Everyone Needs Some Support
Spouses, Best-Friends, Coworkers and even Pets surround our favorite Characters. This support entourage tends to get the least amount of respect when it comes to history and change.
Creative teams will always come and go on our favorite Comic Books. Even if a character is beloved by the writer, extended runs are books are rare treats for fans. It is human nature to want to leave a personal touch on things we do and comics are not exempt from this. Trying to leave your mark on a 70 year old character can be a difficult task, as these characters are often held almost sacred by fans and the publishers alike. What’s a writer to do? Mess with the supporting cast of course!
No hero is an island, and all good comics feature a diverse cast of characters that surround our man hero, some more memorable than others. Superman’s then girlfriend Lois Lane and pal Jimmy Olsen were featured in their own comic books. Most supporting characters don’t ever see this kind of success or longevity. Main characters and villains are typically off limits from major creative overhauls so the easiest way to mess with a character is to muck about with their friends and family. Sounds like the plot of a desperate criminal when you think about it, right? But this ‘support-ocide’ happens more often than not. Characters are uprooted from their hometowns, friends left behind never to be heard from again.
During George Perez’s stint on Wonder Woman readers came to know the entire stable of Greek Gods as well as many Amazons by name. As creative teams changed, the Gods role in the book shifted. Wonder Woman’s love Steve Trevor has been sent to Olympus, aged, de-aged, transmogrified, married and a myriad of other changes in an attempt to grab fans attention. Mythological beasts have gone from monsters Diana battled to live-in chefs cooking her breakfast. I can almost hear the Kithotaur/Minotaur’s voice in my head, strangely he sounds almost exactly like Rodney Dangerfield (“I don’t get no respect.”)
This begs the question; should supporting casts and characters be treated with such indignity just because they can? At what point, if any, do these characters deserve to be treated with equal respect as their lead counterparts? Should writers be allowed to remove and replace these friends of heroes so easily? I am not arguing against change. I believe change is good and necessary for comic books. Evolution and character progression are required for good storytelling. So where should the line be drawn, if any?
Creative teams should be given the freedom to tell the stories they want to tell, but within a set of boundaries. If the supporting character in question played a vital role in the heroes origin story, or has existed for the majority of their career they should be treated with respect similar to that reserved for the main characters themselves. In the case of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, I think he should always play an important role in her comics. It only takes a little digging, however, to find out that he strongly deserves to be revamped into a much more likable character than his past incarnations.
So have at the supporting cast you writers and artists, you creators of mythos future! Just please keep around the main players.