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5 (123) 4 (713) 3 (704) 2 (290) 1 (47) 3.5 starsAverage score of 1780 user reviews
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The Chinese Connection 0
This is the middle story of a multi issue arc featuring Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman attempting to stop members of a Chinese spy ring from operating on American soil. The issue starts with an interesting obstacle course room where Diana is nearly killed numerous times before apprehending one of the enemy spies. Later when Steve Trevor arrives Diana reveals she went ahead to ensure he would be safe. He takes this poorly as he doesn’t want to be seen to be rescued by a woman in front of hi...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
A New Beginning (Again) 0
It seems as though whenever the Wonder Woman title is lacking a little direction they go back to the standby. So here we have the reintroduction of Etta Candy, Steve Trevor (from an alternate dimension to explain how he is alive) and General Darnell. This is a slightly different context, now they are all working at the Pentagon as opposed to military intelligence. They are working in a branch dealing with special projects. Their first special project is a rapidly deployable space shutt...
2 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Half and Half Part 2 0
As with the previous issue the better aspect of this one is the backup story involving Donna Troy. The first half has Diana trying to attack the humanoid reptiles who are revealed to be aliens. It is revealed that the dinosaurs are de-evolved aliens. The aliens are interested in stealing a spacecraft so that they can return home. Despite being captured Diana eventually escapes and de-evolves the rest of the aliens. The backup story has Wonder Girl escaping from the trap that the villa...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Half and Half Part 1 0
This issue features a story from Diana’s days as a NASA astronaut. Despite being billed as that, the issue is more like a version of the Lost World (Doyle not Crichton), where there is hidden world with dinosaurs hidden in the . Diana and her co-pilot are drawn to it by a mysterious blue ray and she discovers a paleontologist who has been stuck there for over a year. At the end she meet the Scaled Gods, a group of dinosaur men. In the backup story Donna Troy is alerted to the death of ...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
A Little Lazy 0
Orana has assumed the title of Wonder Woman but she is having trouble adapting the world of men. Diana flees despite divine orders not to do so, and upon returning home discovers she has been accepted to the NASA space program. Meanwhile the villain Warhead is planning an attack on . My main problem with this issue was the depiction of Orana. She is basically just Diana but with red hair. The artists didn’t really strive to create someone that looked different, rather just a copy o...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Another Battle for the Crown 0
Throughout the publication history of Diana one of the recurring plot devices has been the battle over who gets to wear the Wonder Woman costume and represents the Amazons in the world. Coincidentally these often occur around landmark issues (250 here, in vol. 2 around issue 100). In this issue Orana has challenged Diana for the title of Wonder Woman. This is to be settled as always by tournament. Eventually the tournament comes down to Diana and Orana. Throughout the four day tournam...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Good Pair 0
As Diana is dealing with her loss from the previous issue, she is met by Hawkgirl, who has gone specifically to meet her and console her. This issue also soon introduces Greg Trevor, Steve Trevor’s never before mentioned brother, who informs the two of them that there is a plot against the JLA to steal their technology but a group known as U.N.R.E.S.T. Diana and Shiera start to deal with the threat as they are targeted by a car bomb, a remote controlled handgun and eventually by a missile. ...
4 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
To the Depths 0
This issue serves as the end of a sub-plot which has been running through the previous issues. Steve Trevor, who has been disguised as Steve Howard has been captured by the military and is being interrogated to determine the location of Steve Trevor. Previously Trevor had died but was revived by Aphrodite. Now a major wants to channel this energy to reawaken the dark commander. There is a decent battle sequence which unfolds with Diana fighting the Dark Commander, but she figures out ...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
A BetterEnding 0
As opposed to the previous lead-in issue this one was much stronger. It details the efforts of Diana and Steve to stop S.C.Y.T.H.E. and the scientist they have captured who is now willingly working with them. He has a weather machine which begins to wreak havoc on until Wonder Woman intervenes. They discover that the weather is being controlled from space by a satellite. The motivations of the scientist are explained here. It actually kind of reminded me of Magneto, in that he becaus...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Another Retelling 0
Here we get a very brief retelling of Diana’s story, describing how she left and met Steve Trevor. This included a cameo by a character I never thought I would see again Right there in the middle - the Crimson Centipede I think I can capture the concept of the plot by saying it is pretty typical of the silver age. A scientist is captured from the Unites Nations by a group of terrorists. In return for him they want the leader of their organization (S.C.Y.T.H.E.) to be released. They ...
