Wonder Woman of America VS Darna of the Philippines

                                     

                                                                           Wonder Woman Vs. Darna

            Wonder woman of America versus Darna of the Philippines. 

            To begin with, both are woman; both alluring and captivating; and both are fighters.

            If you look closely, they have many similarities, so one might wonder, is Darna created in the image of Wonder Woman? If that’s the case, isn’t that sound very devastating to the few who adored Darna and sees Wonder Woman character for the first time versus those who knew Wonder Woman first before Darna?!

            Many who might sees Darna for the first time might says, “The heck with this character, compromising the image of Wonder Woman into some lousy Philippine version!”. Or those who sees Wonder Woman for their first time might says, “Who the heck is this lame character trying to overpower Darna!” 

            Both side sounds very depressing specially in my part as a Filipino who also at the same time knows and likes Wonder Woman.

            But still, a question remains, “Is Darna created in the image of Wonder Woman by the Filipinos to create their own strong-willed-woman character that marks as the Philippines owned heroine?”






            To verify our curiosity, let's start with:

                            

                                                                                         "Who is Wonder Woman?"

            Wonder Woman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character is a warrior princess of the Amazons (which are based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) and is known in her homeland as Princess Diana of Themyscira. When outside her homeland, she is sometimes known by the secret identity Diana Prince. She is gifted with a wide range of superhuman powers and superior combat and battle skills. She possesses an arsenal of weapons, including the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and (in older stories) a range of devices based on Amazon technology. 

            Wonder Woman was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston. The character first appeared in All Star Comics #8 in December 1941 and first cover-dated on Sensation Comics #1, January 1942. The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986. Her depiction as a heroine fighting for justice, love, peace, and gender equality has led to Wonder Woman being widely considered a feminist icon.

            Created during World War II, the character was initially depicted fighting Axis military forces as well as an assortment of colorful supervillains, although over time her stories came to place greater emphasis on characters, deities, and monsters from Greek mythology. In the decades since her debut, Wonder Woman has gained a formidable cast of enemies bent on eliminating the Amazon, including classic villains such as Ares, Cheetah, Circe, Doctor Psycho, and Giganta, along with more recent adversaries such as the First Born. Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society (from 1941) and Justice League (from 1960). 

            In addition to the comics, the character has appeared in other media; most notably, the 1975–1979 Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter, as well as animated series such as the Super Friends and Justice League. Since Carter's television series, studios struggled to introduce a new live-action Wonder Woman to audiences, although the character continued to feature in a variety of toys and merchandise, as well as animated adaptations of DC properties, including a direct-to-DVD animated feature. Attempts to return Wonder Woman to television have included a pilot for NBC in 2011, closely followed by another stalled production for The CW. In 2013, Warner Bros. announced that actress Gal Gadot would portray Wonder Woman in the 2016 film Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, marking the character's feature film debut after over 70 years of history.

            The Golden Age Wonder Woman had strength that was comparable to the Golden Age Superman. Wonder Woman was capable of bench pressing 15,000 pounds even before she'd earned her bracelets, and later hoisted a 50,000 pound boulder above her head to inspire amazons facing the test. Another example of her great strength was when she was able to tear a steel door off its hinges. In one of her earliest appearances, she is shown running easily at 60 mph (97 km/h), and later jumps from a building and lands on the balls of her feet.

            She was able to heal faster than a normal human being due to her birthright consumption of water from Paradise Island's Fountain of Eternal Youth.

            Her strength would be removed in accordance with "Aphrodite's Law" if she allowed her bracelets to be bound or chained by a male.

            She also had an array of mental and psychic abilities, as corresponding to Dr. Marston's interest in parapsychology and mysticism. Such an array included ESP, astral projection, telepathy (with or without the Mental Radio), mental control over the electricity in her body, the Amazonian ability to turn brain energy into muscle power, etc. Wonder Woman first became immune to electric shocks after having her spirit stripped from her atoms by Dr. Psycho's Electro Atomizer; it was also discovered that she was unable to send a mental radio message without her body.

            Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #105 revealed that Diana was formed from clay by the Queen of the Amazons, given life and imbued with the attributes of four of the Greek and Roman gods (otherwise known as the Olympian deities) as gifts. "Beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Hermes, and stronger than Hercules", making her the strongest of the amazons. Wonder Woman's Amazon training gave her limited telepathy, profound scientific knowledge, and the ability to speak every language known to man and beyond – even caveman and Martian languages.

