Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told

Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, by Various , DC Comics

A NEAR cross-eyed Uma Thurman head attached to a cropped female bodybuilder’s figure betrays the source material referenced for this cover, and the attempt at wild flowing raven locks to crown her head simply looks rushed. This is far from Alex Ross’s best work.

Opening the book is a fuller view of the painting, and as we descend downwards it reduces further in size giving the impression of another figure being used for this part, quite possibly that famous Wonder Woman pin-up poster featuring Lynda Carter when she played the character on TV.

Following on a few pages more is an introduction to the book by Carter herself, along with a much more satisfactory head shot of the Amazonian heroine by Ross; albeit that you can still see he actually has a problem making the appearance of her hair sit right.

Oh, dear. This isn’t looking good. And now I’m going to slam into the text:

Lynda Carter’s introduction says all the right things; espousing Wonder Woman’s values drawing comparisons to the 70s liberation movement from an Americanised Hollywood perspective, and the part the role of the character she played (and by osmosis herself and her subsequent life after) had in changing how women were treated, or portrayed in our fictions and as a consequence inspiring those in real life.

Well, aside from the fact that Wonder Woman herself first appeared in Sensation Comics back in the 1940s, we’ve had strong female lead characters written about in novels by the likes of those Bronte sisters from even further back; you weren’t going to argue with Bette Davis during the golden age of movies, and when the swinging sixties came around a sexy, action-adventuress with a keen mind of her own had already wowed TV audiences around the world as Emma Peel in The Avengers – who was coincidently played by a Dame who real name was Diana Rigg, the same forename as the one used by Wonder Woman.

The Wonder Woman TV series presumably did more of the same, watered down a bit, but with more cleavage.

I’m not knocking the fact that middle-age men hold their own choice memories of the actress from when they were young, or that young girls may have looked towards taking up political office or chosen profound and meaningful careers based on the series, but I have a personal hang-up about putting things in perspective and taking the schmaltzy-gloss off things at times.

But hey, covers and text bumpf isn’t what you’re reading this for: what about the comics chosen?

Well, again, I understand, appreciate, and have been known to be paid myself for being involved in PR and marketing, so acknowledge that The Greatest Stories Ever Told is just a catch-all title DC used to collect stories featuring their main – virtually iconic – characters (the ones they’ve had since they started and keep them in business via assorted franchises). However, I would have preferred a little more effort on this collection of strips.

“Some reprinted here for the first time” reads the back cover blurb. Yes, well, quite a few did appear in some other Wonder Woman reprint collection back in the 70s, because my mother bought me a copy at Lewis’s while we waited for a bus to take us to my grandparents. It probably only cost around 20p, and, yes, printing costs have gone up since I was a toddler, but I’ve not gone that senile yet and my memory recalls it as being, on the whole, a better read and a more coherent collection.

It begins with a two page encapsulation of how the Amazonian Princess Diana became Wonder Woman as related by Paul Dini and visualised by Ross – All proficiently crafted but lacking in the reversed-Flash Gordon adventure-plot excitement that other versions have had.

We then shift to a story from her appearances in Sensation Comics #1 that is historically valid and amusing in its own way before shifting to the classic Villainy Incorporated storyline that ran in Woman Woman #28 – this is where all the she-villains she has captured band together and escape from Paradise Island. I recall the version I saw in my 70s reprint as being much longer, but I could be wrong.

Wonder Woman was created by psychologist and lie-detector creator William Moulton Marston whose name was emblazoned across each story’s credits, though as with the case of Bob Kane and Batman I gather there were many ghost writers. As it was, Marston’s own version of feminism was a peculiar one (not least based on his own not so private life) where she was portrayed as physically tough and was forever saving her beau Steve Trevor, but then worried like some nervous wreck about their relationship lasting and often said the kind of inane lines of dialogue that were the very antithesis of those a strong-willed character played by Katherine Hepburn in a film of the same period would. So that questions just how much of a role model Wonder Woman really was.

Not that I’d have thought boys were infatuated with the art either – They’d much prefer Matt Baker drawing Phantom Lady in all her allure back then, rather than Wonder Woman regular Harry G Peter. Actually, I rather think it is Peter’s art that gives the character and series its original charm: His art distinctly sums up what we think of as American superhero golden age art; where perspectives and story pacing were often a little out of sorts. But he also defined Wonder Woman as a physically formidable character with muscular body toning while remaining delightful and attractive - Not really beautiful and never an idol of sexual attraction under his penmen-ship, but he was also able to add warmth and humour to his work.