2 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Kind of Strange 0
Diana is back in time in the 1940s with a cast of characters common to her golden age years. Steve Trevor is a major and Etta Candy is a private and Diana is a yeoman. Diana is trying to protect General MacArthur from an assassination attempt from Kung, a bitter Japanese American who has the ability to transform himself into any animal he chooses. Kung explains his history and that of his family and expresses dismay about Japanese Americans being placed in detention camps. The golden ag...
2 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
The Twelfth Test 1
This issue follows the tale of the twelfth and final test she needs to pass in order to be readmitted to the JLA. This time it is Batman who is monitoring her actions. To be honest this issue had such a weird plot that I had a hard time keeping up with it. There is a duplicate Wonder Woman who Diana battles and eventually discovers that it came from an amusement park in the Catskills. This park is a reference to very specifically as the original creator of the park is cryogenically fro...
4 out of 6 found this review helpful. -
Together at Last 0
This story is told as a recollection by Black Canary of events which already transpired. Wonder Woman is presently not a member of the Justice League but if she passes 12 tests she will be readmitted. So Justice Leaguers are going undercover and tracking her actions so they can determine when she is fit to rejoin the team. This story tells the tale of a billionaire trying to become the first man to set foot on . He makes various attempts to get to the island including an all-out assault...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Too Little, Too Late 0
Despite being somewhat inspired by the women’s lib movement in the 1970s, this is the first issue which addressed it directly. Diana returns to without a job and is almost hired by Mr. Grandee, a lascivious man with money as his only motivator. He makes Diana an offer she almost can’t refuse but then does. It later turns out that he is paying his mostly all-female workforce one quarter below the minimum wage, and Diana and friends go to rectify the problem (as well as to rescue Cathy, Di...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Another Genre Covered 0
The mod girl years of Wonder Woman covered a lot of different literary genres, from fantasy to espionage to ghost stories, so it only make sense that another genre gets covered – campy 1950s horror movies. This is the second part of a two story arc where Diana and Johnny Double are trying to protect Mr. Dill. The villains in this one are at times comedic. In a previous issue there were killer falcon carrying snowmobile driving mod girls, in this there are lance carrying mod girls on motor...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Decent Golden Age Stories 0
In finding these stories I should probably explain, it is really the first two stories which are acceptable and all of the typical golden age plot devices which I don’t like – Steve Trevor begging for marriage, amazing never before seen tricks with the lasso, phasing between dimensions – are all concentrated in the last story. The first story deals with the Volcano Prophet’s attempt to defraud villages into giving him millions by convincing them he can predict volcanoes. In fact he is sim...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Venus Envy 0
This is a bizarre issue. It revolves completely around the planet of Venus which in this scenario is not extremely hot with a runaway greenhouse effect, rather inhabited by Queen Desira and her loving followers. The story starts as Diana needs a place to rehabilitate the third world war promoters. All is then fine until one of the Holliday Girls accidentally beams themselves to Venus where she is captured by Velma. Wonder Woman goes to rescue her but then she is also captured. Final...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
The promise that wasn't 2
I am sort of mixed in my opinions of fishnets being worn by comic book heroines. Here Diana meets Johnny Double and he has a job for her. His employer wants Diana's help in protecting him. In doing so she is supposed to wear the costumes of his "milkmaids" She eventually agrees to wear it but then never does. I sort of wanted to see her in mod girl attire and fishnets if just for one panel to see what it looked like. Anyway, it is not really relevant to the issue as a whole. By protecti...
5 out of 6 found this review helpful. -
Inn of Mystery 0
Borrowing heavily from the popular horror genre at the time, this issue involves a number of people who are stranded inside a remote inn during a snowstorm. In addition to Diana there are two escaped convicts, a writer and a man who has just left his wife. Mystery unfolds as some of the characters start dying. Meanwhile the owner of the inn and her son seem to think nothing is wrong. To be honest I mostly liked the horror titles from the 1970s. They were not always very scary, but I still l...
