The Top 20 Wonder Woman Covers of the 1960s

The sixties were probably Princess Diana's worst decade in comics. The evangelical fire and brazen oddness of the Golden Age was gone, as was the sweet romance of the fifties. In its place were gimmicks, endless love dodecahedrons, a Steve Trevor you wished terrible ill upon, and closing out as a non-powered Emma Peel knock-off. Hopefully you don't weary just over the course of the top 20...

Honorable Mentions:
Wonder Woman #112 (February, 1960)
Wonder Woman #185 (November-December, 1969)

20 (tie) Wonder Woman #183-184 (July-October, 1969)

While there are elements of each of these covers deserving of attention, they are equally weak. The seeming death of Diana's mother is strong material, but the execution is rather weak. Meanwhile, Diana falling in battle is potent, but not when she and her all-male cohorts are indistinguishable from any random sword & sorcery comic.

19) Wonder Woman #122 (May, 1961)

A King Kong-sized Wonder Woman has run a normal sized one up to the very tip of the Empire State Building. Do I have to explain this?

18) Wonder Woman #177 (July-August, 1968)

The Amazing Amazon and her opponent Supergirl look great, but then you've got this dillhole in the middle taking up valuable space. This is an A-B throwdown, so see your way out, K?

17) Wonder Woman #176 (May-June, 1968)

This is another one of those "let's show Wonder Woman humiliated in the most misogynistic and sexualized possible under the Comic Code" cover, and yet it works.

16) Wonder Woman #118 (November, 1960)

Nice to see dudes in distress, but how the hell did Mer-Man get on top of a plateau in the first place?

15) Wonder Woman #126 (November, 1961)

I find that one of the easiest ways to validate my choices is to simply say them aloud. Wonder Tot punching a meteor while riding Mister Genie. Who needs to elaborate on that?

14) Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #93 (July, 1969)

On the one hand, it's kinda wicked to see Diana Prince judo-up Lois Lane while Superman cheers her on. Yet, since when is Diana a trained monkey, and where's the honor in walloping a perpetually imperiled reporter unskilled in the martial arts? Finally, Diana's only really recognizable attribute is her hair, which is not a progressive means of identification.

13) Wonder Woman #155 (July, 1965)

She married a monster. It's kind of a big deal.

12) Wonder Woman #181 (March-April, 1969)

I love the skier's P.O.V. and the weird masks, but the nondescript Diana Prince is the weak link of the image. I Ching seems awfully tall, as well.

11) Wonder Woman #175 (March-April, 1968)

There's something very weird and wrong about a comic where Wonder Woman attacks a child, even when the child is in fact Diana and the Wonder Woman is a serious see you next Tuesday from another dimension. I did a lengthy write-up of this story years ago for another blog, and haven't run it here because it would take forever to remove all the foul language and angry tirades.

10) Wonder Woman #124 (August, 1961)

Another great metatextual image, as the Amazing Amazon had to juggle all manner of contrivance across the decade, including competing with her own toddler and adolescent selves for page space.

9) Wonder Woman #151 (January, 1965)

Possibly the most striking non-Titans Wonder Girl image of the decade, though I believe this is the Diana version, or else it would have run in Donna's countdown.

8) Wonder Woman #179 (November-December, 1968)

Kind of a wimpy Diana, and this image would have had a lot more impact without the tears or coming before her heralded "permanent" reversion to Diana Prince, rather than after.

7) Wonder Woman #159 (January, 1966)

Pure salesmanship. The art is simple and buried in text, but the hype compels you to read on.

6) Wonder Woman #129 (April, 1962)

An excellent image to sum up oodles of stories from this decade. Wonder Tot and Wonder Girl in the foreground, Wonder Woman way in the back, all in peril, and the latter failing to save her mother. The only way it could be more representational is if Hippolyte was dropping Diana instead.

5) Wonder Woman #156 (August, 1965)

Deeply uncomfortable symbolism here, especially with Diana's splayed legs and vacant eyes. Still, you'll never forget it, right?

4) Wonder Woman #180 (January-February, 1969)

Somehow, both in-your-face sensational and subdued. That lime green border really makes it pop in a way only the sixties could get away with.

