Posted on

Wonder Woman Wednesday: Wonder Woman #3, part 4 of 4

Wonder Woman Wednesdays

Paula may have reformed last story from Wonder Woman #3, but now she has to prove that her devotion to Wonder Woman is true. And it is literally a trial by fire.

But first, Colonel Darnell is distressed that his best secretary Diana Prince is missing. Steve’s a little bit like ‘oh, well, I found her horse and clothes and Paula’s car.’ Oh, Wonder Woman, you can really do better than Steve.

Good old Kibby Maxwell shows up as he’s the last eyewitness to see Diana Prince and Paula. When Darnell and Steve ask Kibby if he remembers Paula and have him look at a photo of her, he remembers seeing her lurking around the munitions factory that his mother Ann works at. (A little 1940s culture with woman working at the munitions factory as all the men are off at war.)

Steve heads over to question Ann about Paula. She says Paula pretended to be a government inspector, and then some Nazi guy (who we never see again) calls Ann into the warehouse. Where she’s hit over the head. Continue reading “Wonder Woman Wednesday: Wonder Woman #3, part 4 of 4”

Posted on

Wonder Woman Wednesday: Wonder Woman #3, part 3 of 4

Wonder Woman Wednesdays

Wonder Woman #3 contains the origin of Paula Von Gunther. Or at least how and why she became a Nazi spy. It also made me angry. But it’s really hard to stay mad at a comic book where Wonder Woman rescues children from a concentration camp.

The story starts out in the normal, strange Wonder Woman way with Diana on a horse, riding through the snow. She comes upon Kibby Maxwell, a young boy, sledding. He almost hits Diana and her horse as he’s not very good at steering. Diana has never been sledding before — having grown up on island without snow — so she has Kibby teach her. Soon, she masters it, and they go sledding together, beating the other children down the hill. Continue reading “Wonder Woman Wednesday: Wonder Woman #3, part 3 of 4”

Posted on

Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Wonder Woman #3 part 1 of 4

Wonder Woman Wednesdays

Wonder Woman #3

Marston decided that Diana and Etta wouldn’t just hang around Canada capturing Nazis for the holiday season. Instead, the women take off to Paradise Island. But not before some shenanigans. Eve Brown and Dorothy Lord are arrested as spies, and Etta petitions to Diana to prove that they’ve innocent. Apparently, Paula Von Gunther has given them up so she can get a lighter sentence.

When Diana and Steve go to the jail, Paula escapes right in front of them. Once again, she’s used her charm to get away and out of the guards’ view. Continue reading “Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Wonder Woman #3 part 1 of 4”

Posted on

Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Sensation Comics #12

Wonder Woman Wednesdays

Sensation Comics #12

In Sensation Comics #12, we stay in the world of ridiculous. The ridiculous world of Hollywood. However, instead of being an off-world tale, we have the second resurrection of Baroness Paula Von Gunther. We all missed her and her wacky Nazi antics very much. This also is the last issue in Wonder Woman Archive Edition Volume 1.

Colonel Darnell receives a letter from Supreme Pictures saying they want to produce a film about Wonder Woman. The film’s for patriotism you see. However, Wonder Woman doesn’t exactly have a P.O. Box or phone number. So Diana calls Etta, who then uses the metal radio to signal Wonder Woman.

At first, Wonder Woman refuses to star in the picture. But then Darnell reminds her how the film will serve America (and Steve’s already in Hollywood on a case), and she agrees. On one condition, that Diana Prince, Etta, and Beeta Lambda Sorority accompany her to California. Continue reading “Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Sensation Comics #12”

Posted on

Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Wonder Woman #1, part 3 of 4

Wonder Woman Wednesdays

Marston explains why there's a horse in the water
Before the story begins, Marston makes an attempt to explain how the plot ends up with Wonder Woman on a horse, jumping onto a u-boat in the water.

