Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World’s Most Famous Heroine by Tim Hanley

Category: 50 Books

wonderwomanWhat a great look at comic book history. Hanley writes an in-depth (but not dry or boring) book about a comic book heroine that everyone recognizes but barely knows anything about, including myself. I had no idea that Wonder Woman was created by a male psychologist who thought women were superior, but who also had a bondage fetish. Golden lasso, anyone?

Hanley goes through the history of comics discussing Wonder Woman during the Golden Age of comics, the Silver Age, and the whatever-this-is-now age, and how during the Golden Age, Wonder Woman comics were ahead of their time. The Silver Age was a vomit-fest of bad writing and no one knowing what to do with a female super hero. Which is pretty much what’s going on today. Sure, everyone thinks there should be a Wonder Woman movie, something, anything, but no one knows exactly what to do with her.

I grew up watching Lynda Carter Wonder Woman reruns on TV and when I think back on it I remember it fondly even though the opening credits song was kind of bonkers, and the sound she made when she… jumped far… was bizarre and not unlike the sound Super Mario makes when he jumps. But the author crushed my childhood a little bit by pointing out that even that iteration of Wonder Woman was basically T and A a la Charlie’s Angels-style (although Charlie’s Angels came later.)

This was a really interesting look into a character that’s supposed to be a feminist icon, (that’s how a lot of us think of her) and yet, the book points out that the comic never really made it that far, there was no equality of the sexes.
It was an eye-opener. Cos I went in thinking, “Yay! Wonder Woman! Strong female! Girl Power!” (It should be noted that I did not grow up reading superhero comics.) And after reading this book I’m now, “Yay. Wonder Woman. My God, how could so many people screw this up?” But that’s hindsight for you. I hope someone does something great with Wonder Woman, and soon.

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