Wonder Woman Unbound
Page 26
The Golden Age
Information concerning the dawn of the Golden Age came primarily from Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre by Peter Coogan, Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones, and Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America by Bradford Wright, though most books on the history of superheroes provide similar information.
“champion of the oppressed …” Action Comics #1 (June 1938).
“criminals are a superstitious …” Detective Comics #33 (November 1939).
regularly outsold Superman … See Ben Morse, “Thunderstruck,” Wizard Magazine 179 (September 2006).
Tragic Genesis and Violence
For the tragic, violent nature of Golden Age superheroes, I relied on Dan Heggs’s “Cyberpsychology and Cyborgs” in Cyberpsychology, and Jeffrey S. Lang and Patrick Trimble’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? An Examination of the American Monomyth and the Comic Book Superhero” in the Journal of Popular Culture 22, no. 3 (1988). Information about Jewish comic book creators came from Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero by Danny Fingeroth, From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books by Arie Kaplan, Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones, and Up, Up, and Oy Vey: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero by Simcha Weinstein.
Alan Scott became Green Lantern … First appeared in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940), created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell.
The Human Torch was an android … First appeared in Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939), created by Carl Burgos.
special two-page spread … “How Would Superman End World War II?” reprinted in Superman Sunday Classics: Strips 1–183,1939–1943, 187–190.
“You see how effortlessly …” Action Comics #2 (July 1938).
“I swear I’ll follow you …” Ibid.
“nothing left of him but charred ashes …” Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941).
“I’m not talking, Bucky” … Ibid.
through a railing and into a vat of acid … Detective Comics #27 (May 1939).
flip a goon over the edge of a roof … Detective Comics #28 (June 1939).
strong kick to stop a gun-toting villain … Detective Comics #30 (August 1939).
gas pellet thrown into the cockpit … Detective Comics #33 (November 1939).
William Moulton Marston and the Origins of Wonder Woman
Background information on Marston, Peter, and the creation of Wonder Woman comes from Geoffrey C. Bunn’s “The Lie Detector, Wonder Woman and Liberty: The Life and Work of William Moulton Marston” in History of the Human Sciences 10, no. 1 (1997); and Les Daniels’s Wonder Woman: The Complete History.
parlaying their work into a “real” job … Charles Brownstein, Eisner/Miller (Milwaukee: Dark Horse Books, 2005), 188.
ads for Gillette razors … These ads appeared in the October 24, November 21, and December 19 editions of LIFE magazine in 1938.
women made only slight gains in the workforce … Claudia Dale Goldin, Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 17.
often in jobs with little opportunity for advancement … Ibid., vii–viii.
Although they could now vote … S. J. Kleinberg, Women in the United States, 1830–1945 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1999), 288.
Those interested in higher education … Nancy F. Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), 221.
“take over the rule of the country …” “Marston Advises 3 L’s for Success,” New York Times, November 11, 1937.
Elizabeth, his wife … Marguerite Lamb, “Who Was Wonder Woman? Long-ago LAW Alumna Elizabeth Marston Was the Muse Who Gave Us a Superheroine,” Boston University Alumni Magazine, Fall 2001.
Her mother, Ethel Higgins Byrne … “Byrne, Ethel Higgins (1883–1955),” The Margaret Sanger Papers, http://wyatt.elasticbeanstalk.com/mep/MS/xml/bbyrnee.html.
“Don’t Laugh at the Comics” … Interview with William Moulton Marston in Olive Richard, “Don’t Laugh at the Comics,” Family Circle, October 25, 1940.
“it seemed to me, from a psychological angle …” William Moulton Marston, “Why 100,000,000 Americans Read Comics,” American Scholar 13 (January 1944): 42.
“America, the last citadel of democracy …” All Star Comics #8 (December 1941/January 1942).
“a double dose of pleasantness …” William Moulton Marston, Emotions of Normal People (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1928), 280.
“women, as a sex …” Ibid., 258–259.
“there isn’t love enough…” William Moulton Marston, letter to Coulton Waugh, March 5, 1945; all letters cited are from the Smithsonian’s collection of Marston’s papers.
