Originally, I had planned this as two posts–one about great coming out scenes in comics, and the other focusing on coming out stories from members of the comics community. But as I looked through what I had lined up–and heard from you–they started to bleed together.

I considered setting these up with a table of contents and target links but finally decided against it–less because I’m lazy than because every single one of these stories deserves your full attention. You don’t get to pick and choose your sexuality; you don’t get to turn a blind eye to lives and experiences; and you don’t get to choose which stories you see.

Some of these stories contain links to comics and stories off-site. Please show their creators and hosts the same respect you would be expected to on the Inside Out forum.

And, a final note to friends in and out of comics: Inside Out is not an inherently political column–but queer visibility and rights are an inherently political issue. This November, three states have ballot items defining marriage as “between one man and one woman.” If you live in Florida, California, or Arizona, please, please get out to the polls and vote NO against propositions 2, 8, and 102, respectively. And even if you don’t live in those states, take a few minutes to make a donation or some phone calls and strike a blow for equal rights:

http://sayno2.com/index.php

http://noonprop8.com/home

http://www.votenoprop102.com/web/index.php

And now, stories!

Arion Hunter:

For a long time, I was interested in comics, but could never find a space for myself in the comics culture. The one time I did visit my local store, the man behind the counter watched me the entire time as if he expected me to shoplift. Unsurprisingly, I was suitably scared off of comics after that.

So on my first day of college, I randomly ran into another freshman and we hit it off rather well. It turns out she was a huge fan of comics, and so I agreed to head back to her dorm to inspect her collection. I had, up to this point, not been out to anyone around me. As a test of the waters, I made an off-hand comment about ‘probably not meeting another gay person on campus.’ She looks at me, laughs, and says, “Well, you just met one.”

She’s still one of my best friends to this day.

Siduri (originally posted at http://shannon.users.sonic.net/blog/?p=99):

National Coming Out Day is October 11, so it’s come and gone for 2007 and it’s a long way away for 2008. It’s been a while since I felt any need to mark this holiday. But I recently got into a conversation about gay marriage on a mailing list I frequent, and I realized: for a lot of people, I’m in the closet. I’m a wife and mother, and some people—the people I’ve met recently, including my husband’s wonderful family—wouldn’t have any reason to realize that I’m queer.

So here we go. I’m a bi woman. I’m one hundred percent monogamous and one hundred percent devoted to my husband, but in the past I’ve had girlfriends as well as boyfriends. Not at the same time—that’s called being polyamorous, and it’s a different thing from being bi—I’m bi and I’m monogamous. But I’ve had girlfriends, at least one who I deeply loved, and she’s still important to me. I would never repudiate that part of who I am.

The way the dice fell for me, my soulmate is a man, and so I could marry him. But they might have fallen another way. I could have ended up in love, forever, with a woman. That’s why the issue of gay marriage is so very important to me. And also, of course, some of my dearest friends are gay, and I witness the very real and ongoing harm that our country’s unjust laws are wreaking.

I get a ton of legal benefits from being in a heterosexual marriage. That’s actually why I don’t talk more about being bi. It seems presumptive to claim a queer identity when I’m enjoying so much heterosexual status and privilege. But I came out to my friends and family a long time ago, and I’m not willing to go back into the closet.

Hearts and minds are changed when people realize that “gay” isn’t some scary person they see on TV, it’s a real person they know and love. I’m a faithful wife and a loving mother, and I’m bisexual. If you didn’t already know that about me, surprise! Maybe it won’t make a difference to you and maybe it will, but it’s something I want everybody to know. Happy Coming Out Day, late or early, and God bless us every one.

Joe Palmer of Gay League:

My whole coming out story is a gradual one and not all that exciting in its retelling. I have early memories of when I was four and five, having an internal monologue and knowing something about me was fundamentally different from everyone else around me. I didn’t have a word for it. Who does at that age. It wasn’t till I overheard my grandmother whom I loved dearly tell my mother she’d “better cut loose the apron strings or she’d have a sissy on her hands” that I knew there was a word for it and hearing it reinforced the understanding to never let anyone know. I was six years old.

