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Solitaire1 · 05-13-2020, 07:12 AM

I've noticed that there has been a tendency in comics to make the origins of character more and more complex and confusing. In the early days of comics origins were fairly simple. As an example, with Batman, Superman, The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man originally their entire origin could be told in a page or two. Although elements might be added over time the basics of the origin have been kept fairly straight forward.

Now there has been a tendency to continually revise origins, replacing what has been previously established. What brought this to mind is a video I recently saw involving the origin of Donna Troy (the second Wonder Girl), which was so confusing to me that I could only watch about half of the video.

Donna Troy was a character that came about by mistake. When they put Wonder Girl in the original Teen Titans, the Creative Team didn't realize that the Wonder Girl who had previously appeared was actually Wonder Woman as a teenager (Wonder Woman used to have stories where she would have adventures with herself at various ages, including as a teenager and as a child). Due to this, for a time the existence of Wonder Girl wasn't explained.

They finally gave her an origin where she was an orphan found in a burning building by Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman took her to Paradise Island and she was raised by the Amazons. Eventually, they used their technology to give her powers like Wonder Woman and she went to Man's World to become Wonder Girl (with an outfit that was a teen version of Wonder Woman's).

This was a fairly simple origin that stood for a long time. Although they added to it (it turned out that Donna's birth mother was dying of cancer and she left her an an Orphanage because she couldn't care for her). However, subsequent events (such as having Wonder Woman debuting long after Wonder Girl made her debut) caused them to have to repeatedly change Donna's origin. Among the versions:

She was taken by the Titans of Myth and raised among other children taken by other worlds.
She was a magical duplicate of Diana created to give her a playmate who was kidnapped by an enemy of Hyppolyta, thinking she was Diana, and tortured via a cycle of tragic lives and deaths. In one of those lives she became Donna Troy.

Now, in the following posted YouTube video, they gave her a new origin:

05-13-2020, 07:12 AM	#6198
Solitaire1 Samurai Lizard Posts: 14,247 Karma: 66666666 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: NookColor	I've noticed that there has been a tendency in comics to make the origins of character more and more complex and confusing. In the early days of comics origins were fairly simple. As an example, with Batman, Superman, The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man originally their entire origin could be told in a page or two. Although elements might be added over time the basics of the origin have been kept fairly straight forward. Now there has been a tendency to continually revise origins, replacing what has been previously established. What brought this to mind is a video I recently saw involving the origin of Donna Troy (the second Wonder Girl), which was so confusing to me that I could only watch about half of the video. Donna Troy was a character that came about by mistake. When they put Wonder Girl in the original Teen Titans, the Creative Team didn't realize that the Wonder Girl who had previously appeared was actually Wonder Woman as a teenager (Wonder Woman used to have stories where she would have adventures with herself at various ages, including as a teenager and as a child). Due to this, for a time the existence of Wonder Girl wasn't explained. They finally gave her an origin where she was an orphan found in a burning building by Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman took her to Paradise Island and she was raised by the Amazons. Eventually, they used their technology to give her powers like Wonder Woman and she went to Man's World to become Wonder Girl (with an outfit that was a teen version of Wonder Woman's). This was a fairly simple origin that stood for a long time. Although they added to it (it turned out that Donna's birth mother was dying of cancer and she left her an an Orphanage because she couldn't care for her). However, subsequent events (such as having Wonder Woman debuting long after Wonder Girl made her debut) caused them to have to repeatedly change Donna's origin. Among the versions: She was taken by the Titans of Myth and raised among other children taken by other worlds. She was a magical duplicate of Diana created to give her a playmate who was kidnapped by an enemy of Hyppolyta, thinking she was Diana, and tortured via a cycle of tragic lives and deaths. In one of those lives she became Donna Troy. Now, in the following posted YouTube video, they gave her a new origin: