Small Sundays: Wonder Woman

Note: While it might be true that Princess Diana has seen better days, you might recognize this figure as a companion piece to Hook-hand Aquaman.

That’s Ms. Wonder Woman to you, pal

I’m probably coming to this late (in fact, I know I am), but I just saw this in a bookstore the other day and thought it was pretty neat.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Ms. magazine went back to the Wonder Woman cover of its first full issue for inspiration and came up with a call-back provided by Mike Allred. It is, as usual, beautiful work by Allred, but the folks at ThinkProgress have an interesting take on it and also provide some insight into the original. Context — who knew? (The comments are worth taking a look at, too — they’re a good reminder of how comics can look to people who aren’t immersed in them all the time.)

It’s also worth noting that one of the most well-known images of Wonder Woman isn’t even from a comic book, which just goes to show the power this iconic character really has; it’d be nice if the guys at DC could remember that more often.

By the way, these two issues aren’t the only time Diana has been featured on the cover of Ms. — here is the original cover, along with a couple of more appearances she’s made over the years:

Wonder Woman’s first appearance on the first full issue of Ms. (July 1972)

Diana returned for the July/August issue in 1997 (courtesy of George Perez, maybe?).

Until this year, Wonder Woman last graced Ms. magazine in 2007. (Mosaics are Greek, right?)