Etta Candy
32 years ago - Etta Candy is born on her parent's ranch in Texas.
14 years ago - 18-year-old Etta moves to Gateway City to attend college.
12 years ago - 20-year-old Etta meets Diana Prince when they become roommates in Gateway University.
11 years ago - 21-year-old Etta is kidnapped by Klarion to draw out Jason Blood. He and Diana Prince venture into purgatory to save her.
10 years ago - 22-year-old Etta graduates and starts her fashion line. She goes with Diana Prince to help free Themyscira from Felix Faust, and tells off the Amazons when they banish her.
9 years ago - 23-year-old Etta helps Diana Prince fund the establishment of her Themysceran embassy.
Modern comics seem to have a real problem interpreting the intentions of Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston. A lot of his innovations were in expressing the conflicts and strengths of women through metaphorical characters that really don't hold up when viewed through an entirely male-centric lens. Etta, for example, was a big, fun woman that was aware of her weight but never let it slow her down, often diving right into the fight alongside her friend and who never doubted her own awesomeness. After Marston's passing she almost immediately began being depicted as shy and weight-concious, as though the writers just couldn't fathom how a plus-sized character could be competent and awesome. Even most of the modern interpretations suggested that she had to lose weight to gain self-respect, which plays into notions of body image that fly in the face of the whole idea she was intended to represent. We've tried to re-imagine her as a more complete expression of the character we believe she was intended to be; Diana's friend and confidant, and a powerful, capable woman in her own right, no matter her size.
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Thankfully, there have recently been more modern versions of the character that do a much better job of giving us an Etta Candy that we can all get behind. The mini series 'the Legend of Wonder Woman' by Renae De Liz is currently being published, and all of it's artwork depicts a fantastically updated version of the classic Etta that we just can't get enough of.
We've tried to make sure that her outstanding can-do spirit is present across her timeline, doing our best to keep her an unflappable friend of Diana. We went through multiple versions of her post-college career to try to find the one that best suited her; the traditional notion of her being in the military just didn't seem to work if you wanted her to be as independent as we imagined her. Ultimately, we decided that she needed to start her own fashion line and be an outspoken advocate for loving yourself.. working alongside Diana in her mission to inspire women everywhere. Etta is very much a presence that comics absolutely need: a plus-sized woman that's beautiful, spunky, smart, fun, empowering, and awesome. The more of her we get, the better. |