Wonder Woman’s DC Debut Had a Strange Flaw

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This marks the 951st edition of our series, where we delve into three stories – myths, rumors, or legends – and decide if they are true or false. In this inaugural piece for our special “William Moulton Marston’s time on Wonder Woman” series within Comic Book Legends Revealed, we uncover the truth behind whether Marston was truly capable of writing a comic book when he created Wonder Woman!

William Moulton Marston is an exceptionally intriguing figure in the world of comic book creation. Beyond his groundbreaking work in creating iconic characters, what sets him apart is his unique living situation – sharing a home with both his wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and his girlfriend, Olive Byrne, while also raising children born to each woman. This unconventional arrangement continued even decades after his death, with the two women residing together until Byrne’s passing in 1990. This aspect of his life is so well-documented that it has been portrayed in films, such as the 2017 movie “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.” It’s not something I would consider a legend due to its widespread recognition. However, I did explore the connection between Olive Byrne and the inspiration behind Wonder Woman’s bracelets in a Comic Book Legends Revealed feature.

Despite his academic background, Marston was an intriguing figure due to his tendency to leverage his scholarly credentials to secure opportunities beyond academia. For example, although he didn’t create the renowned polygraph lie detector test, he did develop one of the four tests that contributed to its creation. He capitalized on the popularity of the polygraph test to conduct “tests” for movie studios, exploring audience reactions to different elements…

That got him a gig as a film studio consultant in the late 1920s.

Decades subsequently, his intention was to employ the polygraph once more, this time for a promotional drive concerning Gillette razors, in the year 1937.

(This later led to some controversy that I’ll cover in the future. Not any time soon, though)

In 1940, Marston and Byrne, under false identities and posing as a reporter for Family Circle, published an article in the magazine that aimed to establish Marston as a consultant within the growing comic book industry. Ken Quattro has the complete article archived at .

Marston elaborates on the impressive nature of the recently introduced Superman character, as per his explanation.

Superman made his debut in newspapers around two decades ago, marking a significant leap forward for comic strips. Superman, the epitome of supernatural power, strength, and childhood fantasies! Prior to Superman, most comic strip characters maintained human traits and limitations. Their stories were realistic in that they faced danger as humans do and experienced setbacks, difficulties, and painful injuries on their path to ultimate victory. However, Superman is invulnerable. Bullets bounce off him like raindrops, he can’t be harmed physically, and he possesses immense strength, allowing him to leap over buildings, run faster than bullets, and move ocean liners while swimming underwater.

Afterward, it appears that Byrne and Marston engage in a staged dialogue, giving the impression that the entire situation isn’t clearly a ploy to portray Marston as a comic expert.

Did you know that kids enjoy Superman comics because he grants their wishes? That’s what I inquired from Dr. Marston, who replied that everyone had previously attributed it to the story’s value – the raw excitement of peril and adventure.

‘Indeed, everyone has often claimed that,’ the Doctor acknowledged, ‘yet they’ve all been mistaken. The ‘Superman’ narratives hold minimal narrative worth; they are almost entirely self-indulgent depictions. They cater to our deepest human yearnings: The longing for strength and power, and the desire to assist others.’

Jerry Siegel’s comic idea was actually more groundbreaking than he understood. He neglected elements like plot development, danger, tension, and any sense of human relatability in his hero; instead, the story lacked a traditional narrative structure and focused on what readers aspired to become and accomplish.

Marston, moreover, ventured into the fledgling discussion on whether comic books contained excessive violence that was not suitable for young readers.

Marston also joined the emerging conversation questioning if comic books had too much violence for kids to read.

Indeed, you’ve convinced me in this instance. However, I can’t help but wonder about other comics. Some of them seem to contain a lot of distressing themes such as torture, abduction, brutality, and unkind activities.

The Doctor conceded, ‘Regrettably, that’s accurate. However, there are a few guidelines that can help discern sadism from thrilling tales in comic books. The implied threat of torture might be harmless, but if the actual torture is depicted, it crosses into sadism. When a captivating heroine is tied to a stake, comic readers anticipate a last-minute rescue. The desire here is to save the girl, not watch her suffer. In comics, a bound or restrained character doesn’t experience even embarrassment, and thus, the reader isn’t being taught to endure suffering.’

It’s common knowledge that if you are a public figure and express positive sentiments about comic books, companies such as National Comics will eagerly associate with you. Indeed, this is exactly what happened to Marston, who soon found himself part of National Comics’ Editorial Advisory Board.

