Flexible Realities in “Calvin and Hobbes” [1 of 4]
In "Calvin and Hobbes," Bill Watterson consciously avoids resolving the true nature of Calvin's stuffed toy/best friend, asserting, “Hobbes is more about the subjective nature of reality than about dolls coming to life.” . #CalvinAndHobbes

Our latest for @sequentialscholars.bsky.social talks sexuality in Absolute Wonder Woman. #WonderWoman #ComicsStudies

Interior art showing Diana interacting with Aphrodite

Into that troubling paradox lands Thompson, charged with reinventing a character who has been defined by a sexuality that has, consistently, held a huge impact within popular culture, positive and negative. It’s a strange burden to witness and worth noting, perhaps, as history in the making. 14/14

An image showing multiple iterations of Wonder Woman through the years.

The inevitable question then is simply: does it matter? Wonder Woman is a character with a longstanding queer mythology (literally and figuratively), but whether she’s overdetermined or underdetermined by her sexuality is a subjective proposition. 13/14

Interior art showing Absolute Wonder Woman’s first meeting with Zatanna

In issue #14 of the series, Zatanna is quite flirtatious with Diana. Issue #18 features Diana reciprocating that behaviour and also contemplating the nature of love with the Goddess Aphrodite. In short this iteration of Diana might be in love with a woman. Time (and Thompson) will tell. 12/14

Interior art showing Wonder Woman reuniting with Steve Trevor

“I think it’s simply too soon to say if Diana is interested in Steve romantically or not. She has a lot on her plate and almost everything is new to her, so she’s not interested in boxing herself into one path when she has literally just escaped her Underworld prison.” 11/14

Cover gallery from DC’s Pride collection.

Conversely, Wonder Woman has been noticeably absent from DC’s “Pride” collections, which would seem to indicate a reticence, on the publisher’s part, to support Rucka’s interpretation of the character. Thompson has been non-commital in interviews about her Wonder Woman’s sexuality: 10/14

Cover art from “Wonder Woman: Earth One”

We have seen numerous AU interpretations of Wonder Woman as openly queer, including Earth One, Dark Knights of Steel, Bombshells, and many others. The Absolute line is technically AU, but its sales put it on a different plane with a differing obligation as a DC tentpole at this point in time. 9/14

Interior art showing Kasia kissing Diana on the cheek

In Rucka’s story, Diana had a previous relationship with an Amazon named Kasia. That said, a kiss to the cheek is the most physical affection depicted between the two characters on-panel. 8/14

Cover art from “Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka”

And while the queer subtext of Wonder Woman comics is longstanding, it isn’t until 2016 that the character has been identified as canonically non-heterosexual. Author Greg Rucka establishes Wonder Woman as bisexual in his Rebirth run and confirms his interpretation in interviews. 7/14

Interior art showing Wonder Woman bound and gagged by a Holliday girl

…Wonder Woman refers to them as ‘my girls.’ Their attitude about death and murder is a mixture of the callousness of crime comics with the coyness of sweet little girls.” He also connects Wonder Woman to BDSM – Marston has admitted this – in a reading that could be described as kink-shaming. 6/14

Interior art featuring Wonder Woman and the Holliday Girls

Wertham writes “The homosexual connotation of the Wonder Woman type of story is psychologically unmistakable. …For girls, Wonder Woman and her counterparts are definitely anti-masculine….Her followers are the “Holliday Girls,” i.e. the holiday girls, the gay party girls, the gay girls… 5/14

Cover of Frederic Wertham’s book

Relatedly, in the 1950s, Wonder Woman was featured prominently in Frederic Wertham’s infamous “Seduction of the Innocent,” the book that caused widespread outrage over comics, ultimately leading to an artistically-limiting censorship body, the CCA. 4/14

Cover of Jill Lepore’s Book

As documented by Jill Lepore in her book, “The Secret History of Wonder Woman,” the character was created to be a progressive feminine icon, but also a subversive representation of human sexuality, one that includes ample queer-coding from the outset. 3/14

Interior art from Wonder Woman, showing Diana tied up and surrounded by women.

This issue has been the subject of debate from the outset of the character and not without consequence. Indeed, it’s been a prominent feature of many of the central and defining debates of comics studies throughout the years. 2/14

Promotional image showing Zatanna and Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman’s sexuality has played a bizarre role in the history of the comics medium as a whole, and with Absolute Wonder Woman, Thompson and team have an opportunity to add a new chapter in the complex and complicated history of Wonder Woman’s sexuality. #wonderwoman 1/14

The more the merrier, and your work is always next level - delighted to have potentially played some small role in nudging you more toward social media scholarship!

The Endless Ending of “Calvin and Hobbes” [2 of 3]
Watterson’s reclusive persona contributed to the frustration of some fans. For decades, Watterson has generally declined media interviews and does not answer or receive fan mail.

Interior art showing Absolute Wonder Woman fighting a giant monster

And indeed, this is the Diana that Thompson presents us with: a radically familiar iteration of an iconic character at once wholly unique and compelling but also consistent with the core values and attributes that Wonder Woman so powerfully represents. 11/11

Interior art showing Absolute Superman in flight

This paradox is exactly what the reboot approach, or even alternate universe approach has, historically, sought to address: stories that achieve new creative direction and character evolution without diminishing (or destroying) the central fabric of who the superhero characters are. 10/11

Interior art showing the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm

…but, since he is marketed in the sphere of a “romantic” production for a public that consumes “romances,” he must be subjected to a development which is typical, as we have seen, of novelistic characters.” 9/11

Cover art from Superman 14

“..he must be an archetype, the totality of certain collective aspirations, and therefore he must necessarily become immobilized in an emblematic and fixed nature which renders him easily recognizable (this is what happens to Superman);… 8/11

Opening page of Eco’s “The Myth of Superman”

This same concern is aptly stated in one of the foundational works of English-Language comics studies, Umberto Eco’s “The Myth of Superman,” in which the legendary scholar and author writes “The mythological character of comic strips finds himself in this singular situation:… 7/11

Promotional art for DC’s Absolute comics line

And here we get back to the curious properties of the Absolute line: radical reinventions that, at the same, time, emphasize the innate consistency of DC’s most iconic and enduring characters. No matter how you change their circumstance, who they are does not change. 6/11

Cover art from “What If?”

Besson speaks to the importance of consistency quite directly: “A well-known and well-liked narrative must be respected, it is essential to fan communities: not everything can be done.” 5/11

Cover art for “DC Rebirth”

This is a particularly relevant concern for DC comics multiverse that has featured 160 alternate universes since 1986 in addition to 3 complete reboots of the entire multiverse. The coherence and continuity of the DC universe is an openly acknowledged problem. 4/11

Interior art showing The Flash’s death as a universe collapses

“Alternate Universes pose a potential threat though and must be handled with care – too many disruptions, too many versions, and the centrifugal force of “the universe” may not be strong enough to resist the pressure.” 3/11

Interior art showing an explanation of the multiverse

In “No limits? Multiverses, alternate universes and the media franchises,” Anne Besson discusses the impact of alternative universe storytelling within fandoms: 2/11

Promotional art for “Crisis on Infinite Earths”

Absolute Wonder Woman offers the potential to reflect on the longstanding, increasingly financially relevant concept of alternate universe storytelling in the comics medium. #wonderwoman 1/11

The Endless Ending of “Calvin and Hobbes” [1 of 3] YouTube video by Sequential Scholars

Hi! The video software we use doesn't have an option for generating captions, unfortunately, but you can view our content on YouTube and Instagram with auto generated captions!

youtube.com/shorts/dHozj...