Comments
Again we have two stories in this issue and Wonder Woman is pitted against a couple of her most famous arch enemies. The first tale features the deadly Cheetah while the second the evil and twisted Dr. Psycho.
Wonder Woman – Volume 1 – 160
General Info
Issue No:
160
On Sale Date:
December 1965
Cover Date:
February-March 1966
Era:
Silver Age
Story Title:
The Amazon of Terror! Dr. Psycho's Revenge
Creative Team
Cover Artist:
Ross Andru, Mike Esposito
Writer:
Robert Kanigher
Penciller:
Ross Andru
Inker:
Mike Esposito
Letterer:
N/A
Colourist:
N/A
Editor:
Robert Kanigher
Characters
Main:
Wonder Woman (Diana Prince), Steve Trevor
Heroes:
N/A
Villains:
Cheetah, Doctor Psycho
Olympians:
Aphrodite, Mars (Ares), Athena
Amazons:
N/A
Other:
N/A
Synopsis - First Story
At the Washington Zoo crowds look on in astonishment at the latest exhibit in her cage. The strange creature, half woman, half cat smiles back at them enjoying the attention as this is exactly what she is after. The Cheetah plans for her gang to steal the priceless Exhibit of Extinct Animals for her client Baron Von Hohenzo.
She turns to the Tiger who sits nearby and beckons it over. The crowd gasp, fearing the worst as the massive beast pads over to the woman but it simply purrs and licks her hand. unknown to everyone of course is the fact that Cheetah has already doped the Tiger.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the huge zoological park Lt. Diana Prince and Major Steve Trevor are taking a stroll. Steve is saying to Diana that although she is a wonderful girl it is an “Angel” that he needs and that his Angel is Wonder Woman! When is he ever going to see her again? Diana replies that he should be patient as she is sure he will see her again but he should remember her first mission is to fight crime and injustice in Man’s World. She in turn thinks to herself that she finds him so cute he could easily make her spend all of her time with him!
They see an Elephant strolling towards them giving rides to members of the public and Steve gets out his camera. As he kneels down to get a good shot the camera click disturbs the beast and it steps forward suddenly, stamping on Steve’s foot! As the Elephant bears down on him, set to trample him completely, Diana darts behind a nearby tree and transforms into Wonder Woman. She leaps into action and lifts the huge Elephant up into the air, freeing Steve. He smiles at her and jokes it was worth almost getting flattened just to see her. He leans forward to kiss her, adding that while her hands are full she is helpless but she runs away still carrying the Elephant!
A little later Wonder Woman is sitting at the base of a tree while Steve lies on her lap. The Amazon Princess muses that she does not want Steve to pierce her secret identity and recognise that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman are one and the same. On the other hand though, she does not like the fact that he seems so indifferent to her when she is Diana Prince even though she is the same person. Perhaps his love is just surface based?
Steve then asks her what makes her stronger than Hercules? Is it some Amazon secret formula? She smiles and replies that there is nothing secret about it. Amazons can release brain energy into their muscles at will, giving them super strength and anyone can do it with will power and training. Steve responds that he certainly has the will and he might as well start training right now – to make her marry him! He continues that she should confess she is getting weaker by the second and that soon she will say “yes”!
But before Wonder Woman can respond they hear shots in the distance and they see Cheetah and her armed gang who are dressed in monkey suits riding towards them in a transport buggy, loaded with stolen money. The feline orders them out of the way and Steve wonders if this his opportunity to impress Wonder Woman into marrying him by capturing these clowns?! With a reckless leap her jumps on board and piles into the gang. Even though he is outnumbered, Steve fights desperately with gallant disregard for the odds but it is only a matter of seconds before he is floored by a punch. Cheetah stands over the fallen major pointing her gun at him and orders Wonder Woman to surrender or else her boyfriend dies. The helpless Amazon has no choice but to obey!
She raises her hands in the air in surrender but Cheetah has a change of mind and decides to finish the Amazon. She orders one of her gang members to drive at full speed towards Wonder Woman in order to run her down! But as the train hits the immobile Amazon Princess it simply crumples like a stick of chewing gum! A furious Cheetah then orders the others to open fire but the Amazon deftly deflects the bullets using her bracelets. The ensuing ricochets send the gang diving for cover and Cheetah uses the chaos to slip away.
The gang surrenders from the onslaught and Wonder Woman and Steve escort them to the police station. Cheetah watches them leave from her hiding place and thinks to herself that she is more beautiful than Wonder Woman and she will get her revenge, using her weakness for that “soldier boy” to do it!
