New Hampshire magazine talks with novelist and upcoming Wonder Woman writer Jodi Picoult about comic books and her take on the Amazonian princess:

She’s more like you than you think. Most of the heroes that you see in comics are people who have these alter egos as superheroes. The only person who is actually extraterrestrial and slumming as a human is Superman — and Wonder Woman. They really are larger than life. More powerful, quicker. How do you relate to someone who is always going to be different from you? Wonder Woman has never had a lot of connection with the humans she loves so much. To me, that’s a great starting point. What if you spend your whole life taking care of humans but you know you’re never really going to be one of the group. That’s gotta create some kind of doubts in your mind. And what if you are the strongest woman on the earth but there are some parts of yourself you wonder about. There are still issues and fears that you have — emotional ones that have nothing to do with your physical power. Making her more like us. Not fallible physically, but questioning mentally, was something I really wanted to do.

I think the other thing they will be surprised to find is that Wonder Woman is really very funny. She has a great sense of humor in the comic because I never get top be funny in my books. I’ve really enjoyed playing up aspects of her that I think have been underplayed.

Picoult also talks a little about working in a male-dominated field. “It’s a total boys club,” she tells the magazine. “I imagine that if I worked at DC comics I’d never have to fight to get into the ladies room. I don’t think they have one. Comic books in general is a men’s club. When I found out I was only the second woman who has ever written Wonder Woman in what 50-something years, it seems a little extraordinary to me.”

This entry was posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2007 at 11:48 am and is filed under Books, Comic Books, Creators, DC Comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.