Joe Krejci covers Wonder Woman 177

Original cover by Irv Novick; DC 1968. Joe Krejci's website is here.

Victor Kerlow covers Wonder Woman 38

Original cover by Chris Marrinan and George Perez; DC 1990. Victor Kerlow's website is here.

Tiina Birgitta Räisänen covers Sensation Comics 1

Original cover by Harry G. Peter and Jon L. Blummer; DC 1942. Tiina Birgitta Räisänen's website is here.

Megan Kelly covers Sensation Comics 94

Original cover by Arthur Peddy; DC 1949. Megan's Kelly's website is here.

Kerry Callen covers Wonder Woman 33

Original cover by Irwin Hasen and Bernard Sachs; DC 1949. Kerry Callen's website is here.

Kevin Budnik covers Justice League of America 1

Original cover by Murphy Anderson; DC 1960. Kevin Budnik's website is here.

Jacob Steingroot covers All Star Comics 19

Original cover by Joe Gallagher; DC 1943. Jacob Steingroot's website is here.

Wonder Woman #190

Wonder Woman #190 (On Sale: July 7, 1970) has a cover Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

Mike Sekowsky wrote and drew and Dick Giordano inked "Detour" our book-length Wonder Woman story. Back from China and a little bit down, I-Ching suggests that Diana visit her mother on Paradise Island, but when Amazon messenger Leda attempts to bring Diana through the dimensional stream they take and unexpected detour and end up int he dark fending off unseen creatures. When a green moon appears the creatures scamper and Diana and Leda find themselves in an alien landscape.

When finally the sun rises a strange flying ship appears and armed men attempt to capture Diana and Leda. Diana holds them at bay while Leda escapes through the dimensions to Paradise Island to bring reinforcements. Eventually the men overpower Diana and she and a barbarian man are taken to the city of Calendar where they are brought before the queen.

They learn that they were captured to fight in the arena for sport, but the queen dismisses Diana as "just a girl." Diana says she sees no reason to wait for the arena to fight and using her shackles as a weapon sets upon her captors, the barbarian man at her side. Diana makes it to the queen but is overpowered and knocked unconscious.

She awakes in a cell with Rancor the barbarian and they manage to escape. They are chased through the castle but end up in the arena, realizing they were allowed to escape and were pointed toward their death. In the arena they face a giant monster called a gnarth, but Diana has a plan for killing it. The plan works and then they leap out of the arena and once again are upon the queen and her men. As reinforcements arrive they are chased once again through the castle and up to the top of a tower. From there they see an army amassed at the gates of Calendar.

Rancor says it is the army of his father, King Zangor and that he was captured when he was scouting ahead of the army. They are there to end the rule of the evil queen. As the queen's men approach, Diana and Rancor leap from the tower into the moat. This one is continued.

Reprinted in Diana Prince:Wonder Woman Vol. 3 TPB.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Isaac Moylan covers Wonder Woman 29

Original cover by Harry G. Peter; DC 1948. Isaac Moylan's website is here.

Christian Scheuer covers Wonder Woman 196

Original cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano; DC 1971. Christian Scheuer's website is here.

Genevieve Simms covers Wonder Woman 80

Original cover by Brian Bolland; DC 1993. Genevieve Simm's website is here and you can purchase the original here.

Wonder Woman #188

Wonder Woman #188 (On Sale: February 26, 1970) has a cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano that is a wonderful return to the heavy bondage roots of classic Golden Age Wonder Woman covers.

We begin with our cover-story "Cyber's Revenge" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Dick Giordano. Continuing from last issue, Diana and Ching have been pulled from the waters of Hong Kong Harbor as the Junk that was the headquarters of Dr. Cyber burns. The badly burned Cyber and her associate Lu Shan, maybe I Ching's daughter, escaped with a new power source to be used to power Cyber's earthquaker devices. Ching was shot by Lu Shan and is rushed to the hospital, while Diana and Patrick McGuire meet at the police station and go over the events thus far.