Later that night after trailing Steve home she peers into his window and listens in as he muses to himself. Steve wonders if there is some magic machine to release his brain energy into his muscles at will. That way, he would be as strong as her, maybe stronger, and she would be so attracted to him she would marry him the next time he asked. Cheetah sees her opportunity and when Steve leaves the room for a moment she picks up an ornament globe and holds it up as Steve re-enters. Using a soothing voice, she tells the Major that he should gaze into the “magic” globe as it will help him release his brain energy. Steve stares intently at it while Cheetah slowly hypnotises him, telling him that he will see her as the most beautiful woman in the world…
A few hours later Wonder Woman arrives, having become concerned when Steve had not shown up for their dinner date. He is usually right on time with seasonal flowers in hand. When she steps inside the room she is heartbroken to see Steve and Cheetah kissing and caressing on the sofa! Tears roll down her face as she asks Steve how he could love a criminal when she thought he loved her? How could he do this to her? While the mighty Amazon is shattered by the sight of the only man she had ever known in the arms of her arch enemy, Cheetah uses the chance to whip the golden lasso from Wonder Woman’s belt. She swiftly binds her foe and powerless to disobey, Cheetah orders her to summon her invisible plane and carry her and Steve aboard.
Cheetah then instructs Wonder Woman to fly to her secret hideout where she has quite a surprise for the Amazon. A short while later they land at a secret camp where Cheetah’s private army awaits. The feline villainess explains that they will fight for the highest bidder regardless of which country is putting up the money. Despite his hypnotised state, Steve’s army training starts to break through the fog enveloping his mind and he becomes outraged at the soldiers smiling back at him, impersonating real America soldiers. He tries to rip the uniform from the nearest one raging it is a disgrace and a struggle ensues.
The end is inevitable though and the helpless Wonder Woman watches as the dauntless Steve is crushed by sheer weight of numbers. A gloating Cheetah decides that before her army starts taking pot shots at Wonder Woman she will ensure this time that her foe will not be able to play bullets and bracelets. She orders Wonder Woman to remove them but the Amazon Princess hesitates, explaining that she swore to Aphrodite never to remove them. She does not know what would happen if she did and she begs Cheetah not to make her do it. But Cheetah insists and so Wonder Woman slowly takes each bracelet off.
Suddenly, without the bracelets that bind her to a lifetime of submission and service to the cause of good and loving kindness, a strange glare transforms her face and she lets out a scream. Like a human hurricane she lashes out at everything about her. Cheetah is sent flaying and the lasso is torn from her grip as Wonder Woman piles into the soldiers. Cheetah realises she has let the genie out of the bottle as a dazed Steve stares at the unleashed Amazon, turning the huge Arms Depot into the chaos of a junkyard! He wonders what could have turned her into such a raging demon and suddenly notices she no longer has her bracelets on. As he reaches form them where they are still lying on the floor Wonder Woman charges at him, intent on attacking. As she leaps at him though he manages to turn his body and hold up the bracelets in such a way that her hands slide through them! She grabs his shoulders and swings her head down as if to head butt him, but instead plants a big kiss on his lips! She thanks Hear she is herself again and shudders to think what she would have done to Steve otherwise.
Even while her gang is taken away by the Authorities, the crafty Cheetah remains hidden behind one of the upturned tanks. She thinks to herself that the Amazon’s brute force is incredible and she must figure out a way to control her again. But suddenly the feline foe finds her tale yanked and Wonder Woman drags her away, telling her that she is being taken to a special prison, where she will pay her debt to society and learn the Amazon ways of service to those in need and loving kindness!
Synopsis - Second Story
Mars, the God of War, seethes as he watches Wonder Woman’s daily exploits in combating evil in Man’s World. He vows vengeance and is overheard by Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty and Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. Mars spits that women are the natural slaves of men and he will teach Wonder Woman that she cannot treat them like puppets. But the two Goddesses remind him that the Amazon Princess is as beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Mercury and stronger than Hercules. What mere man can beat that combination of powers? Mars thinks to himself that her beauty and wisdom count for nothing but what makes her invincible is her swiftness and strength. This has given him an idea…
The instrument of vengeance is the evil genius Dr. Psycho, who hates all women because they laugh at him for being a skinny runt and always choose to date muscle bound athletes with pea brains! Mars whispers in his ear that Wonder Woman is the worst of all and he can show Psycho how to smash the Amazon and forever prove his superiority to all women!
Shortly at a Charity Circus attended by Wonder Woman, five strong men attempt to lift a 25,000 pound bar bell between them. The watching crowd gasp as Wonder Woman effortlessly lifts both the bar bell and the men up into the air with one hand! She then leaps into the circus ring and outruns a speeding chariot still carrying the massive load. Suddenly the skinny, midget frame of Psycho steps into the ring with her and he declares that Wonder Woman is a fake and he can prove it! The watching crowd guffaws with laughter when they hear this but Psycho thinks to himself that they will all laugh on the other side of their faces when he gets through with the Amazon!
He shouts out to the crowd, asking that they must think the Amazon is a wonder woman because she can lift a weight right? The Amazon Princess warns him not to hurt himself as he steps towards the bar bell. But, startling both her and the crowd, he lifts the weight and Wonder Woman into the air one handed! Then, further confounding Wonder Woman and the spectators, he leaps into the air with her and outpaces a nearby human cannonball who has just been fired!
