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    Wonder Woman #178

    Wonder Woman » Wonder Woman #178 - Wonder Woman's Rival released by DC Comics on October 1968.

    Short summary describing this issue.

    Wonder Woman's Rival last edited by Darkside_of_the_Sun on 03/19/20 04:51PM View full history

    When Steve Trevor is suspected of murder, Wonder Woman must investigate the modern social scene in the most up-to-date fashions as Diana Prince.

    When Wonder Woman testifies against Steve it's up to Diana Prince to save him.

    DC's publisher Carmine Infantino wanted to rejuvenate what had been perceived as a tired Wonder Woman, so he assigned writer Denny O'Neil and artist Mike Sekowsky to convert the Amazon into a secret agent. Wonder Woman was made over into an Emma Peel type, and what followed was arguably the most controversial period in the hero's history.

    The collaborators' first issue put Diana Prince's transformation into motion, even though it focused primarily on her wardrobe. When testimony by Wonder Woman landed her friend Steve Trevor in jail for murder (which he didn't commit), her alter ego tried blending in with the hippie culture to find eye witnesses who could clear his name. Diana succeeded and realized that she needed to better connect with the people she protected.

    Those changes would explode in the following issue, after Queen Hippolyta informed her daughter that Paradise Island was relocating to another dimension in order to replenish the Amazons' dwindling mystical energies. Shockingly, Diana opted to renounce her powers and costume so that she could remain on "Man's world," and help Steve thwart the terrorist machinations of the evil Dr. Cyber, including one that had Cyber sending bomb-rigged toys to the children of America's leaders.

    Though powerless, Diana quickly built a new life for herself, opening a boutique and undergoing training under the tutelage of I-Ching, a blind martial arts expert she befriended. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for the radically altered Wonder Woman, who wouldn't stop Doctor Cyber before the villainess saw to the murder of Steve Trevor.

    For the next 5 years, Diana's adventures lauded the versatile spirit an independent strength of the modern woman more than her physical wonders, although some feminists argued that the "depowering" of Wonder Woman had greatly diminished the character.

    Notes:

    • This issue appears in the opening bus ride scene in the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy.
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    2.5 stars

    Average score of 1 user reviews

    Kind of disappointing 0

    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...

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