Wonder Woman

Oh, Wonder Woman -- how you've changed! This super-hero daughter of the Amazon queen came into being in the Forties -- wearing first a flirty star-spangled skirt and later, rather dorky starry shorts. (She got her start fighting the Axis powers during World War II, therefore the patriotic garb.)

This is the Wonder Woman of the early Fifties -- the one I remember. With her golden Lasso of Truth, her tiara that doubled as a boomerang, her pair of bracelets with which she could deflect bullets, and her wonderful invisible airplane, she was a force to be reckoned with, a pre-women's lib, liberated woman, to be sure. (She'll break free of that rope, you can be bet on it!)

Research shows me that in the Fifties,  Wonder Woman was accused of promoting a lesbian agenda  ...

Hmm ... I guess I wasn't paying attention back then. I was fond of WW (or Diana Prince as she was known when not in her spangled shorts) but really, we were just friends. Besides, she had a boyfriend. Steve Trevor showed up fairly often -- usually in some sort of trouble so that she could rescue him.


I liked that.

In the mid-fifties I abandoned comic books for paperback science-fiction. And by the time there was a Wonder Woman TV show, I'd pretty much lost interest in the strong-willed Amazon princess  -- but in surfing the Internet to find out what WW's been up to, I see she's still  fighting crime ... and  in spite of her age (two years older than I) looking more fabulous than ever!

Wish I knew her secret.

UPDATE: My older son just sent me this LINK  to more images of WW by this illustrator, Brian Bolland. Oh. My. Goodness.