Wonder Woman Unbound Page 27

  “the strip is full of significant sex …” Josette Frank, letter to Max Gaines, January 29, 1944.

  “normal men retain their childish longing …” Richard, “The Women Are Our Future.”

  “was writing a feminist book, but not for …” Mayer, quoted in Daniels, Wonder Woman, 33.

  “the unique appeal of the erotic actress” … William Moulton Marston, “Sex Films Great Moral Aid,” Indiana Weekly Messenger, September 26, 1929, along with several other newspapers across the country.

  Sex with Marston

  “the husband is sometimes like an orang-outang …” Havelock Ellis, The Psychology of Sex: A Manual for Students (New York: Emerson Books, 1938), 284.

  these manuals espoused sexual harmony for married couples … See Michael Gordon, “From an Unfortunate Necessity to a Cult of Mutual Orgasm: Sex in American Marital Education Literature, 1830–1940,” in Studies in the Sociology of Sex, ed. James M. Henslin (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1971), 53–80; and M. E. Melody and Linda M. Peterson, Teaching America About Sex: Marriage Guides and Sex Manuals from the Late Victorians to Dr. Ruth (New York: New York University Press, 1999).

  repressive ideas about women and sex … For critiques of early sexologists, see Margaret Jackson, “‘Facts of Life’ or the Eroticization of Women’s Oppression? Sexology and the Social Construction of Heterosexuality,” in The Cultural Construction of Sexuality, ed. Pat Caplan (London: Tavistock Publications, 1987), 52–81; Kathleen Barry, Female Sexual Slavery (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1979); Margaret Jackson, “Sexual Liberation or Social Control? Some Aspects of the Relationship Between Feminism and the Social Construction of Knowledge in the Early Twentieth Century,” in Women’s Studies International Forum 6, no. 1 (1983): 1–17; and Ruth Bleier, Science and Gender: A Critique of Biology and Its Theories on Women (New York: Pergamon Press, 1984).

  so researchers looked to the animal kingdom … Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume III: Analysis of the Sexual Impulse (New York: Random House, 1942; orig. publ. 1903), 69.

  her unconscious self had actually consented to the act … See Susan Brown-miller, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1975), 315.

  “compatible with a high degree of general …” Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume I: The Evolution of Modesty, the Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity, and Auto-Erotism (New York: Random House, 1942; orig. publ. 1900), 166.

  “however much dominant resistance the …” Marston, Emotions, 337.

  “the male becomes a constant attendant …” Ibid., 332.

  the woman should initiate all of the movements … Ibid., 335.

  “normal males get the maximum of love …” Marston to Gaines, March 20, 1943.

  “abnormal extreme” and arguing … Marston, Emotions, 385.

  “the enjoyment of other people’s actual …” Marston to Gaines, February 20, 1943.

  Venus with Us, Marston’s Ancient Roman Sex Romp

  “The title is from the Latin ‘Venus nobiscum’ …” William Moulton Marston, Venus with Us, (New York: Sears Publishing Company, 1932), inside flap, via the Book Collector’s Library, www.tbclrarebooks.com.

  “Here is the whole panorama of Roman times …” William Moulton Marston, The Private Life of Julius Caesar (Venus with Us) (New York: Universal, 1953), 1953, back cover.

  “Is it possible that you do not understand …” Ibid., 65.

  “love without pleasure is a dreary occupation …” Ibid., 66.

  “I have a notion it’s really rather good …” Ibid., 39.

  Ursula lost, and much tickling and spanking … Ibid., 266–267.

  “I love to call you Mistress …” Ibid., 135.

  “it was the girl who ruled …” Ibid., 19.

  “She made him boast himself her slave …” Ibid., 20.

  Metala kept her as a slave … Ibid., 76–82.

  “but Caesar, with a natural gift for psychology …” Ibid., 15.

  “Julius glanced about the room and laughed …” Ibid., 45.

  “the prettiest sight I have ever seen” … Ibid., 231.