Suddenly Hong Kong is hit by an earthquake and Diana and Patrick head for the streets where they are shot at by a strange car carrying Lu Shan and a assortment of Cyber henchmen. They escape Cyber's people by hiding under some wreckage, when another quake hits Patrick is knocked unconscious. Meanwhile Cyber sends a message to the wold that she must be declared supreme ruler of Earth or she will level every city on the planet with her earthquakers.

Lu Shan and her thugs locate Diana but she overpowers her and chases off the thugs and "convinces" Lu Shan to show them where one of the earthquakers is located. However, suspecting a trap, Diana wants Lu Shan to throw the power switch to turn off the machine and when she refuses Diana once again overpowers her. Eventually Lu Shan is convinced to turn off the earthquakers safely, bypassing the self-destruct feature that she was hoping would catch Diana.

Back at the inspector's office, Diana gets the location of the other earthquakers out of Lu Shan and while the inspector's men go after most of the machine, Diana and Patrick take the last one themselves. They race across the destroyed city to the location of the final earthquaker as it is turned on once again. They make it into the facility but run afoul of a trap door.

When they awaken they are chained to the ceiling and a heavily bandaged Dr. Cyber is there. She removes her bandages and shows Diana the mess she made of her face. Diana turns her face away from the sight and Cyber grabs her and turns Diana toward her. Which is what Diana hoped she would do, come in close enough so that Diana could knock her out with a swift kick to the face. Using the training she was taught by I Ching Diana is able to free herself but then is attacked by Cyber's personal guards, whom she quickly defeats.

As Diana frees Patrick Cyber awakens and attacks her with a sword, but Diana uses the chains to keep Cyber at bay and knock her into a power supply on the earthquaker. As Cyber fries, she pushes the self-destruct button. Diana and Patrick barely make it out alive. From hiding we see Lu Shan, vowing to get revenge. Diana and Patrick then begin helping those wounded in the quakes.

Days later she and Patrick make it to the hospital to check in on I Ching only to find that he is gone. A visitor came to his room and spoke something of Lu Shan and how she had crossed the border into Red China. Ching seems to have followed her. Reprinted in Diana Prince:Wonder Woman Vol. 2 TPB.

We get another great Sekowsky/Giordano teaser page for the next issue followed by a two page filler, "Crime Does Not Pay!" also by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano. This little short is about a pick-pocket who unwisely tries to pick Diana's pocket!

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventures of Jerry Lewis #117

Adventures of Jerry Lewis #117 (On Sale: January 20, 1970) has a cover by Bob Oksner featuring Jerry and the new Wonder Woman.

This issue has the book-length "Jerry Meets the New Wonder Woman." I would guess that they would get Bob Oksner to do the insides as well, but who knows. Heck, they might have gotten Mike Sekowsky to write and draw it. Regardless, you have to appreciate the way DC is pushing the new Wonder Woman, here and in The Brave and the Bold a month or so ago.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

David King covers Sensation Comics 47

Original cover by Harry G. Peter; DC 1945. David King's website is here.

Wonder Woman #187

Wonder Woman #187 (On Sale: January 3, 1970) has a cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano. This is also the splash page for the story as it is the only place the title appears and page one continues from this starting point.

"Earthquaker" is the book-length Wonder Woman story written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Dick Giordano. The story begins with I-Ching being shot and the takes us back to how we got to this place.

I-Ching receives a phone call from an old friend in Hong Kong needing Ching's help. Unable to get a normal flight, Ching gets one from another old friend, Patrick McGuire, who runs a freight airline. Diana tags along and they soon find out that McGuire is short-handed and will be piloting the plane. Not only that, but another woman, one Lu Shan, is also along for the flight. That night as the passengers all drift off to sleep, some thugs come out from their hiding place in a crate and awaken the three passengers at gunpoint.

The thugs seem to know Lu Shan and tell her that they will toss her out over the Pacific if she does not tell them where, well, something is. When one of the thugs turns his back on Diana and Ching to watch the other wrestle with Lu Shan, Diana and Ching leap into action. Gunfire brings McGuire out from the cockpit but a stray bullet hits the co-pilot. Most of the bad guys are ejected from the plane when it banks suddenly due to the shot pilot. Diana notices that the one bad guy not to fall from the plane has the eye of a cat tattooed on his hand. Lu Shan says it is the mark of the Tiger Tong who wish to steal something from her employer.

