It’s Friday. It’s been a long week at work/school/that place you call “the office” that is really your best friend’s basement where you eat Cheetos and play Wii Tennis all afternoon. So probably the last thing you want to do right now is put your cranky pants back on over your uppity underoos. But I feel a little redressing is in order so we can give the latest Playboy cover the dressing-down it deserves.

Now, obviously, we’ve given a friendly AfterEllen.com how-do-you-do to the naughtiest bits, but you get the gist. Former Playmate of the Year Tiffany Fallon has been painted to look like Wonder Woman. The accompanying text (link NSFW) in the magazine reads:

“You know the painted lady on our cover as Playmate of the Year 2005 Tiffany Fallon, but to usher you into the cover story, Sex in America, we recast her as that champion of truth, justice and American Sensuality, Wonder Woman. Tiffany, a modern-day Lynda Carter, has been honing her TV skills. She appeared on TV’s The Simple Life with Paris Hilton, became a weekly co-host for the International Fight League’s Battle Ground and accompanied her country music star husband, Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts (Still Feels Good is in stores now), to numerous awards shows. What’s next? 'I’ve been filming The Celebrity Apprentice,' says Tiffany. 'At first I was intimidated because I was one of the youngest contestants. But I brought a fresh outlook to the tasks. I can’t tell you much more, you’ll have to watch.' If this wonderful woman is involved, we’ll have our eyes glued.”

Gosh, where to start? Never mind that she is portraying one of our most iconic female superheroes. Never mind that it’s meant to illustrate “Sex in America.” Never mind that she is taking skintight to ridiculously literal extremes. Actually, I really, really do mind all of those things. But what I mind most is the assertion that Ms. Fallon is somehow a “champion of truth, justice and American Sensuality,” not to mention a “modern-day Lynda Carter,” based on the resume presented in the blurb. … continue reading

As a long-time reader of Birds of Prey, I was disappointed when writer Gail Simone left the series. Her love for the characters showed — and she was one of the few female comic book writers working on a superhero title. But soon after, DC announced that Simone's next project would be none other than the story of Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman.

Shortly after the announcement, Simone summed up her feelings about Wonder Woman. "This book is about the best goddamned warrior planet Earth has ever known, and she happens to carry a mystical arsenal around just for the hell of it. If a writer can't make that interesting and fun, they really shouldn't be writing superheroes."

Do I hear an amen? … continue reading

As the linster blogged about a month ago, rumors about the casting of Wonder Woman in George Miller's upcoming Justice League movie are all over the blogosphere. Lucy Lawless, Victoria Hill and Jessica Biel have all been bandied about (and discarded) as possible heirs to the Lasso of Truth. Well, the latest name out there is Teresa Palmer, star of ... well, nothing, really, thus far.

OK, that wasn't really fair. It depends on where you live. Palmer is relatively unknown in the United States, although she did appear in The Grudge 2 with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Beals: … continue reading

Much as I love watching Katee Sackhoff chew up scenery as Sarah Corvus, I miss the campy nature of the original Bionic Woman. I'm a big fan of shows that don't take themselves too seriously. That's one of the multitudes of reasons why I loved Xena and Buffy. The folks involved in both of those shows could do the serious-make-you-think kinds of episodes, but they weren't afraid to poke a little fun at themselves either. I think that's also one of the reasons I lost interest in The X-Files after a time; they started taking themselves too seriously far too often.

Why am I bringing this up? Because I have started to wonder what happened to my favorite superheroes of days gone by, the ones that clearly were as capable of laughing at themselves as they were of saving the world. I remember watching Wonder Woman in her invisible jet, hearing the telltale bionic sound effect when Jamie Sommers broke into a run, and very briefly catching a glimpse of Electra Woman and her faithful sidekick Dynagirl. So, where did the ladies who portrayed these super femmes disappear to, anyway? Or did they really disappear at all?

Since Bionic Woman sent me off on this tangent, it's only fair that I start with the original Jamie Sommers, Lindsay Wagner.

