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Wonder Woman Archives #3
Wonder Woman Archives, Vol. 3
Since her monumental debut in the 1940s as one of the first female heroes of all time, Wonder Woman has evolved into a cultural icon. WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 3 reprints the Amazon princess's greatest adventures as she fights villainous menaces and aids the World War II cause. Featuring the first appearance of her arch nemesis the Cheetah, this action-packed book contains amazing tales of heroism as Wonder Woman discovers an ancient hidden Inca kingdom, travels to the moon to free imprisoned nymphs, journeys to the future and witnesses the first female president, proves the innocence of a WAAC officer accused of murder, thwarts a Japanese plot to disable American military planes, and battles the god of war and his deadly minions.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
2 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
William Moulton Marston
134 books51 followersDr. William Moulton Marston (May 9, 1893 – May 2, 1947), also known by the pen names Charles Moulton and William Marston, was an American psychologist, feminist theorist, inventor, and comic book writer who created the character Wonder Woman. Two women, his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Olive Byrne (who lived with the couple in a polyamorous relationship), served as exemplars for the character and greatly influenced her creation.
He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.
He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 9, 2012
More of the same, but I thought I'd take a moment to talk about Etta Candy. Etta is, in many ways, a joke character. She's overweight, and never without her candy. But she's also loyal, fearless, a good hand in a fight, and apparently quite popular with men. Joke character aside, she's actually pretty cool.
November 14, 2018
All of the DC Archives series are nicely produced and printed, offering quality reprints of material you would have a difficult time finding even if you had the necessary tens of thousands of dollars ou would need to buy them. This volume stands out for a few reasons. It has the origin of the Cheetah, an arch rival villain of Wonder Woman, and a truly classic "bad girl" that still appears today. The volume also has the classic "Wonder Woman for President", issue #7, in which Wonder Woman watches the future when women rule the world. A woman is president, but Diana Prince, Wonder Woman's alter ego. is still a secretary. However women rulers have improved the world with technology which makes her job less grueling work. Twists and ironies are on every page. The president puffs away on her cigarette in a holder. Her military aide is the old boyfriend, Steve Trevor. His future costume when he is aiding or not aiding the president is the cutest little boy toy outfit imaginable. When he relaxes with Diana, he too puffs away - shocking stuff. This series collects both the Wonder Woman comics and all of her single stories in Sensation Comics, so we get all of her stories from 1943 in chronological sequence. As much as I enjoyed this time capsule, I could not read the entire volume at one time. I returned to it over about a year, reading the stories when in the mood.
July 10, 2017
Quite a lot of Cheetah in this volume. Several of the stories are overtly preachy, like the one about bullies. It is, however, quite interesting to note that we're still dealing with the same problems. I also thought the projected costumes for 3000AD were, um, interesting, with Steve in tight shorts, a singlet, and occasionally a cape. Somebody clearly thought that the readers liked to look at legs of both genders.
Read this again after seeing the movie. Dr. Poison actually turns up in one of the stories (Sensation Comics #24, December 1943). She is Japanese instead of German, but she is still an accomplished chemist making various kinds of gas.
Read this again after seeing the movie. Dr. Poison actually turns up in one of the stories (Sensation Comics #24, December 1943). She is Japanese instead of German, but she is still an accomplished chemist making various kinds of gas.
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August 22, 2008Gorgeous and INSANE, William Moulton Marston's Wonder Woman is in full form by this book. Yes, there is exactly as much bondage as they tell you! What they don't warn you about is just how *fantastical* it all is; Wonder Woman and her friends travel to the moon on Space Kangas in one episode. Also, Etta Candy is quite possibly one of the best and most formidable characters--certainly one of the best fat female characters--in the history of comics.
November 13, 2020
This is the volume where the series gets full steam and gives us some classic iconic Wonder Woman. Enjoyed it!
June 25, 2015
This third collection of hardback Wonder Woman stories collects Sensation Comics #18-#24 and Wonder Woman #5-#7.
