the Amazons built. She's not sure it will do any good, but feels that they have to try.

Power Girls replies, "No. I mean...what was this punishment you threatened them with?"

"Oh, that", Wonder Woman tells her. "I gave them all a good hard spanking."

Power Girl looks incredulous and can't believe it, but Wonder Woman assures her that's what happened, adding, "I must say....they didn't much care for it."

And as they fly off into the sunset, Power Girl tells her, "Oh, man. I just may have to break down and ask for your autograph!"

I daresay that for some male bottoms, this issue provides some lovely fuel for fantasy fodder.

And with Halloween not all that far away, might I suggest a Wonder Woman costume for the female tops, and schoolboy uniforms for the male bottoms? Both might find themselves kept extra busy at any Halloween spanking party!

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