Special Representative

Mike Deodato — Wonder Woman — © DC Comics

Thank you Diana, your help would be most welcome!

April 1

I'm not going to try an April Fools on you. You're all too smart to be fooled. Instead I'm posting a story that takes place on April 1. With an artist's name like Harry Peter and dialogue like "I'll show you—you sneaking dick!", well who needs April Fools?

I love the old Wonder Woman stories from the golden age, but I never liked Etta Candy as a character, except nowadays I appreciate her feistiness and loyalty to WW and the Holiday Girls. In fact, I've come to really like the Holiday Girls in various stories as they are always cheery and optimistic even in dire circumstance.

 from Wonder Woman #5—June/July 1943

art: Harry Peter / story: William Moulton Marston

Miss Me?

I'm BAAAaaackkk . . . 

Brian Bolland — Wonder Woman #63

Yuh Yuh!

Today is the fictional birthday of one of the most infamous fictional anarchists of our times, which I won't be celebrating.

DC Calendar page—

don't set appointments by it, it's all off from this year, it's from the 1970s

In fact, I might celebrate August the 19th—National Aviation Day, according to the DC calendar above, portraying Wonder Woman's private robot plane . . . her private glass robot plane . . . her private transPARent glass robot plane.

Elder/Kurtzman — Woman Wonder — Mad magazine

Feat of Clay

Did you have any notion at all that today is the birthday of the original Princess Diana, Wonder Woman? At least it is according to DC Comics back in the 1970s.

Perhaps instead of a birthday, she should have a Made of Clay Day...

World's Finest

I haven't purchased or read new comics for the last several years. I'm sure there's some good stuff out there somewhere, but it's too cumbersome to look for it. I mourn the passing of the days when comics were just a good ol' goof ball of a time, with art that was solid and stories that were, well, goof ball, but fun. The golden and silver ages were cool, but some of the best art and stories were from the DC Bronze Age world—artists like Gil Kane (at his finest), Neal Adams (at his finest), Joe Kubert (at his finest), Curt Swan (at his—okay, you get the point of being at their finest), and oh some many others, including Nick Cardy (sigh, yes, at his finest).

My personal method of bracketing the Bronze Age is from the time of the go-go checks on DC comic covers, in the mid 60s, to Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, in the mid 80s. I grew up in the silver age, but my fondest memories of the comic book experience are from that Age of Bronze. After The Dark Knight, there was some good stuff, but primarily dark and gritty, with bewildering continuities. And now DC is going to reboot continuities once again, but I'm pretty sure they're not going to be getting any of my money.

Wonder Woman has been drawn by a millyum artists, with a millyum different takes on her personality and costume. But my all-time favorite WW 'look' is from the Bronze Age, by Nick Cardy. Simple, clean, stylish. If only the new reboot had this look and feel on all their books, I'd be spending a LOT of money on comics, and I think some of you would as well.

Nick Cardy — Wonder Woman — 1973

Amazing Heroes

Kevin Nowlan brings a certain je ne sais quoi to his comic book art, even after decades in the biz. Nowlan has a blog with a subhead that says: "started with the best of intentions, but like most other efforts, doomed to perish from neglect as soon as the novelty wears off." Currently his last post was on April 14, so possibly the novelty is thin, but check out his older posts anyway—good stuff. I enjoyed and collected his work way back when:

Kevin Nowlan — Amazing Heroes — 1980s

WW

With all the hoo-roar regarding Wonder Woman's outfit, it's nice to look back to this 1994 iconic pinup of WW by Ty Templeton.

Check in on Ty Templeton here.