Warrior Princess Exchange!

[frayadjacent]

chaila and I recently did a Warrior Princess Exchange: she gave me some Wonder Woman comics to read and I suggested some Xena episodes for her to watch! My Xena suggestions were "One Against an Army" -- an obvious choice, IMO, for the the competence porn and the Xena and Gab being awesome and having an amazing relationship -- and "When Fates Collide". The second one seemed a little counter-intuitive but I still think it was a good choice for chaila, and for showcasing how awesome the characters can be. Also I re-watched the episode for Research and OMG so much fanservice. It was delightful

Chaila gave me The Hiketeia, which I devoured pretty quickly (well, after I figured out how to get Simple Comic to work right). It was a great story with some awesome Wonder Woman action and two great women characters.

I was surprised a little by how Diana claimed she didn't care what Danielle had done, to the point of kinda cutting off the conversation. It was an interesting ethical dilemma where I didn't really agree with anyone. I mean, I am fine with what Danielle did, but only because of the reason why she did it, which Diana claimed to not care about. (Though it seemed like she did care about it, since she was contemplating how she'd have felt if it were her sisters.) But honoring the Hiketeia was the major motivator for her, which I obviously don't identify with but it was pretty interesting nonetheless.

It definitely made me want to read more, and I imagine that if/when I do read more WW, I'll go back to the story and read it with a new level of emotional/intellectual engagement with the characters and stories.

I also thought the art was quite pretty, though I do predictably dislike the way women are drawn. It's not as bad as many comics but the contorted-torso-butt-and-boob poses were definitely there. But I liked how it conveyed the action.

The only thing I really wished was different was that it had spent more time on Diana and Danielle's relationship. I wish I had gotten to see them spending time together, to see how Danielle got good at her job instead of just having Diana tell me. But I wouldn't have wanted that at the expense of anything else, so I'd have wanted the book to be longer. :)

Comments

tl;dr like always

[chaila]

Every time I read someone else talking about The Hiketeia I'm convinced that I'm reading it totally wrong and not at all like it's meant to be read, but I don't think I care because I heart it my way! Like I think I just totally gloss over the Greek stuff because I didn't fully understand how it worked on first read, and possibly because the conflict between cold-hearted ancient ritual binding Diana on one hand and cold-hearted asshole Batman on the other just isn't that interesting to me and doesn't capture the complexity of Diana.

Lots of words here, but short version: I kind of read the central conflict as clashing ideas and ideals of justice, via Diana and Batman *and* the Furies. Batman's all about punishment and deterrence, so to him it doesn't really matter WHY Danielle did what she did, what matters is that the bad action caused harm and is prohibited and was committed anyway. Diana does I think care about why Danielle did what she did (even though according to the ritual, she shouldn't). Danielle was actually punishing a wrong done by her "victims" which went unpunished by the formal justice system AND BY BATMAN. Because Batman's punishment theory is only effective as justice if it's actually fairly applied to rich and poor, and powerful and powerless. Which it is not.

I think Diana eventually does genuinely take Danielle's side on principle, even though the ritual says it doesn't matter. Like she isn't devastated at the end just because she failed in the ritual, but because it's all so damn unfair. The Furies and Batman are both satisfied at the end (maybe not happy, but what their rules required had happened), but Diana is not. Between all the "forces" of justice in this story--Diana, Batman, the Furies--Diana is the only one interested in why Danielle committed the murders that she did, the only one interested in the real justice of the situation, rather than adherence to inflexible rules. But Danielle gets crushed between the inflexible rules anyway, because this is an intractable Greek tragedy but also because in this new patriarch's world that Diana now lives in (and in the ancient ritual), there's very little room for real justice.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! I don't know how good of an intro it is though. I just love it so much that I cannot even judge.

I can almost forgive the awful contorted poses for Diana standing on Batman's head in the rain puddles, ALMOST. And I fully admit that part of the reason I love The Hiketeia is for Diana thoroughly whipping Batman TWICE ("My apologies, Princess." "Mine as well. *sends him flying two stories down to the street*" <3333), particularly given fanboy obsession with Batman. I'm classy! :D And I always want *more* from comics, especially more character and relationship moments. Never enough.

Anyway! Xena! I watched both eps! I'm not sure I have an epic thoughts, sadly, but I generally enjoyed them. I do like the competence porn of Xena, and Xena being a total badass who can stare down an entire army herself. And like I said on Twitter, wow, no sub in this subtext! I was genuinely surprised at how texty it is. It is obviously such an epic love story, complete with deathbed confessions of love, wanting to give up the whole world to save each other, and obviously being destined to be together, Fates and their loom be damned! The campy way it rolls around in all the mythological stuff is fun too.

I'm not sure I'd be motivated to watch a bunch of seasons of Xena, but I'd definitely be up for more exchanging of specific eps/issues if you are! *vows to get you to read Medousa*

[sanguinity]

MEDOUSAAAAAAAAAAAA...

frayadjacent, you need to read the Medousa arc. Even if you don't read the rest of Rucka's run, you need to read that part of it.

[frayadjacent]

Ah I have every hope of at least reading all of Rucka and Simone's runs, and I'll do as much of it as chaila cares via this exchange... :D <3

Re: tl;dr like always

[frayadjacent]

Sorry to be so slow to reply properly to this lovely comment, and now it's not even that good of a reply. I like your take on this a lot! And I read your full post and it was awesome and very helpful.

I fully admit that part of the reason I love The Hiketeia is for Diana thoroughly whipping Batman TWICE

Ah, that was fabulous. I steer as clear as I can from all things Batman, but even with my relative ignorance that was pretty damn satisfying.

And I love to do more exchanges! I wouldn't have gotten through 6 seasons of Xena on my own. I only watched it all because I did so with a friend, with wine and popcorn, about once a week for over a year. I honestly didn't get really into it until sometime in Season 4 (I'm a big fan of the Rome arc that sanguinity mentioned above) and didn't really fall for it till S6 when it goes full on texty. But now I love the earlier seasons much more in retrospect. (But even with that, there is a lot of filler material I have no interest in rewatching.)