            Between 1966 and 1967, new powers were added, such as super breath and telepathy.
In the Silver and Bronze ages of comics, Wonder Woman was able to further increase her strength. In times of great need, removing her bracelets would temporarily augment her power tenfold, but cause her to go insane in the process.

            These powers received changes after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

            Wonder Woman's outfit has varied over time, although almost all of her outfit incarnations have retained some form of breastplate, tiara, bracelets and her signature five-pointed star symbols, although the movie version played by Gal Gadot features a starburst on her tiara. Although Wonder Woman's outfit design was originally rooted in American symbolism and iconography, it was later explained as having more Amazon roots. During a flashback in Vol. 3, Hippolyta is shown issuing orders to have a garment created for Diana, taking inspiration from the skies on the night Diana was born; a red hunter's moon and a field of stars against deep blue, and the eagle breastplate being a symbol of Athena's avian representations. 

    (Creation)

            In an October 25, 1940 interview with the Family Circle magazine, William Moulton Marston discussed the unfulfilled potential of the comic book medium. This article caught the attention of comics publisher Max Gaines, who hired Marston as an educational consultant for National Periodicals and All-American Publications, two of the companies that would merge to form DC Comics. At that time, it was suggested to Marston that he create his own new superhero; Marston's wife Elizabeth suggested to him that it should be a female:
William Moulton Marston, a psychologist already famous for inventing the polygraph, struck upon an idea for a new kind of superhero, one who would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love. "Fine," said Elizabeth. "But make her a woman."

            Marston introduced the idea to Gaines, co-founder of All-American Publications. Given the go-ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman with Elizabeth, whom Marston believed to be a model of that era's unconventional, liberated woman. Marston also drew inspiration from the bracelets worn by Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polyamorous relationship. Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941), scripted by Marston.

            Marston was the creator of a systolic-blood-pressure-measuring apparatus, which was crucial to the development of the polygraph (lie detector). Marston's experience with polygraphs convinced him that women were more honest in situations different than men and could work more efficiently.

            "Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world", Marston wrote.
In a 1943 issue of The American Scholar, Marston wrote:

            Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.

            Initially, Wonder Woman was an Amazon champion who wins the right to return Steve Trevor – a United States intelligence officer whose plane had crashed on the Amazons' isolated island homeland – to "Man's World" and to fight crime and the evil of the Nazis.

            During this period, Wonder Woman joined the Justice Society of America as the team's secretary.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman




            and introducing the other heroine:

                                                                                                "Who is Darna?"

            Darna is a fictional character and Filipino comics superheroine, similar to, the American Wonder Woman. created by writer Mars Ravelo and artist Nestor Redondo. In her more popular incarnations, she is a deceased warrior from another planet manifesting herself through a girl from Earth, named Narda. She first appeared in Pilipino Komiks (Ace Publications, Inc.) #77 (May 13, 1950). A cultural icon in the Philippines, Darna is considered to be the most celebrated character in Philippine comicdom.

            Darna is a retooling of Ravelo's earlier character, Varga, whose stories he wrote and illustrated himself. She first appeared in Bulaklak Magazine, Volume 4, #17 (July 23, 1947). Ravelo left Bulaklak due to the differences with the editors.

            Darna's powers include flight, super strength, super speed and near-invulnerability. In the 2003 retcon, the latest releases of the comic, this is due to her psionic background. Thus a form of telekinesis enhances her speed and strength and allows her flight. Her skin has a high level of invulnerability because of her race. Her psionic abilities also allow her to exercise limited psionic influence or telepathy. For weapons, the ruby encrusted in the winged medallion on her helmet also augments her psionic abilities, allowing her to emit a powerful concussion blast and the medallions that make up her belt can be used like throwing stars (shuriken). In the 2005 TV series, she also has heat vision, lent by the ruby. In some of the movies, she uses her bracelets to deflect bullets.

            Narda transforms into Darna, and vice versa, by shouting out their respective names (Darna to become Darna, Narda to become Narda). First, however, Narda has to swallow the white stone, which conveniently comes out of her mouth every time Darna changes back into herself. However, it was not so in her comic incarnations. Without the stone in her mouth she can say the name of whichever form she is not using without automatically changing.

