Flashback Friday: Wonder Woman's Spinning Costume Change

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: Wonder Woman's Spinning Costume Change!

For her first several decades of existence, Wonder Woman changed into her superhero costume like a normal person. Sometimes she would do it very quickly, but it was still essentially the old-fashioned way. Wonder Woman #212 (April 1974) changed it so she transforms via spinning lasso. Julius Schwartz was the new editor on the series and disliked spending time on heroes changing into their outfits, so he asked Len Wein to come up with a way to make it instantaneous.

In the Wonder Woman tv show (1975-1979), Wonder Woman changed into her costume by spinning really fast. In the pilot, it seemed to imply just changing her clothes really quickly...

...but in the show proper, it became more of a magical effect. Note that the choice for changing this way came from Lynda Carter and the previous lasso transformation seems to have had no bearing on the decision.

The earliest instance of the change making its way to the comics seems to be Wonder Woman #229 (January 1977), and this make sense, because the issue before sets up the new status quo of Wonder Woman being on Earth-2 during World War II, to better match the tv show.

However, it wasn't standard at this point, since the very next issue shows her simply darting into the ladies' room.

But then Wonder Woman #231 (March 1977) shows a spin with accompanying flash of light.

It's hard to track because the story won't always show the transformation on-panel or will show it in a way that could be considered either shorthand or a different depiction of changing altogether, depending on how you wanted to look at it. But it showed up again in #235 (July 1977), and I'm willing to consider that as a show that this was now the standard transformation...for this era.

By no means did this become her standard transformation for good. In fact, she was back to transforming with her lasso by 1978. But it never disappeared completely, and I'll show a couple of examples throughout the years.

Two takes on it from 1982 by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez for DC Licensing:

Super Friends, "The Darkseid Deception" (1985):

Wonder Woman #177 (December 2001), which is based on Garcia-Lopez's art above:

Justice League, "To Another Shore" (2005):

Wonder Woman #4 (December 2006):

Wonder Woman #600 (June 2010):

She also spins to transform in Reign of the Supermen (2019). So, like with most things in the Wonder Woman franchise, it's very inconsistent. But it's tied to Wonder Woman in the public consciousness, so it keeps coming back.

Character Spotlight: Charlie, Chief, and Sameer

Last Friday, I finally got around to seeing Wonder Woman. The movie was good - I had some issues with it but overall it was very enjoyable - but all of the characters were great (ESPECIALLY Wonder Woman herself, who I hope gets positioned as the center of DC's movie universe).

Three of those great characters were created for the movie. They're a ragtag group of soldiers for hire that Steve Trevor puts together. There's Sameer, the would-be-actor that uses his skills as a spy and master of disguise since his skin color prevents him from getting any good roles; Chief, a Native American smuggler who works for both sides of the war; and Charlie, an Irishman with PTSD.

Though on the surface they feel like a low-rent Howling Commandos, they had a good bit of depth and were believable as a group of people who fell into being mercenaries since they don't fit in anywhere else. So I'm happy to announce that they recently made the transition to comics in Wonder Woman: Steve Trevor #1 (June 2017).

I hope they stick around the DCU in some capacity, and thanks to reader shadzane for this hot tip!

Logo Spotlight: Wonder Woman's Flying W

I couldn't come up with a special idea for my 200th post, so instead I'll spotlight something I would never have guessed was a canon immigrant without stumbling upon it: Wonder Woman's flying W!

From her first appearance in All-Star Comics #8 (1941), Wonder Woman had a golden eagle on her chest, like so:

It became simplified during the Silver Age, but was still clearly an eagle:

In the 80s, however, she suddenly had two W's connected in such a way that they have wings.

I always thought this was just a modernized redesign, perhaps coinciding with Crisis in Infinite Earths and the following relaunch of Wonder Woman, but not so. It actually appeared several years earlier.

In 1981, to honor Wonder Woman's 40th anniversary, DC president Jenette Kahn created the Wonder Woman Foundation. The foundation was a nonprofit designed to grant money to women over 40, and their logo was the flying W. Wonder Woman's costume was then changed in the comics to promote the organization.

How do I know it wasn't the other way around? Because that's the story in the comics too! Only in the comics, the Foundation actually created Wonder Woman's new costume as a gift to her. Check it out:

Pretty neat! This panel comes from a story in DC Comics Presents #41 (November 1981), which was an introduction to Wonder Woman's new creative team.