However, even William Moulton Marston himself wasn’t ready for what came next, and it turned out that everyone was caught off guard by this unexpected turn of events.

How did William Moulton Marston come to write Wonder Woman?

Following Marston’s appointment by Sheldon Mayer (who later seemed to recall Gaines’ motivation as suppressing criticism, but this may not be entirely accurate), Marston and Gaines began exchanging ideas. The concept of Marston developing a superhero for Gaines was eventually proposed. While Gaines didn’t openly discuss the origins of Wonder Woman, Marston’s later accounts of her creation were somewhat self-promotional and may not accurately represent the truth. However, it is safe to say that they agreed on creating a superhero. Elizabeth Holloway Marston would recall, many years later, suggesting her husband create a female superhero. Whether she was the one who initiated this idea or not, he did propose a female superhero to Gaines, and it was approved.

Marston chose the artist responsible for illustrating the comic, which was intriguing because Marston wasn’t familiar with comic art. Remarkably, the selected artist, H.G. Peter, stood out significantly from other artists during that period in terms of style, and he was considerably older – around six decades older, to be precise – than most comic book creators active at the time.

Next, Peter crafted Wonder Woman’s outfit, and it’s intriguing to know that we possess the initial design blueprint for perusal.

Peter wrote,

Dear Dr. Marston, I quickly finished these two designs. The eagle is difficult to depict – whether in full view or profile, it’s not very distinct. The shoes resemble those worn by a stenographer. I believe the concept could be adapted as a type of Roman machinery. Regards, Peter.

And Marstonr replied:

Hi Pete,

I’m really attracted to the girl with her hand raised. I find her appealing, particularly her skirt, legs, and hair. Her bracelets and boots are alright too. I believe this could turn out well. However, I have some other suggestions included in the attachments. I’m not keen on the red and white stripes or eagles’ wings above or below her breasts – let me know if you disagree. Should we add a red belt-like stripe around her waist? I can’t recall if Gaines wanted that, but it might be worth revisiting. Also, the circlet needs to be raised more, almost like a crown – see my suggestions for reference.

Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday morning.

Best,
WMM

Marston and Gaines adopted the pseudonym “Charles Moulton” as a joint pen name for the creation of Wonder Woman. Since it wouldn’t be practical for William Moulton Marston to serve on the editorial advisory board of his own comic book, they used their middle names instead.

Well then, it turns out the character had been created, but the initial story was yet to be penned.

What was the weird aspect of William Moulton Marston’s first Wonder Woman script?

In simpler terms, Marston possessed significant influence that allowed him to not only earn higher wages than other comic book creators but also have complete control over aspects related to Wonder Woman, such as her name and appearance. He further expressed his conviction that he was tapping into a significant social movement – the empowerment of women – and urged others to focus solely on this theme or abandon the project altogether. Essentially, Marston held far more authority than most comic book creators during his time.

Initially, Marston wasn’t sure about writing comic book scripts, so, as Les Daniels noted, he communicated with Mayer to let him decide on the layout of the panels in the comic. This is similar to Joss Whedon, who, upon learning that his first issue of Astonishing X-Men #1 was 32 pages, wrote a full script for all 32 pages, not realizing that the total included ad space and the front and back cover of the comic book.

It was clear that Maston wasn’t familiar with the mechanics of comic scripting when he wrote the first Wonder Woman story, which initially appeared in All-Star Comics #8 but later moved there as a “preview story.” Instead of the usual format, Marston simply filled large sections of text within the narrative.

Although he hadn’t initially known much about creating comic books and collaborated with an artist whose style differed significantly from most other artists during that period, Marston astonished everyone by achieving something extraordinary. He managed to generate widespread interest in this character, and the result was nothing short of a bullseye. For instance, Superman was turned down by every comic strip syndicate across the country, while Batman quickly gained acceptance once Bob Kane presented his and Bill Finger’s concept to National Comics (the future superhero was even promoted ahead of its release). However, unlike Kane who later boasted about Batman’s success, Marston, despite being relatively inexperienced with comic book writing, expressed a strong conviction that Wonder Woman would be a hit. And, amazingly enough, he turned out to be absolutely right.

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Please don’t hesitate to share potential candidates for future comic legends with me, whether you reach out to me via email at cronb01@aol.com or brianc@cbr.com.

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2025-04-30 22:57