Wonder Woman #9
Wonder Woman #9 is the first appearance of Giganta, one of the most durable and recognizable villains in Wonder Woman's entire rogues' gallery — a character who has recurred in every major era of the comic, been adapted for television, and featured prominently in animation since the 1970s. The issue also debuts Queen Clea, who would go on to help anchor the supervillain collective Villainy Inc., cementing the issue's outsized role in building Wonder Woman's early villain ecosystem. The three-part 'Evolution Goes Haywire' storyline, in which Professor Zool's runaway machine cycles the cast through prehistory, the caveman era, and ancient Greece, represents some of William Moulton Marston's most imaginative science-fantasy plotting during the character's foundational Golden Age run. As one of the last issues published before the series reached its tenth number, it arrived at a moment when Marston and artist Harry G. Peter were still actively constructing the universe that would define Wonder Woman for decades.
In "Evolution Goes Haywire," Wonder Woman faces a bizarre twist when Steve Trevor's niece is taken by a gorilla, leading to a strange encounter with Professor Zool’s experimental evolution machine. The device, meant to transform the gorilla into a human, spirals out of control—sending everyone else back to prehistoric times. Written by Charles Moulton and illustrated with bold, iconic flair by H. G. Peter, this 1944 adventure blends science fiction and jungle mystery, with the cover by H. G. Peter capturing the story’s wild energy.
When Steve Trevor’s niece is taken by a gorilla, Wonder Woman captures the beast and delivers her to Professor Zool—only for the scientist’s evolution machine to go haywire, sending not just the gorilla, but everyone else in its path spiraling back to prehistoric times. Now, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Wonder Woman must race to undo the chaos before the past becomes permanent.
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The issue went on sale May 13, 1944, with a Summer 1944 cover date and a cover price of ten cents, during Marston's tenure as the sole creative architect of the Wonder Woman mythology. The editorial bench was unusually deep: Sheldon Mayer served as credited editor, former world-champion tennis player Alice Marble held the credited associate editor role she had taken on to create the 'Wonder Women of History' back-up feature, and both Julius Schwartz and Ted Udall contributed as uncredited assistant editors. The back cover carried a full-color Tootsie Roll advertisement strip — 'Captain Tootsie and the Secret Weapon' — drawn by C.C. Beck, the Captain Marvel artist who had co-created the Captain Tootsie character with writer Rod Reed in 1943; these back-cover ad strips were a recurring fixture across multiple issues of the series during this period.
Trivia · 9 facts
- First appearance of Giganta (villain): a gorilla named Giganta is artificially evolved into a red-haired superhumanly strong woman by Professor Zool's 'Evolutionizer' device; she goes on to become one of Wonder Woman's most persistent foes.
- First appearance of Queen Clea, the Atlantean villain who would later anchor the all-female supervillain team Villainy Inc.
- Written by William Moulton Marston (credited as 'Charles Moulton') and illustrated by Harry G. Peter, the creative team that founded the Wonder Woman series.
- Edited by Sheldon Mayer (credited); associate editor Alice Marble (credited); uncredited assistant editors Julius Schwartz and Ted Udall — per the Grand Comics Database.
- The issue's 'Wonder Women of History' back-up story spotlights Jane Addams of Hull House, scripted by Alice Marble as part of her ongoing educational feature celebrating influential women; Marble personally created this feature for the title.
- Back cover features the Tootsie Roll advertisement strip 'Captain Tootsie and the Secret Weapon,' drawn by C.C. Beck and written by Rod Reed — introducing catalog characters Captain Tootsie and his sidekick Rollo (of the Secret Legion) to readers of this issue. The strip character had debuted in Ace Comics #76 (July 1943) before being placed as back-cover ads across multiple DC/All-American titles.
- The three-part main narrative involves a runaway evolution machine that cycles the cast backwards and forwards through prehistory, the caveman age, and ancient Greece before returning them to 1944 — one of the most elaborate science-fantasy plots in the early Wonder Woman run.
- Reprinted in Wonder Woman Archives Vol. 4.
- Giganta's signature size-changing power was NOT present in this Golden Age debut — that ability was introduced decades later on television in Hanna-Barbera's Challenge of the Superfriends (1978) and only retroactively folded into comics continuity.
Cast · 2 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Wonder Woman Archives #4 (2004), Wonder Woman: The Golden Age Omnibus #2 (2017), Wonder Woman: The Golden Age #3 (2019)
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