I have met some pretty cool classic ladies already with Lois Lane in Action Comics and Catwoman in the Batman mags, but Wonder Woman is the first to get her own gig (though not officially until her eponymous title began in 1942).Now, I grew up believing that Wonder Woman made her debut in Sensation Comics #1 (I can't rightly tell you where I got the notion, though), so you can imagine my disappointment that this issue begins with a paragraph summary of Wonder Woman's origin instead of depicting that origin story. WTH?
So, of course, I went online to figure out what was going on. There I discovered that Wonder Woman actually made her first appearance in All-Star Comics #8 with a 9-page origin story.
Yay, I was saved. That mag was in my collection, too.
Most Amusing Panel Prize:
It can't be identity theft if you sell your credentials, but I seriously had no idea Wonder Woman bought her Diana Prince identity.
Surprising Details (or rather, More Details I Poorly Remembered):
Diana's mother, Hippolyta, and her "magic girdle" come straight from the Grecian myths of Hercules and the Amazons.
One reason I favor this origin story is because Diana is the composite of all the best qualities of the Greek Gods. but she is fashioned from the clay by her mother (a detail not present in this version of the story). She is a woman designed by a woman for women.
So, it is a little hard for me to embrace the fact that Diana is willing to sacrifice herself almost entirely because she has fallen in love with a comatose man.A COMATOSE MAN!
Sure she learns a bit about him and the mission that caused him to crash-land on Paradise Island from her mother's magic spy-glass the Magic Sphere, but come on! Taking Steve Trevor back to America, we are told, will cost Diana her heritage/home, and her family, and "her right to eternal life." Talk about self-sacrificing woman-hood!
Eternal life. For a guy she's never even spoken to.Moulton creates an interesting blend of female stereotypes with feminist premises in Wonder Woman. His Diana is endowed with the ideals of "woman-hood," both the good and the bad.
She is ultra-feminine in a skimpy uniform (designed by her mother, who knew?) who likes to "window shop" because she's a girl and that's what girls do. Yeah.
She also competes and proves her prowess, winning the right to take Steve Trevor back to the States (the "last citadel of democracy") on a mission -- given to her by two Grecian Goddesses (Aphrodite and Athena) no less -- to "fight the forces of hate and oppression."
Now that's a heroic mission, fighting the forces of hate and oppression.
If only Moulton had focused Diana more on her Goddess-given mission instead of on acquiring the love of a man she barely knows.
Series: All-Star Comics (1940)
Issue #: 008
Copyright: DC Comics
Cover Date: December-January 1941
Cover Price: 10¢
Page Count: 68 pages
Print Release: 22-October-1941
Digital Release: 25-June-2011
Writer:
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William Moulton Marston (as Charles Moulton)
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Penciler:
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Inker:
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Colorist:
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None Listed
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Story Title:
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Wonder Woman: “Introducing
Wonder Woman”
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Series: Sensation Comics (1941)
Issue #: 001
Copyright: DC Comics
Cover Date: January 1942
Cover Price: 10¢
Page Count: 16 pages
Print Release: 26-November-1941
Digital Release: 25-June-2011
Writer:
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William Moulton Marston (as Charles Moulton)
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Penciler:
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Inker:
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Colorist:
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None Listed
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Cover Art:
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Source Links:
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Story Title:
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