Wonder Woman and I Will Grow Old Together

In June of 2009, I drove to Downtown Dallas and asked an incredibly talented artist named Cesar, to tattoo this picture on my right thigh. 

This is the cover of issue #4 of an 8-part series by DC Comics, called "Identity Crisis"  I’ll spare you the storyline and review because, frankly, it wasn’t just about Wonder Woman.  She had a very small part in this series.  This was just a very beautiful cover created by Michael Turner that immediately grabbed my attention and would not let go.  There she was standing under the words “Identity Crisis”, holding her lasso of truth in a noose, as if she was ready to break the no-kill (of humans) policy.  Wonder Woman, the American Icon that I had loved since I was in red and blue underoos, looked beautifully pissed. 

Many of the covers of her own comic books and graphic novels display her as a powerful, beautiful, and triumphant heroine.  There is so much more to it than that, though.  I could go on for days writing about her: why she was created; why she went from a long skirt, to a shorter skirt, to bloomers, to pants (ugh), and back to bloomers (yay!); what she stands for in her story; why she and Superman won’t hook up; and her relationship to Greek mythology.  While I find it all fascinating personally, I’m aware that this may bore most people.  Mercy granted.  But I would be remiss if I said she isn’t important.

Barbie and Cinderella had no place in my world growing up.  They still don’t.  They don’t take action.  They stand for nothing.  They’re boring.  I’ll stop there.  Diana Prince could go from zero to Wonder Woman in less than five seconds, fight the bad guys, save the good guys, fly, and still look fabulous.  I was hooked.  It wasn’t until much later that I realized she was more than a female superhero deflecting bullets with her shiny bracelets, because as a child I wasn’t aware of the consequences of being a strong woman, or the strength it takes to be one.

Remove the accessories created by Greek gods, take the tiara off, put her in civilian clothes, and you have the women in my family.  Well, some of them still like tiaras but that’s beside the point.  Tough, opinionated, intelligent, free, beautiful, witty, snarky, independent, fierce, and each is a force to be reckoned with.  Thankfully, this left me with no choice but to become the same.  By the same token, there is a weakness that we all have had to come to terms with.  We’re human.

We make bad choices sometimes.  And sometimes those bad choices can start a long chain of events that exacerbate the sense of failure we’re already feeling.  I am all too familiar with the darkness this can bring.  We forget who we are for a bit, and we want to start breaking the no-kill (of humans) policy.  We get beautifully pissed.

My Mom, my grandmothers, my aunts, and my cousins are there when I need someone to gently convince me that strangling people with a rope is bad.  They remind me of my strengths and what I’m capable of.  Being a strong woman isn't about beating someone into submission until you get what you want.  It takes a great amount of strength to stand your ground for what you truly want for yourself and your family; to expect truth from those that owe it to you and to call them on it when they lie to you.  It takes faith in yourself to trust your instinct, especially during those times when you wish your instinct would just shut the hell up.  Above all else, when you fail, when you make a bad decision, you put your shiny bracelets and tiara back on and try to  make it right - either for yourself or anyone that you may have hurt in the process.

This tattoo, this Identity Crisis #4 art, is the cover art to my series for me.  Wonder Woman and I will grow old together.