Where it all began
This tells the story of Wonder Woman for the first of many times, and subsequent versions have deviated in certain small details. So whereas each artist puts their respective spin on the concept, it is nice to know that Mr. Moulton is still in there somewhere. There are three other stories in this issue, and all three rely heavily on golden age logic. The second story deals with a Japanese spy (this was World War II era) who was poisoning elephants in order to bankrupt a circus whose goal is to raise money for the war effort. Diana and Etta dress up as an elephant in order to catch the poisoners. The second involves Baroness Paula Von Gunther, imprisoned Nazi spy who is running a spy ring out of prison. At the end of this story Wonder Woman leads a cavalry charge against a submarine (I am not so well versed in military affairs, but that doesn’t really make sense does it?) In the last story Etta’s brother is brainwashed so that Japanese spies can uncover important military secrets in his mind. In doing so they uncover a Japanese attempt to invade Mexico. There was of course also a backup “Wonder Women of History” story (the first) involving Florence Nightingale. Like all other such backup stories I really liked this one (I like when media can entertain and educate.) Overall the issue is too much of a landmark issue to give too low a rating, but anyone other than Wonder Woman fans might only want to read the first story.