Artist Robin Eisenberg responded to criticism of her, DC Comics, and Rooster Teeth’s Wonder Woman 1984 variant cover.
The cover was shared to the DC Nation Twitter on August 7th.
It was quickly ratioed with many fans responding to the post expressing their distaste and noting that the character looked nothing like Wonder Woman.
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YouTuber That Star Wars Girl wrote, “Wtf… you know (among other things Dianna has blue eyes not green right? How the hell do you f*** up your own IP this bad.”
Former DC Comics artist Mike Miller shared a gif of Gal Gadot and wrote, “This is Wonder Woman. Verucha Salt up there isn’t.”
Steven Wayne simply wrote, “That’s not a superhero.”
Pseudo Nym added, “Looks like the gods revoked her beauty.”
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Jax added, “The color scheme is cool, but the proportions greatly disrespect the character. And trust me there are women who detest this imagery just as men do when it comes to obesity (legit issue). Rooster Teeth tried, but sorely took an L with this shit lol.”
Eisenberg would respond to this criticism on Instagram.
She wrote, “Sooooo… Due to the subject matter of my art, I’m often asked to draw characters inspired by iconic women. Recently I was asked to create a piece inspired by Wonder Woman, in my own style, for an upcoming one-off artist collab.”
She went on to detail that the character seen on the variant cover is not supposed to be Wonder Woman, but an alien character wearing a Wonder Woman shirt.
She explained, “I love drawing aliens with realistic body types, living their lives, comfortable with themselves. So, I drew an alien character with a realistic body, wearing a more everyday version of the Wonder Woman outfit.”
Eisenberg continued, “DC decided they wanted to use this piece for a variant cover in addition to the collab. I didn’t realize that featuring a Wonder Woman-inspired character with a realistic body type would be controversial. Apparently it is!”
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“The DC Nation posted their cover on Twitter, and it was immediately met with hundreds of comments hating on her body (as well as on the non-traditional art style… and on me personally 😎),” she added.
She wrote, “I think one of the reasons I was asked to do this is that I’m not a traditional comic book artist, so I would present something from a different perspective.”
Eisenberg then concluded, “The fact that this was so controversial just makes me want to continue to draw diverse body types and create more art that people can hopefully see themselves in. Strength and beauty can come in lots of awesome forms! I don’t think one form negates the others? 😘 THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS 🥳”
On Twitter, Eisenberg would share her Instagram post and then share some additional thoughts. She first wrote, “TLDR: strength and beauty can come in lots of awesome forms! I don’t think one form negates the others?”
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She would then add, “Thank you so so much to everyone for the kind words here – it really means a lot. and for anyone who is still upset by this drawing, I hope you continue to enjoy the art and comics that you love!”
Finally, she concluded, “A few of you want me to respond to your criticism – but I think you should re-read my above statement. I was asked to draw a Wonder Woman inspired character in my style for a separate collab. I drew this body type out of many options. DC then also used it for a cover. The end.”
DC Comics editor Andy Khouri, who oversaw the shut down of Vertigo Comics and is recently rumored to have been axed in massive layoffs affecting DC Comics decided to attack Eisenberg’s critics.
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He wrote, “Robin, I’m a dc editor and I love your work. The reaction to the WW cover on Twitter was provoked by a small group of trolls and is not representative of the larger, sophisticated and enthusiastic readership I’ve come to know.”
He added, “Your art is inspiring and your response is wonderful.”
Eisenberg’s Instagram is filled with her art showing blue and green female alien creatures with many of them in much better shape than the character featured on the Rooster Teeth variant cover.
You can see a sampling below.
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What do you make of Eisenberg and Khouri’s response? Do you believe her explanation that the character is not supposed to be Wonder Woman, but just an alien wearing a Wonder Woman shirt?