3) Wonder Woman #125 (October, 1961)

Only a Wonder Woman comic could revolve around a physical and emotional tug-of-war between Steve Trevor, Mer-Man, and Amoeba-Man over marriage. Again, a dick, a fish, and a giant sentient amoeba are romantic rivals. Just to bring it all home, let's stage all that before a fuchsia background.

2) Wonder Woman #160 (February, 1966)

Cheetah swung by the tail into a mass of monkeys with damned ugly human faces. So much awesome in one cover, including an advertized rare Dr. Psycho reprint. Such a glorious Golden Age throwback. Finally, one word: purple.

1) Wonder Woman #178 (September-October, 1968)

Despite the misgivings of some, can you honestly say that this wasn't the most shocking, iconic, and memorable Wonder Woman cover of the decade? No more secretarial work, pining for Steve, or running around in circles under mommy's command. There may have been a lack of outright wonder, but for the first time in too long, there was a woman behind the wheel.

Top Character Covers Countdown

• The Top 10 Aquaman Covers of the 1960s @ Justice League Detroit
• The Top 20 Atom Covers of the 1960s @ Power of the Atom
• The Top 20 Blackhawk Covers (and lots more!) @ DC Bloodlines
• The Top 20 Martian Manhunter Covers of the 1960s @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• DC75: Top Character Covers of the Dodranscentennial

2006 Green Lantern & Darkstar Commission by Darryl Banks

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Green Lantern Kyle Rayner <3 Darkstar Donna Troy... at the Parthenon, I guess.

Sensational Comics for November, 2011

Wonder Woman

JUSTICE LEAGUE #3
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS
1:25 Variant cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
1:200 B&W variant cover by JIM LEE
On sale OCTOBER 19 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for more information.
The superstar team of writer Geoff Johns and artist Jim Lee continue to make history as they unleash the amazing Amazon, Wonder Woman, who joins the battle against a bizarre threat! And the not-yet World’s Greatest Heroes need all the help they can get!
This issue is also offered as a special combo pack edition, polybagged with a redemption code for a digital download of the issue.

I've been complaining about the last two covers being a forest of funky sausage, so this one is a big deal. The Amazing Amazon takes center stage, and I guess Dan finally decided that she would do so with bare legs. I actually like the pants, although I would prefer blue to black, but the classic gams are also perfectly fine. The red boots need a comeback, though. While there are still elements I could do without, this is Jim Lee's best cover so far, and I appreciate the lack of a swordplay.

WONDER WOMAN #3
Written by BRIAN AZZARELLO
Art and cover by CLIFF CHIANG
On sale NOVEMBER 16 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, has kept a secret from her daughter all her life – and when it’s revealed, Wonder Woman’s life will shatter like brittle clay. The only one more shocked than Diana by this revelation? Bloodthirsty Hera herself – so why is her sinister daughter, Strife, so eager for the truth to be told?

When a person has really bad constipation, their feces become impacted. What that means is that they have such an old, hard, dry turd in their bowels, it's like a cement block. Typically, their only relief is diarrhea that can seep around the impaction. I mention this because the "Wonder Woman as living statue" angle is the fecal impaction of her ongoing continuity. Coupled with the "Hippolyta is full of secrets" bit and the high probability that Brian Azzarello would never in his life read a Wonder Woman comic on purpose, my interest is stillborn before the first issue ships.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: WONDER WOMAN VOL. 4 TP
Written by BOB KANIGHER and BILL FINGER
Art by ROSS ANDRU, IRV NOVICK, WIN MORTIMER and MIKE ESPOSITO
Cover by ROSS ANDRU and MIKE ESPOSITO
On sale DECEMBER 14 • 520 pg, B&W, $19.99 US
It’s another value-priced collection of Wonder Woman adventures from issues #157-177 featuring Supergirl, Cheetah, Egg Fu and many more!

Damn it, how did I manage to miss Volume 3? Hope they offer it as a backstock Star item so I can order both to play catch-up.

DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #17-18
Written by TOM TAYLOR and MARV WOLFMAN
Art by BRUNO REDONDO, HOWARD PORTER and LIVESAY
Cover #17 by DOUG MAHNKE
Cover #18 by HOWARD PORTER and LIVESAY
#17 On sale NOVEMBER 16
#18 On sale NOVEMBER 30
32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Hal Jordan is seriously conflicted as he and the Green Lantern Corps arrive at Korugar to “contain” the war between Sinestro’s Yellow Lanterns and Brainiac – but can they save the planet of innocents caught in the crossfire? And how desperate could things possibly get that would see Hal team up with Sinestro for one final battle?!
Then, in issue #18, following the cataclysmic events on Earth and Korugar, the Justice League regroups and begins an exploration of Brainiac’s abandoned scout ship...will it finally reveal answers or will it be the final stroke of Brainiac’s plan in conquering Earth? And how far will Luthor go to clear his name and save the planet?

Favorites Wonder Woman and (an) Atom (a blue eyed Ryan Choi or Ray in the wrong outfit?) are cover featured, and I still ask when is this thing going to end already?

Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark)

TEEN TITANS #3
Written by SCOTT LOBDELL
Art and cover by BRETT BOOTH and NORM RAPMUND
On sale NOVEMBER 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
It had to happen! A new Teen Titan shows up without so much as an invitation – and here Red Robin already had his hands full trying to get Bugg from Los Angeles to New York by train! Don’t miss the dazzling debut of The Wall! Meanwhile, Kid Flash is trying desperately to flee the arctic N.O.W.H.E.R.E. prison with a mysterious young woman who is unable to control her own super powers. And Wonder Girl investigates a lead that is going to bring her face to face with a certain halfhuman/half-Kryptonian clone!

Wonder Girl (Donna Troy)

TINY TITANS #46
Written by ART BALTAZAR and FRANCO
Art and cover by ART BALTAZAR
On sale NOVEMBER 30 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E
What happens when Robin is called away on a secret mission with Batman? The team will need a replacement! Enter: The Protector! Will he be welcomed with open arms? Or will someone like, say, Talon, have something to say about it? And where does Nightwing fit into all this?

TINY TITANS: THE TREEHOUSE AND BEYOND TP
Written by ART BALTAZAR and FRANCO
Art and cover by ART BALTAZAR
On sale DECEMBER 14 • 128 pg, FC, $12.99 US
In this new collection of issues #33-38, the Tiny Titans take a look at look-alikes, meet their counterparts from another world, travel to the center of the Earth and more!
A 2011 EISNER AWARD WINNER!

2011 Wonder Woman Movie Fan Casting: Jessica Biel as Diana Prince

Now that the TV show is in the dead pilot pile, I felt like taking another swing at a potential movie fan casting. I'm sure that in the event a Wonder Woman movie finally gets made, all of my selections for the cast will be in Depends, but I'd like to coast on the mental images of what could have been.

I've gone through a lot of Princess Dianas of choice over the years, but Jessica Biel has managed to top my list for a good five years or more, and still has time left at 29 to get the job done. Besides having a perfect athletic body and the desperation to run around in star-spangled panties, Biel has a sweet smile and an inviting manner that reminds me of Lynda Carter. I know some folks want bigger muscles or greater ferocity, but I think that once you lose sight of Diana as a being motivated by love for humanity and endless compassion, you miss the point of the character. Of course the Amazing Amazon should kick all kinds of ass, but if you ever get the feeling that she's just biding her time for that opportunity, you end up with Xena: Warrior Princess with a worse tailor. I don't think Biel is all that great of an actress, but she seems to be a sweet person with solid moves, and that makes her perfect in my book for Wonder Woman.

