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If I bought the above book in its year of publication (2008), I've now owned it for 16 years. However, it's possible I may've got it within the first year or so after it hit bookstores, but whatever the case, I've now had it for a fair amount of time. I always intended to get around to buying the subsequent three volumes, but only managed to do so fairly recently. I never bought Wonder Woman at the time the comics reprinted in these volumes first appeared (1969-'72/'73), though I picked some up a number of years later, including the first two or three in Diana Prince's new direction as a 'Cathy Gale/Emma Peel' type adventuress with no Amazonian superpowers whatsoever.
I was always intrigued by this new direction in her career from her few appearances in other mags (Superman, The Brave And The Bold, Lois Lane, World's Finest, etc.) so I'm glad to now be able to read the complete series of all 27 issues from 178 to 204, though 191 was mainly a reprint issue with 5 pages of new material 'bookending' the reprint. (Issues 197 & 198 were also reprint issues - maybe the artist got behind schedule.) The first three books present all the covers as full page images, though the fourth one presents most of them as two (reduced) covers per page, with the exception of The Brave & The Bold #105, where Diana guest-stars with Batman.
At a quick count, Denny O'Neil wrote 7 issues of the series, Mike Sekowsky wrote (and drew) 17, with Robert Kanigher and Bob Haney handling whatever Denny and Mike didn't write. I'm not counting the few other heroes' mags that appear in the collection so as not to spoil the surprise should you ever decide to buy them. Mike Sekowsky's scripting could do with a bit of polish (or editing) in some places, as the following example from 'The House That Wasn't' shows. "Stepping into the main room is like stepping back a hundred years in the past as they enter the large main room and see the giant fire place warming the lovely old-fashioned room."
The word 'room' appearing three times in one sentence is too repetitive and would read better with something like... "Entering the large, old-fashioned main room with its giant fireplace radiating a comforting warmth is like stepping a hundred years into the past." Another aspect of these stories that could stand improvement is the placement of several speech balloons, which seem completely arbitrary. Some cover faces and parts of figures when there is absolutely no need for it, there being sufficient room elsewhere without obscuring certain parts of the art.
Anyway, I'll spare you further opinions from 'How To Do Comics The Robson Way' and cut straight to the covers of the four volumes. After all, that's really what you're here for.
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22 comments:
When Rip mentioned that Sekowsky's take was "strange," I suddenly conceived the notion that MS might have been emulating the way Robert Kanigher wrote a lot of his stories-- not so much the actual WONDER WOMAN stuff, but RK's more wacky "real-world" adventures, like SGT ROCK and HAUNTED TANK. RK could sometimes put across some stirring war stories, but I think he often felt like he had to play to "the cheap seats" by coming up with weird situations-- which was true of just about every Silver Age DC title, as far as I recall. So a hard-hitting Sgt Rock story about racism in the ranks might be followed by Rock facing a Nazi version of the Pied Piper. (I exaggerate,but not by much.)
So MS got the chance to draw and sometimes write his own version of WONDER WOMAN, but he's still got to please DC editors. Why not pattern his approach on that of RK's quasi-realistic books? Sometimes Powerless Diana faced off against street-level crooks, then she's be off to other dimensions to fight Fafhrd, the Grey Mouser and the Catwoman. Sometimes he would do Caniff-style stories of adventures in foreign lands, and at least one story, the one with the witch Morgana, is as daffy as anything RK wrote.
I think Powerless Diana got two teamups with Batman in B&B, and one with Superman in WORLD'S FINEST, as well as assorted cameos in SUPERMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE, and the Sekowsky SUPERGIRL, alongside the aforementioned Morgana.
You may well be correct, GP, but I haven't read enough Sgt Rock and Haunted Tank stories to know for sure. It definitely seems as if DC were trying to keep both sets of fans of the two versions of WW happy, going by the times Diana returned to Paradise Island for an issue or two. I can only assume sales were eventually dropping, because after around two years, they restored her Amazon attributes and ditched I-Ching by killing him off. What surprised me was the perfunctory way in which they did it - Stan Lee would've milked such an event for all it was worth - and I mean that in a good way.
I'm a bit late with this news but Titan Comics who now own the rights to Conan have launched 'Savage Sword Of Conan' which might be a black & white magazine like the old Marvel mag but I'm not sure. Anyway the new SSOC #1 came out a couple of months ago but I only heard about it yesterday.