In this tale from Wonder Woman #1, Diana and Steve go to visit Baroness Paula Van Gunther in prison. Some Allied boats keep getting sunk, and no one knows how the Axis are coming across the information of where the boats are going to be. They figure Paula will know. Interestingly enough, this is the first Wonder Woman story which relays on a male character to help save Wonder Woman. Granted, the male character is Freddy, the prison warden’s young son who’s probably about 10-years-old. Which is why I’m okay with it, if we’re aiming this story at young girls and Freddy is otherwise portrayed as the annoying younger brother of Mabel.

No one can keep Paula down, and prison life suits her just fine. Fine in that her cell holds a secret trapdoor, which leads into a forgotten, underground chamber where she meets up with her fellow Nazi spies and her slaves. Continue reading “Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Wonder Woman #1, part 3 of 4”

Posted on

Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Sensation Comics #7

Wonder Woman Wednesdays

Sensation Comics #7

Sensation Comics #7 was one long milk ad. I was pretty sure I’d see a milk-mustached Wonder Woman at the end of this.

Interestingly enough, expect for stopping some robbers in the first issue, this is the first time Diana’s gone on a mission for civilians.

On her way to meet stay with a friend in Baltimore, Diana goes missing. What actually happens is she stops to buy milk for a poor woman and her little girl. The woman tells Diana that her son died of malnourishment, and soon her daughter will join him because she hasn’t had milk in weeks. The price of milk has skyrocketed for no reason and they can’t afford it anymore.

The culprit is the International Milk Company. Which is run by a dead woman. Continue reading “Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Sensation Comics #7”

Posted on

Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Sensation Comics #6

Wonder Woman Wednesdays

Sensation Comics #6

Here in Sensation Comics #6, Marston’s cabinet of curiosities seems to get the better of his storytelling. We see the first appearance of Wonder Woman’s famous lasso; the first time she’s allowed to return to Paradise Island; and the first time she rides a torpedo. I read this issue aloud to Jason, and he made the comment that Marston seemed to be inserting his fantasies every couple scenes.

The cover for issue #6 says it all really with Wonder Woman riding on a giant kangaroo and having lassoed a bad guy. Yes, this issue will be just as ridiculous.

At the beginning, Diana gets two weeks vacation as Darnell’s off to England, a newly promoted Major Steve Trevor’s in charge, and Diana and Lila get in yet another fight for Steve’s affections around the office. Hippolyta, like any empty-nester, demands her daughter return home. Diana’s thrilled given she was told she could never return. However, Athena and Aphrodite have decided she’s done such a wonderful job in the world of men that Diana deserves a reward for her efforts.

Wonder Woman comes home just in time for the athletic trials. Trials which involve the Amazons riding giant kangaroos, lassoing one another off them, and carrying their tied-up opponents off the field. Yeah, whatever Marston was smoking, where can I get some? Superhero comics are by nature on the ridiculous side, of course; but Marston pulls out all stops here. Continue reading “Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Sensation Comics #6”

Posted on

Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Sensation Comics #4

Wonder Woman Wednesdays

Sensation Comics #4

This week on Wonder Woman Wednesdays, Sensation Comics #4 warns all us girls about sexual exploitation/assault, the consequences, and how we can overpower what’s been done to us physically and mentally. Or as Wonder Woman warns us at the end, “It just makes a girl realize how she has to watch herself in this man’s world!”

Would a young girl reading Sensation Comics #4 recognize this in the tale? No. No more than a child reading Little Red Riding Hood would interpret it as a tale of stranger danger and sexual awakening. To me, however, it’s pretty clear.

In this plot, several women tied to government work go missing; Wonder Woman and Colonel Darnell investigate; and separately Steve decides Eve should go undercover. Turns out Baroness Paula Von Gunther runs a Nazi spy school for girls and brainwashes government typists into being her slaves/spies. Continue reading “Wonder Woman Wednesdays: Sensation Comics #4”