WONDER WOMAN: MILESTONES!
A compendium by Bob Reyer
Suffering Sappho! Here’s a not-so-quick rundown of some of the major moments in Wonder Woman’s more than 75-year history! (For the most part, issue dates are “cover dates” due to incomplete data from way-back-when!)
Wonder Woman
“Milestones”
First appearance: All Star Comics #8 (12/41) (Origin: Story by Dr. William Moulton Marston; art by Harry G. Peter)
First solo full story: Sensation Comics #1 (1/42)
First solo title: Wonder Woman #1 (Summer 1942) (Peak sales 2.5m!)
(Origin expanded to include Diana’s “birth” from clay!)
Firsts: Etta Candy in Sensation #2; Baroness Paula von Gunther in Sensation #4; Dr. Psycho in Wonder Woman #5; Cheetah (Priscilla Rich) in W.W. #6; Giganta in W.W. #9
Death of Dr. William Moulton Marston 5/2/47
“Villainy, Inc.” super-villainess team-up by Joye Murchison (uncredited): Wonder Woman #28 (March/April 1948)
Dr. Marston’s last published story: Comic Cavalcade #28 (Aug/Sept 1948)
Robert Kanigher takes over as writer, editor Sheldon Mayer leaves June 1948
Sensation #94 (Nov/Dec 1949): Steve carrying Diana (Cover: Irwin Hasen)
Wonder Woman’s origin re-told: Wonder Woman #45 (1/51)
Last “Sensation” Wonder Woman: Sensation # 107 (Jan/Feb 1952)
Harry G. Peter fired 1958 (Editor/Writer Robert Kanigher called his art “grotesque”)
First Andru & Esposito (full art): Wonder Woman #98 (5/58) (Origin re-told; first Silver Age Wonder Woman?) (Pencils: Ross Andru; Inks: Mike Esposito)
First Wonder Girl: “The Secret Origin…” Wonder Woman #105 (4/58)
Golden Age homages begin: Wonder Woman #159 (1/66) (same month as Batman’s TV debut!)
First “New” Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman #178 (9/68) (Denny O’Neil/Mike Sekowsky’s “Emma Peel” version)
Ms. Magazine #1 “Wonder Woman” cover by Murphy Anderson (7/72)
(Contains article by Joanne Edgar declaring Wonder Woman “submissive” for giving up her powers!)
“Wonder Woman” hardcover book by Phyllis Chesler (Gloria Steinem introduction) (Reprints 13 Marston/Peter Golden Age stories)
Last “de-powered” story: Wonder Woman #203 (12/72) (Samuel Delany/Dick Giordano)
First “re-powered” story: Wonder Woman #204 (1/73) (Robert Kanigher/Don Heck)
“Wonder Woman” TV premiere: 11/7/75 (runs 4 seasons)
Jeanette Kahn named DC publisher 1976
Wonder Woman in WWII stories: Wonder Woman #228 (2/77)
“W” emblem, WW Foundation: Wonder Woman #288 (2/82)(Roy Thomas/Gene Colan)
First Credited Female Artist: Jan Duursema, Wonder Woman #300 (2/83)
First Credited Female Writer: Mindy Newell, Wonder Woman #326-328 (7/85) (…although Joye Murchison wrote many uncredited stories in the Forties!)
Last Issue/original series: Wonder Woman #329 (2/86) (Gerry Conway/Don Heck) (Diana and Steve wed, as have their Earth-Two counterparts; last Pre-Crisis issue)
Wonder Woman dies: Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (3/86) (Marv Wolfman/George Perez) (Diana blasted into oblivion by Anti-Monitor, in fact thrust backwards in time and returned to clay; Earth-Two Diana & Steve brought to Olympus)
“The Legend of Wonder Woman” 4-part mini-series: May-Aug.1986 Kurt Busiek/Trina Robbins
Wonder Woman #1: 2/87 George Perez w/Greg Potter, Len Wein (Editor: Karen Berger)
(George solo by #17) (GP: “I wanted to make her a nice person…I was trying to make her a peace character.”)
Wonder Woman/Superman “date”: Action #600/Wonder Woman #16 (4-5/88) (George Perez/John Byrne)
Wonder Woman 1989 Annual (Written by George Perez; illustrated by Collen Doran, Jan Duursema, Ramona Fradon, Lee Mars, Cynthia Martin, Barb Rausch, Trina Robbins, Cara Sherman-Tereno, Leslie Sternbergh)
Last George Perez: Wonder Woman #62 (2/92)
First William Messner-Loebs: Wonder Woman #63 (6/92)
(Mike Deodato, Jr. #85, 90-100) (Artemis #90)
First John Byrne: Wonder Woman #101 (9/95) through #136 (8/98)
(JB: “I’m going to do what I think she is, what I always felt she was; there ain’t nobody tougher than Diana but Superman!”)
