I wanted to visualize exactly when Wonder Woman using weapons of war (like swords and spears) became the dominant image of the character, especially since her early days were so incredibly anti-war.
The answer is that it became common after the âCrisis on Infinite Earthsâ reboot in 1987, and has increased ever since, with dramatic jumps in the last 10 years.
The only reason the percentage of sword and weapons isnât higher since the New 52 era began in 2012 is because there are many more Wonder Woman books being published (including Sensation Comics, Wonder Woman â77, and The Legend of Wonder Woman, all of which have very low sword use â and all of which exist outside of regular continuity).
Wonder Woman writer Greg Rucka suggested that we also look at covers that show her bound or shackled, so we did that too.Â
Rucka thought sword use would increase as bondage decreased over time. Heâs sort of right, but when you look at the whole picture what you see is an odd burst of bondage imagery in the late 1960s and â70s (which may be a backlash to the feminist movement), whereas the sword/weapon imagery is steadily increasing since the 1990s and exploding in the past 10 years.
One interesting thing: Wonder Woman actually had the LEAST amount of bondage on the covers when co-creator William Moulton Marston was alive in the 1940s. (Iâm sure the interiors tell an entirely different story, though.)
I had thought that as Wonder Woman used swords more often, she would use her lasso less. That doesnât appear to be the case:
What you see is a very heavy concentration of lasso use in the 1940s, followed by an extreme absence throughout the 1960s, and then ebbs and flows through today.Â
Data includes all Wonder Woman main titles, Sensation Comics, one-shots and miniseries, Superman/Wonder Woman (New 52), and Wonder Woman â77. Excludes all Justice League and team titles.