When First We Learn to Deceive
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
We’re still in the late 1970s period of the first season of the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman TV series, and because that season was set during World War II, suddenly so was the Wonder Woman comic book. In DC Comics continuity, that meant a shirt to Earth-2, where Wondy, Superman and Batman were all active in the 1940s, as part of the Justice Society of America.
On Sea Monsters and the Holocaust
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
OK, we’re still on that weird period in 1977 when the Wonder Woman comic shifted abruptly from the present day to World War II because that was the setting of the TV show (but only for one season, after which both the show and the comic returned to the 1970s). For existing comic book fans, the explanation was that we were going from Earth-1, where the modern Wonder Woman lived, to Earth-2, home of the original versions of the DC heroes from actual 1940s comics. Of course, keen-eyed fans noticed right away that even that explanation didn’t quite add up because in most instances where the TV show differed from the old comics, the new comics took their cue for the show. So now Steve Trevor had brown hair, whereas he had always been blond; Diana Prince was a yeoman rather than a lieutenant; and their boss was General Blankenship, a character created for the show, rather than General Darnell. In the letters column of issue 233, the editor explains that all this was intentional, because they didn’t want fans of the show to be confused when they read the comics, and because DC wasn’t really reprinting 1940s stories at the time, they figured hardly anyone would notice.
The Finest Era
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
As of May 1977, with Wonder Woman’s TV show in full swing, the Amazon heroine was appearing regularly not just in her own comic and various team comics (Justice League of America, Super Friends) but also started having bimonthly solo adventures in World’s Finest. This had for decades been a Superman/Batman buddy series, and the front feature still fit that description, but it became an 80-page “dollar comic” (up from the previous 30 cents) with four different back-up features, including Wonder Woman. The others were Green Arrow, Black Canary, and the Vigilante.
Gotta Get Back in Time
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click
Can’t Start a Fire Without a Spark
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
This time writer Martin Pasko and artists Jose Delbo and Vince Colletta give us a two-part story in two issues, which was a fairly rare thing back in 1976. Nowadays, of course, it’s standard practice to spread a single story out over six, twelve or even 20-odd issues, but back in the ’70s single issues tended to have self-contained stories. So what’s so special about “A Life in Flames”? Well, let’s see.
Happy to Be Sad
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
