Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett goes into the WW84 movie, recent interview with DC Films President Walter Hamada, and discusses why Star-Blossom needs to appear in more content.

A couple of weeks ago (see “Confessions Of A Comic Book Guy -- A Dispatch From The Streaming Wars”), I wrote about Disney+ and while I still haven’t given HBO Max a chance yet, lately it’s become clear they have a streaming strategy of their own.  One that’s going to produce a plethora of programming that will appeal to comics fans, as well as a massive mainstream audience.

Their plan is to release four big tent-pole superhero films in movie theaters, while “smaller, riskier comic book films with head straight to HBO Max.."  While nothing has been confirmed, the suggestion is that among those “smaller, riskier” movies are Batgirl and Static Shock which feature, respectively, a young female hero and a young black hero.

Another source of revenue for HBO MAX will be spinoff series from their theatrical films, with shows based on The Batman and Suicide Squad (Peacekeeper, starring John Cena) already in the works.  In a NY Times article, DC Films president Walter Hamada was quoted as saying: “With every movie that we’re looking at now, we are thinking, ‘What’s the potential Max spinoff?’"

Not having access to the HBO Max, it will undoubtedly be a while before I get the chance to see Wonder Woman 1984, so I have nothing to add to the deluge of reviews hitting the Internet.  From the headlines I’ve read, the reviews have range in opinion from the mildly positive to the severely nit-picky to the bitterly negative, but audiences must have liked it in sufficiently large enough numbers as they’ve already green-lit according to Wonder Woman 3.

Usually, it’s nigh-impossible for someone to spoil a movie for me, but I liked the first Wonder Woman movie, well enough anyway that I’m going to at least try not to learn too much about WW84 before I see it.  But there was one piece about the movie that I don’t think requires a spoiler warning.  According to Wonder Wonder writer Gail Simone, WW84 might have contained a brief appearance by Peony McGill, aka Star-Blossom, a little girl with plant-based superpowers (see “Confessions Of A Comic Book Guy - What A Little Politeness Can Accomplish”).  Star-Blossom made her first appearance in 2016’s Wonder Woman 75th Anniversary Special, in a story by Simone and Colleen Doran, where she teamed up with Princess Diana to defeat Titano the giant ape. According to Gail's piece:

"The Wonder Woman 1984 scene in question took place in a shopping mall, during which Gal Gadot's Diana Prince/Wonder Woman saves a young girl who bore a striking resemblance to the character Peony McGill aka Star-Blossom.  "She sure looks like it!" Simone commented on the scene. "In any case, she's adorable."

If Simon and Doran are willing to more Star-Blossom comics, I think DC should let them do just that. Give Peony her own Digital First comic, have her pal around with the Super Sons, or let her join the Legion of Super-Heroes; I really don’t care. Just so long as we get to see more of her.

And, finally, Wonder Woman fans might want to read Madeleine Aggeler’s recent piece.  Aggeler doesn’t like WW84, not one little bit, and isn’t afraid to say so, but mostly it makes a well-thought-out case that someone should "Just Give Wonder Woman A Scrunchie."  Perhaps a Scrunchie of Justice, forged by the gods (or gotten at a CVS Drug Store) to go with her Lasso of Truth.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.