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.