Some people see tying someone up as erotic. I am not one of them. But we live in a different world than that of 1947. This sort of activity is more out in the open now. William Moulton Marston (alias Charles Moulton), creator of Wonder Woman, would have had ulterior motives for showing a tied-up Wonder Woman and any other female in the plot. It would go over the heads of most young readers of 71 years ago.. Those readers who were in the know would have known that Marston was kinky, and they might’ve been kinky, also.
“The Curse of Montezuma” begins with something of a history lesson about the conquistadors conquering Montezuma and stealing gold to ship back to Spain. In this version Wonder Woman’s mother, Queen Hippolyte, intercedes. You probably don’t need me to tell you that part of the lesson is fictional, but being me I must say it anyway. Something I find interesting is Diana Prince’s “mental radio,” which is a means of communication with her mother. It is not fiction, but prophecy. Today we would call it Facetime or Skype.
Grand Comics Database gives credit for writing to Marston, and pencils and inks to H.G. Peter, assisted by “Arlene.” Arlene (no last name) is listed in Jerry Bails’s Who’s Who.
Amazon can't design an aerodynamic plane to save their lives, can they?
ReplyDeleteYou know, I like H.G. Peter's art, it's iconic for Wonder Woman, but even in 47 it looks ... archaic. And in 47 there were a lot of artist that looks that way. I can see how it completely fell out of favor later.
Hi Pappy,
ReplyDeletewow, Hippolyta really resembles her daughter in this one. No wonder (ha!) DC later came up with the retcon that some of Wonder Woman's adventures were actually Hippolyta's.
Marston died in May 1947, reportedly still writing Wonder Woman on his deathbed. His backlog apparently extended to Aug/Sept 1948. He had been sharing the "Charles Moulton" byline with Joye Murchison since Wonder Woman #12 (1945). I've never seen an analysis that some elements showed up more in his stories and less in hers, or vice-versa.
Thanks!
Darci, it would be handy to know who wrote what, and see if one had more kinky goings-on than another. I am not sure I would be able to tell the difference between authors Marston and Murchison.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about the movie, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, but suspect it will play fast and loose with history, as movies do. Eventually curiosity will get the better of me and I will watch it on Hulu. It isn't a documentary, like Batman and Bill, also on Hulu.
You are always telling me things I don't know. I didn't know that someone at DC came up with crediting Hypolyte with Diana's adventures. I know that the older stuff is passé, especially with younger readers, even archaic (see Brian Barnes' comment), but today's comics creators feel they have to keep messing with the history, just because they can.
Brian, in going through DC material of the late forties I am mindful of some of the artwork looking crude compared to other titles of the line, even that of other publishers. It might have to do with Sheldon Mayer being editor, until he quit and became a freelancer. Mayer was the editor chosen by M.C. Gaines, and I wonder if after Gaines sold his line to DC Mayer was forced to quit. The artwork on formerly cartoony characters like the Flash and Green Lantern did get more modern and up-to-date, for the fast-changing styles of comic book artwork. They still got cancelled.
ReplyDeleteWonder Woman survived with H.G. Peter and I suspect it had to do with Marston's heirs, who retained some control over his creation. A a kid I remember being curious, even repelled, by the strange-looking artwork, like that of no one else. Still, in retrospect I like it better than that of Andru and Esposito. From the beginnings of Justice League of America I bought all of DC's (and Marvel's) super hero titles up to a point ('62 or '63) and thought Wonder Woman was the weakest and worst character of all. Apparently others disagreed with me, because it kept getting published.
I enjoyed PROFESSOR MARSTON despite its changes to history. (For one thing, Marston is seen observing a comic-burning session, and I haven't heard that any occurred prior to his death-- though I admit that's a minor distortion).
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to tell Marston's writing from that of his collaborators, either, but this is a pretty tame story compared to the really wacky stuff he did in his prime. Very possible IMO that it's Murchison doing Marston.
Jill Lepore's book-- which in some ways isn't much more dependable historically than the Marston biofilm-- makes it sound like Marston's heirs had little or no power and that DC tried to get rid of them as soon as the editors thought they could successfully counterfeit the style w/o losing readers. Peter may've survived merely because DC wanted to keep the image consistent. That might argue that by the time he was dropped and replaced by other artists, among them Andru and Esposito, WW wasn't selling so well, and editorial may've thought a change could be for the better.
I haven't read Jill LaPore's book (so there's probably something more to this I don't know) but the story was the Marston contract must have been written by a pretty sharp lawyer. Supposedly if DC ever stopped publishing Wonder Woman the rights would revert to the creator. DC eventually bought them out about the time of Crisis on Infinite Earths (or a little later).
ReplyDeleteBTW, H.G. Peter was 61 when he STARTED drawing Wonder Woman.
Darci, interesting parts in LePore's book are the connections to the suffragists like Margaret Sanger and others who were on the battle lines for women's rights. I think Marston used the movement to promote his pervy view of sexual relationships. "Free love," don't you know? Also the ever-present bondage.
ReplyDeleteI have tried to turn my mind inward (with no luck) to discover what it is about tying someone up that is remotely sexy. It has to be control, which is not sexy to me in the slightest, but apparently gets some guys hot.
Marston was mostly a failure as an academic and professor, who kept getting demoted and/or fired. One could imagine that Marston's philosophies about bondage and sex might have gotten out, shocking his peers and superiors. It was a time, right out of the Victorian era, when sex and anything related to it was taboo, even to brochures on birth control, which were seized. It was illegal in New York to publish anything about contraception.
I guess the era's motto could be the well-worn "barefoot and pregnant."
Gene, I got a chance to watch Professor Marston, and noticed several things that could be chalked up to artistic license, including consolidating people and events to fit the narrative.
ReplyDeleteOliver Platt is Maxwell Gaines, publisher of All American Comics. Gaines had an arrangement with DC to distribute his books, and later (1945) sold out to DC. But the movie makes it seem that Gaines is the DC publisher, and even that he rejected Marston's original name, "Suprema the Wonder Woman," when historically it was editor Sheldon Mayer who made the change from "Suprema" to just "Wonder Woman." (In retrospect probably a bit of genius, because Suprema calls up Superman, and Wonder Woman, with its alliteration, is catchy and has served DC well now for almost 80 years.)