In July 1942, Wonder Woman joins the ranks of Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern in getting her own self-titled regular comic book. Wonder Woman #1 features a much expanded origin story both of Wonder Woman and of the Amazons, including Queen Hippolyte (later Hippolyta) facing off against a ridiculously muscle-bound Hercules.
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In All-Star Comics #11 (April 1942), members of the Justice Society of America decide to join the United States armed forces as civilians to help with World War II. Eventually, the generals decide that having super-powered civilians in the forces is too disruptive, so they decide to form the Justice Battalion of America. In the […]
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Wonder Woman gains her iconic weapon (?), the Lasso of Truth in Sensation Comics #6 (April 1942). But it was more than just forcing her enemies to tell the truth, it forced them to do her bidding.
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More female bondage in Sensation Comics #4 (February 1942), when Wonder Woman meets her first recurring character, Nazi criminal Baroness Paula von Gunther. Paula was created by Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston.
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Early Wonder Woman stories always seem to have something to do with tying up women, teaching them lessons, light bondage and paddlings. Later, this woman from Sensation Comics #3 (January 1942) accepts her punishment and asks for handcuffs.
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In the second issue of Sensation Comics (December 1941), Wonder Woman gets her first villain, Doctor Poison, in this incarnation a Japanese princess named Maru who works for the Nazis. To help defeat Doctor Poison, Wonder Woman enlists another supporting character introduced in this issue of Etta Candy. Bad puns aside, I’m a bit fascinated […]
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In Sensation Comics #1 (November 1941), Wonder Woman arrives in America with Steve Trevor and proceeds to foil a bank robbery, come up with a secret identity as a military nurse named Diana Prince, save Steve from falling to his death in aerial combat, foil Nazis parachutists, and destroy an entire poison gas facility. Pretty […]
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In All-Star Comics #8 (October 1941), the third of DC’s “Trinity” finally arrives: Wonder Woman! Tucked behind a Justice Society of America story (in which Hourman and Green Lantern have been replaced by Starman and Dr. Mid-Nite), Dr. William Moulton Marston, aka Charles Moulton gives us the definitive Wonder Woman origin story. This story has […]
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After years of showing women as helpless romantic interests posed in alluring dresses, someone gets the idea to get women into the action. In All-Star Comics #5 (April 1941), Shiera jumps from being a simple love interest to becoming DC’s first costumed super-heroine, Hawkgirl. In reality, this first story doesn’t really have Hawkgirl doing anything […]
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All-American Comics #1 in March 1939, the first comic from All-American Publications. All-American was formed by Max Gaines and funded by Harry Donenfield (the owner of National Allied Publication and Detective Comics). All-American would go on to be the home for many characters we know well today like Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Green Lantern […]
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