Who Was the Best Pre Crisis Wonder Woman Writer After Marston?

[Timothy Hunter]

I feel like the Wonder Woman comic between Marston and Perez's runs doesn't really get touched upon all that often if it isn't to say how misguided the Diana Prince era was or how hated Robert Kanigher is.

[SiegePerilous02]

Joy Murchison, though she technically would be tied with Marston since she ghost wrote some of his stories.

After that, maybe Dan Mishkin and Gerry Conway in the 80s, whose Bronze Age stories sort of formed a rough template for what the Perez era would look like. I think the main reasons Cheetah, Circe, Dr. Psycho and Silver Swan were revamped in the Perez era is due to them being fresh in peoples minds because they were the rogues gallery before COIE.

[Gaius]

I've liked what I've read of Gerry Conway.

Near the very tail end to qualify but right before the Perez relaunch, Kurt Busiek did an enjoyable miniseries with Trina Robbins that was meant to fill the contractual requirement with the Marston estate.

[Kurt Busiek]

Joy Murchison, though she technically would be tied with Marston since she ghost wrote some of his stories.

If what she did counts as ghost writing, so does what he did; they both used the pseudonym "Charles Moulton."

But DC knew she was writing stories. And she wrote some cool stuff.

When Trina and I started work on LEGEND OF WONDER WOMAN, Trina sent me Xeroxes of stories she'd liked as a kid that had villains she thought would be worth using. She had no idea, from the credits, which ones were Marston and which were Joye Hummel. But if I remember correctly, they were all Hummel.

Her stuff just had more snap.

After that, maybe Dan Mishkin and Gerry Conway in the 80s, whose Bronze Age stories sort of formed a rough template for what the Perez era would look like. I think the main reasons Cheetah, Circe, Dr. Psycho and Silver Swan were revamped in the Perez era is due to them being fresh in peoples minds because they were the rogues gallery before COIE.

I love the issues Sekowsky wrote and drew, though they're very non-traditional. And Len Wein wrote a few good issues during the "12 Labors of Wonder Woman" era. Jack C. Harris did some nice stuff, too.

But I'd second Gerry's issues, at least while Len Wein was editing. And Roy's early issues, again, while Len was editing.

Dr. Psycho was reintroduced into the book by Roy (as was Etta Candy, I think), and the Silver Swan was co-created by him.

kdb

[Kurt Busiek]

Near the very tail end to qualify but right before the Perez relaunch, Kurt Busiek did an enjoyable miniseries with Trina Robbins that was meant to fill the contractual requirement with the Marston estate.

Thanks! I think ours is post-Crisis, though; in-story, it's a weird piece of chronal flux, but publishing-wise it started two months after CRISIS ended.

kdb

[bat39]

Yeah, when it comes to Wonder Woman, it does seem like her entire Silver Age/Bronze Age era has gone into a huge black hole in terms of lasting pop-cultural resonance (well, barring that white jumpsuit from the 'I Ching' stories). The Post COIE reboot continues to shape the character today, and the Golden Age work by Marston remains famous because of its historical significance and also because the idea of a WW2 era Wonder Woman (WW1 in the case of the movie) has continued to be popular through the decades.

Arguably, the only lasting contributions from the Silver Age that continue to stay with the character are her association with the Justice League and Donna Troy - in the case of the former you can assume its just an 'update' of her association with the JSA during the Golden Age, and with Donna's continuity being what it is, its hard to trace the current version of the character back to her Silver Age roots.

[Frank]

I really enjoyed Roy Thomas's run, though admittedly, part of that is the amazing art by Gene Colan. I know some think Colan's work was too dark & moody for WW, but I loved it.

Diana to WW.jpg

WW to Diana Prince.jpg

I liked Conway on WW, but I actually preferred his writing of her in JLA, which may have to do with how he wrote JLA team dynamics. He had a lot to do with making WW a presence in the DCU at the time, upping her profile in JLA and writing her in guest appearances of other titles he wrote, like the Freedom Fighters, and writing that Superman vs Wonder Woman special edition.

[Mel Dyer]

Charles Moulton (Gaines-Marston), George Perez, Greg Potter, Brian Azzarello, Greg Rucka, Kurt Busiek, Mike Sekowsky, Roy Thomas, James Tynion, Jerry Ordway and Eric Luke are the names to look for - the best WW writers.

[Largo161]

I really enjoyed Roy Thomas's run, though admittedly, part of that is the amazing art by Gene Colan. I know some think Colan's work was too dark & moody for WW, but I loved it.