Just then I-Ching feels a broken medallion around Lu Shan's neck and matches it up to a similar medallion around his own neck. He says this means that Lu Shan is I-Ching's long lost daughter. It is that this time that they land in Hong Kong and Lu Shan invites them to go with her to her employer's place where they can discuss the matching coin medallions and her past of which she knows very little. On the way to the employer's they are attacked once again by members of the Tiger Tong. They are able to fend them off. However, when they reach Lu Shan's employer, there are more Tiger Tong waiting so they take once more to the streets of Hong Kong.

There with the help of McGuire they are able to defeat the Tong once again, and they leave McGuire with a promise to meet for dinner that night. When they once again reach Lu Shan's employer, Diana is a little worried by the presence of armed guards. That night finds McGuire at the Hong Kong police as Diana never showed up for dinner. Just then they are informed of an explosion on a junk in the harbor, not far from where they have found abandoned, the truck in which Lu Shan, Diana and Ching were last seen.

We then go back four hours to Lu Shan, Diana and Ching arriving at the junk of Lu Shan's employer, who turns out to be Dr. Cyber (last seen reeking havoc in Wonder Woman #182). While Lu Shan covers them with a gun Dr. Cyber explains that the box taken from the plane contains power sources which shall be used to power her "earthquakers," which she will use destroy Hong Kong as a demonstration of her power and to blackmail the world.

Lu Shan asks Dr. Cyber if she may have her gift, which ends up being I-Ching's life and we are back to the scene depicted on the cover splash. Yes, Ching is her father but he is also the man who murdered Lu Shan's mother. Before things go any farther in that area, Lum Fong, head of the Tiger Tong, and his men show up to steal the earthquakers. Dr. Cyber has them killed, impelled by sharp spears, but one of the men is not yet dead and gets off a blast from his machine gun. The spray of stray bullets hits a brazier of hot coals flinging them onto Dr. Cyber's face.

In the resulting fire and smoke, Diana manages to get Ching up on deck. Lu Shan escapes with Dr. Cyber and the power sources while Diana attends to Ching. As the boat begins to sink they are rescued by McGuire and the police. Ching is taken to a hospital while in a secret hospital outside of Hong Kong and fully-bandaged Dr. Cyber tells Lu Shan to activate the earthquakers then hunt down Diana Prince.

Like in many of the Sekowsky books, there follows a full-page ad for the next issue by Sekowsky and Giordano. This story was reprinted in Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Al Bigley covers Justice League of America 1

Original cover by Murphy Anderson; DC 1960. Al Bigley's website is here.

Wonder Woman #186

Wonder Woman #186 (On Sale: November 4, 1969) has a cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

The full-length "Morgana the Witch" is written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Dick Giordano. Diana Prince rebuilds her shop with the help of Cathy Perkins. Cathy then introduces Diana to her friends Abbie and Millie. Abbie's boyfriend Henry was experimenting with magic and summoned Morgana, the daughter of Morgan Le Fay. The witch then turned Henry into a frog.

Diana and I-Ching begin looking for Morgana. She is easy to find as she has caused chaos all around town. Diana tries to fight her, but Morgana's magic is too powerful. I-Ching uses magic of his own to defeat the witch, who disappears.

Back at Diana's store, Abbie kisses the frog to restore her boyfriend to human form. This was reprinted in Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Brave and the Bold #87

Brave and the Bold #87 (On Sale: October 23, 1969) has a Batman and Wonder Woman cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

Batman and Wonder Woman star in "The Widow-Maker" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Dick Giordano. I remember being so very disappointed when this book came out that Neal Adams was not drawing it, particularly because I had read that Wonder Woman was the team guests and had wanted to see Neal's version of her. At the time it didn't even occur to me that the big news here was that Bob Haney's four-year run on Brave and the Bold ended this issue. Haney would be back next issue though, while it would be a year before Adams would return to these pages.

