Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Wonder Woman Golden Age Vs Silver Age

Wouldn't it be great if the original Wonder Woman met the new and improved one?

Well, that happened in DC Comics, for a few special issues of Wonder Woman (inspired by the TV Show, Wonder Woman, DC was looking to cover adventures of Wonder Woman during World War II, so they came up with an interesting idea....)

Wonder Woman #228

With Wonder Woman #228 (February, 1977), readers were treated to a "Retreat To Tomorrow" by Martin Pasko, Jose Delbo and Vince Colletta, with the then modern Wonder Woman (1977, more or less a "Silver Age" Wonder Woman, who worked with the Justice League of America on Earth-1) facing off against an aerial attack from the Red Panzer in an experimental Nazi plane over New York, and as the two battled, they fell back through the space warp to Washington DC in 1943 (where the Red Panzer was from), and into Earth-2 (an Earth where the world was protected by the Justice Society since just before the start of World War II, and Superman, Batman and Robin had started their adventures in the 1930s, with their own Wonder Woman soon after).   The two Wonder Women met (battled briefly), with the Golden Age Wonder Woman sending the Silver Age Wonder Woman back home in the Panzer Ship, and the battle between the Golden Age Wonder Woman (and Red Panzer) continued until next issue....).

Wonder Woman #243

Wonder Woman's World War II adventures continued in her own title (as well as in World's Finest Comics #244 to #250, and a few other places, as the Silver Age Wonder Woman still adventured in the Justice League of America) until Wonder Woman #243 (May, 1978) with "The Five-Sided Square" by Jack C. Harris, Jose Delbo and Frank Chiaramonte), where the two Wonder Women met again, thanks to the Earth-1 Angle Man (escaping prison, and using his time and dimension spanning weapon, the Angler, to come back to World War II).  The two Wonder Women worked together to defeat the Angle Man, with the stories in the comic following the Earth-1 version back to her own after afterwards (because, after the first season of the Wonder Woman show on ABC, the show moved to CBS for its second and third season, and was in the then modern world of the 1970s!).

More Wonder Women Facts

During the course of these two adventures, the Earth-1 Wonder Woman made the Earth-2 Wonder Woman forget about their adventures (as Earth-2 wasn't discovered by Earth-1 until the Flash of Two Worlds in Flash #123 of September, 1961, with Barry Allen and Jay Garrick).   The two Wonder Woman didn't even look different in these team-ups, but did in their first meeting (a large meeting of the JLA and JSA to free the Seven Soldiers of Victory from traps in the past, with the Golden Age Wonder Woman spotting a classic look, and the JLA's Wonder Woman in her white pantsuit "mod" look as Diana Prince for Justice League of America #100 to #102 in 1972).

A more fulfilling Wonder Woman meeting happened in Wonder Woman #300 (February, 1983), when an older, Golden Age Wonder Woman (married to Steve Trevor, with a daughter named Hippolyta, who later became Fury), met the Silver Age Wonder Woman (who had improved her breastplate from an eagle symbol to the stylized double "W"), as Earth-1's Diana was looking to make some changes in her life.

Still interested in more Wonder Woman?


Well, there was a whole Encyclopedia based on her history out a few years ago, and you can read my interview with one of its authors, John Wells, with Part 1 here and Part 2 here!


Great Hera, there's good reading in the Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia!

2 comments:

  1. Wonderful detective work (as always), Dave!

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  2. I like to see pictures of this comic book from front cover to back

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