Worst Cover Ever: Wonder Woman Jumps The Shark

Despite Superman's well-documented reputation for having some of the craziest comics books of the Silver Age (late 50's through the 1960's), Wonder Woman comics probably equaled or even surpassed his when it came to the Crazy Quotient.

A hefty portion of that craziness came from Wonder Woman's covers, which featured more surreal situations, odd villains, and unintentionally kinky scenes that you could twirl at magic lasso at.

Take Wonder Woman #101 (1958) for instance:

Bringing a brow-raising new meaning to the term "jumping the shark", Wonder Woman's facial expression...well, in an effort to keep this blog at a PG rating, let's just say she appears to be enjoying shark wrestling more that she probably should. Pair that with very little evidence of actual clothing (beyond her slippers and the tiniest hint of her blue shorts) and Wonder Woman's rescue of the bewildered pilot seems to become something else entirely.

Even though the "Undersea Trap" blurb and the shark should clearly set the action underwater, the presense of the fighter jet and the poorly detailed background give the impression the action is taking place high in the sky instead of the briny deeps.

Judging by his facial expression, is the pilot relieved to be rescued, or shocked and mildly annoyed by the spectacle before him? And what's his right hand doing?

Obviously, with so much confusion and controversy swirling through this scene, the cover's failed in its mission to communicate and, instead, becomes the latest deserving addition to my Worst Cover Ever gallery.

Comments

[Wes C]

While I don't think it's a great cover by any stretch of the imagination, I'm not sure it's THAT bad. I agree the setting is confusing and yes she does seem to be having a really, really good time.

I'd say compared to some of the stinkers (the Thor cover and those awful, awful Mike Grell covers) it comes out smelling like a rose.

Amazons wrestling sharks = beauty ;)

[suedenim]

The main problem I have with this one is that the setting is confusing. The juxtaposition of shark vs. airplane is (intentionally, I'm sure) weird, but the art sells the "underwater" aspect poorly.

At first glance, it almost seems marginally more likely that WW is tussling with a flying shark that's somehow attacking a plane in the air.

You've got the bubbles (and the shark itself), but just about everything else fails to suggest an underwater scene. The plane's cockpit is watertight? Sure seems that way, and the pilot's reaction is more mild surprise at seeing a shark outside than "OMG, I'm going to drown within seconds unless Wonder Woman beats that shark!"

[Brian Disco Snell]

But that's what makes it scary--it's a FLYING SHARK!!!! The bubbles are just foam flying of the shark's mouth, because he's a RABID FLYING SHARK!!!!!!!!

[Brian]

Is it an airplane? I thought it was too, at first, then wondered if it was some kind of james bond-like undersea vehicle or something. Of course, the very fact we're having to determine this shows how poorly thought out the cover is. Maybe not as bad as some-- I'd agree with Wes that's it's more "funny" than "bad"-- but certainly not a GOOD cover, in any case.

Of course, maybe the shark is a Skrull! (: (Sorry, couldn't resist).

[Nimbus]

I dunno. To me, WW looks like she's asleep (not sure what that says about my love life). But, yeah, I agree with everything else.

[Pat Curley]

The other odd thing is that the canopy is not open, so she's not really protecting Steve Trevor (I assume that's the pilot). Of course, you could argue that only by getting the shark away could Steve eject, but that's a little more abstract than if they had the canopy open.

[Mark Engblom]

"I dunno. To me, WW looks like she's asleep..."

Yeah, the deep sleep.....of total ecstasy!

Okay. I'll stop now.

[MaGnUs]

Ah, I've seen much worse covers.

[Jeff]

Kind of phalic, but isn't WW against that kind of thing?

[Matt]

With this cover and all the others, per usual your assessments are hilarious and spot-on. Unfortunate some didn't *get* the bad=hilariously funny thing.

Anyhoo...