When DC Comics unveiled Yara Flor, a Brazilian Amazon destined to become the next Wonder Woman, I was sold. The idea felt overdue, fresh and charmingly promising. I was not alone. Comic book stans all around the world fell in love with Yara’s striking design, with some even naming her appeal ‘the sickness for the thickness’. The hype was real.
Following her debut in Future State (a limited series exploring a possible future of DC Comics), she appeared as the new Wonder Woman, replacing Diana Prince. Soon after in February 2021 Yara Flor was given her own comic book series, Wonder Girl, which promised to explore her origins through the lens of Brazilian mythology. Around the same time, the American television network CW announced that she would headline a live-action series, making her the first Latina superhero to lead a DC television show. Despite this, after only seven issues of Wonder Girl, the rising icon vanished. No explanation. No finale. No closure. Leaving all of us to wonder how such a promising hero could rise so quickly, only to fall just as fast.
The mastermind behind the ephemeral hero Yara Flor is the respected and renowned artist Joëlle Jones. Known for her incredible work on Lady Killer and various Marvel and DC Comics. The idea for Yara came to her after attending São Paulo’s Comic Con Experience. From the outset, Yara was distinctly different from the string of previous Wonder Girls we’ve seen before. For one, she is the first Amazon actually from the Amazons. Previous Wonder Girls like Donna Troy, Nubia, Hippolyta and Cassie experienced notoriously inconsistent and disrupted timelines, but Yara, as a new superhero, was an opportunity to fill the void left by previous attempts at Wonder Girls whose storylines had become muddled. She was also meant to introduce a new perspective rooted in Brazilian folklore.
Shortly after DC’s announcement of Wonder Girl, in a piece for entertainment website Polygon, Dan Watters, who wrote Yara in Future State, described her personality and how she differs from Diana. He noted that she “is not a princess or a queen… She hangs out in weird bars… and helps people wherever she finds them”.
It seemed as though everything was moving in the right direction. Yara was a standout and a fan favourite from the jump in her Future State appearance, showing genuine promise. She was performing remarkably well. Her solo debut as Wonder Girl even outsold Wonder Woman. She already had a dedicated and enthusiastic fan base. The CW announced that Dailyn Rodriguez, producer of shows like Queen of the South and Ugly Betty, would be developing her CW series. So, what went wrong?
Although DC never issued an official explanation for ending the series prematurely after only seven issues, several factors may have converged to bring about the downfall of Yara Flor. Heated fan debates speculate about conspiracies, ranging from creator favouritism to frustration that she swooped in ahead of more established characters.
However, this analysis will focus on the primary factors that most convincingly account for her downfall, even if definitive answers remain out of reach.
The first thing that sparked real concern and persisted as an issue throughout Yara’s short lived tenure as Wonder Girl was the fact that Joëlle Jones would serve dual roles as writer and artist of the new series. While Jones’ art is undeniably phenomenal and her reputation as one of the most respected comic book artists in the industry stands, it was unclear how DC would deliver on their promise to depict Brazilian mythology without a Brazilian writer on the team.
Concerns about her representing South American folklore were not baseless. As the series unfolded, it became clear that Yara Flor leaned heavily into Greek mythology, presumably to compensate for the lack of Portuguese-speaking writers who could authentically tell Brazilian lore. Some even accused Jones of urbanizing Yara by giving her an American upbringing, a choice that clashed with her roots and the folklore she was meant to embody.
Still, the way Brazilian folklore was handled in Wonder Girl, while confusing to some, likely was not enough on its own to justify DC pulling the series. The inclusion of Greek mythology was not inherently problematic, and for some readers, the blending of cultural myths added an enjoyable layer of creativity.
The real pressure came from behind the scenes. Strict DC deadlines and repeated delays, further intensified by the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, created a significant hurdle. Even with Jones’ extraordinary talent, juggling both writing and artistic responsibilities during lockdown would have been a monumental task.
It is no secret that DC Comics operates on rigid and extensive deadlines, and its relationships with writers are often based on guarantees that work will be delivered within specific timeframes. The weight of being both writer and artist likely played a significant role in the series’ premature cancellation, leaving what could have been a groundbreaking take on Wonder Girl to linger as a depressing what might have been.
What’s especially sad is that Yara was more than just a new superhero, she represented the DC Universe diversifying. Many of us were stunned and thrilled to see a female, non-westernised superhero leading her own comic book series. Yara felt like a step forward, only for the disillusionment to set in, leaving fans waiting for the next time such a character would be brought to life again.
Words by Deborah Adelodun
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