Love and Murder

Kevin Coolidge

“There's some illogical part of me that still believes if you want superman to show up, first there's got to be someone worth saving.” Jodi Picoult


I’ve always loved comics. I love the swiftness of the narrative, how the action and the graphics grab you and suck you into the story. I remember discovering Superman, and Batman, and my favorite, Spiderman. I remember the excitement of getting a new issue every week. I remember the unlimited fantasy, anything could be imagined, anything could be drawn—there were no boundaries…

I still love the idea of comics, and although I don’t read them anymore. I still read the occasional graphic novel. A graphic novel is basically a comic book, but it is longer with a more complex storyline, similar to a novel. So when I heard that novelist Jodi Picoult was writing a Wonder Woman graphic novel, I decided to check it out.

Jodi Picoult is a bestselling author with over a dozen novels, and in 2003 she was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction. Jodi Picoult experienced a nice taste of writing comic books for her novel The Tenth Circle, which is how DC Comics found her.

Wonder Woman is not a character that has ever appealed to me, or to most of the guys I know. I've always liked the potential of Wonder Woman. Although she’s a woman, the comic has never had a female writer. I thought perhaps that an award winning novelist and a female perspective could be just what Wonder Woman needed for a fresh reboot.

After reading Wonder Woman: Love and Murder by Jodi Picoult, I feel that DC Comics’ game plan was to use her bestselling status as a marketing tool. The concept of using an established character writer may have worked if Picoult was allowed to write her own story, but instead she is thrust into a dictated plot, an already establish story arc and the crossover Amazons Attack, which you have to buy if you want the end of this story. It’s like having books one and three finished in a trilogy, but asking another author to write book two.

Nevertheless, its obvious Picoult has done her homework. She’s known for doing extensive research for her books—such as living with an Amish family for Plain Truth and going on a ghost-hunting trip for Second Glance. Still, I feel that Picoult fails at capturing Diana’s character. She acts like she has just arrived from Paradise Island: she has to learn about latte terminology, the use of money, and how subways work, even though she’s been on Earth for years.

For someone who has never written super-hero comics, Picoult manages to cram a lot of hackneyed clichés. Granted, Picoult wasn’t given a lot of room to establish brand new comic book conventions, but I found that Picoult’s voice in Wonder Woman sounded much like any other comic book writer – though this is as much compliment as criticism. If Picoult’s goal was to try her hand at the comic book genre, she succeeded in producing a standard representation, hackneyed, ham-fisted clichés included--Her mother’s convenient resurrection being just one example of a typical tired comic book convention. If Picoult hoped to bring something fresh to the Wonder Woman saga, this Amazon missed her mark.

One place Picoult really does a great job is in the light tone and putting Wonder Woman in a “Man’s World.” I find it amusing when the Amazonians destroy the Washington Monument because it’s a phallic symbol, but I was disappointed when the story ended on a cliffhanger. There is no resolution. I expect some kind of resolution in a graphic novel, and it left me feeling frustrated.

I’d love to see Jodi Picoult do a graphic novel where she has more creative control. She has the experience and talent and I wonder what this woman could do if loses the bustier…

Love? Or Murder? Email me at frommyshelf@epix.net Dying to see past columns? They are laid to rest at http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com Catch “Hobo Finds A Home” now available in “Manga” style, and coming soon…Hobo Anime, in 3D Dolby Surround Sound. Sorry it’s going to be in Japanese but the DVD will be available with English and Croatian subtitles…