            Mars Ravelo created the first images of Darna before World War II/late 1939, as the character's predecessor Varga. Mars Ravelo (1916-1988), a then young pioneering illustrator from Tanza, Cavite, thought of creating a female counterpart for Superman because he believed in the concept that America is “male” and the Philippines, then a colony of the US, is “female.” Ravelo's inspiration for Darna's heroic qualities came from his childhood fascination with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman (first appearance on Action Comics, No. 1, June 30, 1938; debut as a newspaper comic strip in January 16, 1939). He didn’t want to use the term “Superwoman” so as not to plagiarize the Siegel and Shuster creation. So instead as inspired by Superman, Mars Ravelo originally referred to his superheroine as "Kamangha-manghang dilag" (The Amazing Warrior Maiden) and combined the superhuman qualities of Superman with his own real life hero--his mother.

            There were claims that Darna was a copy, or less-charitably, a rip-off of William Moulton Marston's Wonder Woman (first appearance on All Star Comics, No. 8, December 1941). But people who have spoken with Ravelo personally claimed that the Filipino comics legend based Darna on his own mother who raised him single-handedly.

Angel Locsin as Darna (2009)

 

            Mars, a young and struggling cartoonist then, brought his

  superheroine idea as the Philippines’ answer to Superman to various

  publications both in the Philippines and in the United States but was

  rejected because publishers kept telling him "female superheroes will

  not sell". So Ravelo shelved his concept for the duration of the war.

  Years after the war, Ravelo realized the Filipinos were in need of a

  superhero so he again shopped his superheroine concept to publishers

  until one of them, Bulaklak Komiks ("Flower Comics") agreed to

  publish Ravelo's heroine that he now called "Varga" in 1947 (inspired

  by the Varga Girls series of illustrations) and the strip took off. Varga

  made her debut in Bulaklak Magazine, Vol. 4, #17 on July 23, 1947

  which Mars both wrote and drew himself. In an interview, Ravelo

  revealed that he offered his creation first to Liwayway Magazine and

  then to other publications but was rejected several times. And had not

  Liwayway magazine turned him down on his Varga (Darna’s

  predecessor character), history would have put Darna’s origin inside

  Liwayway’s pages instead of Bulaklak, and she would have been the

  Philippines’ first komiks superhero (Yes, at least one-a-half years

  ahead of Wonder Woman's first comics appearance!). 

            Contrary to what some Filipinos may believe, Darna was not named after the magical Ibong Adarna (Adarna bird), which appears in a Philippine epic of the same name. In Bulaklak Magazine, Narda was already established as Varga's mortal identity. "Darna" was simply an anagram of "Narda". Also, see. Varga was, in all things but name, the woman we now know as Darna. The concept and image of Varga (who could be the first female superhero in the Philippines) was based on the illustrations of Superman appearing on comic books brought by soldiers from the United States to the Philippines. It was the story of a mortal girl named Narda (named after one of Ravelo's childhood playmates), her brother Ding and their grandmother, lola Asay who lived in the town of Masambong when a falling star revealed itself to be a magic amulet that turns the little girl named Narda into the superheroine Varga.

Marian Rivera as Darna (2009) 

            By some twist of circumstance, the name Varga became the ownership of Bulaklak Magazine and when Ravelo left Bulaklak in 1949 after a falling out with its editor, Varga stayed behind. Ravelo took the "Varga" concept to Pilipino Komiks and transformed it to "Darna". Although the concept remained the same, Ravelo assigned another artist to illustrate his creation-–the soon to be legendary Nestor Redondo. Darna's first adventure as DARNA was first serialized in the pages ofPilipino Komiks (Ace Publications, Inc.) #77 on May 13, 1950, where she was pitted against the sultry snake goddess,Valentina. Here, Narda, a young girl, swallows a stone, which has the word Darna on it, and transforms into Darna by shouting out the latter name. Likewise, Darna turns back into Narda by shouting her name. The stone, which was from the planet Marte, stays in her body. Her secret is known to her grandmother, and her brother Ding, who becomes her sidekick. The superheroine quickly gained popularity among Filipino comic book readers. The komik serial, created by the great Mars Ravelo ran for 28 issues and those issues were vividly and expertly illustrated and executed by Nestor Redondo. 

Rosa Del Rosario as Darna (1951-1952)

            It can also be noted that Varga was a character archived twice, first, for the duration of World War II and second, when the name Varga became the ownership of Bulaklak magazine (during those times, intellectual property right is not yet in effect) and so when Ravelo left the publication in 1949 after a falling out with its editor, Varga stayed behind.
In May 31, 1951, Darna made a crossover from comics to cinema even before the Komiks serial was even finished, Royal Publications under Fernando Poe Sr. would produce the first Darna movie starring Rosa Del Rosario who was the original actress to play Darna. Darna was the last film directed by Fernando Poe, Sr. Since then, a number of actresses and actors have portrayed the most popular Pinoy superhero, not only in movies but also on different platforms. Some made from 1973 onwards starred the future multi-awarded dramatic actress and politician Vilma Santos.