Diana to WW.jpg

WW to Diana Prince.jpg

I liked Conway on WW, but I actually preferred his writing of her in JLA, which may have to do with how he wrote JLA team dynamics. He had a lot to do with making WW a presence in the DCU at the time, upping her profile in JLA and writing her in guest appearances of other titles he wrote, like the Freedom Fighters, and writing that Superman vs Wonder Woman special edition.

I second this.

[Jim Kelly]

Well after the Marston writing collective ("Charles Moulton"), my favourite is Mike Sekowsky, followed by Martin Pasko and Jack C. Harris. Then there's Bob Kanigher, who was also "Charles Moulton"--but he's a difficult one, since there are just as many horrible Kanigher stories as great Kanigher stories.

[The I.A.D.C.]

It's refreshing to see Pre-COIE WW get a little bit of recognition!! I think it's pretty telling that when it comes to this era in the comics, it's the Lynda Carter TV show that's more fondly remembered than anything that happened in the actual comics themselves! Now, me, I LOVE me some Bronze Age WW!! Starting with Gerry Conway's soft reboot in #269 (another "Bold New Era") that re-established a modern Earth-1 version of the the Golden Age status quo and supporting cast, although Etta is now Diana Prince's collogue and co-worker like she was in the first season of the television series instead of a college student. Loved everything about his run including his use of classic rogues like Angle Man and introducing the Debbie Domaine Cheetah. Jose Delbo is also on my list of "definitive" WW artists of this time as well. After Conway left, Roy Thomas came on board and continued to build on this "Modern Golden Age" foundation and gave us the original Silver Swan and brought Doctor Psycho back to the title. Issues #288-290 are classics in my opinion. Gene Colan was an interesting choice for the art and at the time I wasn't a big fan, but now when I go back and look at those pages, I can really appreciate the workmanship in those. Thomas' run was brief, but Dan Mishkin stepped in and continued on up until right before Crisis. What I really appreciate is that these three gentlemen did not toss out what their predecessor had established and create their own pet characters, but instead built off one another and created a consistent world in which Diana could thrive. The supporting cast remained the same was given the chance for some character development and it's a shame that a lot of these issues aren't readily available outside of a back issue bin.

[SJNeal]

Gerry Conway, Martin Pasko, and Roy Thomas - in no particular order. I don't think any of them wrote anything amazing, but none of it was bad either. A blessing that comes with having relatively short runs I guess...?

[rayray1127]

I really enjoyed Roy Thomas's run, though admittedly, part of that is the amazing art by Gene Colan. I know some think Colan's work was too dark & moody for WW, but I loved it.

Diana to WW.jpg

WW to Diana Prince.jpg

I liked Conway on WW, but I actually preferred his writing of her in JLA, which may have to do with how he wrote JLA team dynamics. He had a lot to do with making WW a presence in the DCU at the time, upping her profile in JLA and writing her in guest appearances of other titles he wrote, like the Freedom Fighters, and writing that Superman vs Wonder Woman special edition.

When I first began collecting Wonder Woman back issues from the $0.50 bin, these are the first ones I got ahold of. I remember specifically getting issue #s 288-303. Even though the art was "dated" (having been the mid-90s), I fell in love with the style, and I found the stories exciting and fun. To this day, when I want to read old bronze age WW, these are the issues I turn to. Dr. Psycho and Silver Swan, the 1st appearance of the double-w, the Adjudicator which included the awesome team-up with super heroines from across the DC multiverse.... It was a blast, and I highly recommend seeking them out if you can!

[Stanlos]

I liked Busiek and Mishkin

[Jim Kelly]

I feel like the Wonder Woman comic between Marston and Perez's runs doesn't really get touched upon all that often if it isn't to say how misguided the Diana Prince era was or how hated Robert Kanigher is.

I feel like both these statements are debatable. While many may feel this to be the case, I don't think so. About the Diana Prince era I don't think it was misguided--but that's a whole discussion on its own. As for Bob Kanigher, like I say, there are many Wonder Woman stories I hate (including the one immediately after the Diana Prince era), but he was so prolific, there's likely fifty or sixty good-to-great Wonder Woman stories he wrote--which is more than the total output of most Wonder Woman writers. Keep in mind, Kanigher started writing Wonder Woman in 1945 and his last story was in 1974.

What's funny is when Gloria Steinem set out on her campaign to dump the mod Diana Prince and bring back the star-spangled Amazon, a lot of the stories she was referring back to were Bob Kanigher stories. And when she got her way, it was the Bob Kanigher Wonder Woman that was returned to the comic book pages. Was this really what Gloria wanted? I think if she had read the Mike Sekowsky comics and compared them with the comics before and after, she might have realized that even the golden eagle breasted Princess was not the character she was imagining from her childhood memories--and Diana Prince was the much more liberated woman.