He teams with not a woman but rather male artist Harry G Peter to create her tiara-topped, flesh-flashing attire. Upon being hired as an editorial adviser at All-American/Detective Comics, Marston sells his Wonder Woman character to the publisher with the agreement that his tales will spotlight 'the growth in the power of women'. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.' But Marston later characterises it as a natural solution, saying: 'Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness.

The creation: 1941 According to lore, Marston didn't initially have a female character in mind when mulling a superhero less masculine than Superman. Here we look back at her feminist, and less-than-feminist, history. It's no surprise that the first female-fronted superhero film in 12 years is being met with some controversy. Today sees the release of the new Wonder Woman film, which pushes back against marketplace domination of male superheroes, and has already caused some debate - a cinema chain in the US came under fire for 'discrimination' after announcing a handful of all-female screenings a week after the premiere, while a Lebanese group is seeking to ban the film because of its Israeli star, Gal Gadot. Out of this complex origin story born of a complicated mind, Wonder Woman made her debut in All-Star Comics in 1941. Each of the two women bore him two children.) He secretly lived in a polyamorous relationship with two feminists: his wife, lawyer Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and his former college student Olive Byrne, the niece of birth-control pioneer Margaret Sanger. (Marston was less than truthful about was himself. And Marston - whose scientific work led to the development of the lie-detector test - also outfitted Wonder Woman with the empowering golden Lasso of Truth.

Marston was well aware, though, that broken chains were also a powerful feminist symbol of emancipation. He insisted that Wonder Woman be chained or otherwise bound in every issue, telling his DC editor that 'women enjoy submission' - sparking reader complaints. On the other hand, he embodied some knuckle-dragging ideas, too. On one hand, Marston was a man of progressive politics, enthusiastically stating that a great women's movement was afoot. That creation was Diana Prince, who, upon landing in America from her isolated Paradise Island, donned the identity of Wonder Woman. Turns out that psychologist, William Moulton Marston, had a plan to combat such a crime - in the star-spangled form of a female warrior who could, time and again, escape the shackles of a man's world of inflated pride and prejudice.

Wonder woman by greg rucka vol 2