“only when the control of self …” William Moulton Marston, letter to Max Gaines, March 20, 1943.
“the future is woman’s …” William Moulton Marston, “Women: Servants of Civilization,” Tomorrow, February 1942, 44–45.
“the next one hundred years will see …” “Marston Advises 3 L’s for Success,” New York Times.
“was writing a feminist book …” Sheldon Mayer, quoted in Les Daniels, Wonder Woman: The Complete History (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000), 33.
“these simple, highly imaginative picture …” Interview with William Moulton Marston in Olive Richard, “The Women Are Our Future,” Family Circle, August 14, 1942.
Wonder Woman outsold Superman at times … Ibid.
The Women of Wonder Woman
“Come on, let’s have a Superwoman …” “Elizabeth H. Marston, Inspiration for Wonder Woman, 100” (obituary), New York Times, April 3, 1993.
Olive is often credited as the inspiration … Daniels, Wonder Woman, 31.
Roubicek was the first female assistant editor … Norman Tippens, “Dorothy Woolfolk, Superman Editor,” Daily Press, December 6, 2000.
the only name we know is Helen Schpens … Roy Thomas, foreword to Wonder Woman Archives Volume, vol. 6, by William Moulton Marston and H. G. Peter (New York: DC Comics, 2010), 6.
Several issues were also lettered by Louise Marston … Ibid., 6.
Utopian Genesis and a New Approach to Crime Fighting
“With its fertile soil, its marvelous vegetation …” All Star Comics #8 (December 1941/January 1942).
“we do not permit ourselves …” Ibid.
“the beauty of Aphrodite …” Sensation Comics #3 (March 1942).
“a race of Wonder Women!” … All Star Comics #8 (December 1941/January 1942).
“You girls can develop strength …” Wonder Woman #23 (May/June 1947).
took their marching band to distract … Sensation Comics #2 (February 1942).
FN a zoster, a belt that represented … Michael J. Bennett, Belted Heroes and Bound Women: The Myth of the Homeric War King (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1997), 171.
“Submitting to a cruel husband’s domination …” Wonder Woman #5 (June/July 1943).
“get strong! Earn your own living …” Ibid.
“Wonder Woman made me work like you …” Sensation Comics #8 (August 1942).
“You’re a born dancer …” Sensation Comics #22 (October 1943).
Rather than merely recapturing … Wonder Woman #3 (February/March 1943).
2. Damsels in Distress
Information concerning the role of women in 1940s popular culture came primarily from Linda Christian-Smith’s “Gender, Popular Culture, and Curriculum: Adolescent Romance Novels as Gender Text” in Curriculum Inquiry 17, no. 4 (Winter 1987); Rita C. Hubbard’s “Relationship Styles in Popular Romance Novels, 1950 to 1983” in Communication Quarterly 33, no. 2 (Spring 1985); Justine Larbalestier’s Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction; and Leerom Medovoi’s Rebels: Youth and the Cold War Origins of Identity.
Robbins found that the earliest costumed heroine … Trina
Robbins, The Great Women Superheroes (New York: Kitchen Sink Press, 1996), 3.
Timely Comics’ Black Widow … Mystic Comics #4, August 1940.
Quality Comics’ Phantom Lady … Police Comics #1, August 1941.
Miss America … Military Comics #1, August 1941.
the comic strip heroine Miss Fury … Trina Robbins, “Miss Fury,” Comics Journal 288 (2007): 110–111.
“the perseverance of classical Hollywood …” Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin, America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Sexuality, and Gender at the Movies (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), 203.
“her value was acquired through …” Linda K. Christian-Smith, “Gender, Popular Culture, and Curriculum: Adolescent Romance Novels as Gender Text,” Curriculum Inquiry 17, no. 4 (Winter 1987): 375–376.
“this literature was chockfull of cruel …” Joanna Russ, “The Image of Women in Science Fiction,” in Images of Women in Fiction: Feminist Perspectives, ed. Susan Koppelman Cornillon (Bowling Green: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1973), 83.