Diabolic Movie Fan Casting

• Aquaman 2011 @ Justice League Detroit
• The Atom (Ray Palmer) 2011 @ Power of the Atom
• The Huntress 2011 @ DC Bloodlines
• Martian Manhunter 2011 @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu

2006 "Princess & King" Wonder Woman and Aquaman Commission by Eric Canete

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From the artist's blog:

"1) Aquaman is such a pretty boy - outside of the fact that he's 'King of the Seven Seas' and I crack on him for being one of the most useless characters ever created (calm down, you Aquaman freaks...I'm only kidding. I like him enough), he's also a pretty boy. And he knows it. Useless and vein, the Aquaman is. 2) Again with the bad planning. I gave ol' pretty boy a tuning fork but didn't leave enough room to draw the whole thing. I could say that I only had 90 minutes and I was worried more about the composition than the trident, but that's a crutch and almost a lie. I saw the mistake about ten minutes in and I didn't care.

Suck on that, Aquaman.

Oh hey, remember the old 'Superfriends' cartoons? If memory serves me right, 'King of Shrimps and Seahorses' here used to ride a whale in the opening credits before he sends out a telepath(et)ic call to arms to the other fish? Point is, he used to ride that whale like a horse...like a HORSE! Do you know how wide he's got to open his frikkin' legs to be able to mount a humpback like that?! Oh well, I guess he's the 'King of Liar Characters Who Are Useless' too. "

Preliminary Sketch

Wonder Woman Annual #1 (2007)

So yeah, Wonder Woman killed a guy, but he needed killing, the World Court backed her up, and it was about time Princess Diana moved on and got back to the good fight. In fact, when you’re in Circe’s temple surrounded by an army of your enemies, whose powers have been enhanced through sorcery, it’s probably a little past due.

I have to applaud artist Terry Dodson for page four, where he overcame a logistical problem with Giganta by having time progress as a series or “stories” down the villainess’ body. For instance, Queen Clea and Gundra the Valkyrie were still trying to follow through with Circe’s plan to talk Diana into joining the collective against Man’s World. Diana took them both out, as well as The Mask, all while encircling Giganta and dodging the caption boxes with one-sentence biographies of each villain.



Kung, Cheetah, the Duke of Deception, Angle Man, Silver Swan, Doctor Cyber, Doctor Poison, Minister Blizzard, Doctor Psycho: an orgasm of Who’s Who information as each took their turn with Wonder Woman. A lesser artist would have folded as the writer tried to reintroduce decades of forgotten super-villains in the span of seven pages. Just when things started to get ridiculous, there was a two page spread of heroes led by Wonder Girl Donna Troy, come to save the day. Included were Green Arrow, Stargirl, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Robin (Tim Drake,) Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark, Supergirl, Starfire, Red Tornado, Black Canary, Power Girl, Zatanna, Nemesis, the Golden Age Flash & Wally West, Liberty Belle, Dr. Mid-Nite, Green Lantern (Alan Scott,) Wildcat, Hawkman, Superman and Batman. Someone (Robin?) made the connection between the vegetation discovered at the scene of Donna’s kidnapping and the moly used to defend against Circe’s magic.

There was lots of fighting, and lots of yapping amidst the melee. Donna confessed that she never felt comfortable as Wonder Woman, hence her regressed costume. Cassie made it clear that old suit or no, the “Wonder Girl” name was taken. Batman somehow wrangled Cheetah. Heat Vision took out Minister Blizzard’s gun. Angle Man < Robin’s Batarang. Meanwhile, Hercules was trying to kill Circe, but Wonder Woman made it clear “If anyone does any killing today… it’ll be me!” Hercules didn’t believe that it was in her nature, so she kicked him in the head. “If only that weren’t true. When I killed Medusa, no one batted an eye. That was my job-- slaying mythological monsters-- putting malevolent gods in their place-- and you’re both.” Um, then it is true that you are a lethal agent, but we’ll forgive the grammar. Hercules then tried to woo Diana, followed by threatening to take her by force, “the same way I took your mother.” Diana bit his lip, head-butted him, and held a sword to his throat. Circe didn’t have faith in Diana to do the deed, so she renewed her attack, although what stopped her for the past four pages eludes me. “For now I’ll bind him with chains stronger than those that bound Prometheus,” for reasons that also elude me. Even though Circe had just finished killing oodles of people as Wonder Woman, while simultaneously getting a lot more done in that role than Diana, the Princess let her go off with Hercules. In the least perceptive line regarding Wonder Woman since she claimed to not really like women back in the ‘70s, “…I’m not even a real person. I’m a golem. A clay statue brought to life. I have no idea who or what I am. All I know is, I’m alone.” Circe punctured Diana’s emo bubble, pointing out all of her buddies fighting for her outside, and offered her a bit of humanity as a present.