My understanding began to clear up some when I became fascinated with watching TV shows like Batman and Robin, Green Hornet, and Star Trek. I was consumed with looking at Kato, Sulu, and Chekov, Imagine my surprise when George Takei publicly came out. Around this time I discovered comics. Unlike a lot of gay men, my coming out and sexuality don’t have a strong, early connection and identification with Wonder Woman. It’s almost heretical, right? I fall into another group because the Legion of Super Heroes became my first and lasting passion. Here was a group of teens, more guys than girls, living together without parents. It was how I came to understand the idea of a chosen family and it was an extremely important idea for a nine-year old whose family was very dysfunctional. Of course, it was impossible for comics to have any gay content back then. This is 1967 after all and the Comics Code Authority is at full strength. Like with TV shows, there were male characters I became fascinated with, especially Ultra Boy and Element Lad. Unlike TV, comics were an entirely private ritual that allowed me to gradually come to understanding that realization of being different I had as a young child.

At one point when I was a teenager my father tried to stop me from reading comics because they had nothing to do with Christianity and were therefore Satanic. He watched television for hours on end so I thought tit for tat would be good. For two or three weeks I blacked out everything in the TV Guide that wasn’t a Sunday morning religious broadcast, and got my message across. If he’d had any real idea how I’d related to comics I think he wouldn’t have relented.

The following are coming-out stories–personal and fictional–in comics form. Follow the links to read the full comics.

I Like Girls, by Erika Moen, was part of the inspiration for this post. I read this for the first time when I was in college, long before I met Erika, and it remains one of the most powerful coming-out narratives I’ve read. For another incredible comic by Erika on coming out and why visibility matters, read When We Hold Hands.

Erika writes:

“I Like Girls” was originally written as an essay for my “Memoir and Autobiography” class, freshman year of college. I had JUST gotten into my first openly gay relationship and had not yet come out to my (homophobic) mom, so the paper was kind of a mental practice/preparation for that.

The comic I didn’t start working on until my sophmore year– again, I think I did it for a class? An art class? I don’t exactly recall, but it is still the longest single comic I’ve ever completed and even though the artwork is oldy moldy it’s still the project I’m most proud of.

Everyone always asks if I came out to my mom by having her read the comic. That’d be a great story, but no, I did not. I told her face-to-face towards the end of freshman year, so she already knew (and was in denial) before I started illustrating my essay.

After four years, my mom is as supporitve as she possibly can be (Though it’s no secret she desperately would prefer me straight)

I Like Girls, by Erika Moen

Brian Andersen, of Unabashedly Billie:

I have been a comic reader since I was a wee little boy of 8. Comics were (and still are) my safe haven from all the meanies and bullies at school who harassed me relentlessly (stupid, dumb jerks!). Growing up I always felt awkward and different and didn’t realize that my outsider feelings were because I was totally, completely, and utterly gay! In fact, I didn’t even come out until I was 26 whopping years old! “Unabashedly Billie” is my semi-autobiographical comic book story of my coming out, my first date with my now boyfriend (we’re going on eight years together) and all the internal fears and joys that went along with me discovering and accepting the real me! Yay!

Unabashedly Billie, by Brian Andersen and Preston Nesbit

proggirl:

My comics about being out appeared in Lavender magazine, but that was years ago.
My characters have been coming out their entire lives (at least the GLBT ones!).
Here’s a page I did lo these many years ago for Gay comics #25:
http://www.bcholmes.org/images/foxtown/trannytowers.gif
I’ve done little comics work dealing with sexuality in recent years- maybe I’ve said what I have to say, or else I just want to think about it for a while before I say anything else.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed stories and comics–and to everyone who has stood up and spoken out about queer rights and identity, in and out of comics.

You can discuss this post–and share more stories–here (I’ll add stories to this post as/if they arrive!).

But I’m going to make up for lost time, and you’re going to help–and with luck, so will your friends.

Here’s the deal: I’m going to do two National Coming Out Day posts (after this one). The first is going to be a round-up of coming-out scenes in comics; if you’re interested in contributing one of your favorites, you can do so here. I’ll be posting them at Inside Out on Thursday, October 9.

