Mark Millar and the Rape of Wonder Woman
this is a small exerpt from an essay wip about the women in fridges trope, the whole thing, including this segment, are still under heav drafting and construction but i've been thinking abt this topic lately
segment word count is 766
Wonder Woman is undeniably the most popular super heroine in the world, with an ongoing comic series published on a regular basis from 1942 into our present day, created by William Moulton Marston in the image of his two polyamorous lovers, his wife Elizabeth Holloway, and their life partner Olive Byrne.
Diana is one part of DC's Trinity, also encapsulating Batman and Superman, and has a rich history rooted in feminism and the belief in sexual liberation, restorative justice, and the power of spreading knowledge as a means to fight against fascism. Through her history, she's been written by plenty of phenomenal writers, including George Perez, Greg Rucka, and Gail Simone in the main DC comic universe, as well as Kelly Sue DeConnick in her mini series Wonder Woman: Historia and Kelly Thompson's currently ongoing Absolute Wonder Woman, both of which are revered by die-hard fans of the character, her supporting cast, and her villains.
While there have been plenty of men to form their own takes on Diana, and many are often credited with writing character defining storylines for her, like George Perez's post-Crisis reboot, and Greg Rucka's two runs in the 2000s and DC Rebirth, but there have also been an extremely large population of writers who believe Wonder Woman is too difficult, too political, or too lame of a character.
Back in the 90s, Mark Millar pitched a series to DC in what he describes as the same vein as the iconic Death of Superman and Knightfall arcs for Superman and Batman, in which Superman, well, dies, and Batman gets his back broken by Bane. This storyline was to be titled "The Rape of Wonder Woman" which he pitched to DC "for a laugh" with a gatefold page at the end. This story would have been, quite literally, nothing but a twenty-two page rape scene of Wonder Woman being sexually violated in public. If you're unaware, a gatefold is essentially a double page spread that folds out of the pages of a book, for visual emphasis.
I have no problem with depicting rape in media, however you can tell from the way he speaks about the storyline he didn't think about any of the implications about why Wonder Woman's equivalent to Death of Superman or Knightfall has to be an issue-long rape scene. As the only woman in DC's Trinity, I personally think it's in bad taste to depict what's supposed to be rock bottom as her being raped as opposed to death or disability. Many victims and survivors will have differing opinions about whether their assault was the worst thing that happened to them, as it is always on a person-to-person basis, but I don't think the man who believes a twenty-two page rape scene is the best way to depict Wonder Woman at her rock bottom is qualified to write it in a critical way, when he himself can't even speak critically about it with an audience.
I myself am a huge fan of Wonder Woman, from Marston's original stories in the pages of Sensation Comics onward, her history has been nothing short of bold and influential, showcasing the strength of women in a society that demeans them for not a single logical reason. While I don't personally feel any specific way about rape being depicted in fiction, I must acknowlege how this storyline seems to have been pitched in bad faith. Many people have written Wonder Woman and her supporting cast in ways that fans dislike, but if this storyline were published it would have easily rivaled if not overtaken The Killing Joke as DC's most controversial storyline.
It's quite unfortunate that this is how Wonder Woman is treated, despite being DC's most popular heroine, in comparison to her male counterparts. Batman is the face of DC, Superman is the face of the super hero media industry, and Wonder Woman can't even get an animated series, her video game is canceled, and her portrayal by in Zach Snyder's DCEU is inconsistent through movies at best. While, generally, she's treated well in her solo books, her team books are often subpar in treatment, and she often suffers in comparison to her fellow Justice League members.
It'd be untruthful to say that there haven't been rough patches in her publication history, such as Robert Kanigher's depowering in the late 1940s, or Brian Azarello's New 52 version of the character that was more detached from her origins and motivations in comparison to her pre-Flashpoint counterpart, but this likely would have taken the cake for most overtly vicious treatment she's faced.
