Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston.
Links
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
For more on
Marston and
Golden Age Wonder Woman
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In an October 25, 1940, interview with the Family Circle magazine, William Moulton Marston discussed the unfulfilled potential of the comic book medium. This article caught the attention of comics publisher Max Gaines, who hired Marston as an educational consultant for National Periodicals and All-American Publications, two of the companies that would merge to form DC Comics,
William Moulton Marston, a psychologist struck upon an idea for a new kind of superhero, one who would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love. “Fine,” said his wife Elizabeth, also a psychologist, “But make her a woman.”
Marston introduced the idea to Gaines. Given the go ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman, whom he believed to be a model of that era’s unconventional, liberated woman. Wonder Woman’s bracelets (which she used to deflect bullets) were inspired by the jewelry bracelets worn by Olive Byrne, who lived with the Marston and his wife Elizabeth, in a polyamorous relationship.
Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8 (cover date Dec/Jan 1941/1942, released in October 1941).scripted by Marston.
Marston was the creator of the systolic blood pressure test, which became one component of the modern polygraph invented by John Augustus
Wonder Woman’s Magic Lasso is a form of a lie detector.
Marston designed Wonder Woman to be an allegory for the ideal love leader; the kind of women who he believed should run society. “Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who, I believe, should rule the world,” Marston wrote.
In a 1943 issue of The American Scholar, Marston wrote: “Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don’t want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women’s strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. 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.”
William Moulton Marston was an outspoken feminist, and firm believer in the superiority of women. He described bondage and submission as a “respectable and noble practice”. Marston wrote in a weakness for Wonder Woman, which was attached to a fictional stipulation that he dubbed "Aphrodite’s Law’, that made the chaining of her “Bracelets of Submission” together by a man take away her Amazonian super strength.
“The only hope for peace is to teach people who are full of pep and unbounded force to enjoy being bound…only when the control of self by others is more pleasant than the unbound assertion of self in human relationships can we hope for a stable, peaceful human society.”
Wonder Woman often ended up in chains before inevitably breaking free. This not only represented Marston’s affinity for bondage, but women’s subjugation, which he roundly rejected.
His major contribution to psychology came when he generated the DISC characteristics of emotions and behavior of normal people (at the time, ‘normal’ had the meaning of 'typical rather than an antonym for 'abnormal). Marston, after conducting research on human emotions, published his findings in his 1928 book called Emotions of Normal People in which he explained that people illustrate their emotions using four behavior types: Dominance (D), Inducement (I), Submission (S), and Compliance (C). He argued that these behavioral types came from people’s sense of self and their interaction with the environment. He included two dimensions that influenced people’s emotional behavior. The first dimension is whether a person views his environment as favorable or unfavorable. The second dimension is whether a person perceives himself as having control or lack of control over his environment.
Dominance produces activity in an antagonistic environment
Inducement produces activity in a favorable environment
Submission produces passivity in a favorable environment
Compliance produces passivity in an antagonistic environment.
Marston posited that there is a masculine notion of freedom that is inherently anarchic and violent and an opposing feminine notion based on 'Love Allure" that leads to an ideal state of submission to loving authority.
H G Peter most lasting work came when the 61-year-old was the artist on Wonder Woman. Before that, he did illustration for Suffragettes Magazines. Wonder Woman was inspired in part by Varga Girl centerfolds in Esquire that Marston viewed as “erotic” and “Cosmopolitan.” Her costume was inspired by Marston’s interest in erotic pinup art, as he wanted her feminine appearance to help counteract the intense masculinity of other comic characters. Wonder Woman was also directly inspired by characteristics and mannerisms of Marston’s wife and mistress, both of whom lived with him.
Peter continued with Wonder Woman until his death in 1958.
In 1947 Wonder Woman creator Marston dies. His wife Elizabeth asks for her being given the right to write Wonder Woman, as she worked with her husband on it. DC refuses.