All those sour grapes aside, this is one of my favorite Brave and Bold issues and turning it over to Mike Sekowsky was exactly the right thing to do. With Wonder Woman Sekowsky was mining a new direction for pure action comics, aside from super-hero comics and this fit in well with the powerless Diana Prince/Wonder Woman and the equally powerless Bruce Wayne/Batman. Throw in a European local, and Formula One street-course racing, a homicidal driver, a little revenge and some jet-setter flirting between Bruce and Diana and you have a great story, sans super powers and traditional comic villains.

Diana and I Ching are checking out a fashion shoot taking place in the mechanic area of a European rally when she is spotted by driver Bruce Wayne and Willi Van Dort, the driver of the car Widow-Macher. Bruce butts in when Willi tries to make time with Diana, saving her from Willi's unwanted advances, but Diana doesn't recognize Bruce as he ex-JLA buddy Batman and remembers him only as a millionaire playboy. While watching Willi's qualifying lap they learn that Willi's car is called the Widow-Macher or Widow-Maker because the last seven drivers who seemed on the cusp of beating Willi have all died on the track.

When it is Bruce's turn to qualify his time is three seconds faster than Willi's and Willi and his team take notice. Later while passing a window Diana sees Willi talking to his men in sign language, which Diana can read. However, she does not speak German and does not know what Willi is saying, but as she spells it out I Ching translates the conversation and they learn that Willi has ordered his men to fix Bruce's car so that he will not win tomorrow.

Late that night as Willi's men go to work on Bruce's car they are interrupted by Bruce who begins to go all Batman on their asses until Diana and Ching show up. Bruce holds back in an effort to keep his identity secret from Diana and in the process get whacked in the head with a wrench. Willi's men escape capture and Bruce ends up in the hospital with a concussion. Told by a doctor that he cannot race Diana offers to take his place, but Bruce makes a call to Commissioner Gordon and Batman is (supposedly) soon racing to Europe to take Bruce's place.

The next morning it is Batman who is seated in the Wayne One Special. As he pulls out into a throng of press he is also met by Willi who informs Batman that he is the son of General Van Dort, a crazy lunatic that Batman once stopped. Willi promises to avenge his father's honor. After warning Batman of the Widow-Macher aspect of Willi, Diana uses binoculars to once again eavesdrop on Willi giving instructions to his men to see that Batman does not finish the race.

The rest of the story is one narrow escape from a Willi tactic by Batman followed by one take down of a Willi henchman by Diana and Ching. It's fun stuff excellently done by Sekowsky and Giordano. In the end Willi is killed in a trap meant for Batman and Diana needs Bruce's help to bail her out of jail when she and I Ching inadvertently used the wrong car to chase down Willi's men. This leads to the promise of a dinner date between Bruce and Diana. This story has been reprinted in Showcase Presents the Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups Vol. 1 TPB and Diana Prince :Wonder Woman Vol. 2 TPB.

They fill out one page of space with "A Matter of Life and Death" by Murray Boltinoff and Jack Sparling, a tale regarding the thoughts of a corpse in the back of an ambulance.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff

Anthony Vukojevich covers DC 100 Page Super Spectacular 6

Original cover by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano; DC 1971. Anthony Vukojevich's website is here.

Wonder Woman #185

Wonder Woman #185 (On Sale: September 2, 1969) has a cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

Our feature-length Wonder Woman story is "Them" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Dick Giordano. Diana Prince returns to Earth from Paradise Island and finds a teenaged runaway named Cathy Perkins hiding in her boutique. Cathy was taken in by a street gang which treated her as a slave. The gang of girls, whom Cathy calls "Them," want her back.

Diana protects Cathy, but soon finds the gang attacking her too. The girls destroy Diana's clothes and burn down her shop. Cathy blames herself and turns herself over to the gang. Diana and her neighbor Tony Petrucci confront the gang and get Cathy back. Top Hat, the gang leader, is then arrested when Diana finds stolen goods concealed in her hat.

Diana then contacts Cathy's parents and reunites them with their daughter. She also asks that Cathy stay on and work part-time once her store is rebuilt. Reprinted in Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.