Whether you call her Wonder Girl or Donna Troy, the second most loved Amazon has often been a cypher and a victim of too many and too complicated origins. You know, the “Who Is Donna Troy” curse. You wanted Donna Troy back and now here she is and Meredith and David Finch are the responsible parties to thank or more likely to blame. We knew that a re-imagined Donna made her last page debut of sorts as a figure rising out of a cauldron in issue #37 with details of her origin told in the recent issue out Wednesday. In a nod to Diana’s original creation, Meredith Finch has used Hecate, the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy, to fashion a lump of clay into a heartless being as a villain, a rival to Diana. In one breath Meredith Finch stated in an interview with CBR ” It is very important to remember that it is the fans that buy the comics and allow us the opportunity to do what we do and be creative” and then in the next breath went on to say “I think that if we had brought Donna back as a character that was even remotely similar to who she was in old continuity it would have definitely been a very difficult temptation to avoid. Because we are bringing Donna back as a villain as Diana’s current rival, I have felt a lot more freedom to make her the character I want her to be and less thee person fans expect.”
Well, okay.
Yes, it is the fans who buy comics that provide writers and artists creative opportunities. Yes, it’s true as Brian Michael Bendis wrote in his Words For Pictures that writers and artists have keep in mind that their real audience is really the editor and at most several other industry people. However, Donna Troy has a loyal and vocal fanbase just like Wonder Woman and most of the reaction from the Donna Troy fans I’ve read is clearly not having it and if the fans won’t buy it too read and sales plummet then editors won”t be happy and decide the time is right either for a new direction or different talent. Recreating such a loved character as a villain just may be too much, worse than the mess John Byrne’s mind spit out decades ago, but is it time to bring out the pillory for the Finches? Maybe. That is if you’re still reading Wonder Woman and for the first time in decades I’m not because my sense of an oncoming creative train wreck was too strong. Playing Devil’s avocate for a moment makes me wonder what if the Finches have a story of redemption or transformation planned for Donna though, taking her from villainous rival to a friend or even adopted sister. It’s possible this is their plan, which begs the question why take the character so far from her roots as the girl next door who just happens to be an Amazon who everyone likes and wants to be friends with instead of creating a new character. What’s so difficult about giving the readers a little something they’ve been wanting for three and a half years now?
