Wonder Woman Unbound (31 page)

Reggie was followed by Patrick McGuire, a pilot who assisted Diana and I Ching on their mission to China. Then came Ranagor, leader of the rebels in Chalandor. The next was Baron Anatole Karoli, an ambassador from Koronia whom Diana protected while he was visiting America. Last was Jonny Double, a private detective. Counting Steve, Diana was involved with seven different men in the twenty-six issues of the mod era. And that’s not including
World’s Finest
#204, where Diana almost kissed Superman after he saved her from a group of armed goons.
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By her own admission, Diana was fickle, as apparently all human women were supposed to be. It was as if she couldn’t exist without the affection and attention of a man, and her reaction to betrayal demonstrated how important having a man was to her.

The closer Diana got to a man, the more likely it was he would turn out to be a villain. A few of the guys were nice, but it often ended horribly. Baron Kanoli was an assassin sent to kill the president, while Tim turned on Diana for a fortune in diamonds. Tim’s shocking betrayal sent Diana into the arms of Reggie, but Reggie owed Dr. Cyber a substantial debt and had been working for her to capture Diana. A tearful Diana cried out, “You
lied
to me! You said you
loved
me!” and began to beat Reggie ferociously. I Ching had to pull her off because he was afraid she would cripple Reggie, to which she replied, “I
want
to hurt him … I want
him
to feel what
I’m
feeling!” Distraught, Diana ran off into the night as the issue ended.

The following issue began with narration that read, “Diana
(Wonder Woman)
Prince, hurt, bewildered, angry—no longer insulated (by her renounced super-powers) to shock and emotion, reacts violently! Not a
Wonder Woman
—but a heartbroken girl runs into the night.” The panel showed a montage of Diana beating Reggie and fleeing the scene, ending with the heartbroken Diana exclaiming, “This being a
human HURTS!
” Reggie had only been in the series for one issue. In terms of the comic book’s timeline, Diana had known Reggie for maybe twelve hours, yet she was so wounded by his betrayal that she was prepared to cripple him.

Diana’s other significant relationship was with her martial arts master I Ching, and she was regularly shown to be inferior to her blind mentor. While brawling with villains in a ski lodge, Diana was impressed with her new martial arts skills, thinking, “
Karate
…
judo
…
kung-fu
… whatever I
need
… I’ve
got!
I’m as effective as a person
can
be … without
Amazon powers!
” However, observing her blind master she then thought, “Still, Ching fights
better
even though he’s
sightless!
”

More important, I Ching always had far better judgment than Diana. When faced with the evil witch Morgana, Diana’s first inclination was to fight, but her physical skills couldn’t handle the metaphysical powers of her opponent. Throughout the battle, I Ching repeatedly attempted to get Diana’s attention, saying, “Diana, wait—I can—” and “Diana—will you listen—” only to be interrupted by Diana again attacking Morgana. Finally Diana stopped and I Ching quickly disabled the witch with his own magical powers, saying, “I tried to tell you, Diana, I could have spared you all this trouble.” I Ching even got top billing on the series’ covers for a short while when for six issues the title read
The Incredible I-Ching! And … the New Wonder Woman.

Acclaimed science fiction author Samuel Delany wrote the last two issues before Wonder Woman got her powers back, and he tried to inject the series with some modern feminist discussion in
Wonder Woman
#203. The cover declared “SPECIAL! Women’s Lib Issue,” and the story began with Diana’s friend Cathy, all fired up from a women’s lib meeting, attacking a group of men who were trying to hit on Diana. Later, one of those same men offered Diana a job as a spokeswoman for Grandee’s department store, which she gladly accepted despite Mr. Grandee referring to her as “little girl” and “little lady” throughout their meeting. However, Cathy took issue with Diana accepting a job there because Grandee was underpaying his female employees. Diana defended Grandee by spouting this random bit of legalese: “You can’t pay less than minimum wages except in businesses not involving interstate commerce!” As everyone knows, the best way to teach kids about feminism is with long discussions about interstate commerce law.

When Cathy asked her to attend her women’s lib group, Diana stated, “I’m for equal wages, too! But I’m
not
a
joiner.
I wouldn’t
fit
with your group. In most cases, I don’t even
like
women.” An argument followed, culminating in an upset Cathy declaring, “Perhaps I’m incompetent and unsure, but I’m
conscious
of it and enraged at anyone who says I must
stay
that way!” and daring Diana to “walk away from my anger!” Diana couldn’t, and the two went to Cathy’s women’s lib meeting. Grandee’s goons soon burst into the meeting to rough up the women because they planned to take action against Grandee’s unfair wages policy. The attack resulted in the city shutting down the store and Diana thinking, “Now I feel I’ve
really
accomplished something for women’s image!” But then, a group of angry women came into the meeting and accused the group of taking 250 jobs away from women. The victory was tempered with the loss of jobs, and the story was never resolved, because the Amazon Wonder Woman returned in
Wonder Woman
#204.

Delany was clearly trying to present a nuanced, thoughtful look at the women’s liberation movement that represented both its possibilities and its difficulties. His intentions were good, but the results were muddled. Superhero comic books don’t do nuance well; they rely on good guys and bad guys and victory and defeat. The issue’s ambiguous ending doesn’t provide this at all, and Delany certainly could have benefited from having another issue to finish his story. As it is, the ending casts the story in a new light.

