Podcast: 75 Birthdays-- The Secret Origins of Wonder Woman

Episode #5

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October 25, 2016 marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the release date for All-American Publications' All Star Comics #8, which featured the story "Introducing Wonder Woman" by her creators William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter in her comics debut! In acknowledgement, your regular host Diabolu Frank covers a variety of different interpretations of Princess Diana of Paradise Island's origin stories from Sensation Comics #1 (1942), Wonder Woman #1 (1942), Wonder Woman #23 (1947), Wonder Woman #45 (1951), Wonder Woman #98 (1958), Wonder Woman #105 (1959), DC Special Series #19 (1979), Wonder Woman #1 (1987), and Secret Origins #6 (2014)! To break up all that information dumping and more treat this momentous occasion as a true celebration, we've also enlisted a slew of notable co-anchors to discuss a bunch of fun, accessible topics relevant to new and old fans of the Amazon Princess! Hola!

R.S.V.P. Attendees

• Angela from Wonder Woman: Warrior for Peace Podcast
• Matthew from Radio Free Themyscira: A Wonder Woman Podcast
• Darren & Ruth Sutherland from Trekker Talk, Xenozoic Xenophiles, & Warlord Worlds
• Dr. Anj from Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
• Ryan Daly from Power of Fishnets, Give Me Those Star Wars, Midnight…The Podcasting Hour, & Secret Origins Podcast
• Pakita Trotamundos from Twitter

We don't have a Magic Sphere, so if you want to communicate with us about the podcast...

• Tweet host Diabolu Frank directly, or commune with @rolledspine as a group.
• Email Diabolu
• If the main Diana Prince as the New Wonder Woman blog isn't your thing, try the umbrella Rolled Spine Podcasts.

The Six O'Clock Follies Wonder Woman

So here's a trivial bit of stocking stuffer: I'm checking out a post on one of my favorite surviving blogs, Armagideon Time about an early '80s media magazine, and he happens to embed the opening credits to The Six O'Clock Follies. It sounds like a sort of proto-Good Morning, Vietnam except done as a half-hour sitcom and absent any political objection to the war (plus it featured a very young Laurence Fishburne instead of a seven years less young Forest Whitaker.) Anyway, at the tail end of this already very odd and probably rather offensive-in-its-inoffense dealio, out comes Aarika Wells as a weather girl wearing the Cathy Lee Crosby Wonder Woman costume from 1974. Sure, it's been modified (covered the embroidered golden eagle on the left breast with a U.S. flag patch) and re-accessorized (ditched the bracelets, belt and blue tights; traded black vinyl boots for white go-gos) but that hideous red vest-skirt-thing with star-spangled blue sleeves and yellow trim is unmistakable. It just goes to show how far geek culture has come that there was a time folks could get away with treating a super-heroine costume as just another garment in studio wardrobe to be recycled.