The second is going to be more personal: it’s going to be about coming out around comics and the comics community. If you have a personal coming-out story in which comics or the comics community play a role; have created a comic about your coming out story; came out via a comic or in context of your involvement in the comics community; or are an openly queer comics fan or professional, and you would be interested in sharing your story, you can do so here. I’ll be posting those stories on Inside Out on National Coming Out Day (Saturday, October 11). If you’d like to share a story on the forum but don’t want me to post it in Inside Out, just let me know in your post or in a PM; likewise, if you’d like to share a story anonymously, you can PM me on the Girl-Wonder forum or email me at rachel(at)girl-wonder(dot)org.

In the meantime, here are some links to check out for inspiration–creative or personal:

Prism Comics
A nonprofit organization that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) comics, creators, and readers. They’re one of the coolest advocacy organizations in comics.

The Gay League
An online community for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Transexual, and just plain friendly comic fans, collectors and creators worldwide. The purpose of the Gay League is to have a safe, hate-free, fun environment to read about, discuss, review, discover, trade, buy, sell, and learn information about comics – and make some friends online along the way. For some historical perspective, check out their LGBT Comics Timeline.

Coming Out in the Comic Strips
David Applegate writes about queer characters in newspaper comic strips.

The Cartoon Closet
Another article on queer characters in comic strips.

Creators Speak Out
PopImage’s Q&A with 16 queer comics creators.

Queer Comics Make Impact
A brief roundup of GLBT comics-related news from July of this year.

Why It Still Matters
In which I talk about queer comics characters and paper mirrors.

Talk Back:
Tell me about your favorite coming-out stories in comics here.
Tell your own coming-out story here.
Discuss this column and share more GLBT comics and resources here.

It’s grown.

I’m proud to announce a new, ongoing part of Girl-Wonder’s work: CAHP, the Con Anti-Harassment Project. The CAHP’s goal is to help make conventions safer, more fun, and more accessible by encouraging organizers to establish, articulate, and act upon clear anti-harassment policies. We’ve got a letter-writing guide complete with templates; a database of conventions, policies, and contact information; resources for organizers; and a comprehensive faq; and a moderated safe-space forum!

You can discuss this column, and CAHP’s future, here.

Let me make one thing abundantly clear: by harassment, I am not just talking about wolf whistles, “Nice costume” comments, or accidental touch. ComiCon is crowded–REALLY crowded. It is pretty much impossible to navigate without coming into physical contact with another person. What I’m talking about is people deliberately touching, stalking, demanding sexual favors from, or actively harassing other congoers–fans and professionals–without consent. These things are not only rude, they’re illegal.

Which may go a fair way to explain why ComiCon international doesn’t have a clear policy against them in their programs or do much in the way of briefing their security staff. It makes a certain amount of sense–after all, they don’t, say, explicitly tell you not to shoot heroin on the floor, but it’s pretty well taken as read that that’s not appropriate at a convention. I’d like to think that’s because most con organizers are decent people and therefore assume that this stuff should be a matter of common sense.

But apparently, in the case of physical and sexual harassment and assault, common sense isn’t enough. There are still people who treat these things as a default part of con culture, who don’t get that there’s one hell of a difference between telling someone that you like her costume and adding that it would look better on your hotel room floor; or that not everyone wants to be hugged; or that “woman working at a booth” does not equal “booth babe”; or that “booth babe” does not equal “petting zoo”–or, from another angle, that “favorite and/or famous creator” does not equal “fan property.”

I am not suggesting that ComiCon install propriety police, or that congoers should walk around with their hands in their pockets at all times, or that it’s anything short of ridiculous to expect to have a three-foot (or one-foot, or six-inch) radius of personal space on a crowded con floor. What I am saying is that ComiCon desperately needs a clear, public policy against personal harassment.

In light of their quick response to the fake SDCC MySpace page (you remember–the one with the “Girls Who Like Comics & Geeks” section), I’m inclined to believe that the folks behind ComiCon International are open and responsive to attendees feedback. In fact, they post their contact information right on their front page.

You can probably guess where this is heading.

If you think that ComiCon International needs to articulate a clear policy against personal harassment in their programs, please drop them a line and say so. (And when you do, please be polite, patient, and respectful. As I wrote above, this doesn’t look like malevolence to me–just omission.)

You can reach them via the following means:

EMAIL:

cci-info@comic-con.org

SNAIL MAIL:

Comic-Con International
P.O. Box 128458
San Diego, CA 92112-8458

San Diego, CA

HOTLINE: 619-491-2475
FAX: 619-414-1022

And, while you’re at it, check other cons–local or otherwise, comics or gaming or scifi or whatever you’re into–and if they don’t have clear personal harassment policies, float them a line, too.

