The Creation of Wonder Woman and Gender Issues

[J-Sun]

I've got plenty of this in the Hugo award context and I have no idea what to make of it anyway, so I figured I'd just light fuse and get away. (It'd be cool if the discussion, if any, were on more psycho/socio-logical and fictional angles than political but I don't know if I'd give odds on it actually being so.) I also didn't know where to put it - I came across it on a history blog but it seemed more relevant to SFF and contemporary(ish) issues than history, so maybe this is the place for it. Sounds like the creation of Wonder Woman came about in some pretty unusual circumstances with some pretty unusual people and some pretty unusual background theories. Thoughts, ideas, opinions?

Here is the first Wonder Woman drawing

 

[BAYLOR]

Ive always thought her to be an interesting and very likable character . She is a warrior, super strong , courageous , brilliant , heroic , beautiful and so many other things . She never gives up without a fight .

 

[Grimward]

Thanks for the article, J. Very interesting read, and yes, if there is such a thing as "average" creators of superheroes (let's face it, having the imagination to create a unique superhero with context, character and appeal to readers has always required more than an "average" creative thought process), Marston was certainly outside of that group. In addition, Gaines and others clearly didn't realize what they had at the time; Wonder Woman isn't even listed on her debut book's cover, much less pictured. My comment is going to focus on the drawing; I'll leave the lurking discussion tinder kegs for others to tease out, disarm and/or detonate.

Even after that, DC needed another 9 years with Wonder Woman featured in Sensation Comics before they gave her her own book.

The circlet did become more like a crown/tiara. Otherwise (and as you can see if you compare the originals with the Sensation book above), the Eagle design more or less remained where it was in the first drawings, and the belt remained white. Not mentioned by Marston specifically in his feedback, and this feature probably evolved as she grew in popularity, but if you can see gold in those bracelets, your eyes are better than mine.

 

[Denise Tanaka]

Bear in mind some of the "colors" were limited to the inks and printing processes available at the time. The bracelets in this example are shaded sort of dark blue, to indicate silver. Otherwise it would be two lines on her wrists that might be confused for a mistake in the drawing.

 

[Grimward]

Certainly. Just judging from finer lines (e.g., around the Capitol building, etc.) seen in other inkwork on the cover, I personally think they'd have found a way to make the bracelets gold if they really wanted to, but I can see your point about wanting the contrast, too.