#becausebirds

Fashion Friday

It’s a bird, it’s a W, it’s Wonder Woman!

The gold symbol on Wonder Woman’s bodice morphed over time. In her 1942 solo debut, the symbol is a bird with an eye, talons, and curved lines to represent feathers. In 1967, the symbol is still a bird, but the talons and eye are gone, and the feather lines are straight. In 1978, the symbol is so abstract, a reader might not see the points as a bird’s head and legs or the vertical lines as feathers. By 1983, the symbol is clearly a W, but the straight, parallel lines and the way the W is stretched are remnants of the original bird.

These issues of Wonder Woman came from a variety of publishers. The first image (issue no. 1) is a DC Comics millennium edition of the 1942 first issue. Although DC Comics used the Comics Code Authority seal of approval through January 2011, the practice began in 1954, which could explain why it is not included on a 2000 edition of a 1942 issue. 

The second image (issue no.173) was published by National Periodical Publications. The third image (issue no. 239) and fourth image (issue no. 300) were published by DC Comics.