You can pool info, network, and discuss this column here.

Hello, everyone. John here. I “help” Bully out with his blog, but there’s some things can’t be said in the voice of a little stuffed bull.

A couple weeks ago at San Diego Comic-Con incidents of sexual harassment were confided to me and I overheard others. I wanted to write about it but was uncertain whether Bully’s blog was the proper place. After much thought and discussions with friends and colleagues I’ve decided to post it here:

Overheard at San Diego Comic-Con while I was having lunch on the balcony of the Convention Center on Sunday July 27: a bunch of guys looking at the digital photos on the camera of another, while he narrated: “These were the Ghostbusters girls. That one, I grabbed her ass, ’cause I wanted to see what her reaction was.” This was only one example of several instances of harassment, stalking or assault that I saw at San Diego this time.

1. One of my friends was working at a con booth selling books. She was stalked by a man who came to her booth several times, pestering her to get together for a date that night. One of her co-workers chased him off the final time.

2. On Friday, just before the show closed, this same woman was closing up her tables when a group of four men came to her booth, started taking photographs of her, telling her she was the “prettiest girl at the con.” They they entered the booth, started hugging and kissing her and taking photographs of themselves doing so. She was confused and scared, but they left quickly after doing that.

3. Another friend of mine, a woman running her own booth: on Friday a man came to her booth and openly criticized her drawing ability and sense of design. Reports from others in the same section of the floor confirmed he’d targeted several women with the same sort of abuse and criticism.

Quite simply, this behavior has got to stop at Comic-Con. It should never be a sort of place where anyone, man or woman, feels unsafe or attacked either verbally or physically in any shape or form. There are those, sadly, who get off on this sort of behavior and assault, whether it’s to professional booth models, cosplayers or costumed women, or women who are just there to work. This is not acceptable behavior under any circumstance, no matter what you look like or how you’re dressed, whether you are in a Princess Leia slave girl outfit or business casual for running your booth.

On Saturday, the day after the second event I described above, I pulled out my convention book to investigate what you can do and who you can speak to after such an occurrence. On page two of the book there is a large grey box outlining “Convention Policies,” which contain rules against smoking, live animals, wheeled handcarts, recording at video presentations, drawing or aiming your replica weapon, and giving your badge to others. There is nothing about attendee-to-attendee personal behavior.

Page three of the book contains a “Where Is It?” guide to specific Comic-Con events and services. There’s no general information room or desk listed, nor is there a contact location for security, so I go to the Guest Relations Desk. I speak to a volunteer manning the desk; she’s sympathetic to the situation but who doesn’t have a clear answer to my question: “What’s Comic-Con’s policy and method of dealing with complaints about harassment?” She directs me to the nearest security guard, who is also sympathetic listening to my reports, but short of the women wanting to report the incidents with the names of their harassers, there’s little that can be done.

“I understand that,” I tell them both, “but what I’m asking is more hypothetical and informational: if there is a set Comic-Con policy on harassment and physical and verbal abuse on Con attendees and exhibitors, and if so, what’s the specific procedure by which someone should report it, and specifically where should they go?” But this wasn’t a question either could answer.

So, according to published con policy, there is no tolerance for smoking, drawn weapons, personal pages or selling bootleg videos on the floor, and these rules are written down in black and white in the con booklet. There is not a word in the written rules about harassment or the like. I would like to see something like “Comic-Con has zero tolerance for harassment or violence against any of our attendees or exhibitors. Please report instances to a security guard or the Con Office in room XXX.”

The first step to preventing such harassment is giving its victims the knowledge that they can safely and swiftly report such instances to someone in authority. Having no published guideline, and indeed being unable to give a clear answer to questions about it, gives harassment and violence one more rep-tape loophole to hide behind.

I enjoyed Comic-Con. I’m looking forward to coming back next year. So, in fact, are the two women whose experiences I’ve retold above. Aside from those instances, they had a good time at the show. But those instances of harassment shouldn’t have happened at all, and that they did under no clear-cut instructions about what to do sadly invites the continuation of such behavior, or even worse.

