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Tweak says, "Follow the creepy brick road."

mosellegreen (mosellegreen) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-07-23 11:37:00

Entry tags:

char: etta candy, char: paula von gunther, char: wonder woman/diana of themyscira, creator: william moulton marston, era: golden age, publisher: dc comics, title: sensation

Golden Age Wonder Woman
These are from Sensation Comics #4, 1942. Remember that these can be bought in the Archive Edition reprints; thus far there are five Wonder Woman volumes. And they have them of other Golden Age comics too; I also have the Black Canary volume.

This issue introduces Wonder Woman's enemy Baroness Paula von Gunther, whom she later reformed, probably by spanking her.

My first name is Eve, so this one especially amuses me. This is the same "Eve Brown" from tomorrow's post. These are the earliest issues and Reformation Island hasn't been introduced to the mythos yet, so Wonder Woman just turned Eve Brown over to the Holliday Girls' sorority to be, ah, whipped into shape.

Just imagine, there was a time when "And then in his secret identity, the hero goes to a costume party dressed as himself, and everyone is fooled! Ha, ha!" was fresh and original.

Wonder Woman takes advantage of the party to do a bit of snooping through the Baroness's mansion.

Again, I really love the Holliday Girls' cheerful approach to adventure.

Yeah, Diana, any excuse will do.

And here is the first mention of Wonder Woman's "Kryptonite". You know, given her inclinations, it's gotta put a real damper on her love life.

Psychology. Marston just had to stick that in.

Also, let me take this opportunity to be pedantic and clear up a misconception about this. A few fanficcers have gotten the idea that any time a man ties Wonder Woman up, she loses her power. I don't recall her own series ever using that interpretation, though it's possible I missed something and it was about 15 years ago that I read most of her original series. I do know that this idea was suggested in the very first issue of The Teen Titans; Robin lassoed WW and she exclaimed, "I've been bound - BY A MAN!" Robin replied, "And they still call me the Boy Wonder." After that she came along quietly, so the writer must have believed this would make her lose her strength. But that's not really how it's supposed to work! A man has to chain her bracelets together!
/pedantry

The Holliday Girls to the rescue!

Wonder Woman and Steve are put before a firing squad, and:

Why comment? No snark is equal to it.

Yeah, these Man's World men are constantly trying to weld my bracelets together too. You'd think I'd just stop wearing heavy iron bracelets all the time, seeing as how all the men out here carry welding kits and chains around with them at all times just in case the situation comes up.

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psychop_rex
2009-07-24 10:05 pm UTC (link)

Well, no one ever said that Marston was SUBTLE. Anyway, he was blessed, by all accounts, with a very loving relationship with both his wife and mistress, who lived together with him in a polyamorous set-up that was perfectly harmonious (the wife and mistress stayed together for the rest of their lives after his death), so his perspective on these matters may have been skewed a bit.

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dr_hermes
2009-07-24 10:37 pm UTC (link)

And to be fair, Marston isn't explaining his views in a textbook here (where he could go into depth). It was after all a Golden Age comic book that had to contain a certain amount of action and work at a level a ten year old could follow. So I shouldn't take WW II-era WONDER WOMAN as offering a full insight into Marston, any more than I could understand Jack Cole's suicide by looking for clues in PLASTIC MAN.

I'm glad the discussion has been so civil. Certainly I don't share all of the general outlook of the community here, but I do love old comics and their creators, so there's a certain overlap. In any case, it's always rewarding to learn from different viewpoints without things getting heated.

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