A comic book reading guide to Steve Trevor
With the excellent Wonder Woman movie out in theaters, Diana is garnering a lot of new fans. And so is Steve Trevor…whatttt! This blog is getting a lot of new followers and many of you have asked where you can read more about Wonder Woman’s boyfriend. This post is meant for those of you who saw the movie but are new to comics (or specifically to Wonder Woman comics).
I’m going to break it down into eras and recommend some super shippy issues for each one.
Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston, believes that in order for men to be truly happy, they must lovingly submit to a strong, good woman’s authority. His idealized woman is Princess Diana, and the stand-in for the happy man: Steve Trevor.
Steve Trevor is a brave American Army captain who crash-lands onto Paradise Island. Diana rescues him and they’re both taken with each other pretty much immediately.
Princess Diana disguises herself as Diana Prince, Army Nurse, but hides her secret identity from Steve Trevor. There’s a love triangle between Diana Prince/Steve Trevor/Wonder Woman, which is often hilarious.
This era is marked by Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor, and their good friend Etta Candy (a sorority girl with a penchant for eating chocolate and punching Nazis) going on some really weird but amazing adventures.
Steve flirts/proposes to Diana near the end of almost every issue, but Diana says that she can’t marry him until “injustice and evil vanish from the earth.” Her affection for him is made very clear though.
What you should read: This is the era of Marston and HG Peter, the original and the *best* Wonder Woman creative team of all time! Pick up Wonder Woman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1 if you can’t track down the following individual issues.
Sensation Comics v1 #1-77
There are many people who *can’t stand* Steve Trevor, and that attitude largely comes from the comic books of this era. Can’t say I blame them: comics were reeling from criticism that they were too sexual, too violent, too subversive for children. So the new WW writer, Robert Kanigher, replaced Marston’s revolutionary theme of female superiority and replaced it with the traditional gender roles of the 1950s. Yup, womp womp.
In this era, Steve Trevor proposes to Wonder Woman a lot. This time though, he expects Wonder Woman to give up superheroing if she marries him – because married women don’t work. Thankfully, she keeps saying no because evil and injustice still exist in the world.
In 1968, Kanigher is finally replaced by Denny O’Neil, who decides to give Wonder Woman a complete overhaul: He kills off Steve Trevor and takes away Wonder Woman’s super powers. Womp womp #2.
What you should read: There are some cute WonderTrev moments in this era, but If you’re just starting out with Wonder Woman comics, you can skip the Silver Age.
Steve Trevor is dead! Wonder Woman has no powers! Then along comes Gloria Steinem (a Golden Age WW fan) who pressures DC editorial and Diana’s powers are restored. A handful of issues later (#223), Steve Trevor is brought back to life by Aphrodite, goddess of love.
Steve Trevor, round one: Diana and Steve live together! Because Steve Trevor is officially dead, this resurrected Steve dies his hair brown and goes by the name Steve Howard. The new WW writer is tired of Steve Howard/Trevor and kills him off again in #248.
Steve Trevor, round two: New WW writer Gerry Conway wanted to bring back Steve Trevor, so in #270, Aphrodite removes all memories of Steve Trevor from Diana’s/the world’s mind and a Steve Trevor from an alternate universe crash-lands onto Themyscira. Steve is new but his chemistry with Diana is timeless <3
What you should read: From #270 all the way to #329 we have some of the most romantic WonderTrev moments of all time. Read them all if you can! Steve is now a kickass Air Force colonel who is gentle, kind, sweet, and supportive. Diana literally calls him “a soft-headed teddy bear.” At the very end of the series, Steve gets his wish and finally marries his angel.
Wonder Woman v1 #300 (*the* issue to pick up)
The Legend of Wonder Woman v1 #1-4 (my favorite WW story ever!)
George Perez takes over Wonder Woman. He thinks that having a love interest makes Wonder Woman weak and so decides to age up Steve Trevor into a much older man to take him out of the running as a love interest completely. He also marries off old!Steve to an older Etta Candy. Later, he and John Byrne decide that Wonder Woman should have a “virginal” crush on Superman. Ugh.
What you should read: There are some great Wonder Woman stories from this era, but there was no WonderTrev for 30 years. You’re off the hook.
DC reset their entire Universe to “simplify” things. One of the more random decisions they made was to bring back a young Steve Trevor and make him Diana’s love interest. In the New 52, Steve Trevor is an Air Force Colonel who works as a government liaison to the Justice League. Also, for the first time ever, he has some adventures on his own.
DC also decided to go for a Twilight-inspired romance for Wonder Woman (…) and so had her dating Superman while Steve pined after her. This is a horrible, horrible decision which was reversed when DC did another soft reboot, called Rebirth.
Currently (in Rebirth) Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor are back together under the wise, affectionate pen of Greg Rucka, but he will be retiring from the title after issue #25. We’ll see what happens next!
What you should read: Start here! Start here!
Justice League Vol. 1: Origins
Wonder Woman Vol. 2: Year One
Wonder Woman Vol 1: The Lies
Wonder Woman Vol 3: The Truth
Then see this link, as you’re now caught up to the current day!
These are comic series released online that are self-contained. What happens in them doesn’t affect the main comics.
The Legend of Wonder Woman
Now go forth and indulge your ship! Aphrodite be with you!
