Cover: Mike Sekowsky & Dick Giordano

Wonder Woman #190

Sep 1970 · DC · 0.15 USD

📊 ~25,309 copies sold its debut month

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Detour”

About this Issue

Wonder Woman #190 sits squarely at the midpoint of the so-called 'Diana Prince era' (issues #178–204), the controversial 1968–1973 stretch during which Diana surrendered her Amazon powers, her costume, and her mythological trappings to become a mod civilian martial artist — a creative gamble that ignited a national feminist debate and ultimately forced DC's hand in restoring the character's classic identity. The issue is a representative artifact of that pivotal period: a powerless, non-costumed Diana navigating a sword-and-sorcery dimension entirely on her wits, her I-Ching-taught combat skills, and her nerve, encapsulating the stripped-down, genre-blending storytelling that defined the era. While #190 does not carry a landmark first appearance, it opens the two-part 'Detour' arc that introduces Ranagor and the alien world of Chalandor, minor but catalogued additions to the Diana Prince mythology. Its larger significance lies in context: the cultural backlash against the depowered Diana — eventually championed in print by Gloria Steinem — was already building when this issue went on sale, making every issue of this window a historical marker in the debate over how comics portray female power.

writer, artist Mike Sekowsky · inker Dick Giordano · letterer John Costanza · cover Mike Sekowsky, Dick Giordano

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $17

CGC 9.8 · 1 in census $824*

CGC 9.6 · 1 in census $659

CGC 9.4 · 7 in census $141*

CGC 9.2 · 4 in census $99

CGC 9.0 · 5 in census $87

CGC 8.5 · 4 in census $66*

Show all 15 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 3 in census $61*

CGC 7.5 · 4 in census $54*

CGC 7.0 · 3 in census $45*

CGC 6.5 · 2 in census $41*

CGC 6.0 none in existence

CGC 5.5 · 3 in census $31

CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $29*

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $27*

CGC 4.0 · 1 in census $25*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

Find on ebay

Search eBay for Wonder Woman #190 ▸

No confirmed live listings for this exact issue right now — this opens an eBay search.

Read it digitally

DC Universe Infinite DC’s subscription reader ▸ Amazon Kindle Buy the digital edition ▸

Opens a search on each platform — digital availability varies by title.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

The Diana Prince era was architected by editor Jack Miller, writer Dennis O'Neil, and artist-plotter Mike Sekowsky beginning with #178 (1968), with the premise — drawn from the British TV series The Avengers and Diana Rigg's Emma Peel — of making Diana a fashionable, self-reliant civilian martial artist rather than a mythological powerhouse. By issue #182, Sekowsky had consolidated creative control as writer-editor-artist, and #190 falls squarely within his solo tenure. Sekowsky, who had previously been the defining artist on Justice League of America, brought a romance-comics glamour and kinetic layout energy to the run; ComicsAlliance has noted that his work on these issues drew on 'Romance comics, ad design, and a hint of Steranko.' The issue was published bi-monthly by National Periodical Publications (DC's formal indicia name at the time) and went on sale July 2, 1970, per copyright registration records.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover date: September–October 1970; on-sale date July 2, 1970 (per GCD copyright registration data).
Mike Sekowsky is credited as writer, penciller, AND editor — a rare triple role that defined the entire middle stretch of the Diana Prince era (approximately #182–198).
Story title: 'Detour' — a two-part arc continued and concluded in issue #191.
First appearance of Ranagor, a sword-and-sorcery barbarian, and the alien gladiatorial world of Chalandor, including its antagonist the Queen of Chalandor and shadow creatures called Shadowmen.
The issue falls within the 'Diana Prince era' (#178–204), in which Wonder Woman had voluntarily surrendered her Amazon powers and costume to remain in 'Man's World,' replacing superpower-based heroics with I-Ching-taught martial arts and espionage-style adventures.
Published bi-monthly by National Periodical Publications Inc. under the DC/Superman National Comics brand; approved by the Comics Code Authority.
The story has been reprinted in: Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Vol. 3 (DC, 2008), Wonder Woman: Diana Prince: Celebrating the '60s Omnibus (DC, 2018/2019), and — in black-and-white reframed format — in the French anthology Aventures Fiction #51 (Arédit-Artima, 1976).
The Diana Prince era that this issue belongs to directly influenced the 1974 Wonder Woman TV movie starring Cathy Lee Crosby, in which Diana was portrayed as a non-superpowered spy rather than an Amazonian warrior.