Greatest Silver Age Stories!

[Pinsir]

Among the Wonder Woman community the Silver Age is often conceived of as being a ‘Dark Age,’ a period where the character increasingly drifted away from her Golden Age roots into a rather dull and placid comic book whose adventures increasingly relied on a handful of recycled tropes. I contend however, that yes, though the majority of these stories are bad, we must celebrate those that rise above muck. Here are my top eight Silver Age stories selected primarily because they were the ones that stuck in my mind the most.

The following are the eight stories I think are the cut above the rest and I was wondering if anyone else had a list similar to mine. I chose only 8 because these are the stories that resonated with me the most, though I'm open to further suggestions

1. “A Wondergirl Story” (Wonder Woman v1 #105) – This story marks the introduction of Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman as a strangely obedient and responsible teenager! This issue is an origin story to Wonder Woman and the Amazons and a strange one too. Wonder Woman has a father named Theno and is birthed before ever arriving on Paradise Island. When endemic warfare strikes every male of the tribe down, including Theno, the Amazons relocate and Diana is gifted the strength of the Olympian pantheon to ensure their migration is successful.
2. “Wonder Woman: Amazon Teenager” (Wonder Woman v1 #107) –Peering into the future and witnessing her future self, Wonder Girl becomes anxious of her forthcoming duties and desires to procure the costume for her future vocation, a lofty goal that requires her to travel off the island and into the jaws of danger.
3. “The Impossible Day” (Wonder Woman v1 #124) – As the Wonder Girl character grew in popularity, Kanigher came upon a conundrum with his Wonder Woman family; Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman could not battle crime side by side because they were the same person! In the world of Silver Age comics however, this hurdle is easily overcome and this story features both Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot appearing in a full-length issue as they square off against the Nuclear Man.
4. “Wonder Tot and Mister Genie” (Wonder Woman v1 #126) – The preamble to this issue is one familiar to any parent or sitter, Hippolyta spots her daughter in procession of an unfamiliar object (a golden apple, in this case) and her daughter regales her mother how she came to own it. This is Silver Age wackiness at its finest folks.
5. “Wonder Woman’s Surprise Honeymoon” (Wonder Woman v1 #127) – After year’s of badgering, Steve Trevor apparently convinces Wonder Woman to marry him and hilarity ensues.
6. “The Olympics of the Doomed” (Wonder Woman v1 #148) – What makes this story exceptional is the characterization of the Duke of Deception, how even a master of duplicity risks fooling himself. The first two thirds are the most interesting of the work as the Duke successfully unwinds Wonder Woman’s sanity and the final act ends in a series of athletic competitions in which the heroine must prevail three impossible feats to win the day. A common Silver Age trope Kanigher often employed, though none of those other tales are quiet as good as this.
7. “The Phantom Fisher-Bird” (Wonder Woman v1 #150) – While reading the whole of Kanigher’s Wonder Woman, I was able to gleam certain themes that repeat themselves. This story is something of a pastiche of Kanigher’s work, even the image of an avian foe (The Phantom Fisher-Bird) carrying a fishing net has a precedent in his work. This is another ‘impossible tale’ and in my opinion the best one as the Wonder clan contends with the Phantom Fisher-Bird in his quest to catch the perfect trophy.
8. “The Crimson Centipede” (Wonder Woman v1 #169) – Perhaps the greatest mistake Kanigher’s run wrought was the degradation of Wonder Woman’s rogues gallery. Iconic villains such as the Cheetah were limited to one sole appearance during the Silver Age and many others such as Giganta would not appear in a Wonder Woman title the Post-Crisis era. Towards the end of his tenure Kanigher sought to invigorate the title by introducing actual super villains! Though most of them fell flat, the Crimson Centipede is the first villain to triumph against the Amazing Amazon by force alone, where as traditionally foes could only contend against her through trickery.

Auxiliary question: When did the Silver Age begin for Wonder Woman?

[Pinsir]

Other good Silver Age reads

“Return of the Phantom Empire” (Wonder Woman v1 #49), “Wonder Girl Meets Wonder Woman” (Wonder Woman v1 #117), “The Island Eater” (Wonder Woman v1 #121), “Vengeance of the Angle Man” (Wonder Woman v1 #128), “Return of the Nuclear Villain – Multiple Man!” (Wonder Woman v1 #129), “The Proving of Wonder Woman” (Wonder Woman v1 #131), “The Human Lightning” (Wonder Woman v1 #140), “The Academy of Arch-Villains” (Wonder Woman v1 #141), “The Tree Terrors of Forbidden Island” (Wonder Woman v1 #143), “Revolt of Wonder Woman” & “Mer-Boy vs Fish-Boy” (Wonder Woman v1 #144), “The Phantom Sea Beast” (Wonder Woman v1 #145), “Bird-Girl - - Fish-Girl” (Wonder Woman v1 #147), “The Last Day of the Amazons” (Wonder Woman v1 #149), “Wondergirl’s Decision of Doom” & “Wondergirl’s Mysterious Father” (Wonder Woman v1 #152),“I, the Bomb” & “The End or the Beginning” (Wonder Woman v1 157-158), “The Amazon of Terror” & “Dr. Psycho’s Revenge” (Wonder Woman v1 160)