Underrated/Lesser Known Wonder Woman comics that you love?

[Jim Kelly]

I love the story of Fir Balsam, a Christmas story that appeared in SENSATION COMICS 14 (February 1943), on sale December 4th '42--but I first read it in the tabloid-sized LIMITED COLLECTORS' EDITION C-43 [Christmas with the Super-Heroes] (February-March 1976) that came out in November of '75.



I love Wonder Tot stories, like "Wonder Tot and Mister Genie" in WONDER WOMAN 126 (November 1961)



And I love "THEM!" from WONDER WOMAN 185 (November-December 1961)--even though it's psychologically disturbing, along the lines of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE or JOKER.

[Nyssane]

What is the consensus on Byrne? I generally dislike anything by him aside from his original X-Men run, and I know he has the time traveling Hippolyta and Dark Angel stuff which I loathe based on reputation. But the modern "Wonder Family" (Diana, Hippolyta, Donna, Cassie and Artemis) seems to be cemented there so I kind of want to read that.

Byrne's my least favorite of the Volume 2 writers, but he had at least some interesting elements. But he committed the cardinal sin of WW writers: ditching an old cast and replacing them with copycats. There was no point in introducing Cassie and her mom when Vanessa and Julia were still floating around. And why introduce the Mike Schorr when Ed Indelicato fills that role? It was just a mess.

Loebs' run is definitely underrated, particularly the stuff before Artemis is introduced. I despise the porny art but there were a lot of fun, bizarre stories like the outer space girl gang which I'm still wrapping my brain around years later. And as meh as White Magician is, I much prefer him to later one-hit Wonder foes.

As for my favorite lesser-known stories, I'm gaga for Queen Sharkeeta's appearance in Comic Cavalcade #21:



I'm praying to the DC Gods that Steve Orlando finds a way to bring the gal into the modern age.

[witchboy]

Byrne's my least favorite of the Volume 2 writers, but he had at least some interesting elements. But he committed the cardinal sin of WW writers: ditching an old cast and replacing them with copycats. There was no point in introducing Cassie and her mom when Vanessa and Julia were still floating around. And why introduce the Mike Schorr when Ed Indelicato fills that role? It was just a mess.

Loebs' run is definitely underrated, particularly the stuff before Artemis is introduced. I despise the porny art but there were a lot of fun, bizarre stories like the outer space girl gang which I'm still wrapping my brain around years later. And as meh as White Magician is, I much prefer him to later one-hit Wonder foes.

As for my favorite lesser-known stories, I'm gaga for Queen Sharkeeta's appearance in Comic Cavalcade #21:



I'm praying to the DC Gods that Steve Orlando finds a way to bring the gal into the modern age.

ITA about replacing Vanessa and Julia with Cassie and her mom, I thought the same thing when it happened. I did like the brief used mother and daughter that he introduced in the Amalgam Amazon comic - I don't remember their names but the daughter was psychic and adult and Ororo, and later Hippolyta, lived in their boarding house.
I think Byrne did have some interesting ideas. Hippolyta as the Golden Age WW gave us a WW in WW2 and in the JSA, and was good development for Hippolyta, and because of the time travel wonkiness, she was still inspired by Diana.
I've preordered a WW trade coming out with Loeb's run. As you say, the porny art turned me off the title so there's a lot of it I didn't read.

[witchboy]

Phil Jimenez's run was right up there with Perez, I wish it had lasted longer.

[Jim Kelly]

The replacement of copycats is one of those things that in principle I agree was wrong. But you can't look at comic books with some sort of mathematical analysis--the execution for me was better than the Perez period. I loved the Perez art and there were some intriguing ideas in the Perez books, but the execution was boring. It was very didactic and brainy, but it didn't have goofy, bombastic comic book action and ridiculousness. And Julia and Vanessa were the worst of that--they were so overly earnest and wordy and downbeat.

I liken Byrne to Kanigher. If you do a one to one comparison--Perez is Marston/Peter, Loeb is Kanigher part 1, Byrne is Kanigher part 2. The other thing I liked about Byrne is all the extra characters. People hate that--they want a comic that is 100% Diana on every page, but that's the problem with WW. I like comics that have a wide world of characters and lots of subplots, because then you don't get over-saturated with the main character--you can go off on these side stories and then return refreshed to the main character. So I liked all the stuff with Polly (but not the nickname), Donna, Cassie, Jason Blood, the JSA.

I liked that Byrne solved some of the problems I had with the WW reboot. He reconstituted the Greco-Roman pantheon as one entity not two (which was always a ridiculous notion) and he gave the JSA back their Wonder Woman. Yeah, sure, I would have rather it had just been Diana in the JSA in WW II, but given that John Byrne's hands were tied, he came up with the best solution he could find to fit the continuity he had to serve. And I really like seeing John Byrne draw the Justice Society.

This helped out the JSA book in its early run. But Phil Jimenez must have hated this concept, because he totally rewrote Hippolyta as a selfish glory hound and then sent her to her death. Given that I really liked the Hippolyta I had been reading in JSA and wanted that to continue, I was depressed that PJ couldn't just let those creators have that character--if he wasn't going to use her himself.

[SiegePerilous02]

As for my favorite lesser-known stories, I'm gaga for Queen Sharkeeta's appearance in Comic Cavalcade #21:



I'm praying to the DC Gods that Steve Orlando finds a way to bring the gal into the modern age.

Sharkeeta is a weird little delight. I'd love to see her brought back.

Phil Jimenez's run was right up there with Perez, I wish it had lasted longer.

Jimenez is definitely one of my favorites of the post-Crisis period. Rucka is #1, but I have a hard time choosing between Jimenez and Perez for #2. Sometimes I lean towards Phil, because he set out to bring back some pre-Crisis ideas. His new Themyscira is stunning and what the Amazons should have had from day 1, and Villainy Inc was fun even if it is mired in the time traveling Hippolyta stuff. I'd rather Diana be either active in the Golden Age or have Villainy Inc be a new set of villains she is only now encountering. This is also the only time I really like Donna post-COIE, but I still have to ignore all the over complicated shenanigans going on with her. Thankfully he doesn't reference them too much.

[Jim Kelly]

Although I had bought a few WONDER WOMAN comics before, I didn't really become a faithful fan until I bought the Ms book in 1973--



--and then the comics by Bob Kanigher, Ric Estrada and Vince Colletta--which had stories that Kanigher rehashed from the original late '40s and early '50s versions, like in WONDER WOMAN 210 (February-March 1974).



I was so pleased with these comics that I didn't want it to end. But soon after that the 12 trials comics started--which were good, but I was wondering exactly where Diana would end up by the time it was all over (and it took two years for that to play out). Those comics were all like a trial for which creative team would end up on Wonder Woman by the end.

It turned out to be Martin Pasko and Jose Delbo, with Vince Colletta. I didn't like Colletta, but I loved Pasko and Delbo. Very quickly in the post-trial issues they did one of the best Wonder Woman stories of all time, the two-part story about Hephaestus and his golden hand maiden: "A Life in Flames"/"My World...in Ashes," WONDER WOMAN 226 - 227, from 1976. At the centre of this story is an ill-fated star named Julie Gabriel who is essentially Judy Garland. A very moving story. I wish the golden hand maiden character had become a permanent part of Wonder Woman's supporting cast.

[Riv86672]

Any books that featured Angle Man were always a favorite...:



He had a neat look, a powerful weapon, and could have been WW’s Captain Cold.
I wish George Pérez had revamped him during his 80s run.
I know he’s been redone as “Angelo Bend”, but I wasn’t a fan.