The Sensation Comics stories are pretty much unremarkable par for the course Wartime Wonder Woman stories. The one exception to that is Wonder Woman #19 in which Wonder Woman's bracelets are cut by a villain and they learn that's a big mistake as she goes hog wild. The obvious lesson would seem to be that without moral restraint we'll end up hurting others, but those who interpret Wonder Woman stories probably can find the darker meaning.
The full length Wonder Woman issues really impress and be far ahead of its time in terms of stories and having them interlinked. Issue 5 introduces Doctor Psycho in its lead story and resurrects him in the final tale and in between we have more shenanigans by Mars and their attempts to control the Earth. Issue 6 introduces the Golden Age version of Wonder Woman foe, the Cheetah. Issue 7 shows them more than a Decade and a half ahead of the trend of Silver Age silliness. Amazons have the ability to see the future and they see that Etta Candy accidentally discovers a formula that gives everyone on Earth endless life with no aging, thus allowing Wonder Woman to live a thousand years into the future to see a world in which secretaries dress like they're going to the beach and men either dress as gauchos or sleave shirts, bikini shorts, and capes. It's the most insane story Moulton's written yet. Wonder Woman maintains a double identity as Diana Prince for a thousand years even after she's elected to the Presidency and keep in mind-she has no reason to maintain the identity other than to allow her to serve in Intelligence. After about 900 years, she could have told them the truth.
The story does have, as usual, doses of the author's kinks and ideology. The tale of the future has a strong bent of how women make the best leaders which may tie into the some very adult ideas, but for most girls reading this in the 1940s was probably just viewed as a rare piece of programming counter to culture. As always, parental discretion advised, but Wonder Woman continued to be a very well-written book.
The Sensation Comics stories are pretty much unremarkable par for the course Wartime Wonder Woman stories. The one exception to that is Wonder Woman #19 in which Wonder Woman's bracelets are cut by a villain and they learn that's a big mistake as she goes hog wild. The obvious lesson would seem to be that without moral restraint we'll end up hurting others, but those who interpret Wonder Woman stories probably can find the darker meaning.
The full length Wonder Woman issues really impress and be far ahead of its time in terms of stories and having them interlinked. Issue 5 introduces Doctor Psycho in its lead story and resurrects him in the final tale and in between we have more shenanigans by Mars and their attempts to control the Earth. Issue 6 introduces the Golden Age version of Wonder Woman foe, the Cheetah. Issue 7 shows them more than a Decade and a half ahead of the trend of Silver Age silliness. Amazons have the ability to see the future and they see that Etta Candy accidentally discovers a formula that gives everyone on Earth endless life with no aging, thus allowing Wonder Woman to live a thousand years into the future to see a world in which secretaries dress like they're going to the beach and men either dress as gauchos or sleave shirts, bikini shorts, and capes. It's the most insane story Moulton's written yet. Wonder Woman maintains a double identity as Diana Prince for a thousand years even after she's elected to the Presidency and keep in mind-she has no reason to maintain the identity other than to allow her to serve in Intelligence. After about 900 years, she could have told them the truth.
The story does have, as usual, doses of the author's kinks and ideology. The tale of the future has a strong bent of how women make the best leaders which may tie into the some very adult ideas, but for most girls reading this in the 1940s was probably just viewed as a rare piece of programming counter to culture. As always, parental discretion advised, but Wonder Woman continued to be a very well-written book.
August 9, 2013
Coming from the 1950s and 60s kitchy Superman/Jimmy Olson/Lois Lane stories, I was expecting more ridiculousness that bordered on idiocy, but there was a lot of stuff to enjoy.
All the stories in this book were from 1943, apparently the height of anti-Japanese sentiment during WWII, so there are lots of Japanese slurs, and all the Japanese characters are caricatures who draw out their Ss like snakes.
Like Superman and Clark Kent, Wonder Woman has a civilian alter ego who works with the superhero's closest companions, and who has to make some quick and careful switches to preserve her secret identify. Unlike Clark Kent, though, Diana Prince is often seen as part of the action/investigation, albeit in a behind-the-scenes way. Diana is also in the army? As a nurse-secretary? Or something similar--"Lieutenant Prince." While she seems to act mostly as a secretary, it's still very interesting, not to mention nice, to see a woman, well, not Lois Lane-ified.
