BOYS ON THE SIDE: HOW ETTA AND MALA (NOT STEVE) MAKE WONDER WOMAN WORK, PART THREE

By Edgar Miraculous Dyer

Mala was one of the most important Amazons, in the Golden Age Forties adventures of Wonder Woman.

She was with Diana, when they discovered Col. Steve Trevor floating in the seas, around their isle of Amazons, and she was the last Amazon standing, when a masked Diana won the Tournament of Wonder to determine which Amazon would venture into Man's World, as their champion, ..Wonder Woman. Tirelessly optimistic, Mala became the warden of Reform Island, where she rehabilitated murderesses, madwomen and Nazis. Mala, the SCIENTIST and technician, worked alongside, reformed Nazi, Paula Von Gunter, to perfect telepathic controls in Diana's Invisible Jet - even had her own hi-tech Swan Plane, which, while not as fast, as Wonder Woman's I-Jet, ..was fast enough to get her to Man's World, every once in a while.

And flipping 'the eagle' to Amazon fashion trends, while most of her sisters wore demure, droll toga-thingies, blond Mala typically rocked a polka-dotted dress! Yeah, bidjes!

So, here's this GREAT, classic Amazon warrior, who's been there, since the very beginning! Who knows Diana better, than Mala, next to Queen Hippolyta, ..the most frequently appearing Amazon in the Golden Age! Fiercely independent, defiantly optimistic, technologically adept and martially skilled enough to be the second runner-up in a contest, that determined who would be WONDER WOMAN - that's Mala...

The original 'Golden Girls'? See how this comic works, when Etta, Mala and Diana get together? (H. G. Peter art)

And I think she's what's missing from the Wonder Woman comic, today.

So, what made the original comic book Etta Candy, created in the Forties - once, red-haired and Caucasian...today, African American - so special and great for the comic? Who was she? For starters, Etta came with her own Sunday paper, cartoon strip family! There were Etta's parents, Sugar Candy and Hard Candy, ..and her brother, Mint Candy, ..and all living on a Texas Ranch, the Bar-L, right out of a Hollywood Western. Etta was big and fat, a happy contrast to her Amazon, best girlfriend, Wonder Woman - don't think true Etta-lovers want a skinny Etta, ..white, black or any color! Original Etta had a boyfriend in the 1940s, Oscar Sweetgulper, and another one in the Lynda Carter Seventies; his name was Howard Huckabee - both loved Etta to death...

Almost as much she loved being herself!

And why does modern, comic book Etta have to be a government agent, working for Wonder Woman's boyfriend? The only reason she's a government agent, today, is because the 70s TV show made Etta, Steve's secretary; she never was in the Golden Age Forties, ..when she was so much fun! Why does Etta have to be black OR working for Steve Trevor, when TV Steve already had a perfectly stylish, witty and charming, black secretary (played by actress S. Pearl Sharp), ..named EVE WELCH? Some reason a Wonder Woman comic writer can't introduce Eve into the comic mythos, as a badass, ARGUS agent?

Why can't Etta, black, lesbian or whatever, ..just go back to being Diana's weird, wild, sorority chick/cowgirl BFF? While Etta affirms Diana's wild, take-charge, apocalyptic warrior side, Mala can just as importantly affirm Diana's loving, compassionate, healing and introspective side. In that, with Steve and Etta at Diana's side, Mala balances the WW comic's supporting cast in ways that no other classic Wonder Woman character can.

While Queen Hippolyta, Artemis and Donna Troy are just too much like Diana to be interesting, as regular supporting players (appearing every or every other issue), I think Mala offers something, they don't. She presents just enough contrast with Diana and Etta to round out a definitive cast, eighty years in the making ..and what promises to be a classic cast for the Wonder Woman comic.

Since the Golden Age, Superman's had Lois, Jimmy and Perry in his corner; Batman's had Robin, Alfred and Gordon, and, since the 1940s, Wonder Woman's had Steve...sometimes, barely, toned-down, sprinklings of Etta.

Now, what about Etta, fully loaded, ..and Mala?

Could Wonder Woman's enduring friendship, with TWO regular (seen every or every other issue) characters, ..round out and fire up the definitive, classic cast for the ages? I think, at least, that one of those characters should be (1) a woman, (2) someone from creator William Marston's original cast, (3) someone, who understands Diana and her Amazon culture, as well as her mother, and (4) brings unique skills to Diana's 'Army' that prove useful, in her adventures. I think the other should be and should always have been, well...Etta?! Supporting or 'regular' characters in superhero comics, TV dramas or soap operas must have function and purpose, which extends beyond their initial appearances, such that it makes sense to us, why they are recurring characters, in the on-going story.

Again, that sure looks like everywoman ride-or-die, Etta Candy, and Wonder Woman's Alfred, ..Mala! Look alive, Kangaliers!

[Second Edition]

 

BOYS ON THE SIDE...(PART ONE)

BOYS ON THE SIDE...PART TWO

 

Edgar Miraculous (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.