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Wonder Woman is a fictional superheroine, devised by psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston at the request of DC comics publisher Max Gaines specifically to be the female equivalent of Superman.

Wonder Woman first appeared in All Star Comics #8 in 1941, published by National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics). In the four-color world of comic books, she was an emissary from Paradise Island, an island inhabited by the Amazons, women descended from the original Amazons of Greek myth. She left Paradise Island to enter the world of men and fight for the rights of women. Shortly after arriving in "Man's World" she encountered military officer Steve Trevor, who would be the subject of her affections for many years (though in the Golden Age of comic books, "romance" was forbidden except in the romance comics).

In its January 1942 issue, Wonder Woman was the star feature in Sensation Comics, and cover dated Summer of 1942 was her own title, making Wonder Woman the first superheroine to have her own comic book. Until his passing in 1947, Dr. Marston wrote all of Wonder Woman's appearances, and laid the foundations for the character that would last for the next forty years. Artist H.G. Peter drew the book, giving it a simplistic but identifiable "female" style that constrasted with other superhero comic books of the day.

Armed with her bulletproof bracelets, magic lasso, and her Amazonian training, Wonder Woman (whose "real" name was Princess Diana) was the archetype of the perfect woman from the mind of her creator, Dr. Marston. She was beautiful, intelligent, strong, but still possessed a soft side. At that time, her powers came from "Amazon Concentration," not as a gift from the gods.

Wonder Woman's "magic lasso" was supposedly forged from the Magic Girdle of Aphrodite, which Queen Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's mother) was bequeathed by the Goddess. Hephastateus borrowed the Olympian belt, removed links from it, forged the magic lasso from it. It was unbreakeable, infinitely stretchable, and could make all who are encircled in it tell the truth.

Wonder Woman was aided by the Holliday Girls, lead by the Reubenesque, sweets-addicted Etta Candy, who were a sorority that would help Wonder Woman in a time of emergency, or vice versa. Etta was the only member of the Holliday Girls who stood out, with her less than svelte body and propensity of saying 'Woo-woo' all the time. Amazingly enough, Etta was the only other character than Steve and Diana herself who has managed to exist for the full run of the title.

Along with this were heavy images of men putting women into bondage, which could be seen on the covers of Sensation Comics and Wonder Woman from 1942 to 1947. This subtle, yet identifiable, sexual undertone to the book has been noted by comic book historians, who have debated whether it was an outlet for Dr. Marston's own sexual fantasies; or whether it was meant (unconsciously or otherwise) to appeal to the sexuality of young readers in general.

During this same early period, Wonder Woman joined the Justice Society as its first female member. The Justice Society was the first super-team, featured in All Star Comics, and times being what they were, Wonder Woman, who was the strongest among them, was the secretary of the JSA.

From her inception, Wonder Woman was not out to just stop criminals, but to reform them. On a small island off Paradise Island was Transformation Island, a rehabilitation complex created by the Amazons to house and reform criminals. A large concept in his concept of Wonder Woman was one of "loving submission." In loving submission, one would be kind to others and be willing and open to surrendering to them out of agape.

In 1947, William Moulton Marston died, leaving Wonder Woman to be written by Robert Kanigher. While H.G. Peter still illustrated the stories, the book lost a bit of its former luster, with Wonder Woman becoming less of a feminist and more of an American heroine. H.G. Peter remained on the title until #97, from different reports either dying while completing it, or directly after. Both Peter and Marston are missed and remembered by devotees of the Golden Age of comic books for their unique and memorable work.

In later stories, her abilities expanded. Her earrings gave her air to breathe in outer space, her "Invisible Plane" (originally propeller-powered, but soon adapted into a jet plane) was given an origin, and her tiara was found to be an unbreakable boomerang. These inventions and modifications were made after William Moulton Marston's death.

However, these revisions to Wonder Woman didn't damage her as much as the accusations of one man.

