Greetings, fellow Amazons. Welcome to another thrill-seeking edition of Wonder Woman Wednesday.

A while back, I interviewed Ethan Van Sciver about his work on the new Wonder Woman digital first series, Sensation Comics. Sensation was, and continues to be, one of the comics I look forward to the most. It has an open story frame and allows creators to do different takes on everyone’s favorite heroine, Wonder Woman. Last week’s Sensation #47 contained the third part of a three-chapter story pitting Wonder Woman against Superwoman written by Barbara Randall Kesel entitled “Besties.” I’ve always loved the character of Superwoman and was thrilled to see her go up against Diana for this awesome tale.

Superwoman’s history and origin is convoluted at best. Depending on what era she is from, her origin can lean one way or another. Sadly, she was being devoured by anti-matter in the pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths as my own personal introduction to the character. I fell in love with her instantly as Earth 2’s benevolent Alexander Lurhor was trying to warn her of her impending doom, and she was all annoyed with him. Classic.

So, basically, she’s an alternate Earth 2 version of Wonder Woman, but she’s Lois Lane and a rogue Amazon? Follow? Yeah, me neither, but I’m willing to roll with it.

Superwoman has Wonder Woman’s powers, with heat vision thrown in for good measure. Also, in lieu of compelling the bound to tell the truth, Superwoman’s magic lasso strips its bound of their inhibitions. (I’ll do my best not to insert a Bill Cosby joke in here!)

What makes Superwoman cool is exactly the opposite of what makes Wonder Woman so cool. She’s a mirror version of Wonder Woman, but you can’t hold it against her. On Earth 2, bad is good and corruption is the aspiration, so she’s quite successful in that department. With her revealing outfits and witty quips, she certainly could give the X-Men’s Emma Frost a run for her money!

After way too long, and mostly propelled by her appearance in Sensation, I broke down and read the original graphic novel, JLA: Earth 2, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. This is perhaps the best handling of Superwoman and The Crime Syndicate I have read thus far. She is bad to the bone. Ruthless and vindictive. She is in a relationship with Uktraman (Earth 2’s version of Superman) and has a thing on the side with Owlman (Earth 2’s version of Batman.) But, Superwoman is no shrinking violet to Utraman. In perhaps one of the best scenes in comic history, she shows him her lasso and says, “You see this? One day, I’ll hang you with this!” Aw, hell no! Could you imagine Diana saying that to Clark?!? No way, man.

The Crime Syndicate, of course, were the catalyst of DC’s major storyline, Forever Evil, and, boy, do they fit the title. I absolutely love The Crime Syndicate and would love to see more of them, especially Superwoman. I would love to write a Wonder Woman story where she has a psychotic break and becomes Superwoman until the JLA stop her. (What? Too House of M-ish?)

I can definitely see Superwoman on the big screen. They should do The Justice League of America vs. The Crime Syndicate of America movie. (Right after they do the JLA/Avengers Movie playing in my dreams!)

Hera knows my heart will always belong to Diana in the fight for right and pursuit of justice through virtue and beauty, but it’s always fun to take a walk on the wild side. To unveil the potential for darkness. A glimpse at the not-so-softer side of Wonder Woman that is Superwoman.

Okay, I’m going to pursue ComiXology for some more fun stories featuring Superwoman. See you next week for Wonder Woman Wednesday!