Post #125

Wonder Woman #88
February 1957



First (cover) Story;
Dimwitted gangsters. babies falling out of windows, and an escaped spy. All help pad this thin story of ‘what’s in the box?’.

Second Story:
WWs lasso get’s to tell her story.

Third Story:
WW identity revealed, again (or not).

Post #124

Wonder Woman #87
January 1957


First story: Time stops, aliens invade, WW saves Steve.


Second (cover) Story: Giant eagle with threatening talons is common in WW adventures. The giant footsteps on the cover turn out to be that of a robots.


Third Story: More foolishness. WW loses her tiara, battles giant fish, faces death.

Merciful Minerva, when will it end!

Post #123

Wonder Woman #86
November 1956



Really difficult to comment on this issue at all. Perhaps Bob Kanigher was running on fumes in the amount of stories he was writing and editing per month. This issue is just plain awful.

"The Painting That Betrayed Wonder Woman," uses the well worn story line of revealing the secret identity.

"The Talking Robot Plane," may have inspired the Night at the Museum creators.

Dimwitted GA bad guys used to move the story to its well worn conclusion.

Post #122

Wonder Woman #85
October 1956



I’m starting my Wonder Woman Silver Age blog with this issue. No, it is not a SA issue, but it is on the newsstand at the same time as Showcase #4 (written by Kanigher). The only similarity between this issue and Showcase #4 is the Giant 5000 Prize Contest. I want to take a look for any hints of a shift of style in the stories from childish fantasies, not-so-bright gangsters, secret identity seekers into science-fiction oriented epics.

Credits for the last 13 issues before the SA Wonder Woman origin story of issue #98 are Irv Novick (ending with #94) covers, Robert Kanigher writer, and Harry G. Peter (ending with #97) art.

The first story is the better of the three. "The Sword In the Sky" takes the excalibur myth and expands it into a rescue mission of moon people and a lesson on what is required to achieve freedom.



The "The Wooden Hero" is very routine for the genre in so much as it is kid centered.



The cover story, "The Woman In the Bottle”, nearly makes a complete six page filler.



The educational love factoids are a regular inclusion during this late GA series run. This is the only time I will post them.





How many coupons from Showcase #4 got clipped for a chance at the grand prize?



Overall, a forgettable issue like nearly all the others that will follow over the next year or so. It won’t be until #98 that Wonder Woman will start to really change and the stories become very interesting.

Post #121 Wonder Woman In The Silver Age

I'd like to welcome those that have followed my Flash Comics Journal blog on the CGC Boards these past four years. I also invite new fans to join me in a retrospective breakdown of 'Wonder Woman In The Silver Age'.

I start with issue #86 (same month as Showcase #4) and chronicle thru #120, while visiting a few detours on the journey. It's not an easy trek. Up until the origin issue #98, reading these stories is tedious -- mindless gangsters (and aliens), childish fantasies, ww identity revealing seekers, all recycled to lesser effect. The three stories per issue format was out of gas. Bob Kanigher, whom I have great respect for as a writer, clearly was not putting the 'A' work out there. Nor was Peters, who I never cared for, with the art. But you do see glimpses of SA shift in attitude in the 1957 issues with stories such as the origin of WW eagle breasted costume. In another story, we learn how she got her jeweled tiara. Although which comes first is confusing. With the introduction of Ross Andru (Pencils) and Mike Esposito (Inks) in #98, Kanigher finds inspiration to help the title morphs into a true Silver Age Classic. I'm really enjoying reading this era for the first time.

I hope you enjoy following along with me as we explore Wonder Woman In The Silver Age!