By Mel Dyer
After the rather tepid debut - more of a meow, than a roar - of her most enduring comic book foil, the Cheetah, in Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman 1984 (now, streaming and in theatres), ..the Amazing Amazon's arch-nemesis is an empty chair, right now. That said, her perennial sorceress enemy, Circe, is slowly developing into something interesting, outside of the WW comic - "The Witching War" arc in the hot-trending Justice League Dark.
In James Tynion IV's origin tale, the mythical princess of ancient Greek Colchis, celebrated for her radiance and healing arts, ..finds herself the young (maybe, teenaged) hostage in an arranged marriage to the cruel king of a wealthier nation. Upon killing the abusive pig - a rich friend of her father Aeetes, perhaps - and hanging him in a meat locker, her once worshipful people chase her into the Underworld, where the Greek goddess of witchcraft, Hekate, grants her great sorcerous power! With it, she returns to Man's World and revenges herself on those treacherous Colchistines, transfiguring them into animals and, in a nod to classical lit, slaughtering many, ..like pigs.
From the pages of DC Comics' Justice League Dark, ..Circe begins! With Álvaro Martínez Bueno pencils and a James Tynion IV story
The rest is comic super-villain history.
I like the bones of this story! Circe starting her life, as a benevolent and powerful woman, betrayed by ungrateful people, under her protection, and that betrayal inspiring a hatred of humanity, ..for-EVER. Great story! Unlike what went before it, it is a CLEAR story - one that puts her squarely in the path of Diana's life mission, fueling an enmity worthy of an inexhaustible mound of movies, lunchboxes and underwear! It even picks up the Golden Age elements that see Circe banished from the world of men, which creates a great opportunity for writers to tell the story of 'Young Circe' ..and the many struggles that justify her lust for revenge.
Imagine...young Circe's harrowing pursuit and persecution, by the agents of Zeus and Hera, even Apollo, ..after taking revenge on the ungrateful Colchistines! Her flight from the gods could take her to the far ends of the universe, learning powerful cosmic secrets, ..before her final imprisonment, upon Aea. A series of 'Young Circe' stories could also make her turn, from heroine to villainess, a little clearer and more dramatic--what a layered, complex enemy for Wonder Woman!
I think it helped that James Tynion's story is set in the shadowy, bizarre 'world of magic', instead of pigeon-holed in the cobwebs ..of fake Greek myth, typically shoveled into the hungry imaginations of WW comic fans. Tynion makes the outrage that follows Circe's misogynistic victimization, by her fellow Colchistines, all the more righteous, without making her turn to villainy, as with other female antagonists, ..a pathetic act of desperation. His Circe is a deliberate being, who deserves her revenge. Reminding us of that, I think, will be the challenge of the WW comic writers, who use her...
And, ultimately, that is what will determine her worthiness for arch-enmity, with Wonder Woman.
Mel Dyer, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio) and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill.
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