Rock with You
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click
Enter and Exit the Samurai
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
Having looked at some actual 1940s comics in the last Wonder Wednesday, now we return to that weird period in the 1970s when the Wonder Woman comic was suddenly set during World War II again, to match the first season of the Wonder Woman TV show.
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.
Returning Japanese
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
A few weeks ago we started a
two-part story about some shapeshifting Japanese assassin trying to kill General Douglas MacArthur. Now let’s take a look at the stunning conclusion! Read more
The Diana Princes’ Diaries
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click
Pardon My Vibrators…of Death!
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
In the
last issue, Steve Trevor turned into a monster and died. I mean, sure, Steve only just came back from the dead, but that was a totally different Steve Trevor, the Earth-1 Steve of the 1970s. This is World War II Steve, on Earth-2, and he’s dead! Dead! Dr. Mid-Nite said so and everything, and he’s a doctor and a super-hero! If only there were some hope, like, say, the cover of the issue explaining that there’s a formula that could save Steve’s life. Read more
My Boyfriend Is a Monster
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click
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.
Who Was that Masked Nazi?
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click
Bombs Bursting in Air
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
Oh hey, it’s the Third of July! Maybe I should do this here comic with Uncle Sam on the cover, because that seems patriotic. And it has two beloved heroes on the cover facing off in their patriotic costumes of red, blue and, um, yellow.