What have you been doing with yourself, CJ? It's not like you to miss things like that. I'll probably give it a miss as Conan comics aren't Conan unless they're Marvel Conan comic strips. (Try saying that fast 6 times.)
I used to think that too, Kid, but Titan have made a real effort to recreate the feel of '70s Marvel in their new Conan comics. They've also launched a series of e-book short stories featuring R.E.H. characters but written by modern authors and I really enjoyed the ones I've read so far (two Conan stories and one Solomon Kane).
I don't know what it is with me, CJ, but I no longer have much of an interest in Conan outside of Marvel back issues, and even then there are none I'm particularly looking for. Maybe I should give the new #1 a try just to see what it's like.
Although there's no question that RK's reset of the WW title back to Amazon adventures was way rushed, RK did pen some of his most affecting dialogue ever when Diana and the dying Ching bid each other farewell. I won't repeat the lines cause they don't work without the pictures.
I'd venture that they don't quite work even WITH the pictures, GP, on account of Ching's death being over so quickly. He appears in only 5 panels in the first 4 pages, and by the end of the story it's as though he never existed. The dialogue between Diana and Ching is perhaps meant to be 'affecting', but carries no solid emotional investment on the part of the writer. It's almost as if he thought to himself "Right, how do I get rid of Ching as quickly as possible seeing as the mag's going with yet another revamp?".
Colin, Kid The Titan "Savage Sword of Conan " is a black and white magazine. I 've only scanned issue 2 when I was in Forbidden Planet and the art is pretty impressive. The colour monthly artists style is so much like John Buscema ( without being a swipe artist) that I thought it was a Marvel reprint.
That's interesting to know, McS. I haven't been in to Glasgow in what seems like years (mobility issues, have to use a stroller/Zimmer now), so I'll maybe track down the first issues on eBay. Having said that, I'm still luxuriating in my Marvel Conan and Kull Omnibus volumes.
Actually,Kid, I mentioned the amazing similarity to John Buscema's art in a comment about Titan's new Conan comic last year. Thanks for that info on SSOC, Paul.
And I recall you making that very comparison, CJ. You and McS are determined to make me buy these new mags, aren't you?
Kid, if you're interested Marvel have just published a facsimile edition of Uncanny X-Men #130 featuring the first ever appearance of the Dazzler. I had the original issue but I got it via a swap rather than buying it - I knew several kids who were Marvel fans and we did a lot of swapping comics.
Don't think I ever had that issue, CJ, though I bought (and still have) Dazzler #1. I'll jump over to eBay and take a look as that's how I get my comics now. Ta for the heads up.
That's it now purchased, CJ. Thanks again.
Hope you enjoy it Kid. Sorry to hear about your mobility issues hope that improves for you .
Thanks, McS, but that's unlikely. 'Twill only get worse, alas.
Did you buy any more issues of Dazzler after #1, Kid? I didn't have #1 but I did buy Dazzler fairly regularly until about #25 or so. It was quite an enjoyable series and featured such villains as Dr Doom, Galactus and The Enchantress. I also had an issue of What If (dated June 1982 I think) which featured a story called "What If Dazzler Had Become The Herald Of Galactus?" and it shared the comic (and the cover) with another story called "What If Iron Man Had Been Trapped In The Time Of King Arthur?" (following on from the events of Iron Man #150 when IM and Dr Doom go back in time to Camelot). Unusually for What If, both stories had sort of happy endings and it was the only issue of What If I ever found in WH Smith's.
Our conversation inspires me to do a look back at "Diana's first dad."
https://arche-arc.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-i-ching-dynasty.html
Left a comment, GP.
I was unaware that those "New Wonder Woman" issues had been collected in a set of trades. I may be tempted to get them. Do they also contain any editorial content from the original issues? Denny O'Neil's full-page editorial in his last issue #203 - the 'Women's Lib' issue which was a last hurrah before the comic returned to the hands of Bob Kanigher - is worth a read.
Like you, I really liked those "Retro" comics that DC did a few years back. I was disappointed that the GL/GA issue did not include a Denny O'Neil / Neal Adams reunion.
Took a quick flick through before typing this, B, but can't see any editorials. I seem to recall that an Omnibus edition of these strips was available at some point - if so, it likely has editorials and letters pages and such things.
The 'Retroactive' logo looked familiar to me, so I'm wondering if I bought a couple at the time. If so, I'll still have them, but I don't have a clue where they're stored.
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