Sensation Comics #1

History

The title was published under the J. R. Publishing Company imprint — one of DC's predecessor companies, All-American Publications — with M. C. Gaines serving as managing editor and Sheldon Mayer as assistant editor. The trademark for the Sensation Comics logo had been filed by M. Charles Gaines on December 17, 1940, suggesting the title was in planning long before Wonder Woman was conceived, and the trademark was officially granted in June 1942. Wonder Woman's lead story was written by William Moulton Marston (under his pen name Charles Moulton) and illustrated by Harry G. Peter, whose idiosyncratic linework Marston had specifically chosen; the Wildcat origin was scripted by Bill Finger — already known as a Batman co-creator — and drawn by Irwin Hasen; while the Gay Ghost and Mister Terrific features were the work of Gardner Fox/Howard Purcell and Charles Reizenstein/Everett E. Hibbard respectively. The on-sale date recorded by the U.S. Copyright Office was November 5, 1941 — meaning the book reached newsstands while the attack on Pearl Harbor was still weeks away.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First ongoing serial appearance of Wonder Woman (her second published appearance overall, after a promotional backup in All Star Comics #8, Oct.–Nov. 1941); the story establishes her civilian identity as Diana Prince and features the first appearance of her Invisible Plane.
• First appearance and origin of Wildcat (Ted Grant), written by Bill Finger and drawn by Irwin Hasen; Ted is a framed boxer who is inspired by reading a Green Lantern comic book to adopt a costumed hero identity — an early in-universe meta-reference to superhero publishing.
• First appearance and origin of Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane), created by writer Charles Reizenstein and artist Everett E. Hibbard (Hibbard drew only this issue before being replaced by Hal Sharp); Terry Sloane's origin is notable for incorporating suicidal depression as a character motivation, unusually dark for 1942.
• First appearance and origin of the Gay Ghost (Keith Everet, Earl of Strethmere), created by Gardner Fox and Howard Purcell; the character was retroactively renamed 'The Grim Ghost' in 1972 due to semantic drift in the word 'gay.'
• First appearance of Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys (Tommy Rogers, Tubby, and Toughy), a kid-hero feature that ran continuously in the title through Sensation Comics #82 (1948) — six straight years.
• The Black Pirate (Jon Valor) continues his adventures from Action Comics in this issue, with the story 'The Marriage of Jon Valor'; the character is one of DC's earliest swashbuckling historical features.
• Managing editor M. C. Gaines and assistant editor Sheldon Mayer oversaw the issue; the title's trademark had been filed by Gaines on December 17, 1940, and the official on-sale date was November 5, 1941.
• The entire issue has been reprinted multiple times, including Famous First Edition #C-30 (1974), DC's Millennium Edition (October 2000), Wonder Woman Archives Vol. 1 (1998), The Wonder Woman Chronicles #1 (2010), and Wonder Woman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (2016).

Cast · 31 characters

Full credits

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