Silver Age Gold: Wonder Woman

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Not-So-Secret Origins of the JLA Week- Wonder Woman

Technically, the Silver Age Wonder Woman WAS the Golden Age Wonder Woman. Her series had never been cancelled. This new origin story, however, creates a dividing line between the Wonder Woman who was the secretary for the Justice Society of America during WWII and the new, more powerful Wonder Woman who was an equal member of the Justice League.

Enjoy "The Secret Origin of Wonder Woman" by Robert Kanigher, penciled by Ross Andru and inked by Mike Esposito from Wonder Woman #105, April 1959.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Gorilla My Dreams- Wonder Woman #163

For those of you only familiar with Giganta from The Challenge of the Super-Friends TV show, her Silver Age origin may surprise you. See, Giganta was not originally an arch-enemy for the Hanna-Barbera created Apache Chief, nor did she have the power to grow 50 feet tall.

No, Giganta was, well, a girl gorilla. A girl gorilla who fell in love with Wonder Woman's impossibly hot boyfriend, Col. Steve Trevor.

Seeing the gorilla's amorous advances towards Col. Trevor at the zoo, Wonder Woman's old enemy Dr. Psycho steals the gorilla and takes her to crackpot scientist Professor Zool, who has invented an "evolution machine". The machine evolves Giganta the gorilla into a large, muscular woman who wants to fight Wonder Woman for Steve. If you don't believe in evolution, this segment of the story will insult your beliefs. If you do believe in evolution, it will insult your intelligence. Honestly, I'd like to know just what environmental pressures and survival advantages prompted Giganta to evolve not only into a woman, but also to evolve a leopard-skin mini-dress and big hoop earrings.

Needless to say, Wonder Woman keeps her man and send Giganta off to Paradise Island for "rehabilitation".

Why The Silver Age?

I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's, right as superhero comics were going from a floundering social rant about human rights to a newly reinvented vision of your favorite heroes as masked psychopaths. Fortunately for me, my local library had a copy of "Batman from the 30's to the 70's" which I checked out and read regularly. I was hooked. I was filled with what Alan Moore would later call a "sense of wonder" at the elaborate interior of the Batcave. The supporting cast with room for a Batgirl, Batwoman, Bathound and Bat-Mite. Oh, sure, I joined the 1985 bandwagon of "Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen" style grittiness... but after a few years of that stuff, I began to miss, sincerely, characters like Streaky the Super-cat and Mr. Mxyzptlk. In a few more years, I began to really miss Aquaman's shirt (oh, and his hand). No, for me, superheroes will always exist in a shimmering land written before 1967.

Oh! And the images, indicia, titles, names. etc. of any comics or cartoon properties are copyright their respective owners.