When Wasp and Ant-Man disappeared from Avengers as part of the changeover to the Hawkeye/Vision/Scarlet Witch/Cap trio, the letters column lit up with complaints. Ant-man and Wasp may be C-listers now, but at the time readers thought of them as A-list characters who shouldnt' be taken out of Avengers while they didn't have their own solo mag being published. Likewise, early on fans only seemed happy with Hawkeye joining, and complained a lot about Scarlet Witch being lame and overpowered.

Some things never change, eh?

I’m not saying you can’t have any B- or C-listers, it’s just unreasonable to expect a monthly to sustain itself with nothing but, or a majority of scrubs

What I always thought was interesting about the Avengers was that it wasn't an "All-Star Cast". Ant-Man (the Hank Pym version) and the Wasp are founding members who have never supported an on-going title themselves. Hawkeye, the Vision and Scarlet Witch were all key members that never had sole careers. That was a major contrast with the JLA in the Silver and Bronze Age.

I'm not saying you can't have any B- or C-listers, it's just unreasonable to expect a monthly to sustain itself with nothing but, or a majority of scrubs. No one wants to read The Avengers featuring Captain America and Those Five Guys Over There.

...’m not sure if anyone gets into comics to write Wonder Woman the way they do Batman, Spider-Man or Superman. She’s an icon, but not in the same way. More about Lynda Carter posters than the character, if that makes any sense.

Well, not a lot of women get into comics in general, nor did many girls grow up on super-hero books. The slice of male Wonder Woman fans that are talented enough to work professionally is probably not that large. So, you get 'names' that have essentially cycled through everything else.

That said, I still say the problem is in the supporting cast. WW worked extremely well as a key member of an ensemble cast in both 'Kingdom Come" and "The New Frontier". She often great in the JLA. The thing that unites those titles is that they give her well-defined characters like Superman and Batman to react to. In her own title, she has no one.

I don't think anyone disputes that, which is why it's one of the characters that's cancellation-proof. Unfortunately, I think that hurts the series a bit - writers know that odds are good the book isn't going anywhere so they don't really try. And, again, I'm not sure if anyone gets into comics to write Wonder Woman the way they do Batman, Spider-Man or Superman. She's an icon, but not in the same way. More about Lynda Carter posters than the character, if that makes any sense.

Which, I guess, is why it's bigger news when she gets a haircut than any story dealing with her.

Blasphemy. With the exception of Moore's Swamp Thing and Gaiman's Books of Magic, the Stranger's never worked better than he did for most of his 1970s series, and especially the height of the Wein-Aparo run.

Hawkman's brought out the best in writers as different as Tony Isabella, John Ostrander, and Geoff Johns. Then one of those runs got FUBARed by the delayed-Crisis-effect of Hawkworld, one got FUBARed by Zero Hour, and one got FUBARed by InfC/ OYL. Kind of odd, really. Legion tends to get worn out before the big events, so the reboots seem like a good idea. Hawkman's going strong when the big event hits, and gets completely screwed by it.

Wonder Woman is the one character I like for no particular reason. I can’t recall a single Wonder Woman story I’ve been blown away by, yet I’m always disappointed when she doesn’t play a more prominent role in JLA stories (other than standing in between Batman and Superman reminding people she’s JUST as important).

I remember "Who Killed Mindy Meyer" as being very good, but I take your larger point. WW doesn't exactly have a huge catalog of classic stories to show for her 70 year career. Yet, I would have to say that she is one of the five, or maybe six, best superhero properties in terms of appeal to the general (non-comic buying) audience.

In her own way, Wonder Woman is just as important as Superman and Batman.

Like Micilene and Layton on Iron Man, Perez on Wonder Woman jumps out for being a solid take on an under-used property. However, that does not mean it was perfect and un-assailable. His re-think was more compelling visually than anything. The toga version of the WW costume is great, but the list of truly great stories is short.

...I'm speechless. Bill Mantlo's Cloak & Dagger is my favourite Superhero-Comic and the characters have still so much potential, but since Mantlo left no other writer got them right.

The Avengers has almost always suffered because of the creative team. They pick a handful of characters they like but have no business being in an ongoing series (Hello, Starfox). It's hard to sell a book about the Earth's mightiest heroes when it's really just a bunch of B-and C-listers. The two new series are a lot better than the old one, but are still guilty of the same thing.

It is basically something retained in her modern version that, in context, no longer makes sense. Retcons that aren't very carefully thought out tend to result in a lot of character elements like that lingering. (Current Green Lantern is completely lousy with them.)

I don't know, it all depends on how you see the US. Granted, I should see it as controversial (what with being Arab and all)...but I see it as representing the best of America itself, not the particular policies of it's government.