A Tribute To The Wall

Rewatching Justice League and JL:Unlimited only reminded me how much I fucking LOVED Dr. Amanda "The Wall" Waller and how absolutely disgusted I am with her Nu52 "makeover".

I'll admit that I hadn't heard of her until the Batman/Superman: Public Enemies comic book arc a few years back and even then it was a rather brief stint as Luthor's Vice President (bad enough as that was) but didn't fall in love with her until the cartoons. 

Many comic books fans will tell you that DC comics, in the last few years, have made several idiotic missteps in the way they tell their stories and how they run their company and I am sadly inclined to agree. Ok, I lie, I'm not that sad to agree. From lack of female creators to a reboot meant to target a new audience and failing to do so (mostly because they LITERALLY weren't trying to reach outside the 18-35 male demographic THAT THEY ALREADY HAD), to seriously ruin several of their well-known and beloved characters.

Amanda Waller was one of them.

Many will tell you their reason for hating the new Amanda is because they hate the Nu52 in general. Many will say it's because they made her far dumber than she should be (getting easily captured by Harley Quinn, having a psychopath fall in love with her, etc.). Many more will tell you it's because of her redesign and frankly, I am in that latter camp.

Amanda Waller being a larger woman who was taken seriously because she didn't take anybody's shit spoke VOLUMES to me as a large person. Spoke volumes to POC readers as well because The Wall was a large, black woman who didn't conform to the sassy best friend or mega-"ghetto"-bitch stereotypes. Nobody was stupid enough to make a fat joke at her expense, and even if you did she wouldn't let it slide without making sure you regretted it. She was smart, she was cunning, she was tough, she was stubborn, and best of all she went face-to-face with Batman himself and made him BLINK. How many non-powered civilian characters can make that claim and not turn out to be a super-villain with plans of world domination or what the fuck ever? She was no girl scout and by God did she stand out. You may not want to admit it but it had EVERYTHING due to her size because it sure as Hell helped her live up to the nickname. She was a tree trunk of a woman among sticks and she wasn't afraid to assert it when needed.

Of course, the Nu52 changed all that by making her as bland and conforming as possible by redesigning her to look like a young supermodel instead. Because, you know, we don't have enough thin/slim-bodied representations in comics already OH NO WAIT NO WOMAN IS ALLOWED TO BE BIGGER THAN A SIZE 6 IN SUPERHERO COMICS IS SHE AND WHAT FEW THERE ARE AREN'T AROUND MUCH.

They tore down The Wall and built a Chain-Link Fence instead.

Amanda Waller (c) DC