Wonder Woman's long history is rife with formidable foes, but in the world of DC's Earth One graphic novel line, even the most dated of them can be reinvented into something truly timely and even more horrific. This is exactly what creator Grant Morrison did alongside his collaborator Yanick Paquette for the second volume of their alternate universe Wonder Woman: Earth One series with an all-new take on the 1940s villain Doctor Psycho. By flipping the script on his original 1940s incarnation, Morrison and Paquette have taken Doctor Psycho from campy vintage hypnotist to modern day "pickup artist."

Doctor Psycho in Wonder Woman: Earth One, Vol. 2 5 IMAGES

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A Look Inside Wonder Woman: Earth One - Vol. 2 5 IMAGES

The "pickup artist" or PUA community in the real world is a group of men who believe they can subliminally suggest ideas to women using scripts and other "mind control" tactics to make them more compliant, usually aiming for some sort of sexual or romantic favor. Dr. Psycho's new angle was inspired by a combination of real-world sources, according to Morrison, who spoke to IGN along with a small group of reporters at a press event. "I was looking towards the modern version of the [creepy 40s hypnotist]," he said. He went on to cite real world, government sponsored mind control experiments such as the infamous MKUltra, a CIA experiment in the Cold War era that used psychotropic drugs and hypnosis to make subjects suggestible. According to Morrison, it's not hard to see the connections between the theories that inspired MKUltra and the PUA playbook."You see it in Neil Strauss' book The Game. [...] We really went deep with it in the sequences between Psycho and Diana," Morrison said. "When he sits and talks to her, it's based on the actual script used by pickup artists with the movements he makes, he mirrors all her gestures, he makes this 'casting off' gesture every time he wants her to perceive something as negative. It was really tightly worked out to follow those scripts."But this Psycho is after more than just a date from Diana. Despite the frequently romantic or sexual goals of his real-life inspiration, Psycho on Earth One is actually backed by the US government with the ultimate goal of completely isolating Diana away from her friends, mission and moral center, all to prove that she is as much a threat as the military believes her to be."Our Doctor Psycho is the supervillain version of a pickup artist, so he has these amazing resources at his disposal," Morrison said. "He can organize these massive scenarios which involve hundreds of people in any location. He can twist your idea of what's real and what's not."Why is Psycho so interested in moving against Diana? It all comes back to the core thesis that the Wonder Woman: Earth One trilogy aims to interrogate: what would happen if the Golden Age ideas that informed the original Wonder Woman of the 1940s were treated seriously and made modern? For Morrison and Paquette, the answer to that question is as multifaceted as it is complex. In this world, the Amazons practice their own version of mind control, believing that the literal changing of someone's mind via force is a practice that promotes peace. They've also revealed themselves to the world through Diana, who in volume two has begun working as both a teacher at Holiday College and a global peacekeeper, making the US government incredibly nervous about the potential for an Amazonian-lead toppling of the geopolitical balance.In the text itself, Psycho has been pitted against Diana by a shadowy government benefactor looking to move the pieces around the board and orchestrate the launch of a global war against the Amazons before they can strike on their own terms. But, Morrison admits, there's also a bit of personal revenge sprinked in for good measure."Part of it was my revenge on having seen [this level of manipulation] actually done to someone. You can see the narcissist type, the sociopath type and how easy it is for them get to people -- people you wouldn't even imagine could be that manipulated by anything. It's a very real problem for young people in the world. There are people out there who are quite willing to use these techniques so I kind of wanted to draw attention to it, but, you know, on the Wonder Woman scale where the guy is a supervillain. I wanted to put these paragon of femininity up against that threat and see how she deals with it -- because even paragons of intelligence and grace I've watched having real trouble with people like this. Here are the techniques. If you see anyone using these techniques against you, the warnings should go off."Wonder Woman: Earth One - Vol. 2 releases on October 9.