What were the positive aspects of Robert Kanigher's stories?

[Alpha]

This is a particular period I never dealt much into simply because it seems to be the least promising. I've read a few stories and clearly the plots had all the fantasy logic of the silver age, which has a certain charm, but it also abandoned and deformed really important things, in particular the Holliday Girls. From those of you that have read a lot of stories by Robert Kanigher, what are the positive elements you find in this period?

[I'm a Fish]

I've only read a very small handful, (like 5?). They were alright.

[AmiMizuno]

I mean he was the writer for Wonder Woman for the longest time. I think he introduced us to Nubia. So that was good.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Having suffered the unfortunate fate of reading the entirity of Kanighers tenure on Wonder Woman, I can certainly say it is one of Wonder Womans lowest points. Repeats of the same story over and over. Half arsed writing by a creative who openly boasted about not caring about the book he was both writing and editing. The fact that Kanigher was also the editor is the only reason why his stories were not thrown in the garbage bin where they belonged.

That said, he did write the occasional enjoyable gem. With twenty years of being on the book there was bound to be some of those.

In particular....
I will say his Wonder Tot stories were consistently good. He would use Wonder Woman as more of a romance comic with silver age elements. But his Wonder Tot was pure innocent fun. The tiny superhero teaming up with a genie and going on grandiose adventures~

There were some good Wonder Girl stories too. If you look at Wonder Girl as an entirely separate character from Diana then her characterization, stories revolving around her romances, and concerns about her appearance above all else make for an interesting character.

The concepts if certainly not the execution for his revolving door of love interests consisting of; Birdboy, Merboy, the Glob, Ameoba Man and various supervillains of all shapes and sizes offered a little distraction and had some okay aspects to them.

What else.....
Oh~ I liked his original take on Angle Man. The boss of all crime who 'Knows all the angles' and the whole concept of him having a collection of different criminal specialists to handle different criminal dealings at his whim. From evil scientists to outfit gangs with thematic weaponry to hitmen trained to kill in secret or annihilate ones reputation. The more recent takes on Angle Man have been interesting. But they never really left the impression that they were near as brilliant or commanding.

Nubia was alright as a character. But this same story had Kanigher retcon the previous run in the most obnoxious manner possible. Not to mention his take on Nubia and the men who served her left alot to be desired compared to what we have seen in the past year. He might be credited for the concept. But it would be other better writers that made her great.

[rayray]

In particular....
I will say his Wonder Tot stories were consistently good. He would use Wonder Woman as more of a romance comic with silver age elements. But his Wonder Tot was pure innocent fun. The tiny superhero teaming up with a genie and going on grandiose adventures~

There were some good Wonder Girl stories too. If you look at Wonder Girl as an entirely separate character from Diana then her characterization, stories revolving around her romances, and concerns about her appearance above all else make for an interesting character.
...
Nubia was alright as a character. But this same story had Kanigher retcon the previous run in the most obnoxious manner possible. Not to mention his take on Nubia and the men who served her left alot to be desired compared to what we have seen in the past year. He might be credited for the concept. But it would be other better writers that made her great.

The one legacy of Kanigher's that I think is tremendously positive is the kid-friendly appeal/charm of a superhero with a loving super-family that has adventures together (eg the Impossible Tales, where Queen Hippolyte, Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot teamed up, sometimes with a "this is impossible" story conceit and many times not bothering to explain how they could be in the same story at all.) When you consider the Wonder Family stories simply as stories where a Queen Mum and her three daughters have related adventures, that is a terrific concept for a kid's superhero story IMO. These were my favourite non-Marston WW reprints to read growing up; much more interesting than the "giant monster! Steve wants to marry me! My identity must remain a secret!" stories that Kanigher never stopped telling -- usually all three in the same story. Wonder family vs giant monsters = fine with me. And, of course, the concept of Nubia, as opposed to his actual writing of the character.

[bat39]

Anyone else feel that WW'84 was a throwback to this era of Wonder Woman? It certainly was a ''throwback'' film in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to the Reeves Superman movies and the Lynda Carter show, but I feel there was an element of the Silver Age light-heartedness and simplistic bonkers plots from the comics as well.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

The one legacy of Kanigher's that I think is tremendously positive is the kid-friendly appeal/charm of a superhero with a loving super-family that has adventures together (eg the Impossible Tales, where Queen Hippolyte, Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot teamed up, sometimes with a "this is impossible" story conceit and many times not bothering to explain how they could be in the same story at all.) When you consider the Wonder Family stories simply as stories where a Queen Mum and her three daughters have related adventures, that is a terrific concept for a kid's superhero story IMO. These were my favourite non-Marston WW reprints to read growing up; much more interesting than the "giant monster! Steve wants to marry me! My identity must remain a secret!" stories that Kanigher never stopped telling -- usually all three in the same story. Wonder family vs giant monsters = fine with me. And, of course, the concept of Nubia, as opposed to his actual writing of the character.

Thats a good point! The Wonder Family thing was quite neat. A shame more wasn't done with that whole idea.