DC’s ‘The New 52′ Preview Strips Wonder Woman, Spoils Green Lantern

Among the many wares DC Comics will peddle at next weekend's Comic-Con International in San Diego is DC Comics: The New 52, a a free comic previewing new material from the publisher's forthcoming superhero relaunch. Among the contents are a six-page preview of Justice League by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee and the revised cover for Wonder Woman #1, which now features a Wonder Woman without long pants. Additionally, the cover of The New 52 preview comic, revealed earlier today on DC's The Source blog, spoils the conclusion of the "War of the Green Lanterns" storyline, which plays out in this week's Green Lantern #67.

Green Lantern SPOILERS follow.There has been much discussion, even amongst ourselves, of the practicalities and aesthetics of a more fully clothed Wonder Woman. The heroine's current costume was redesigned by Jim Lee for the "Odyssey" storyline devised by writer J. Michael Straczynski, who argued that the Amazon Princess would be more effective in an outfit that didn't so closely resemble a woman's bathing suit. The costume was further tweaked by Lee and his collaborators for DC's September relaunch, most obviously on the previously released covers of Justice League #1 by Jim Lee and Wonder Woman #1 cover by Cliff Chiang.

The skimpier revision you see on the DC Comics: The New 52 preview cover is the final cover and presumably final costume for Diana.

In ComicsAlliance's DCnÜ fashion roundtable, several us suggested that a Wonder Woman dressed in so much black seemed less majestic than the classic look, and that her fighting evil bare-legged exemplified an aspect of her powerful character. Perhaps DC was listening?

With respect to Green Lantern, the revelation that Sinestro will return to the Green Lantern Corps was to come today in the form of Green Lantern #67, concluding the epic "War of the Green Lantern" storyline. To promote the follow-up, DC published to The Source a spoiler-warning-labeled post containing the cover of September's Green Lantern #1, featuring Sinestro as the title character. The courteous gesture was unfortunately undone by the subsequent post, which featured the DC Comics: The New 52 cover in all its glory, including the Sinestro element in the bottom-left corner.