For the entire issue, our hero, Diana, was disinterested in and dismissive toward the women’s liberation movement. Women’s libber Cathy was rash and, by her own admission, incompetent. The discussion of the issues surrounding equal pay was technical and legalistic, and most readers likely glossed over it. Ultimately, Diana did side with the activists, only to have their actions questioned because of the job loss that ensued, and Delany made clear that the upset women had a justifiable point.

The sum total of the issue was that Diana actively opposed women’s lib and its impetuous supporters for most of the issue, and then discovered that it was as likely to harm women as help them. Delany’s issue was the mod era’s sole attempt to engage with the women’s liberation movement, and it was not a success.

It’s no wonder that Gloria Steinem and other feminists took issue with the mod Diana Prince and rallied for a return to her Amazon roots. Compared to her past incarnations, the rash and fickle Diana was a poor example of the power of women, and compared to her fellow female comic book characters she was very much behind the times.

Lois Lane

While sales of
Wonder Woman
slumped during the 1960s,
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
was one of the industry’s bestselling comic books. It sold more than 482,000 copies per issue, averaging an impressive fifth place for the decade. In April 1970, the series put out its hundredth issue, quite a feat for a series based on a secondary character.

Lois Lane was a huge success, on the newsstands and in her stories as well. In
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#80, we learned that Lois had won the Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s highest award. However, while 1968 marked the beginning of a new era for Wonder Woman, for Lois it was just more of the same old. Superman continued to submit her to elaborate ruses to teach her lessons, and she still fell in love with every strong man who crossed her path. Nonetheless, there was a subtle shift in Lois’s interactions with Superman, and she became increasingly displeased with his treatment of her. In one issue, she told Superman, “You’ve ignored me, hurt me, humiliated me
too many times!
” In another, she said, “You’ve had me on the string for
years.
Now I’m
calling off
this hot and cold romance!!” Lois always came back to Superman in the end and the old formula remained intact, but cracks were beginning to form.

In 1970, instead of spending all of her time coming up with schemes to get Superman to marry her, Lois became interested in social issues, particularly race relations. In
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#106, Lois wanted to learn more about Metropolis’ black community, Little Africa, but was called “whitey” and an enemy when she visited.
*
Undeterred, Lois used a machine to transform herself into a black woman so she could experience firsthand the racism and poor living conditions the community faced. Ultimately, Lois even became friends with Dave Stevens, an outspoken young black man who had shamed her into leaving when she first visited.

This racial theme continued a few issues later when Lois and Clark visited Santa Fe, New Mexico, where a group of local Pueblo Indians protested a new dam that would block off their sacred river and drown their land. Superman got permission to remove the dam, and Lois ended up adopting a newly orphaned Pueblo baby named Little Moon. When Lois returned to Metropolis, she became the object of slanderous gossip for raising a Native American child, but she defiantly responded to her critics, stating, “It’s
you
who are
blind!
My
heart
and
Little Moon’s
are the
same color!
”
^†

In the following issue, Lois advocated for Metropolis’s Latino community, who told her, “Por dios, señorita! We all want to help make a better life for our families! But … unless we have day centers to care for our muchachos … children … we cannot go to work!” In
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#114, Lois stood up for women’s rights, giving some tough talk to her black friend, Dave, when she said, “
You
don’t want to be down-graded because you’re
black! Don’t
down-grade
us
because we’re
women!
” Dave thought that was an excellent point, and the two worked together on improving conditions in Little Africa; the issue also included a two-page spread with biographies of notable black leaders.
*

In April 1972,
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane
#121 marked the arrival of a new writer, Cary Bates, and a new editor, Dorothy Woolfolk.
^†
In the previous issue, Lois’s sister Lucy died tragically, leading Lois to reevaluate her life. Newly returned to Metropolis after six weeks of soul searching, Lois declared to Superman, “Now that my
sister’s gone,
I’m going to live my life for her and me … to make up for her death by doing
twice
as much in my lifetime … and to do my best to help a world so tangled with problems it’s
falling apart!
” When Superman asked what that meant for their relationship, Lois said, “Sorry,
Superman!
I’m no longer the girl you can come back to between missions! I can’t live in your
shadow
—I’ve got things to do!”

Lois broke up with Superman and quit her job at the
Daily Planet
to become a freelance reporter and focus on the social justice stories that were important to her. This resulted in a big pay cut, so Lois moved out of her luxury apartment to share a more affordable place with three other women. All four of them worked together on Lois’s dangerous assignments, fighting villains and uncovering stories. They called each other “sister” and refused to abandon Lois, no matter what precarious situations her reporting got them all into. Lois had become a strong and independent woman, and this time it stuck for more than an issue.

Lois dumping Superman was nothing new, but for the first time it was handled in an intelligent and thoughtful way. It was clear that Lois still loved Superman and that it was hard for her to end things with him, but that she had to do so because her relationship with Superman was holding her back. Superman’s initial understanding response to the breakup soon wore off, and when Lois later restated her desire to do twice as much in her lifetime, Superman replied, “You’re only being twice as
stupid!
” As he flew off, Lois called out, “Goodbye,
Superman!
And take your
super-male ego
with you!” Superman frequently tried to rekindle things with Lois, but she was adamant that nothing would happen unless his attitude toward her changed.