Wonder Woman
Superman rode a missile alongside fighter jets … Superman #18 (September/October 1942).
Batman and Robin delivered a gun to a soldier … Batman #30 (August/September 1945).
“Wonder Woman says do your duty …” Sensation Comics #8 (August 1942).
shut down Japanese bases all over the world, from Mexico … Wonder Woman #1 (Summer 1942).
to South America … Sensation Comics #18 (June 1943).
to China … Wonder Woman #4 (April/May 1943).
seized a German U-boat … Sensation Comics #6 (June 1942).
overturned a Japanese dreadnought … Wonder Woman #6 (Fall 1943).
captured an entire fleet of Nazi battleships … Sensation Comics #15 (March 1943).
a plot to poison the water supply … Sensation Comics #2 (February 1942).
disrupt American industry … Sensation Comics #16 (April 1943).
a Nazi spy impersonating an American general … Sensation Comics #20 (August 1943).
the hands of subterranean molemen … Wonder Woman #4 (April/May 1943).
an invading army from Saturn … Wonder Woman #10 (Fall 1944).
bullying was important to Wonder Woman … Sensation Comics #23 (November 1943).
When Steve was taken by Nazi gangsters … Sensation Comics #3 (March 1942).
about to shoot Steve … Sensation Comics #7 (July 1942).
“Tearing off door after door …” Sensation Comics #12 (December 1942).
“Wonder Woman is the most gorgeous …” Sensation Comics #2 (February 1942).
“Wonder Woman—my beautiful angel …” Wonder Woman #1 (Summer 1942).
“Steve, overjoyed at having the case …” Sensation Comics #13 (January 1943).
“Oh, my beautiful angel …” Sensation Comics #13 (January 1943).
“Look, angel—this plane …” Sensation Comics #24 (December 1943).
“Oh, Steve is going …” Sensation Comics #3 (March 1942).
“Will—(sob) you—(sob) …” Ibid.
“Ha! Ha! Diana the sleuth …” Sensation Comics #10 (October 1942).
“I’m almost jealous of myself …” Sensation Comics #7 (July 1942).
“Superman didn’t become Superman …” Soliloquy by Bill (David Carradine), in Kill Bill: Volume 2, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino (Miramax, 2004).
“[Diana] will have to go on mooning …” Sensation Comics #6 (June 1942).
“the man Diana loves …” Sensation Comics #2 (February 1942).
FN “Diana Prince” was literally someone else … Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942).
Lois Lane
rescuing her from kidnappers … Action Comics #1 (June 1938).
catching her as she plummeted … Action Comics #6 (November 1938).
faster than a speeding bullet … New York World’s Fair #1 (June 1939), in The Superman Chronicles, vol. 1, by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (New York: DC Comics, 2006), 176.
“He’s grand! He’s glorious …” Action Comics #9 (February 1939).
“Don’t go! Stay with me …” Action Comics #5 (October 1938).
“I’d advise you not to print …” Action Comics #1 (June 1938).
“Save the questions!” … Action Comics #2 (July 1938).
“too important!—This is no …” Action Comics #5 (October 1938).
the lovelorn column … Superman #3 (Winter 1939).
Clark often knocked Lois unconscious with a nerve pinch … See Superman #4 (Spring 1940) and Superman #7 (November/December 1940) for examples.
“Oh, how I hate Clark Kent …” Superman #3 (Winter 1939).
only to steal her big revelation … Ibid.
recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross … Sensation Comics #18 (June 1943).
Robin, the Boy Wonder
Batman saved her from the clutches … Detective Comics #32 (October 1939).
called off the engagement … Detective Comics #49 (March 1941).
stop chasing the villain to tend to … Batman #8 (December 1941/January 1942).
dispatch a group of thugs … Batman #5 (Spring 1941).
allow himself to be captured … Batman #7 (October/November 1941).
“You reckless young squirt …” Detective Comics #38 (April 1940).