  “the most marvelous spectacle …” Ibid., 242.

  “Caesar had not felt so well for twenty years …” Ibid., 236.

  William Moulton Marston, Bondage Connoisseur

  “This is the famous ‘brank’ …” Wonder Woman #6 (Fall 1943).

  In certain areas of Europe from the sixteenth … See “The Brank,” Medieval Times & Castles, www.medievality.com/brank.html.

  “As the Fabulous French Women’s Prison Falls …” Carl De Vidal Hunt, “As the Fabulous French Women’s Prison Falls After 14 Years, Comes the First Look-In on Its Million Secrets,” Miami News, June 19, 1932, and several other newspapers across the country, with further reports in the weeks that followed.

  embedding Wonder Woman in a three-inch-thick statue … Wonder Woman #8 (Spring 1944).

  freezing her in a block of ice … Wonder Woman #13 (Summer 1945).

  turning her into a being of pure color … Wonder Woman #16 (March/April 1946).

  The Interconnectedness of All Things

  call Marston a quack or a pervert … See David Hadju, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America (New York: Farar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008), 77–78; and Douglas Wolk, Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2008), 98, for dismissive treatments of Marston.

  pretend that the bondage is inconsequential … See Robbins, The Great Women Superheroes, 12–13.

  Interlude 1: Wonder Woman’s Extra Features

  The Golden Age

  “what a large part comics and comic books …” Wonder Woman #1 (Summer 1942).

  “women still have many problems and have not yet …” Alice Marble, letter to Miss Nila Frances Allen, July 23, 1942, available at http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=34&s=259&ai=53962&ssd=9/16/2006&arch=y.

  In 1944, the newly married Marble suffered … See Alice Marble and Dale Leatherman, Courting Danger: My Adventures in World-Class Tennis, Golden-Age Hollywood, and High-Stakes Spying (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991), 192–239.

  The Interregnum

  “Race to the Top of the World” … Wonder Woman #30 (July/August 1948).

  “You Name It” … Wonder Woman #31 (September/October 1948).

  the calendar … “Our Amazing Calendar,” in Wonder Woman #32 (November/December 1948).

  the Colossus of Rhodes … “The Majestic Giant,” in Wonder Woman #33 (February 1949).

  pineapples … “The Friendly Fruit,” in Wonder Woman #37 (October 1949).

  unique headdresses … “Where’d You Get That Hat?” in Wonder Woman #41 (May/June 1950).

  “can wear her hair in bangs or a chignon …” “Those Lovely Liberty Belles,” in Wonder Woman #58 (March/April 1953).

  4. A Herculean Task

  Wonder Woman comics from the Silver Age are collected in four black-and-white Showcase Presents: Wonder Woman volumes comprising Wonder Woman #98 through Wonder Woman #177. All other DC series mentioned are collected in either Showcase or Archive volumes, occasionally both, with varying degrees of completeness. Typically, the more well-known the character, the more collections there will be.

  surveys showed that 80 percent of female wartime workers … Maureen Honey, Creating Rosie the Riveter: Class, Gender, and Propaganda During World War II (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984), 24.

  Prelude to the Silver Age

  For information on Wertham, the Senate hearings, and the Comics Code Authority, see Bart Beaty’s Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture; David Hadju’s The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America; Amy Kiste Nyberg’s Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code; and pretty much every book written on the history of comics ever. Information about William Gaines came from Frank Jacobs’s The Mad World of William M. Gaines.


  He argued against Ethel Rosenberg’s solitary … Bart Beaty, Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005), 85.

  he gave testimony during the landmark … Ibid., 95.

  several articles about the dangers of comic books … See Fredric Wertham, “The Comics … Very Funny,” Saturday Review of Literature, May 29, 1948, 6–7, 27–29; Wertham, “The Curse of Comic Books: The Value Patterns and Effects of Comic Books,” Religious Education 49 (1954) : 394–406.

  “1) The comic-book format …” Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent (New York: Rinehart & Company, 1954), 118.

