Have you ever noticed how seldom you seem to see 1948-54 issues of Wonder Woman, compared to those of Superman, Superboy, and Batman from the same period? These 46 pre-Comics Code issues of Wonder Woman from #27 (Jan-Feb. 1948) through #72 (Feb. 1955) are indeed highly collectible, yet they often go for only about half the Overstreet prices of Superman and Batman. My advice is to check out Wonder Woman, provided you can willingly suspend your disbelief to read the stories.
Some of Wonder Woman’s tales are a lot of fun, but others are pretty hard to swallow. I’ve always felt they were written with younger readers in mind, because they often don’t make a whole lot of sense! Even so, many issues are worth collecting if only for some spectacular covers in the post-H.G. Peter era. Fortunately, they’re all pictured in the Gerber Photo-journal.
Though Peter and his antiquated rococo style continued on the stories until 1958, his last Wonder Woman cover was #38 (Nov-Dec. 1949). Many of the 1950-55 covers are far superior — absolutely highly imaginative and just plain fun.
It has always been said that Wonder Woman’s circulation suffered in contrast to Superman and Batman. Yet when DC began to publish many of its bi-monthly titles eight times a year beginning late in 1953 and early in 1954, Wonder Woman was also given eight times a year status — well before World’s Finest Comics, in fact, and its legendary Superman/Batman team-ups. However, Wonder Woman’s page counts were a telling factor in her seemingly lesser popularity. Her title was dropped from 52 pages to 44 after #49 (Sept.-Oct. 1951), although Superman and Batman remained 52 pages for another year. In addition, Wonder Woman was cut from 44 pages to 36 (including covers, of course) with #59 (May-June 1953) — two years before Superman and a year and half before Batman. In retrospect, decisions like this can be puzzling.
Unlike the Superman, Superboy, and Batman titles of this period, there really were no iconic issues of Wonder Woman. Most of the continuity situations and shifts were far in the future. But that doesn’t mean these Wonder Woman issues aren’t fun. In fact, it’s nice that they can be read without much concern for continuity. If you aren’t a completist, I recommend checking out each issue before you buy it.
DC published iconic origin issues of Superman and Batman in 1948, but Wonder Woman didn’t get her special origin retelling until #45 (Jan.-Feb. 1951). Ironically, she would soon leave the pages of All Star Comics with the rest of the Justice Society in #57 (Feb-March 1951), and Sensation Comics had become a bi-monthly by then. When Wonder Woman left Sensation after #106 (Nov.-Dec. 1951), her only DC appearances came in her own title until the Justice Society of America was created in 1960. When I began reading and collecting comics as an eight-year-old in 1956, I always wondered why Wonder Woman did not appear in other titles the way Superman and Batman did, since the Amazon Princess had become an instant favorite of mine. Obviously, DC felt she just wasn’t popular enough.
It’s also odd that Wonder Woman became far better known in the 1970s, with the Lynda Carter television show, than she ever had before.
At any rate, if you’re interested in only a handful of 1948-54 Wonder Woman issues, #45 is the first one to get. Bob Oksner’s bright red cover, with Wonder Woman jumping out of a photo album, is one of DC’s best from the 1950s and much better than any other origin issue. Interestingly, “The Wonder Woman Story” ran 16 pages — DC’s longest retelling of an origin to that point. The other two stories were cut to 10 pages to accommodate the origin tale in a rare nod to flexibility.
Wonder Woman had some wonderful covers earlier in the 1940s, but by 1948 they had become somewhat lackluster. The most striking cover from 1948 is for “The Shrinking Formula!” in #31 (Sept.-Oct.). This is one of the more imaginative Wonder Woman stories of the 1940s. I also love the cover for #37 (Sept.-Oct. 1949), featuring “The Riddle of the Chinese Mummy!” This one definitely pulls you into a good mystery. If Wonder Woman had had more covers like these two, her title would have sold better.
The first “new-style” cover — for “The Trail of Thrills” in #39 (Jan-Feb. 1950) — heralded amore dynamic era of Wonder Woman covers, mostly drawn by humor strip standout Bob Oksner until Ross Andru and Mike Esposito took over with #66 (May 1954). Most of these Oksner beauties are far better than the H.G. Peter covers. Looking at them makes one wish Oksner had done more superheroes. There are very few early 1950s covers that offer more excitement. The spooky cover on #41 for “Wonder Woman — Private Detective!” is a true gem. It’s a fine story, too.
The same can be said for “The Amazing Spy Ring Mystery” in #43 (Sept.-Oct. 1950), with Wonder Woman diving from her invisible plane toward an enemy submarine. “Wonder Woman vs. Robot Woman” on #48 (July-Aug. 1951) is one of the first of the double Wonder Woman covers
The covers offer an amazing mish-mash of themes both fantastic and realistic (well, relatively so!). For example, one issue after “Battle for Fairyland” in #52 (March-April 1952), we have Wonder Woman being grilled with a lie detector in “The Wonder Woman Nobody Knows!” in #53 (May-June 1952). Then we’re back to “The Wizard of Castle Sinister!” in #54 (July-Aug. 1952). Very few comic books contained the weird mixture or themes prevalent in Wonder Woman.
During the craze involving 3-D movies and comic books, Wonder Woman got in on the action in “The 3-D Terror!” in #64 (Feb. 1954), in which a dinosaur literally leaps out of a movie screen! The first time I saw that cover, I was an adult — but I still could hardly wait to read that story. Let’s just say it was as good — and as wild — as advertised.
I highly recommend almost every Wonder Woman cover from #39-72, but there are two that I especially love: “The Tornado Detective!” in #65 (April 1954), with Wonder Woman using her lasso to grab a car and save two tornado victims, and “The Seeds of Peril,” with the Amazon Princess lassoing a skyscraper. Both covers have gorgeous blue backgrounds. They’re two of the prettiest DC covers of all time, with wild stories to boot.
This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in this piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.