I don’t understand why there’s no such written policy about what is not tolerated and what to do when this happens. Is there anyone at Comic-Con able to explain this? Does a similar written policy exist in the booklets for other conventions (SF, comics or otherwise) that could be used as a model? Can it be adapted or adapted, and enforced, for Comic-Con? As the leading event of the comics and pop culture world, Comic-Con should work to make everyone who attends feel comfortable and safe.

I really don’t have anything to add except for HELL, YEAH.

Not gonna create a new thread for this, since there’s already one up on the politics of touch and harassment at conventions , in relation to my response to a specific incident. Feel free to respond there, or back at Comics Ought to Be Good.

What I am going to do is take advantage of this particular debacle to repeat a point that I’ve belabored at length to friends and on forums–but not yet in this column.

It is hard as hell to break into comics (or any industry) as a writer or artist. And it is awfully easy to jump at the first chance you see to get your work published and visible, and, in the process, to make horrible mistakes. There are entire businesses built around exploiting newcomers and aspiring professionals, and there are people who will cheerfully take you for all you’re worth and do so in a way that will leave you with no legal recourse whatsoever. It’s reprehensible, and it’s infuriating, it’s awfully common.

So, here is my Excellent and Useful Advice to Aspiring Comics Creators:

Don’t Rush In.
It’s easy to be blinded by the excitement of being offered what looks like your first professional contract. Don’t. Take the time to read any document before you sign it (no-brainer, right?) and to become at least superficially familiar with the terms that are likely to come up.

Know Your Rights.
Pick up a copy of Tad Crawford’s Legal Guide for the Visual Artist or the equivalent, and read it; then pass it along to your friends and make them read it, too.

Know What You Want.
As you learn what goes into professional creative contracts, know what you are looking for. Know what points are negotiable and which will be deal-breakers for you. There’s nothing inherently wrong with signing away rights–IF you know what you’re doing and have a good reason for it–but know your terms and don’t let anything slip past.

Question Everything.
If you need or want clarification on a point in your contract, ask BEFORE you sign it. If the wording is unclear, request that it be rephrased.

Check References.
Talk to creators and agents, and see what they have to say about the publisher. Have any of them worked directly with that publisher? If so, are they still working with them? If not, why not? What works well for one creator may not be good for another, so the wider a range of people you can talk to, the better.

Support Unscrewed.
As far as I know, Unscrewed is the comics industry’s only creators’ rights watchdog organization. It is a grassroots project that rose out of creators’ frustration with a horribly exploitative publisher who had a long history of thoroughly abusing the artists and writers he hired, and who was able to get away with it because there was no organized means for creators to warn each other about this scumbag. Since then, Unscrewed has been doing its damnedest on little-to-no budget and volunteers’ efforts to keep an eye on the comics industry and help prevent the kind of shit that led to its founding. It is the kind of organization that works best if you work for it–the more people involved, the better and more through and effective a resource it will become.

Don’t let publishers get away with this shit. They know better, and you should, too.

Discuss this column here.

One of the people I talked to was a guy in his thirties or forties. He had stopped reading comics decades ago but had returned recently; when I asked him why, he said it was because of Young Avengers, specifically Hulkling and Wiccan: for the first time in his life, there were gay characters in superhero comics who were more than stereotypes, with whom he could actually identify.

This stuff matters more than most of us will ever realize, because we are more or less privileged enough to see ourselves–or at least facets of ourselves–reflected in almost everything we read. Our paper mirrors are everywhere. We have a lot of representations to choose from. This is why it matters when there are–and when there aren’t–characters of color, queer characters, non-Christian characters, disabled characters. This isn’t just about demographics, or representation. It’s about identification and validation: the day you finally get to open a book and discover that it’s not just lip service, that comics really are for you, too. That someone gets it.

Think about what that means for a minute. And when you choose comics, and read comics, and make comics, keep thinking about it. We need more mirrors, and we need mirrors that reflect a wider range of faces, because there is NO ONE who does not crave–or does not deserve–that moment of genuine identification.

Tell me about your paper mirror moments–or the ones you’re still waiting for.

Today is April Fool’s Day.

It’s also the first day of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Last year, I recognized this month with a series of semiweekly posts about sexual violence in comics and real life. I’m not going to drag myself back over that ground this year: it is tremendously difficult and draining, and I don’t have the energy right now.