4 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
Not the best, not the worst 0
This issue involved Diana helping one of your neighbourhood friends, Tony in solving a mystery about how his sister Angela ended up in a coma. The issue is fairly light on action, and fairly heavy on detective work, and while it is kind of interesting to see Diana do investigating, its really not what I expect out of a story with her. At the end there is a morality lesson about not killing people, which is interesting considering in the past six issues Diana led a small insurrection in communi...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Where did this come from? 0
I have been putting off reading this issue because of the cover and the concept. Diana is heading into communist China to find I-Ching who is searching for his daughter. I expected a lot of of more cat-and-mouse style antics of trying to find her or Doctor Cyber, but the issue was not about that at all. First of all, Diana and Patrick have to sneak into the country somehow and do so by disguising themselves as Chinese and flying a plane in. Having different coloured skin is basically th...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Introduction to the Past 0
This is just a so-so issue leading into the next one which is better. Diana and I-Ching are on their way to Hong Kong. On the plane they meet Patrick McGuire and Lu Shan. Lu Shan is working with Doctor Cyber to get revenge on her father, who is I-Ching. She blames him for the death of her mother. After the two are kidnapped they are taken to a boat where he is shot, though they after one of the henchmen accidentally starts a fire. There are a couple of action sequences, one involving an am...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Mindless entertainment 0
Throughout her golden age years Diana ran across the Arthurian heroes on a regular basis, and in the mod girl years it even happened once already (though not in the same context as the earlier appearances.) Here Diana is battling the daughter of Morgaine Le Fay. She has turned the boyfriend of one of Cathy's friend into a frog and is now loose in New York City. Diana has various attempts at subduing her but there are all unsuccessful. Eventually it is revealed that I-Ching is also a magician...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Decent Lead-in 0
This issue sets up the pursuit of Doctor Cyber which took place over the following two issues. Diana is still trying to find those who are responsible for Steve Trevor's condition and she is joined by a new ally, Tim Trench. The issue benefits in a lot of ways from Diana's new need for resourcefulness as opposed to usually dealing with problems with force as was more common in the golden age. In particular there was one sequence where Diana was trapped underwater in a heavily armoured car and ...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Introducing two nobodies 1
This issue is a bit of an anomaly. Diana, I-Ching and Catwoman find themselves in an alternate dimension. The dimension has an interesting name – Nehwon, which as an expert in Zatanna spells I recognized as the words no when (I guess a play on nowhere) spelled backwards. I assume this was intentional on the part of the writer. They soon run across Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser as the two of them try to steal the gem from Diana and company. I guess Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were meant to ...
4 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
Fight over the flames 0
This is the first of a two part story arc, and unlike many others the first issue really shines here while the second is just so-so. The story basically follows Diana trying to find Johnny Double but only assassins can be found in his office. She finds a note which prompts her to sell her boutique and venture to in search of the Fist of Flame. She is eventually caught and forced to fight above a raging fire the thief that has been following her, Catwoman. I thought this was pretty cool,...
3 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Clean break 0
The first full issue of the mod girl years and they aren’t kidding around about giving Diana a new direction. Steve Trevor essentially has to pretend to quit his job so he can get at Dr.Cyber. Diana is recalled to to be informed to either migrate with the Amazons o lose her powers. Diana decides she has to stay to help Trevor, and meets I-Ching in the process who teaches her martial arts. They later attack Dr. Cyber’s headquarters where they use robotic toys to attack them. In the en...
4 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
Kind of disappointing 1
This is the first real look we get at mod girl Diana after a teaser panel the previous issue, but this isn't really mod girl Diana. She is only going undercover to show to infiltrate a group of hippies. The story overall is pretty typical golden age stuff. Steve Trevor is framed for a murder and it is up to Diana to get him out of prison. For those of you who read my reviews, you know the mod girl era is a favourite of mine in the history of Wonder Woman comics, but in terms of content and m...
5 out of 6 found this review helpful. -
Thats the best he could come up with? 1
This is a two part story and both parts are about equally as bad. In the first story Wonder Woman is battling a beast created by Mars (which technically should be the Greek Ares) called the Crimson Centipede. Mars has created it to show Aphrodite that Wonder Woman can be bested by something, but in doing so he created just about the most useless villain ever though. I don't know why he didn't create a gigantic shadow beast that shoots lava from its eyes and can disintegrate matter. Instead h...
3 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
Diana Gives Her All 0
Let me say first of all that I love the cover. This is probably in the top ten covers in Wonder Woman history. Despite the fact that she is an Amazon it has a Viking motif which we don’t see very often. The issue sort of proceeds in two parts. First of all Diana has gone dimension hopping to find the famous heroes to help her in her battle. She has gone for the likes of El Cid, Sir Launcelot, and King Arthur. When she did this I sort lost faith completely in this issue. In the gold...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Standing up to Ares 0
Sorry that I am reading and reviewing Wonder Woman out of order, but I really got into the mod girl Diana and after initially going through and picking out issues when I started for the whole series, when I got the mod girl years I went back to read some of the other ones which I missed. So in reviewing this I can say this is the second epic battle two shot which I have read in the mod girl years but the first chronologically. The plot is basically pretty simple. Ares wants Hippolyta’s rin...
