So Grant Morrison released something new in regards to Wonder Woman Earth One. Before Superman and the Authority, this epic and Morrison’s Green Lantern run were supposed to be their last DC comics. But what really gets my attention is how Morrison (he/him/they) admits that WWEO is another Hypersigil. What’s a Hypersigil and Morrison did this before? All of that and the spell is what we’re discussing today.
Grant Morrison and Hypersigils
Grant Morrison, in addition to being a prolific comic writer, is also a chaos magician. This doesn’t mean that they control the forces of light and darkness… directly. Chaos magic is a contemporary discipline of combining post-modern skepticism with objective truth. One of the most reoccurring parts of this magic is the use of sigils; they’re symbols that evoke a desire or emotion. As an example, Morrison argues that corporate logos like McDonald’s golden arches are viral sigils; so does that mean McDonald’s status as a real estate company was in front of us the whole time?
Morrison however takes that concept to a new level with hypersigils. Hypersigils, according to Morrison, are extended works of art created through sigilization. Translation: long-form memes in the form of words, images, and other applicable arts. Fun fact, Morrison already made one Hypersigil with The Invisibles, Flex Mentallo, and The Filth. In that Hypersigil trilogy, Morrison meditates their influence as a creator. In it, he/they express to themselves and others the boundary between an imaginary world and the real one. The final result is more or less coming out with a sense of purpose after a challenge.
The Wonder Woman Earth One Hypersigil
So what’s Wonder Woman: Earth One‘s Hypersigil entailing? Well let’s look at the bare summary of the plot. Like most of the Earth One imprint at DC, it redirects the classic elements of superheroes. With Superman and Batman having their turns, Grant Morrison’s Wonder Woman gets into public consciousness.
Prior to the live-action Wonder Woman movie, most casual readers have no idea about her origin. For Morrison, the depiction of Diana Prince that came to him was the Lynda Carter TV show. This show has a legacy of optimism and normalizing diversity of main character depictions. Wonder Woman in the show despite some hardships is full of the warm compassion for people in need. Behind the scenes, getting any studio to take this character seriously with her campy origins is the biggest struggle.
Which is where the inspiration of the hypersigil is rooted. The story is about changing perceptions even in spite of the hard truths that come with it.
The Mechanics of Wonder Woman: Earth One
Wonder Woman: Earth One revolves around three pieces of the Hypersigil. The first is accepting hard truths that change perceptions. Next comes social engineering, it’s about how perceived truths can be weaponized to change people’s mindsets. Finally there’s inspiration, how ideas that start out as perceptions can become reality.
Hard Truths
Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1, is all about breaking out of perceptions. When Diana finds an African American Steve Trevor dying, she decides to break all of her home Paradise Island’s rules to help him. Because Paradise has a few systemic troubles: the Amazons are vengeful misandrists after enslavement, they body shame plus sized women, and isolationism leads to hoarding their healing technology. While Diana finds the World of Men isn’t great especially with corrupt rulers, people like Steve and Beth Candy’s Holiday Girls say there’s good in it too. It’s what allows Diana to finally learn her real origins; side note, the classic version is that she was a clay figure that Hippolyta prayed to be given life. Turns out, she’s actually the daughter of Hippolyta and the Amazon enslaver Hercules.
All this really means is that once perceptions are cast off understandings can be found. But it’s going to take a long time before something new or different can be normalized. Some of the Amazon’s culture for one has the kinky bondage elements as a sign of empowerment. Hey when this can overpower Hercules, it fits. However, when Diana offers Steve a collar as a bond of trust, he doesn’t readily accept it. You know because domination/submission has a bad reputation with African descended people.
Social Engineering
In Wonder Woman Earth One Vol. 2, Diana must come face to face with the challenge of integration. When a secret council want Paradise Island’s resources for themselves, they plot to use Diana’s popularity against the island. To do so they call in Dr. Zeiko/Psycho to take advantage of Diana who is questioning her mission.
While Wonder Woman and the rest of Paradise Island serve as icons, their way of life and methods can be twisted and corrupted. As is the case when they take a former super Nazi woman into their ranks. The Amazons intention to redeem Paula von Gunther ends up backfiring when Paula murders Hippolyta to rule the world at Diana’s side. Of course Zeiko helped her through hypnotic suggestion. Worse when Zeiko takes advantage of a vulnerable Diana through her own lasso and his hypnosis, he instills his dominating ways on her.
Fortunately Diana is able to fight off Psycho’s manipulations and forgive Paula. But the damage was already done and the council have everything they need to invade Paradise.
Inspiration
Which brings us to Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3 where perceptions create new truths. This doesn’t always mean making stuff out of nothing or relying on nostalgia with a modern lense. That latter method certainly does apply to Ares manifesting as military industrialist Maxwell Lord though. The reason why Ares got around so well is by helping oversimplify things to fit a worldview. As is the case with Hades, who takes advantage of technological limitations to keep people’s souls on a loop as he sees fit.
So when Diana has to face the outside world as the new queen, she has to beat these gods completely. It’s not enough to beat them in a fight, but to dispel the ideologies that empower them. This conflict is best alluded to in-story with the function of the Big Bang. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the origin of the universe, it’s just the theoretical emergence point. Diana’s campaign against Ares is using the truth that people hid away from.
This is how Diana uses the lie of her classic origin to recreate her mother from clay (and Hippolyta’s heart). But it wasn’t without a lot of struggles and sacrifices including from Steve. Thanks to those sacrifices though, Diana not only regains her mother but grows into an aspirational figure of legend. One so powerful that with this ascension, the world lets go of its preconceptions. Why? Because submission is not the same as dominant obedience. It’s a long story to put on this post, so follow this link instead. But there’re still real world problems.
The Purpose of Wonder Woman: Earth One
So with all of those, let’s talk about the purpose of Wonder Woman: Earth One and its Hypersigil. By telling hard truths that deconstruct delusions, there comes the purpose to share this realization with people. It’s risky as social engineering can be a means for dominance. But it can also lead to people searching for answers based on their experiences. This has the chance of inspiring people to take a new direction in life. Or at least, that’s what I got out of it.
What do you all think? Is this the purpose of the Hypersigil Wonder Woman: Earth One? Is Grant Morrison ever going to come clean about its actual meaning? Or was the comic too weird to get behind?
Well, the ink’s not dry yet. Thanks for coming and as always remember to look between the panels.