A secondary character, along of the lines of Superman's Jimmy Olson, is Etta Candy. Only unlike Jimmy, Etta is actually useful and has a brain. And while she's sometimes played for laughs, I was pretty shocked--Etta is short, fat, and seems to eat nothing but sugar, but is a trusted friend, is often enlisted (or volunteers) to put herself in danger to catch a bad guy/foil a plot, and is a self-confident, awesome character. Heck, in some of the "In The Future" stories, she's a professor, possibly of something science-y.
(Comics, what happened?)
The stories themselves were fun, because, although sometimes basic, they at least have action and enemies who actually kill people ad intend to hurt rather than the same guys who hold up Superman with handguns and never get anything done ever. single. time.
(If I'm referencing Superman too much, it's because his stories are so very prevalent when finding older major-superhero stories. Also, I haven't read anyone else.)
All the stories in this book were from 1943, apparently the height of anti-Japanese sentiment during WWII, so there are lots of Japanese slurs, and all the Japanese characters are caricatures who draw out their Ss like snakes.
Like Superman and Clark Kent, Wonder Woman has a civilian alter ego who works with the superhero's closest companions, and who has to make some quick and careful switches to preserve her secret identify. Unlike Clark Kent, though, Diana Prince is often seen as part of the action/investigation, albeit in a behind-the-scenes way. Diana is also in the army? As a nurse-secretary? Or something similar--"Lieutenant Prince." While she seems to act mostly as a secretary, it's still very interesting, not to mention nice, to see a woman, well, not Lois Lane-ified.
A secondary character, along of the lines of Superman's Jimmy Olson, is Etta Candy. Only unlike Jimmy, Etta is actually useful and has a brain. And while she's sometimes played for laughs, I was pretty shocked--Etta is short, fat, and seems to eat nothing but sugar, but is a trusted friend, is often enlisted (or volunteers) to put herself in danger to catch a bad guy/foil a plot, and is a self-confident, awesome character. Heck, in some of the "In The Future" stories, she's a professor, possibly of something science-y.
(Comics, what happened?)
The stories themselves were fun, because, although sometimes basic, they at least have action and enemies who actually kill people ad intend to hurt rather than the same guys who hold up Superman with handguns and never get anything done ever. single. time.
(If I'm referencing Superman too much, it's because his stories are so very prevalent when finding older major-superhero stories. Also, I haven't read anyone else.)
June 7, 2024
After three volumes of this series of the DC Archives, I am no longer shocked to see Wonder Woman tied up in various positions. The dominance and submission, both on the parts of the Amazons and the villains, is so commonplace in this title that I scarcely bat an eye at it any more. People tied up, chained, electrocuted, humiliated...all are an everyday occurrence in Wonder Woman's world.
Wonder Woman's first true super villain, the Cheetah, is introduced in this volume, and of course she has female slaves, who dress as zebras. The writing by Dr. William Moulton Marston and artwork by H.G. Peter are excellent as usual. There is a different artist on a few stories, Frank Godwin. His take on Wonder Woman is less cartoony than Peter's, and is quite good. I still prefer Peter on the title, but will have to learn to live with other artists as these Archives progress.
Wonder Woman's first true super villain, the Cheetah, is introduced in this volume, and of course she has female slaves, who dress as zebras. The writing by Dr. William Moulton Marston and artwork by H.G. Peter are excellent as usual. There is a different artist on a few stories, Frank Godwin. His take on Wonder Woman is less cartoony than Peter's, and is quite good. I still prefer Peter on the title, but will have to learn to live with other artists as these Archives progress.
June 10, 2013
having grown (groan?) up w/the 1960s/70s wonder woman comics i didn't expect to like this, instead, the writing and art are both excellent. enjoyed it as much as the george perez version - maybe more.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews