One Panel #662-664: Golden Age Kink

From Wonder Woman: "The Return of Diana Prince" by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Sensation Comics #9 (September 1942)

No surprise that there's a lot of bondage in Golden Age Wonder Woman strips, or that Diana Prince is into it (a side of foot fetish there as well, in the art), because consensual submission was the whole point. But even if Marston was going by psychological theories, it's still a shame that so many female heroes had a sexual component to titillate the boys presumably reading rather than inspire the girls who otherwise might have.

From Phantom Lady: "The Spy Ring Murder" by Arthur F. Peddy, Police Comics #11 (September 1942)

Case in point: The Phantom Lady. Though not quite as under-dressed as she would later be, and kicking ass as much as her male colleagues do, her strip nevertheless ends in a bubble bath. (I asked my girl friends and they think is relatable, so what do I know?)

From Wildfire: "Monte Rose, dead on the floor!" by Robert Turner and Jim Mooney, Smash Comics #35 (September 1942)

See? Even Wildfire, whose power levels are off the charts in terms of Golden Age heroes, has to undress on-panel. Sure it's just pulling up a sweater, but the pose is entirely voyeuristic, as if traced from a pic of a woman drying her hair as she comes out of the shower.

I'd much rather be showing panels where they use their fists and powers, and we'll get back to that now that the point has been made.

Comments

"blah blah"? Somebody is going to be working for a new job.