Wonder Woman: The encyclopedia of comic book heroes, Volume 2

Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes Volume 2 - Wonder Woman is a complete chronicle of the world and adventures of one of the most beloved and enduring heroines in the history of comic books. A massive work of research. written in a clear, lucid prose that crackles with excitement. this book explores every conceivable aspect of the Wonder Woman legend. Its pages brim with enough pulse-pounding adventure and scholarly detail to thrill the hearts of Wonder Woman fans, pop culture enthusiasts, nostalgia buffs. feminist theoreticians, and general readers everywhere. Lurking within this volume are such archetypes of male chauvinism as Doctor Psycho. a "psychopathic madman" whose all-consuming passion is "to enslave the women of the world;' as well as more conventional megalomaniacs like Egg Fu the First, a crafty creation of the Red Chinese, possessing "the most baleful brain that has ever been steeped in Oriental cunning for the sole purpose of annihilating the free world!" But none of them are a match for Wonder Woman, the alluring Amazon princess who is "as lovely as Aphrodite, as wise as Athena, as fleet as Mercury, and as strong as Hercules," Her adventures in a world fraught with such evils and dangers constitute a complex feminist mythology of surprising beauty, richness, and imagination. Michael Fleisher has now restored that mythology to us, in all its intricacy and depth. Look up "Cheetah" and find a meticulously detailed article. Look up "Amazons" and find a compelling entry that could as well be a treatise on some exotic remote culture, complete with surveys of its history, laws, customs, myths, and scientific achievements. The article on Wonder Woman herself, over fifty pages long, is the definitive biography of the character. In it, Fleisher examines every aspect of the 'Wonder 'Woman mythos, including its darker side. reflected in its treatment of such psychologically charged topics as sadism, slavery, humiliation. and bondage.