No Boys Allowed
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
For most of Wonder Woman’s history, it’s been a rule that no man can set foot on Paradise Island, but exactly why that is seems to change all the time. In the version I’m most used to, a man stepping on the island would instantly make the Amazons lose their immortality and any other powers, but in some stories it’s portrayed as something that would kill the man instantly or otherwise invoke the wrath of the gods. And in some stories, the prohibition is forgotten entirely. Writer-artist Mike Sekowsky showed Diana’s martial arts mentor I Ching visiting Paradise Island, and longtime WW scribe Robert Kanigher had Nubia’s male warriors hanging out on the island without a problem. But generally speaking, it’s an absolute taboo, and in this story a very rich and powerful man sets out to find out why. The answer may surprise you!
Amazons Attack Atlantis
WONDER WEDNESDAY
On Wednesdays I look at various chapters in Wonder Woman’s history. Click here for previous installments.
This week we continue our look at The Twelve Labors, the series of mid-1970s adventures in which Wonder Woman insists on earning her way back into the Justice League of America by having fellow JLA heroes observe and judge her exploits.
But just as a side note, you may be interested to know that there’s a play about the creator and the lasting legacy of Wonder Woman,
Lasso of Truth, opening next week at Marin Theatre Company. Check back tomorrow for a link to my advance feature in the Marin IJ. I’ll actually be taking part in a panel discussion on the legacy of Wonder Woman after the 2pm matinee of Lasso on Saturday, March 1, alongside comic creator and women-in-comics historian Trina Robbins and Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, director of the documentary Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Superheroines. So that may be a good time to come check it out if you’re into that sort of thing. Read more