Ross Andru and Mike Eposito were a creative (as pencil and inking artists) and business partnership, and they had extensive run on the Wonder Woman series during the late 50s to mid-60s, as did writer Robert Kanigher (who may have edited the book too), but for the most part it was an over extended duration whereby the character was kept in print simply to maintain copyright and for extended licensing. Three of their collaborations are presented in this collection, two are simply filler, the other Giganta – The Gorilla Girl while daft in its way, has a plot and gives us readers background on one of the characters featured in the earlier reprinted Villainy Incorporated saga.

Next up in the collection proves a great source of joy, a reprinting of 1968’s Wonder Woman #178 – It has all the hallmarks of a classic Denny O’Neil scripted story of its time, as he helped make DC Comics – dare we say it – have more socially relevant themes, but without being heavy-handed. It’s basically a crime mystery, and despite its Bob Haney styled hepcat take on hippy jive talk still holds up well as a story. More so, it has some ace Mike Sekowsky art – For those more familiar with him going through his paces on every issue of Justice League of America, and the odd Green Lantern or short strip elsewhere this was quite a revelation: His art was more expressive and expansive, his crooked goons looked completely untrustworthy while his females had a tender sense of grace and he was able to express Wonder Woman’s feelings by the most casual facial expression while keeping to a style that was still his own.

That Wonder Woman plays out her role in disguise, pretty much as a hippy version of her alter-ego Diana Prince enhances the story further, and with good reason. And what’s interesting is that the latter pages of the story where she appears in costume appear to be heavily redrawn by inker Dick Giordano to fall into line with corporate requirements for the look of the character.

Sekowsky became editor of the comic, as well as pencil artist. He may well have written the stories too, or had O’Neil dialogue them, at least to begin with (if there’s a collection of that run out there I want it). This new Wonder Woman didn’t go round in her Amazonian outfit performing super-heroics; instead she was togged out in a trim white leather jacket and trendy gear that allowed her to perform karate kicks while maintaining her feminine dignity as it focussed on the new Diana Prince playing out a What-ever-happened-to-Emma Peel? role, and doing it well.

Alas, we don’t get more than a taster of that Wonder Woman in this collection, and she didn’t last long anyway because the powers that be had an image they were licensing around the world so the character was being published here and there just for the sake of keeping a name alive.

As part of her becoming a super-heroine again she would rejoin the Justice League of America and they had a period where other superheroes would watch her to see how she was progressing back in her super-gear and decide if she was worthy of being among their premier division team again. It was a subtle crossover series done before the marketing men had coined the term and this collection has Curt Swan in his prime drawing a decent issue that Elliott S! Maggin writes well in a breezy informative manner covering all bases by not only giving us a story with a twist in and of itself, but bringing us up to date on the scenario that has lead up to this, and where it might be heading.

Kanigher is back for a story that while not original is well produced by him, and not too overtly sentimental, and it’s drawn by Jose Delbo with Dave Hunt inking, neither being stars but delivering well crafted pages.

Next up is a reprint of Wonder Woman #20, from the second series’ numbering. George Perez had been assigned to write and drew this new series, and hot off New Teen Titans and Crisis on Infinite Earths he crafted a modern contemporary tale embellished by the lead character’s mythological background, similar to how Walt Simonson has re-energised Thor over at Marvel prior to this. Finally, after decades of wading water, sales of Wonder Woman were something to write home about. The story we get is a rather wordy one and it’s the story rather than the visual dynamics that Perez offers in this that we actually take into account, so it’s not the best one-off example of his work to my mind.

The collection concludes with a tale written and drawn by Phil Jimenez, a big fan of George Perez as is readily apparent here. I don’t like the colouring on this story but I like what Jimenez does: he tells a story about Wonder Woman as seen by Lois Lane, who’s jealous of the relationship the heroine has with Superman.

Far too much of this collection, and perhaps the problem with Wonder Woman period is that she has to have deep and meaningful stories, that embrace life and more so women kind. That’s all good and well but it simply shouldn’t get in the way of a good story if it begins to feel like it is preaching.

Frankly I’ve never been that big a Wonder Woman fan but it occurs to me that even with my fleeting knowledge I might have been able to put together a more worthy collection of Greatest Stories. Sad.

Still, as I wrote earlier, it’s marketing, and the right title can help sell even a below average book. Recently DC Comics have launched a new Wonder Woman series, featuring name creators, thus far all reviews have been positive; let's hope it stays that way the lady deserves it.

Sponsored by Target Media.