These days, Wagner can be seen hawking sleep number beds (and looking less than enthusiastic about it, if you ask me) and tearfully accepting awards from the folks at TV Land. … continue reading

If you’re like me, hearing “South Pacific” and “Wonder Woman” in the same sentence leads to one glorious thought.

As much as we’d love to see Lucy Lawless as the Amazon princess, makers of the Justice League of America film are looking for someone younger — in the 22–32 range. But if reports from Movie Hole are true, the new Diana Prince/Wonder Woman just might have a Xena connection after all. Australian actress Victoria Hill, who played Waltraute in two Xena episodes, has tested for the role. … continue reading

What do Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Huntress, and Black Canary have in common? They are sexy, sultry DC comic super heroes—perfect entertainment for AfterEllen.com readers.

I first got into super heroes as a kid when I was hooked on the Super Friends (1973-74). I thought Wonder Woman was so cool! Yes, between that and playing basketball endlessly, I should have had a big “L” on my forehead.

Needless to say, this set the course for my love of female super heroes today.

Today, I subscribe to Justice League Unlimited, JLA Classified, Wonder Woman, Amazon Attacks, Countdown, Hawkgirl, Birds of Prey, and Manhunter to get my fix of super hotties. I read Justice League Unlimited and JLA Classified for the Super Friends, and the JLA Classified comic is a great, gritty read with adult story lines.

I’m a Wonder Woman fan so the Wonder Woman Volume 3 and Amazon Attacks comics are my favorites on this list. Diana Prince (Wonder Woman’s secret identify) has a sister named Donna, and Wonder Woman’s mother, Queen Hippolyta, has been resurrected from the dead, turned evil, and is hell-bent on ruling the United States (which still might be an improvement over George Bush, frankly). The dramatic conflict between Wonder Woman and her mother is awesome. Not to mention that even Queen Hippolyta is a hottie. Her power and authority over even Wonder Woman is awesome. Read more about this series on Wikipedia here and here.

Countdown is a weekly comic that’s published weekly for one year, crossing over all the DC super heroes, which is frankly confusing for me at times. I read it for Donna Prince and the “multiverse” storyline. Can you imagine a world where there are numerous alternate universes? It’s science fiction with super heroes. … continue reading

Some of you may have heard of "development hell." This is the pit of red tape and phone tag that happens when a movie becomes mired, seemingly endlessly, in the development stage. A film can have a big-name director and A-list stars attached to it for years before it extricates itself from this Hollywood quagmire. This week, in 20 Movies Not Coming Soon to a Theater Near You, Premiere.com lists 20 films they'd like to see "dug out of development hell and brought to a multiplex near you."

I'm not sure what to think of Premiere.com, because of the 20 flicks they listed, about three of them had women in them. Personally, I'm glad most of these movies haven't made it out of development hell. I'd like Hollywood to attempt (I know it's hard for them, but come on) to make more movies that tell stories of interest to the majority of the population — not teenage guys.

Nonetheless, here are the lesbianish highlights from the list:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: Based on Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about two immigrant cousins who create a comic book, the film was set to star Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire.

… continue reading

Joss Whedon has left the building - at least, the Warner Bros building. The celebrated creator of the TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firely announced on Whedenosque.com late last week that he won't be making the new Wonder Woman movie, after all. He was upfront about why:

"I had a take on the film that, well, nobody liked. Hey, not that complicated. Let me stress first that everybody at the studio and Silver Pictures were cool and professional. We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that's never gonna work. Non-sympatico. It happens all the time. I don't think any of us expected it to this time, but it did. Everybody knows how long I was taking, what a struggle that script was, and though I felt good about what I was coming up with, it was never gonna be a simple slam-dunk. I like to think it rolled around the rim a little bit, but others may have differing views."

I admire his candor, but I'm disappointed. Given his track record for creating strong female characters, I had high hopes that a Whedon-created Woman Woman would do more than block bullets and lasso people. Oh, and stand with her hands on her hips looking intimidating. I have to admit, she was really good at that.