“Well doggone! All I can say …” Detective Comics #39 (May 1940).
Catwoman
Information concerning femme fatales came from Jack Boozer’s “The Lethal Femme Fatale in the Noir Tradition” in Journal of Film and Video 51, no. 3/4 (Fall 1999); and Elisabeth Bronfen’s “Femme Fatale—Negotiations of Tragic Desire” in New Literary History 35, no. 1 (Winter 2004).
Catwoman first appeared as the Cat … Batman #1 (Spring 1940).
she was called Cat-woman or Cat Woman … Batman #10 (April/May 1942).
a beautician named Elva Barr … Batman #15 (February/March 1943).
she became Selina Kyle in 1952 … Batman #62 (December 1950/January 1951).
“I’ll bet you bumped into me …” Batman #1 (Spring 1940).
“What a night! A night for …” Batman #3 (Fall 1940).
Catwoman’s kiss left Batman … Batman #10 (April/May 1942).
“It’s too bad she has to be a crook!” … Batman #3 (Fall 1940).
The Inverted World of Wonder Woman
“not even girls want to be girls …” Marston, “Why 100,000,000 Americans Read Comics,” 42.
3. Amazon Princess, Bondage Queen
A Note on Charts and Numbers
Starting in this chapter, and throughout the rest of the book, I use a lot of charts and numbers to talk about things. The full, raw data for any number I use in the book is available online somewhere at http://thanley.wordpress.com, and you can see how I arrived at my various percentages and figures there.
A Staggering Amount of Bondage
Robbins points out that because Billy … Robbins, The Great Women Super-heroes, 13.
Bondage and the Coming Matriarchy
“Will war ever end in this world …” Richard, “The Women Are Our Future.”
“as the greatest—no, even more …” Ibid.
“nature-endowed soldiers of Aphrodite …” Ibid.
“boys, young and old, satisfy their wish thoughts …” Ibid.
“the subconscious, elaborately disguised desire of males …” Ibid.
“The only hope for peace is to teach people …” William Moulton Marston, letter to Max Gaines, February 20, 1943.
At Christmastime, the Amazons celebrated Diana’s Day … Wonder Woman #3 (February/March 1943).
“Oh yes, we love it!” … Wonder Woman #6 (Fall 1943).
“Bind me as tight as you can …” Wonder Woman #13 (Summer 1945).
“On Paradise Island where we play …” Sensation Comics #35 (November 1944).
“You weel regret zis …” Wonder Woman #26 (November/December 1947).
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�Horsefeathers! You’ll end up loving …” Ibid.
“These bonds feel wonderful! Keep me here …” Sensation Comics #22 (October 1943).
“I shall make you tell the truth …” Sensation Comics #20 (August 1943).
“dramatized symbol of her sex …” Richard, “The Women Are Our Future.”
“woman’s charm is the one bond that can be …” Ibid.
“Daughter, if any man welds chains …” Sensation Comics #4 (April 1942).
“Aye weep, captive girl …” Wonder Woman #2 (Fall 1942).
rip her spirit from her body … Wonder Woman #5 (June/July 1943).
“My Wonder Woman often lets …” Richard, “The Women Are Our Future.”
The Bondage Battle
This section owes a great deal to Les Daniels’s Wonder Woman: The Complete History as well as the collection of Marston’s papers available via the Smithsonian Institution.
“this feature does lay you open …” Josette Frank, letter to Max Gaines, February 17, 1943.
“My impressions confirmed those of …” W. W. D. Sones, letter to Max Gaines, March 15, 1943.
“I am one of those odd, perhaps unfortunate …” US Army sergeant, letter to Max Gaines, September 1943.
“this is one of the things I’ve …” Max Gaines, letter to William Moulton Marston, September 14, 1943.
“Miss Roubicek hastily dashed off …” Ibid.
“I have the good Sergeant’s letter in which …” William Moulton Marston, letter to Max Gaines, September 1943.
“the fact is, it was a runaway best-seller” … Sheldon Mayer, quoted in Daniels, Wonder Woman, 61.