Knowledge Waits is a feature where I just share some bit of comic book history that interests me.

I thought it would be interesting to look to see how Wonder Womans Invisible Jet had evolved over the years.

We first saw the plane in Wonder Womans first full story (after her preview debut in All-Star Comics #8) in Sensation Comics #1 (by William Marston and H.G. Peter).

Awesomely, there is no explanation given for why Wonder Woman has an invisible plane.

We see in Wonder Woman #20 (by Joye Hummell and H.G. Peter) that the plane responds to her thoughts

And in Wonder Woman #26 (by Hummell and Peter), we see that it can go into the stratosphere!!

As Robert Kanigher took over the series, in Wonder Woman #45 he revealed that the plane no longer had propellers, so it was basically a jet

But when Ross Andru and Mike Esposito took over from H.G. Peter with Wonder Woman #98, the very next issue they revealed the new design of the invisible jet (making it look like the jets that they had been drawing for years in DCs war comics) and this was the look that would last pretty much from this point forward

A few different versions of the invisible jet were used on the Wonder Woman TV series

In Wonder Woman #261 (by Gerry Conway, Jose Delbo and Vince Colletta), the plane can now travel faster than the speed of light!!

And in Wonder Woman #312 (by Dan Mishkin and Don Heck), it is now sentient!!!

Then Crisis on Infinite Earths happened and George Perez just gave Wonder Woman the ability to fly, so she didnt need the jet, so it was not part of Wonder Womans Post-Crisis history until John Byrne introduced some characters who had an invisible jet in Wonder Woman #115

And then two issues later, they gave the special crystal to Wonder Woman, which would respond to her thoughts to create whatever she wanted

It eventually gained sentience and became a wonderful Dome for Wonder Woman, but in Wonder Woman #201 (early in Greg Ruckas first run), the Dome sacrificed its life to save Paradise Island.

Initially, the invisible jet really wasnt part of the New 52, but in Rebirth, Greg Rucka has made it so that when Steve Trevor crashed on Paradise Island, the Amazons fixed his ship and made it invisible, so now it is Steve Trevor who has an invisible plane.

I think you can make an argument that having Wonder Woman not have the ability to fly is a bit of a slight to her (thats surely what Perez was thinking when he gave her the power), but damn, man, the invisible jet is so cool!

If anyone else has a cool piece of comic book history that theyd like to see featured, feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!

ShareOn Facebook

Pint It

Email

Continued here:

The Evolution of Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet! - CBR (blog)