Perspective in Sensation Comics No.2

    For this post, I want to step away from overarching themes or impressions and dig into one specific aspect of Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics No. 2. For me, Wonder Woman presented an opportunity to be different, to break the homogeneous mold of American comics that lead the 40's and create a strong female hero that girls everywhere could use as a role model. To some extent, this hope was rewarded with Wonder Woman's courageous spirit and confidence in battle, but in other areas she seemed to fall back into the typical role assigned to feminine characters; that of the romantic interest.
    This dichotomy of representation manifests itself not only in the character herself, but in how she is depicted in the issue. Look at the opening splash page of the issue where Wonder Woman is leading her courageous brigade of band girls straight into the Nazi camp. Here she is large and center of the frame, her leg lifted and her head back as if she's going to trample over the entire army without even noticing. She's confident, courageous, everything a girl should look up to in a heroine. This is the Wonder Woman that Sensation Comics wants you to think is throughout the issue, the one everyone will tear off the news stands just to see what she'll do.
    In contrast, we can see on page 41 that a panel very similar to the splash page is present as the last panel in on the page, but it is from a very different perspective. The men threatening Wonder Woman and her volunteers are moved to the forefront, looking menacing and dangerous to our heroines. We no longer have the tall, confident Amazonian looking to trample her opponents, but a regular, small woman approaching an obvious danger. The narrative, rather than the opening, seems to focus on the danger Wonder Woman is entering rather than her ability to triumph over it. Here, rather than in the splash page, we are left to guess what the outcome will be rather than knowing it from the composition.
    And this draws attention to my exact problem with Wonder Woman: she is not the same character we're being actively sold. Inside the story, Wonder Woman is fantastic, but must always find herself in the romantic plot rather than a righteous fight against injustice, a premiere place Superman commonly finds himself in. Whereas on the cover it looks like she will knock over any bad guy without a thought, in the story she is often hostage, objectified, and put in danger that seems implausible given her strengths. To me, it seems, the male artists who created Wonder Woman know the character that American girls want, but aren't quite comfortable giving them the whole package.