Hirin' and Firin'

Hey Gail, if you're still reading, I have serious questions about Ivy University's tenure policy.

Specifically, WHAT, exactly, would Professor Doris Zuel have to do to get fired? You'd think that going on naked rampage through the town would at least get one put on probation, let alone swallowing a fellow member of the faculty whole, but there she is the next day, teaching class and putting the moves on The All-New Atom. I'm surprised she was hired in the first place, considering she's a known (and, in the pages of Wonder Woman, still wanted) criminal and she isn't doing much to hide her identity.

Yes, yes, I know she was "under the influence of a cancer god" (and haven't we all used THAT excuse before) and the Dean himself isn't exactly on the up-and-up, but you'd think the board of directors or the alumni association would throw a stink about such a dangerous individual influencing the minds of a new generation. I mean, it's not like they've got Prof. Morrow teaching computer programming or Solomon Grundy lecturing on interpretations of Seven Soldiers ("Grundy wants explication of text, too!")

... or DO they? Is that the point? Based on the increased yield following Ray Palmer's tenure, is Ivy actively recruiting the all stars of the meta-science world? Is that in the brochure? "Come to Ivy University and see the laws of physics rewritten regularly!" The Flash leading a seminar on special relativity. The Phantom Stranger and Dr. Thirteen hosting a special class on "Faith vs. Doubt". And when you run out of heroes, who might have better things to do, you move on to the reformed (and almost reformed) villains?

Y'know, this could actually be cool. They could have academic rivalries with the inmates of The Haven and free-thinkers on Oolong Island. Ethics classes would have some real debate, since there would suddenly be people actually pro-disintegration. And if Ivy's University mascot was the Kawaii M'Nagalah, I don't think I'd have a problem with that.

Ah, So THAT'S What It's For

The bare midriff is an interesting fashion. As a heterosexual male with ZERO fashion sense, all I can say is, that's kind of a hot look, on girls who have a body that can pull it off.

What it doesn't have is a lot of authority. Which is fine if you're talking about someone like Supergirl, but probably wouldn't fly on someone like Wonder Woman, for example.

So it was sort of surprise that Terry Dodson, in redesigning Wonder Woman's foes for her new series, would put a human looking Cheetah, a.k.a. Dr. Barbara Minerva in a midriff baring halter-top, especially since he took Giganta, a.k.a. Professor Zuel, out of her fur bikini and into a more sensible jumpsuit. Even if clothes are a step-up from her usual nakedness, an exposed belly button doesn't exactly strike terror into the hearts of your enemies, so the design didn't make sense to me.

Until she first transforms into her Cheetah form:



Suddenly the exposed midriff seemed clever... necessary even!



Because the midriff allows her tail to stick out the back without making a hole in her costume.