What I am going to do is offer the Inside Out forum as a safe space to discuss issues of sexual violence in and out of comics. Like last year, I will be moderating those discussions closely.

And I really am going to start posting regularly again, probably starting this weekend. =)

If you’re interested, you can find my April 2007 Sexual Assault Awareness Month series here:

Introduction

Rape in the Gutters

Writing Sexual Violence, Part 1

Writing Sexual Violence, Part 2

The Widowmaker

Is It Too Much to Ask?

Rape Is Rape Is Rape

Same-Sex Assault

The Morning After

Coda: The Widowmaker Revisited

There’s Something About Wonder Woman – Introduction
There’s Something About Lynda Carter / Blogging for Choice
Less than Wonderful

In all of the preceding posts, I’ve argued that Wonder Woman as she appeared on Playboy represented an idea, not just a character. I think I’ve pretty well covered the bases in terms of what Wonder Woman means to me, so today’s going to be a roundup of links on Wonder Woman’s significance as a character and an icon.

The Legacy of Wonder Woman

Wonder-Working Power

Wonder Woman Strong as Ever – Even at 65

Dignity in Satin: Part One
Dignity in Satin: Part Two
Dignity in Satin: Part Three
Dignity in Satin: Part Four

Wonder Woman Museum

The Inheritance of Same-and-Other, Human-and-Amazon: A Brief Review of Wonder Woman #14

Loving Wonder Woman

Diana Prince: Wonder Woman

The Significance of Gail Simone

The Right and Wrong Way to Write Wonder Woman

That’s Not Power

Post more links and share your thoughtshere.

I’ve spent the previous two posts introducing a few perspectives on Wonder Woman, but thus far, I’ve skirted fairly clear of both my own attitude toward the character and how it relates to the cover of the February 2008 issue of Playboy. So, that’s where we’re going today.

Much of the following is copied and pasted from something I posted in a forum discussion last week, because it’s the best I’ve managed so far to articulate my thoughts on this issue:

I don’t find the pretty girl-in-body-paint offensive. I’m basically in favor of pretty girls in body paint.
I don’t even find the girl-in-body-paint-as-Wonder Woman offensive. As others have commented, it’s no more revealing than her costume has been in the comics.
I don’t find the idea of Wonder Woman as sexy offensive.
I don’t find the idea of a centerfold dressing as, pretending to be, acting in the role of, or identifying with Wonder Woman offensive.

I do object to the fact that Playboy, which should really know better – after all, they go out of their way to come off as culturally savvy – coopted THE feminist icon, removed all the strength and spirit (which is part of what’s so sexy about Wonder Woman in the first place) and reduced her to nothing but a limp smexxx object.

I object to their claims that they were dressing Tiffany Fallon as Wonder Woman in homage to Lynda Carter – an outspoken feminist who has made it very, very clear that to her, Wonder Woman is all about feminism and strength.

I object to the fact that they chose to use that particular image in the heat of the first presidential election with a viable female – and feminist – candidate, who has likewise been reduced in popular media to nothing but a characature of feminine weakness.

I object to the fact that DC / TimeWarner, which is notoriously overprotective of their trademarks, has refused to comment on this – in the process, awarding it their implicit approval.

I object to DC / TimeWarner effectively pimping out the most powerful female character in comics and the most enduring feminist icon of the twentieth century.

And this makes me a million times angrier than the WonderThong and SexySexyDanger of the WW comics, because this ISN’T limited to the comics. It’s Playboy, which is a whole other scale of exposure and cultural impact. This is not misuse of Wonder Woman the character – it’s misuse of Wonder Woman the symbol, which, in my book, is a hell of a lot more important.

Yes, Wonder Woman is sexy. Yes, the early WW comics do cheerfully display a good number of William Moulton Marston’s kinks. But at the same time, Wonder Woman is maybe the ONLY superhero created explicitly for girls, to be a visibly strong woman at a time when there really weren’t any of that stripe in popular culture: Marston wrote about her creation, “”Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don’t want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women’s strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.” She still represented that in 1971, when she made what until now was her best-known magazine cover appearance, and in the mid-seventies, when Lynda Carter played her on television.

And she still represents that today.

Discuss this column here.