4 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
Good Story Arc in One Issue 0
This is the third of three mod girl era comics which compiled two previous comics into one title. I have previously reviewed another one of these thinking it was an original issue, but this time I read it afterwards. Unlike the previous one I reviewed this one is almost identical, I couldn’t find one panel which had been left out of the original. It is also a much better story arc to collect than the other two. Of course if you are looking back and re-reading the old issues this one is w...
4 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Some resolution 0
This whole series was essentially one big long battle sequence with a little bit of plot mixed in. As the resolution to the series it is therefore not too surprising that there is also a fair amount of fighting. Also throughout the series the focus on battle and the generally good artwork lends itself to a lot of good full page panels, and this issue is no exception: There is a bit of a resolution to the series but in the end Cassie and Diana work out their differences not surprisingly whi...
4 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
More Fighting 0
Part 5 of 5 of this series doesn’t digress much from the rest of the series. Unlike the previous issue which had a regrouping after a battle, this issue is one big fight. The Furies still have Hercules under their control and are using him to fight the assembled group of heroes. As can be expected in any action based issue there are a few changes of battle momentum but the whole thing proceeds as you would expect out of an action movie fight sequence. One cool moment was when Cassie’s mo...
3 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
Rock’em Sock’em 1
A fairly straightforward action based issue. Cassie gets in a battle with the Female Furies and after losing regroups and gets ready for another round, this time with backup. The entire Wonder Girl miniseries was fairly big on action and low on plot so this is not really all that surprising from this issue. The appearance of the Olympian was not entirely expected, but it was fun to see him (I love it whenever any of the Global Guardians show up). Overall I can say that the issue was fun ...
5 out of 6 found this review helpful. -
The Day After 3
This issue follows directly in the aftermath of Diana killing Maxwell Lord. There are three basic threads in this issue. First of all she has to face Bruce and Clark over what happened, secondly she is searching for answers about Checkmate and its involvement in what is going on, and third there is a nuclear reactor about to meltdown if she can't intervene. The nuclear reactor part was interesting, though just a bit of action for what would be an otherwise actionless issue. The hunt for info...
6 out of 7 found this review helpful. -
A small disclaimer 0
As I mentioned in the review for issue 181, these two issues were later compiled into issue 197, leaving out parts of issue 181, but keeping this issue relatively intact. i didn't know this until I read these two issues but basically my review for issue 197 still stands, but if reviewed separately this issue is the weaker of the two which made up the later issue. They chose to keep a pointless shopping spree from this one instead of showing how Diana got her new gadgets in issue 181. It also ...
4 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
This makes a bit more sense 0
Recently I have been pulling random Wonder Woman comic book issues and reviewing them. One of the ones I chose was Wonder Woman #197. This issue was from the silver age mod girl version of Diana, but I was surprised because it was twice as long as usual. What in fact happened was that they made a small anthology of an earlier two part story arc which included #181 and #182. I am not sure why they did this with comics that were less than two years old, but it made for a fairly convoluted comi...
4 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
Everything except the kitchen sink. No wait! Thats there too 1
The interesting cover drew me into this issue, but it was one of those classic misleading covers. The issue was actually a bit of a labour to get through because it lacked a lot of direction. Among other things it involves an underwater base, a nuclear weapon, grenade earrings, a shopping spree, a love affair, a double cross, a poisoned tea, a treasure hunt and (get ready for this) mod girls riding on snowmobiles with killer falcons. Diana and I-Ching are after Dr. Cyber and ...
4 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Why would they do this to me? 0
I have been reviewing a fair number of old Wonder Woman issues recently, yet I was pretty happy when I got to the silver age. Silver age Wonder Woman is noticeable for the mod girl Wonder Woman, and I have been liking the stories so much as far that I have been reviewing more than planned. This brought me up to issue #196. The cover seemed to suggest a pretty interesting issue, with crosshairs on Diana’s bare back and the promise of an appearance by the Cheetah. The issue inside though ...
4 out of 6 found this review helpful.
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