Wonder Woman Unbound (45 page)

Betty Kane joined her as Bat-Girl …
First appeared in
Batman
#139 (April 1961), created by Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff.

turned into an alien …
Batman
#140 (June 1961).

sent back to ancient Babylon …
Batman
#102 (September 1956).

battling gods, dragons …
Batman
#153 (May 1963).

Robert Kanigher Revises Wonder Woman

baby Diana was visited by four …
Wonder Woman
#105 (April 1959).

“
Woe is us … we are alone …
” Ibid.

“
man’s world to battle crime and injustice …
”
Wonder Woman
#98 (May 1958).

she could manipulate updrafts …
Ibid.

There were men in a few Amazon myths …
Of the ancient sources, only Herodotus, Hippocrates, Xenophon, and Diodorus Siculus mention the Amazons living with men, and only Herodotus has them doing so without maiming and mangling the male children.

Apollodorus’s ancient account …
Apollodorus,
The Library,
vol. 1, trans. Sir James George Frazier (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967), 203.

a few screwball romance stories with Hippolyta …
See
Wonder Woman
#130 (May 1962) and
Wonder Woman
#132 (August 1962).

“
Kanigher’s plots hurtled from event to event …
” Will Jacobs and Gerard Jones,
The Comic Book Heroes: The First History of Modern Comic Books—from the Silver Age to the Present
(Rocklin, CA: Prima, 1997), 56.

“
I’m an instinctual writer …
” Robin Snyder, “The Golden Age Gladiator: Robert Kanigher,” in
Comics Journal
85 (October 1983): 64.

“
Impossible! She never had a father” …
Ibid.: 62.

“
strong influence” on how Wonder Woman …
Ibid.: 65.

Kanigher’s new story appeared for Wonder Woman …
Secret Origins
#1 (Summer 1961).

5. Focus on the Family, or Superman Is a Jackass

“
would create a feeling of warmth …
” Elaine Tyler May,
Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era
(New York: Basic Books, 1988), 23.

“
the treatment of love-romance stories …
” 1955 Comic Code, in Nyberg,
Seal of Approval,
168.

Wonder Woman

a clam was a gateway to travel through time …
Wonder Woman
#131 (July 1962).

battled a cannibal clam …
Wonder Woman
#107 (July 1959).

giants from different dimensions …
Wonder Woman
#100 (August 1958).

planets …
Wonder Woman
#102 (November 1958) and
Wonder Woman
#120 (February 1961).

time periods …
Wonder Woman
#109 (October 1959).

pterodactyls …
Wonder Woman
#101 (October 1958).

rocs …
Wonder Woman
#113 (April 1960).

dimorphodons …
Wonder Woman
#121 (April 1961).

a space eagle …
Wonder Woman
#105 (April 1959).

Steve gave Wonder Woman perfume …
Wonder Woman
#102 (November 1958).

“
I’d love to, Steve! You know I like …
”
Wonder Woman
#137 (April 1963).

“
I can’t marry you—until my services …
”
Wonder Woman
#99 (July 1958).

“
How can I become your wife 100% …
”
Wonder Woman
#137 (April 1963).

“
It would be unfair to marry you …
”
Wonder Woman
#133 (October 1962).

seashell fraternity pin …
Wonder Woman
#115 (July 1960).

sea dances …
Wonder Woman
#111 (January 1960).

“
I’ve had enough! And to think …
”
Wonder Woman
#116 (August 1960).

out of a group of Wonder Woman robots …
Wonder Woman
#103 (January 1959).

Wonder Woman disguised herself as a movie star …
Wonder Woman
#133 (October 1962).

she called him two-faced …
Wonder Woman
#126 (November 1961).

“
The nerve of Steve! Always praising …
”
Wonder Woman
#130 (May 1962).

“
Angel—if you really cared for me …
”
Wonder Woman
#122 (May 1961).

“
I don’t care whether you think it’s fair …
”
Wonder Woman
#127 (January 1962).

“
I’m getting sick and tired …
”
Wonder Woman
#133 (October 1962).

“
I’m tired of waiting around for you …
” Ibid.

“
If you really loved me …
”
Wonder Woman
#137 (April 1963).

if Steve picked Wonder Woman out …
Wonder Woman
#99 (July 1958).

if Wonder Woman had to save Steve …
Wonder Woman
#101 (October 1958).

Steve tried to show her that he was braver …
Wonder Woman
#118 (November 1960).

“
Now you’re trying to make a fool …
”
Wonder Woman
#132 (August 1962).

Lois Lane

“
It seems you owe your career to Superman …
”
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#17 (May 1960).

“
AMBITION: To become Mrs. Superman” …
For example, in
Wonder Woman
#98 (May 1958).

took a leave of absence …
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#1 (March/April 1958).

wore a new, exotic outfit every day …
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#5 (November/December 1958).

an experimental youth ray …
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#10 (July 1959).

“
the fattest girl in Metropolis” …
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#5 (November/December 1958).

encasing her entire head in a lead box …
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#13 (November 1959).

a local hero named Samson …
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#19 (August 1960).

then with Robin Hood …
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#22 (January 1961).

an alien named Astounding Man …
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#18 (July 1960).

“
Whatever got into Clark …
”
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#3 (July/August 1958).

“
I’ll have to teach her lesson for using …
”
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#1 (March/April 1958).

pretended that Lois had developed Kryptonite …
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#16 (April 1960).

“
Now she’s stuck in a revolving door …
” Ibid.

Supergirl

“
No, Supergirl! I have many cunning …
”
Action Comics
#258 (November 1959).

“
I won’t get any headlines …
”
Action Comics
#253 (June 1959).

used her heat vision to burn a roast …
Action Comics
#254 (July 1959).

helping Timmy Tate …
Action Comics
#253 (June 1959).

proving that Paul was not lying …
Action Comics
#266 (July 1960).

help Frank Cullen shoot several …
Action Comics
#270 (November 1960).

Nancy could iron her dress …
Adventure Comics
#278 (November 1960).

to help Eddie Moran rescue…
Action Comics
#274 (March 1961).

Tommy Tomorrow find parents …
Action Comics
#255 (August 1959).

found a home for a Bizarro baby …
Superman
#140 (October 1960).

“
Jeepers! If … if cousin Superman …
”
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#14 (January 1960).

“H-how long will I have to wait …
”
Adventure Comics
#278 (November 1960).

Supergirl was finally adopted …
Action Comics
#279 (August 1961).

“
You must be taught a lesson …
”
Action Comics
#258 (November 1959).

FN “Now that she’s superior to me …
”
Action Comics
#282 (November 1961).