Nemesis was given all the credit for the arrests at the Department of Metahuman Affairs. Agent Prince was assigned to catalog all the weapons collected from the scene, and was shocked when she cut herself on Gundra’s sword. Of course, Diana could always bleed, but the writer was so fixated on his Wonder Woman Encyclopedia that he seemed to neglect reading any actual comics. Anyway, Wonder Woman could now really become Diana Prince, a normal human, who still looked exactly like Wonder Woman in glasses. DC supporting casts have 20/120 vision, I guess.

Donna and Cassie had a girl power session with Wonder Woman, pretending that their relationship was like that of Batman, Nightwing and Robin. Okay, so how come Wonder Woman only pays attention to either girl when they finally get developed in best-selling team books so that their guest appearances can help buoy her own sales? Batman offered a final pep talk with a smile (*shudder*) after already giving Wonder Woman her new human identity, a job as a secret agent, an “invisible” plane, and limited use of his teen sidekick. That had to be worth at least a handjob. Can’t this bitch do anything for herself?

Speaking of bitching, I gave an overview of my complaints long ago in a trade paperback review, with a fair amount of axes ground in the previous two issue synopses. To keep this brief, Allan Heinberg, Terry & Rachel Dodson’s answer to the titular question “Who is Wonder Woman?” was “an ingrate.” Beyond the straw man arguments around which the slight plot pivots, it boils down to Diana being incredibly powerful and broadly loved and still pitying herself. Three-quarters of a century in, you don’t decide to take your shot at being Alan Moore by redefining Wonder Woman through the Pinocchio/ “I want to be a real girl” trope. Not only is it hoary as hell, but it is quite simply not what anyone wants from Wonder Woman (especially if they suffered through seven seasons and four motion pictures of Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation.)

Writers, for Gaea’s sake, stop playing the clay card. Diana was a sculpture of a child brought to life by the gods so that she could be born completely outside the influence of man. It’s no different than the bible casting Adam out of earth. Wonder Woman grew up, sprouted tits, and bleeds ever twenty-eight days. What part of “woman” was unclear? It’s in her friggin’ name. What isn’t? “Golem,” a product of Jewish folklore regarding a misshapen manmade creature instilled with a terrifying caricature of life through magic (not unlike a zombie) whose name translates from Hebrew as “dumb/helpless.” You want to humanize Wonder Woman? Address the fact that she was raised as the only child on an island full of rape victims who is so traumatized that she remains a virgin well into adulthood and casts untouchable figures like Superman and Batman in her sexual fantasies. There’s your Alan Moore moment, you cowardly, unimaginative dorks. Alternately, write an inspirational super-heroine without resorting to literal feet of clay and storytelling devices from 1960s Stan Lee scripts that were only considered sophisticated in comparison to Mort Weisinger-edited Superman comics written at a second grade reading level.

Brave New World

• Doom Patrol #5 (February, 2010) @ DC Bloodlines
• Martian Manhunter #5 (February, 2007) @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #45 (November, 2006) @ Justice League Detroit
• Breach #5 (July, 2005) @ Power of the Atom
• The All New Atom #5 @ The Tiny Titan

Wonder Woman Day by Cat Staggs

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Cat Staggs has done more fantastic pieces of the Amazing Amazon than I have the space/time to spotlight individually, so I thought a solid link post was in order. The headliner above features the Invisible Plane, which we need to see more of (*ahem*.) It's from 2006, and measures 11" x 13". You know you want more...

• 2006 Wonder Woman Commission
• 2006 Wonder Woman and the Flying Chicken by Cat Staggs
• Wonder Woman Day 2007
• 2007 Rittenhouse Archives DC Legacy Wonder Woman Multi-Case Incentive Sketch Card
• Wonder Woman Day 2008
• Wonder Woman Day 2009
• Wonder Woman Day 2010