In 1954, Dr. Frederic Wertham wrote his now-infamous book Seduction of the Innocent, which expounded on his anti-comic book views, and is seen by many comic book historians as the death of the Golden Age, and the beginning of the Comics Code Authority. The comic book industry voluntarily censored itself and accepted guidelines seen as more acceptable for the times. In the era of the Code, Wonder Woman was fully neutered. She no longer spoke out as a feminist and was left to moon over Steve Trevor, and as time wore into the Silver Age, she also fell for Merman and Birdman.

Wonder Woman took many changes through the mid-fifties and throughout the 1960s. H.G. Peter, the original artist on Wonder Woman died completing issue #97, taking the original feel of the book away.

Wonder Woman's origin was re-vamped, with her powers being derived from a combination of the Greek and Roman deities. Wonder Woman's earrings provided her with air when she traveled in outer space, her Invisible Plane metamorphed into an Invisible Jet, and her bracelets could send and receive messages from Paradise Island.

During this time, Wonder Woman also received a protege: Wonder Girl. Wonder Girl was Donna Troy, an orphan that Wonder Woman saved from a burning building. By using the Purple Ray, which Wonder Woman had created, Donna received the powers of an Amazon, and with an ersatz version of Wonder Woman's costume, became Wonder Girl.

At the end of the 1960s, Wonder Woman surrendered her powers to remain in "Man's World" rather than accompany her fellow Amazons into another dimension so they could "restore their magick."

Diana Prince, now no longer Wonder Woman, had a new mentor: I Ching. The comic book took on the appearance of the TV show Kung Fu, with Diana taking the role of "Grasshopper." She was "mod," as was the fashion of the time and ran a boutique. This lasted for two years, with Wonder Woman being restored to her powers and costume in the early 70's.

In the midst of this "depowering" story line, Steve Trevor was killed by Wonder Woman's then arch-nemesis, Dr. Cyber. Steve was resurrected, killed, then later resurrected again as Steve Howard.

Wonder Woman fought a series of "epic" battles through the 1970s and 1980s, until she was finally killed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986.

Post-Crisis, Wonder Woman started over in 1987 with new numbering, a new look, and a new writer. George Perez, best known for his work on New Teen Titans and the Crisis on Infinite Earths series itself, took on the task of writing and illustrating the new Wonder Woman. Comic book fans and critics consider Perez's 60-issue run on the book one of the highlights of Wonder Woman's entire history. Perez gave her an outstanding, pro-woman personality that contrasted with the typical "radical feminist" persona usually given to female characters.

Perez returned Wonder Woman to her basics. Wonder Woman was not really "Wonder Woman" but Diana, her birth name (which she never kept secret). She was not a "superheroine," but an emmisary of peace from a mythological land. She was a babe in the woods, completely without guile, and innocent at first: Diana had to learn English when she came to America for the first time. In her previous incarnations, Wonder Woman knew English when she came to America, even though they only spoke classical Greek on Paradise Island.

Through Perez's tenure on the book, Wonder Woman became a rich character with a fully fleshed out internal existence as well as her star spangled appearance. Princess Diana dealt with war, injustice, inequality, death, and of course the Olympian Gods.

After Perez left the series, other writers and artists tried to follow in his footsteps, with varying degrees of success. John Byrne, who had previously re-created Superman with much hype in 1986, took on Wonder Woman and tried an alleged "back to the basics" approach that comic book fans considered insulting. Several of Byrne's storylines have been re-published by DC Comics as graphic novels, but Perez's stories have not yet been republished as of 2002.

Alan Moore created a pastiche Wonder Woman in the Glory comics, and Robert Rudi did the same in What they did to Princess Paragon, which addresses the lesbian subtext of the character.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wonder Woman was adapted to a live-action TV series, starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor. The TV series, which lasted abour four seasons, originally featured Wonder Woman as a World War II heroine, fighting Nazi spies and saboteurs in America, but for the final season of the series the setting was moved to the modern-day era. The TV series was largely unexceptional -- it was not the best or the worst TV adaptation of a comic book series.