Wonder Woman w/o Powers Pt. 23: Wonder Woman #197

Touted as a 48-page “Special Issue” (“Bigger & Better”), Wonder Woman #197 is a glorified reprint/combination of #181 and #182. When I say, “glorified,” I mean it’s been recolored and liberties have been taken with original layouts and panel sizes. At one point, page composition diverges where the newer issue has compacted areas that contained ad space in the older issue.

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I don’t think you’d notice if you weren’t comparing them page-by-page, but of course I did. I didn’t see any new panels in the newer book, but I found a few missing that appeared in the older book. For example, page three from #182 is nowhere to be found in #197. You also gain or lose a little real estate in some specific panels as sizes and shapes change in the new version.

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#197 then steals a few panels from page four of #183 to create a bridge for #198, which you’ll soon read was another reprint issue. You can read a full review of Wonder Woman #181 here, and #182 here.

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Wonder Woman’s Write-In

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I found a couple of comments on the letters page that made me smile. First, in previous issues, readers have address letters to Wonder Woman herself. Here, Deborah Rust explains her reason for that:

I wrote to Wonder Woman instead of the Editor because I sort of like to think of Wonder Woman as being almost a real heroine, especially now that she has no more power than you or I.

Then, the “new editors" end the column with a note:

We, the new editors of Wonder Woman would like to thank all of you for your continuing enthusiasm, whether for the old or the new versions of our favorite heroine.

Without commenting specifically on your suggestions, we will only say that great new adventures are in store for Diana and her inscrutable cohort I-Ching. Watch for a special announcement by script writer Denny O’Neil in the next issue of Wonder Woman. It’s a tip-off on the shape of things to come.

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Title: Wonder Woman

Issue #: 197

Cover Date: Nov./Dec. 1971

On Sale Date: Sept. 2, 1971

Writer: Denny O'Neil

Penciller: Mike Sekowsky

Inker: Dick Giordano

Editor: Dorothy Woolfolk