He casually tosses bar bell to the ground sending the Amazon tumbling ungainly to the floor in humiliation! The crowd begin to shout out that if a runt like Psycho can do that to Wonder Woman, then they must have been fooled and the Amazon really is a fake! As the dejected Wonder Woman is forced to exit the ring, head bowed, the women in the crowd cry out that women are not stronger than men or even their equals after all! Wonder Woman had falsely raised their hopes and that in fact females really are the inferiors of men!
At last, the watching Mars has cause to rejoice and jeer at the two Goddesses. He gloats that they had given him the idea to steal her strength and speed temporarily and give them to Dr. Psycho. Now all the Amazon Princess has left is her beauty and wisdom – useless virtues against power and speed! In beating Wonder Woman, he continues, he has also beaten them! Wonder Woman will not be able to redeem herself and womankind has been made to look inferior!
But, women are unpredictable as Dr. Psycho soon finds out. The audience begins to leave and the villain asks why they are not staying to admire him? He had just shown them that besides being a giant intellect he is stronger and faster than any pretty bird brain. But the women in the crowd just laugh at the ugly midget.
Some minutes later the auditorium is empty and unobserved, Wonder Woman looks on at the dejected form of Psycho who sits forlornly in the ring. She feels so sorry for the little man and approaches him. She tells him that women are blind sometimes to the real virtues of a man. She adds that he should be patient because eventually someone will recognise his true value. But still imbued with her strength and speed, he pushes her over, spitting that she does not fool him and that she is laughing at him like the rest of the women! He swiftly grabs her magic lasso and ensnares her in its coils, telling her he will make her a prisoner of her own weapon just as he is a prisoner of his own ridiculous body!
Wonder Woman then pays the penalty of allowing herself to be bound by her own golden lasso as Psycho humiliates her again, instructing her to do perform a somersault, spin on her nose and fall over like a clumsy duck! The watching Mars roars with laughter again, crowing to the two Goddesses that women are men’s plaything and without her strength and speed, Wonder Woman is nothing! But Aphrodite and Athena reply that a woman has powers other than just strength and speed.
Psycho continues her denunciation, ordering the once mighty Wonder Woman to look at herself sprawled like a rag doll – the champion of all women flat as a pancake! And he was the one to do it to her! The dwarf that every woman scorned! How Wonder Woman must really hate him now! But the Amazon Princess replies that far from feeling hate she actually pities him. He must have been terribly hurt in the past. He accuses her of lying and orders her through the power of the lasso to admit that she would scorn him if free. However, she still replies that she does not scorn him and would like to be his friend. Psycho though still does not believe her, asking how a beautiful woman like her would ever want to be his friend?
He then commands her to bounce like a human ping pong ball on her head until she tells the truth! As she leaps around the ring he yells at her to admit she is lying but she refuses to change her response, adding how terribly he must have suffered to make him act this way and how she feels truly sorry for him. With Satanic cunning, Psycho suddenly switches tactics and releases the lasso, telling her she is now free to laugh at him with content. But he is stunned by her beauty and wisdom when she says she would still like to become his friend. She holds out her hand and at the tough of her soft feminine skin he stammers that no woman has ever taken his hand in hers before. It is like holding silk.
But the memory of his past intrudes like a storm once more and he steps back, accusing her of trying to trick him. She replies that she will do anything to prove she is telling the truth and all he has to do is name it. He replies that he has her now, as no woman has ever let him kiss her. Wonder Woman can prove that everything she has said is true by letting him kiss a beauty like her without recoiling from him in disgust. She pauses and he starts to say that he knew she was lying but is cut short as she softly kisses him on the cheek. The watching Mars’ laughter turns to rage at the sight of this and he vows to teach the skinny fool a lesson for letting the Amazon’s beauty and brains conquer his borrowed strength and speed.
Just then Steve Trevor enters the auditorium having heard what had happened and sees Wonder Woman kissing Dr. Psycho. He apologises for intruding and embarrassedly turns to leave. Wonder Woman tells Psycho that she has to rush after Steve in order to explain things and that she is sure Psycho understands. The dwarf replies that he understands all too well and that she had lied to him just like the other women! With that he lifts the massive pole holding up the Circus tent with the intention of bringing it crashing down on Steve and Wonder Woman. But he suddenly finds his strength has deserted him and the pole begins to topple. Just in time Wonder Woman, her own strength restored, catches it and places it upright again. Psycho uses the opportunity to escape and vows revenge on Wonder Woman for making him look a fool.
Later after Wonder Woman has explained everything to Steve, he replies that he feels sorry for the little guy but that she would not encounter situations like this if she were married to him! She replies that she cannot as long as she can help anyone in distress, whether it is a whole nation or Dr. Psycho.