  “Hitler was a beginner compared to …” “Testimony of Dr. Fredric Wertham, Psychiatrist, Director, Lafargue Clinic, New York, N.Y.,” April 21, 1954, available at www.thecomicbooks.com/wertham.html.

  “My only limits are the bounds of good taste …” “Testimony of William S. Gaines, Publisher, Entertaining Comics Group, New York, N.Y.,” April 21, 1954, available at www.thecomicbooks.com/gaines.html.

  No HARM IN HORROR, COMICS ISSUE SAYS … Peter Khiss, “No Harm in Horror, Comics Issuer Says; Comics Publisher Sees No Harm in Horror, Discounts ‘Good Taste,’” New York Times, April 22, 1954.

  “in every instance shall good triumph …” 1955 Comic Code, in Amy Kiste Nyberg, Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998), 166.

  “terror” and “horror” … Ibid., 167.

  The Dawn of the Silver Age

  For information concerning the Silver Age, see 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 again, any book on this period will cover similar ground.

  Hal Jordan, who appeared as the new Green Lantern … First appeared in Showcase #22 (October 1959), created by John Broome and Gil Kane.

  The new Hawkman, Katar Hol … First appeared in The Brave and the Bold #34 (February/March 1961), created by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert.

  Ray Palmer, was a physicist … First appeared in Showcase #34 (September/October 1961), created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane.

  Martian Manhunter … First appeared in Detective Comics #225 (November 1955), created by Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa.

  Supergirl … First appeared in Action Comics #252 (May 1959), created by Otto Binder and Curt Swan.

  Fantastic Four gained superpowers … First appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

  Peter Parker became Spider-Man … First appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

  Bruce Banner into the raging Hulk … First appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

  Kathy Kane became Batwoman … First appeared in Detective Comics #233 (July 1956), created by Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff.

  Betty Kane joined her as Bat-Girl … First appeared in Batman #139 (April 1961), created by Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff.

  turned into an alien … Batman #140 (June 1961).

  sent back to ancient Babylon … Batman #102 (September 1956).

  battling gods, dragons … Batman #153 (May 1963).

  Robert Kanigher Revises Wonder Woman

  baby Diana was visited by four … Wonder Woman #105 (April 1959).

  “Woe is us … we are alone …” Ibid.

  “man’s world to battle crime and injustice …” Wonder Woman #98 (May 1958).

  she could manipulate updrafts … Ibid.

  There were men in a few Amazon myths … Of the ancient sources, only Herodotus, Hippocrates, Xenophon, and Diodorus Siculus mention the Amazons living with men, and only Herodotus has them doing so without maiming and mangling the male children.

  Apollodorus’s ancient account … Apollodorus, The Library, vol. 1, trans. Sir James George Frazier (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967), 203.

  a few screwball romance stories with Hippolyta … See Wonder Woman #130 (May 1962) and Wonder Woman #132 (August 1962).

  “Kanigher’s plots hurtled from event to event …” Will Jacobs and Gerard Jones, The Comic Book Heroes: The First History of Modern Comic Books—from the Silver Age to the Present (Rocklin, CA: Prima, 1997), 56.

  “I’m an instinctual writer …” Robin Snyder, “The Golden Age Gladiator: Robert Kanigher,” in Comics Journal 85 (October 1983): 64.

  “Impossible! She never had a father” … Ibid.: 62.

  “strong influence” on how Wonder Woman … Ibid.: 65.

  Kanigher’s new story appeared for Wonder Woman … Secret Origins #1 (Summer 1961).

  5. Focus on the Family, or Superman Is a Jackass

  “would create a feeling of warmth …” Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (New York: Basic Books, 1988), 23.

  “the treatment of love-romance stories …” 1955 Comic Code, in Nyberg, Seal of Approval, 168.