Vilma Santos as Darna (1973-1980) 

            In these 1970s films, Darna's origin was changed; no

  longer a little girl, Narda was now in her late teens. Also, she

  herself becomes Darna, unlike the original where she just

  "channels" her (not unlike Jason Blood and Etrigan). Only Ding

  knows her secret in this version. Also, the stone comes out of

  Narda's mouth every time she changes back; she has to swallow

  it every time she wants to transform (This became standard for

  following versions). Darna is not specified as coming from

  Marte, just as a "warrior of Light". This version of Darna

  became most people's idea of the character for about 3 decades. 

            A catchphrase popularized by the movies and said by

  Narda runs, "Ding, ang bato!" ("Ding, [give me] the stone!")

Lorna Tolinteno as Darna (1977) 

            A TV series was also produced in 1977. Created by Ketchie Benedicto and airing on KBS 9, Darna! The TV Series starred another future multi-awarded dramatic actress, Lorna Tolentino, as Darna/Narda. Darna also had her own cartoon series in 1986 by GMA 7.

            Darna's costume has varied over time, although almost all of her costume incarnations have retained some form of red bikini with a gold star in each brassiere cap, red helmet with ruby encrusted gold winged medallion, gold bracelets, golden medallion belt with a loincloth in the middle, and almost knee-high red stiletto boots.

            Darna is a character that fused together the concept of the superhero with the traditions of Philippine folklore. The yellow/gold stars come from the Philippine flag, the loincloth (bahag) is a visual inspiration from native costuming, and the agimat concept come from Filipino traditions. Philippine folklore has a tradition of presenting humble, pure hearted mortals that are awarded amulets that allow them to (in a way) transform their virtues into superpowers that allow them to battle supernatural evil.


Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darna




            Therefore, even if Darna of the Philippines is similar to Wonder Woman of America it was created through the inspiration of the writer to his mother and of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman. And to the costume, though we can see some similarities to it, but since Varga was modeled by Ravelo himself and Darna was modeled by Redondo and changes is inevitable for Ravelo needs to let go of Varga and remodeled to the current Darna.

            Darna has been in hotseat for this reason but I believe that what the Author's claim is what we can confirm as a fact. Providing relative information to support the character is what makes the identity authentic. Even though Ravelo initially created the character late 1939, note that Varga was the old version of Darna which is a remodeled character already and the Varga is not similar to the Wonder Woman of America but rather to Superman.

            In the otherhand, Marston's profession along with his wife and partner inspired the character Wonder Woman as an image to his studies and because of his wife's insistent of making it a woman the character was created and note that Gaines discovered Marston during the late 1940 and when Marston was hired the company was later merge to the now DC comics. And during the evolution of Wonder Woman her character remains the same though many version was made through-out her ages but her origin and her costume remained her identity.

            Furthermore, I believe that either character is not a rip-off of the other, and the fact that even until now the characters still hold its fame, then it's rather an inspiration to create an own version and that's never been a bad idea as long as it will not compromise something. Since both character was created during the World War II, if instances that indeed Ravelo's Varga was seen by comic company's in US, DC Comic was not yet around at that time and Varga's character is totally different to how Wonder Woman was imagined by Marston. And the reason why that Darna was initially thought as a revised version is because of how she was later remodeled which shows resemblance to Wonder Woman.

            In addition to what I understand, the reason that Varga was constantly rejected is because how she was portrayed, according to Ravelo, Varga is the inspired version of Superman and the idea of a female hero during the WWII, also because female hero are not very much liked because of the idea of "female" itself. Though Marston's Wonder Woman was accepted was maybe because of his initial studies that put a unique image on the character and how she was portrayed.

            Disclaimer:
            I'm not trying to prove anything nor denounce the characters focused in this article and to it's creators, no such thing is intended. This is a mere curiosity that we may all share in regards to the fandom. Though I myself has always been a Wonder Woman fan since for me, consistency on the characters origin is a big thing that really matters as a writer myself.

            Although my source may not be as accurate as I hope it should be and I may have missed few details, but I'll gladly check on it, if you have related information, kindly comment down the link below and let me know of your thoughts as well.





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