William Moulton Marston (1893–1947)

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3708841.html

I got this in 2019 because one of the stories, "Battle for Womanhood", was up for the Retro Hugo that year, which I was administering, and it won - topping the poll at nominations stage and convincingly carrying the final ballot. I voted for it too, and on reflection I'm really not sure why; these are a weird set of stories combining an attractively subversive feminism with some pretty awful racism against the Japanese. (But the Chinese, who of course are allies and victims of Japan, are all right.) I almost gave up after the first few, which were all about Wonder Woman biffing either the Germans or the Japanese, though getting tied up a lot. Then it starts getting interesting, with weird alien creatures and ancient gods getting involved, and an interesting mentoring relationship between Wonder Woman and human girl; along with the full-figured Etta Candy and her sorority, and recurrent villains Dr Psycho and the Cheetah, and Wonder Woman still gets tied up a lot. Oh, and Steve as well.

But honestly, it's not all that good. Inspiration for what came later, of course, and it's not like any comics were especially brilliant by today's standards at the time. But I am a bit surprised at my own vote, in retrospect.… (mere)

3.5

Okay so I read this on a whim and it was much better than I was expecting. It was full of action and adventure. It reminded me of the very old Archie comics I used to find in antique shops and book sales because of the way it was styled and told. Wonder Woman's adventure reminded me very much of the T.V. show with Linda Carter and it was cool to see the connection between the show, the comic, and the block-buster film. I like dhow the Amazons were a bit more tech-savvy. It was a lot more believable.… (mere)