Costume Spotlight: Wonder Woman (Rebirth)

One of the goals of DC Rebirth is to make the characters more closely resemble their most popular versions. In some cases, that means making a character's physical appearance look more like an adaptational counterpart. Wonder Woman is a good example.

When the New 52 started (September 2011), she was given this costume. I quite like it; it turns the gold parts on her costume to silver - which better matches her stars, stripes, and bracelets - and turns her boots blue instead of red. It also makes her chestpiece an interesting combination of an eagle, a WW, and a star (which, unfortunately, nobody but Jim Lee seemed to be able to draw correctly).

On the other hand, when Wonder Woman was introduced into the DC Cinematic Universe in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 2016), she had a much more Greco-Roman inspired look, with lots of armor, a leather skirt, and thigh-high boots.

In Wonder Woman: Rebirth #1 (June 2016), she gets almost the exact same look, only with an added shield.

Character Spotlight: General Philip Blankenship (And Bonus Wonder Woman Setting!)

I thought by now that surely any new entries I added would be recent appearances, because anything old would be something I already knew about. That is not the case, as you'll see. This post takes us all the way back to the 1970s!

In 1975, as part of a comic book adaptation boom that likely started with Batman (1966) and included such things as Shazam! (1974), Superman: The Movie (1978), and The Incredible Hulk (1978), DC Comics and Warner Bros. decided to make a Wonder Woman tv movie...with a twist. Unlike the comics of the time, the show would be set during World War II! This would later lead to a tv series premiering in April 1976.

As part of the series setting, the show introduced General Phillip Blankenship, the superior of Steve Trevor and Diana Prince (Wonder Woman's secret identity).

The comics soon followed suit, beginning with Wonder Woman #228 (December 1976), which featured a team-up with Earth-2 Wonder Woman against Nazi villain Red Panzer. This could be its own entry, but since it's tied so closely to this character, I'll leave it how it is. During Wonder Woman's adventures on Earth-2, she meets General Blankenship, who is likewise Steve Trevor's superior. Although at one point his door reads "J. Blankenship", this was later retconned so that his name is J. Philip Blankenship.

Although Earth-2 was destroyed during Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), we later see a Post-Crisis version of General Blankenship in Wonder Woman #185 (September 2002) during a storyline about Diana's mother Hippolyta taking on the role of Wonder Woman during World War II.

Gadget Spotlight: Lasso of Truth

Everyone knows the story: Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston, who also invented the lie detector. This is why Wonder Woman has her Lasso of Truth. Makes sense, right? After all, Marston didn't have any problems injecting other parts of his life into the book, such as his love of bondage or his idea that women are superior and should rule the world, so why wouldn't he include a reference to his day job?

Well...it's not that simple. First of all, although Wonder Woman first appeared in All-Star Comics #8 (1941), she didn't get the lasso until Sensation Comics #6 (1942). And the lasso - then called the magic lasso - didn't compel people to tell the truth. It actually forced people to do whatever Wonder Woman wanted, and sometimes that happened to be answering her honestly. So you see, the lasso has more to do with his night life than his day job.

In the Wonder Woman tv series (1975-1979), however, perhaps because of standards at the time, Wonder Woman only used it to make people tell the truth. So it follows that after Crisis on Infinite Earths, the lasso would be reintroduced as the Lasso of Truth in Wonder Woman #2 (1987), which it's been called ever since. 

Character Spotlight: Persephone

Persephone is an Amazon that first appeared in the Wonder Woman animated movie (March 2009). She made her first appearance in comics in Wonder Woman #33 (August 2009). She's not a major character and at first I chocked it up to coincidence, especially with them coming out so close, but I think it's safe to call her an immigrant because they're both written by Gail Simone.

Wonder Woman Not-So-Super Post!

Part 2 of our Not-So-Super Posts: Wonder Woman.


Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl's costumes

Top Left: Cathy Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman in the Wonder Woman pilot (1974)
Top Right: Cathy Lee Crosby's Wonder Woman in DC One Million 80-Page Giant #1 (1999)
Bottom Left: Debra Winger as Wonder Girl in the Wonder Woman tv series (1976)
Bottom Right: Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl on Earth-462, in Infinite Crisis #6 (May 2006)

Wonder Woman's spinning costume change

Wonder Girl's Alter Ego
In the Wonder Woman tv show (1976), Wonder Girl appeared as Diana's younger sister, Drusilla.  In Wonder Girl #1 (November 2007), Wonder Girl uses Drusilla as an alias.