(#127-Diana dies, becomes Goddess of truth; #130-Hippolyta in JSA)
“Wonder Woman: Amazonia” (1/98) Elseworlds set in Victorian London (William Messner-Loebs/Phil Winslade)
“Wonder Woman: The Once and Future Story” (6/98) Award-winning cautionary tale of abusive relationships past and present (Trina Robbins/Colleen Doran)
First Eric Luke: Wonder Woman #139 (12/98) through #152 (1/00)
First Phil Jimenez: Wonder Woman #164 (1/01) through #188 (3/03)
(Phil Jimenez: “She is good; she represents good and that’s okay.”)
Hippolyta dies, Paradise Island destroyed: Wonder Woman #172 (9/01)
(Part of “Worlds at War” event; DC forces Phil Jimenez into this.)
“Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth” Paul Dini/Alex Ross (11/01)
“Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia” (6/02) (Greg Rucka/J.G. Jones)
Last Phil Jimenez: Wonder Woman #188 (3/03)
(First Festival of Goddesses on New Themyscira; 2-page spread of all Wonder Women!)
First Walt Simonson Wonder Woman #189 (4/03) through #194 (9/03) (art by Jerry Ordway)
First Greg Rucka (series issue): Wonder Woman #195 (10/03) through #226 (4/06)
(#199: Wonder Woman: ”Peace is a virtue, not just the absence of war.”)
(#219: Maxwell Lord killed during “Infinite Crisis” event)
(#225: Paradise Island disappears, Diana closes embassy)
(#226: Wonder Woman/Superman– friends only!)
Wonder Woman Vol 3, #1: (8/06)
(#1-4: Allan Heinberg/Terry Dotson “Who is Wonder Woman?”/Donna Troy as WW)
(#5: Will Pfeiffer)
(#6-10: Jodi Picoult)
(#11-13: J. Torres)
First Gail Simone: Wonder Woman #14 (1/08) through #44 (7/10)
(#24 “Wonder Woman: The Movie”; Diana: “Why is it that people feel that a belief in women equals a hatred of men?”)
(#25 “A Star in the Heavens: Personal Effects”; Diana: “We have a saying, my people. ‘Don’t kill if you can wound, don’t wound if you can subdue, don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it.’”)
“Wonder Woman” DC animated film released March 2009
(#30: Amazons return to Themyscira)
(#32: Etta held hostage; WW-“My own beliefs are coming back to haunt me. I could have killed Ares half a dozen times; Dr. Psycho and Professor Minerva a dozen more each…but I chose to let them live.”)
(#34: “Rumpus McGoo” and the Black Canary)
Last Gail Simone Wonder Woman #44 (7/10) (Astarte, sister of Hippolyta, and her hordes invade the Earth; Etta & Steve plus Hippolyta and the Amazons help turn the tide. The last page ends with this from Wonder Woman: “I live in two worlds. I call many places my home. By all rights, I should be alone everywhere I go, and yet…I find I am not. Instead, I find love in every direction I look. I am Diana, Princess of the Amazons, and this is the life I am blessed to have led.”)
Wonder Woman #600 (8/10) (J. Michael Straczynski through #614)
(#614–Final issue)
David E. Kelley’s “Wonder Woman” pilot for NBC (2011), starring Adrianne Palicki
DC “New 52” Re-launch (11/11) (Brian Azzarello/Cliff Chiang)
“Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines” Documentary film premieres 3/12 (PBS debut 4/13) (Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan)
Wonder Woman Adventures 100-page Spectacular (9/12) DC Animated-style All-Ages book (Steve Vance/John Delaney)
Sensation Comics (vol. 2) debuts as a digital anthology series (8/14; print 8/20) Runs 17 print issues, with contributions from Gail Simone, Trina Robbins, and many other past Wonder Woman talents.
Wonder Woman #36 (11/14) by Meredith & David Finch “…vegetative injustice…”
Legend of Wonder Woman by Renae De Liz debuts digitally (11/12/15; print 1/13/16)
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” premieres 3/25/16, featuring Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman: Rebirth #1 one-shot(Greg Rucka returns to Wonder Woman) (8/16)
Wonder Woman (vol. 5) by Greg Rucka debuts with “split story” (8/16); #1- “The Lies” (art by Liam Sharp), #2 “Year One” (art by Nicola Scott)
“Wonder Woman” feature film, directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot opens (6/2/17)
Hera help me– I’m exhausted! Fatigue aside, it was a lot of fun researching these moments, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed this look back at the history of the Amazon Princess as much as I did putting it together. Even more, my wish would be that this exploration could prompt some of you to take your own journey through the Wonder Woman back-catalog!