  Wonder Woman

  a clam was a gateway to travel through time … Wonder Woman #131 (July 1962).

  battled a cannibal clam … Wonder Woman #107 (July 1959).

  giants from different dimensions … Wonder Woman #100 (August 1958).

  planets … Wonder Woman #102 (November 1958) and Wonder Woman #120 (February 1961).

  time periods … Wonder Woman #109 (October 1959).

  pterodactyls … Wonder Woman #101 (October 1958).

  rocs … Wonder Woman #113 (April 1960).

  dimorphodons … Wonder Woman #121 (April 1961).

  a space eagle … Wonder Woman #105 (April 1959).

  Steve gave Wonder Woman perfume … Wonder Woman #102 (November 1958).

  “I’d love to, Steve! You know I like …” Wonder Woman #137 (April 1963).

  “I can’t marry you—until my services …” Wonder Woman #99 (July 1958).

  “How can I become your wife 100% …” Wonder Woman #137 (April 1963).

  “It would be unfair to marry you …” Wonder Woman #133 (October 1962).

  seashell fraternity pin … Wonder Woman #115 (July 1960).

  sea dances … Wonder Woman #111 (January 1960).

  “I’ve had enough! And to think …” Wonder Woman #116 (August 1960).

  out of a group of Wonder Woman robots … Wonder Woman #103 (January 1959).

  Wonder Woman disguised herself as a movie star … Wonder Woman #133 (October 1962).

  she called him two-faced … Wonder Woman #126 (November 1961).

  “The nerve of Steve! Always praising …” Wonder Woman #130 (May 1962).

  “Angel—if you really cared for me …” Wonder Woman #122 (May 1961).

  “I don’t care whether you think it’s fair …” Wonder Woman #127 (January 1962).

  “I’m getting sick and tired …” Wonder Woman #133 (October 1962).

  “I’m tired of waiting around for you …” Ibid.

  “If you really loved me …” Wonder Woman #137 (April 1963).

  if Steve picked Wonder Woman out … Wonder Woman #99 (July 1958).

  if Wonder Woman had to save Steve … Wonder Woman #101 (October 1958).

  Steve tried to show her that he was braver … Wonder Woman #118 (November 1960).

  “Now you’re trying to make a fool …” Wonder Woman #132 (August 1962).

  Lois Lane

  “It seems you owe your career to Superman …” Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #17 (May 1960).

  “AMBITION: To become Mrs. Superman” … For example, in Wonder Woman #98 (May 1958).

  took a leave of absence … Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #1 (March/April 1958).

  wore a new, exotic outfit every day … Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #5 (November/December 1958).

  an experimental youth ray … Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #10 (July 1959).

  “the fattest girl in Metropolis” … Superman
’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #5 (November/December 1958).

  encasing her entire head in a lead box … Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #13 (November 1959).

  a local hero named Samson … Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #19 (August 1960).

  then with Robin Hood … Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #22 (January 1961).

  an alien named Astounding Man … Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #18 (July 1960).

  “Whatever got into Clark …” Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #3 (July/August 1958).

  “I’ll have to teach her lesson for using …” Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #1 (March/April 1958).

  pretended that Lois had developed Kryptonite … Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #16 (April 1960).

  “Now she’s stuck in a revolving door …” Ibid.

  Supergirl

  “No, Supergirl! I have many cunning …” Action Comics #258 (November 1959).

  “I won’t get any headlines …” Action Comics #253 (June 1959).

  used her heat vision to burn a roast … Action Comics #254 (July 1959).

  helping Timmy Tate … Action Comics #253 (June 1959).

  proving that Paul was not lying … Action Comics #266 (July 1960).

  help Frank Cullen shoot several … Action Comics #270 (November 1960).

  Nancy could iron her dress … Adventure Comics #278 (November 1960).

  to help Eddie Moran rescue… Action Comics #274 (March 1961).

  Tommy Tomorrow find parents … Action Comics #255 (August 1959).

  found a home for a Bizarro baby … Superman #140 (October 1960).

  “Jeepers! If … if cousin Superman …” Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #14 (January 1960).

  “H-how long will I have to wait …” Adventure Comics #278 (November 1960).