Wonder Woman – Volume 1 – 171


Wonder Woman – Volume 1 – 171

General Info

Issue No:
171
On Sale Date:
May 1967
Cover Date:
July-August 1967
Era:
Silver Age
Story Title:
Terror Trap of the Demon Man-Fish!
Menace of the Mouse Man!

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:
Mouse Man, Man Fish
Olympians:
N/A
Amazons:
Hippolyta
Other:
N/A
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Synopsis - First Story

One day in her office at Military Intelligence HQ Diana is startled by a mouse and leaps up onto a chair. She smiles to herself how the world would laugh if they knew that Wonder Woman in her secret identity of Diana Prince jumped onto a chair to avoid a harmless little creature like a mouse!

The mouse scurries off as the door starts to open and Steve Trevor enters, calling for Wonder Woman. She remembers that she was supposed to be meeting him here as Wonder Woman and Diana dives behind the curtains. She manages to change into her costume but before she can remove her glasses Steve pops his head around the curtain and sees her. He assumes the Amazon Princess is just trying on Diana’s glasses to pass the time and comments how beautiful she still looks.

Shortly at State prison, the celebrated pair visits a most unusual inmate. Wonder Woman is stroking the cat that guards the diminutive villain and asks Mouse Man, who is imprisoned inside a bird cage suspended inside a jail cell, if she can do anything to make his life more comfortable while he pays for his crimes and reforms himself. He replies that she can take the cat away so he can escape and make her life miserable for capturing him in the first place!

She tells him she will visit him again next month and hopes he will see the error of his ways. As she and Steve depart, Mouse Man thinks to himself that he has already figured out a way to distract the cat in order for him to escape…

Meanwhile outside the prison Steve says to the Amazon princess that he wishes she would devote as much time to him as she does to the criminals she has put behind bars. She replies that every prisoner deserves a chance to reform which is why she makes these visits. She then bids goodbye and leaps up to her waiting robot plane, saying that she is spending the weekend with her mother on Paradise Island.

A short jet flight later she arrives at her homeland and is welcomed by her Amazon sisters. Wonder Woman rushes into the arms of her waiting mother who asks if everything is OK. The Amazon princess assures her worrying mother that all is well but later, as Hippolyta watches her daughter sleeping in her bed, the Queen continues to worry. Diana is so young to be entrusted with such a mission, daily risking her life.

The next day the famous Amazon “Keyhole-Leaping” contest is held whereby Amazons attempt to dive through the hole of a large wooden padlock in one move. None of the contestants are successful until Wonder Woman tries and dives gracefully through without touching the sides. Next a Tug-Of-War is held and Wonder Woman stands between the two teams, holding the end of each rope. As each team try to pull her towards their side she holds her ground and without breaking a sweat pulls the teams towards her until they lose their footing and fall over.

Later, as Wonder Woman and her fellow Amazons relax on rocks by the shoreline, a massive Man-Fish surfaces, holding a giant net and trident. It is clear he intends to capture the Amazons and as he attempts to hurl the net over them, Wonder Woman leaps up against the net, ensuring only she is ensnared. The Man-Fish recognises her as the Princess of the Amazons and grabs her. The other Amazons watch in horror as he dives beneath the waves taking his prize with him! They dive into the water to give chase but the Man-Fish easily outdistances them.

At the bottom of the sea the Man-Fish opens the cover of a huge bowl and drops Wonder Woman inside. Three Mermaids swim up to meet her and throw several punches at her. Picking up on their telepathic thoughts, she hears that they believe the Man-Fish has placed her here to be Queen over them. The Amazon Princess fights back and thinks that she does not want to be Queen and just wants to get out! These Mermaids have obviously been here so long that they have forgotten what it is to be free. She then throws a powerful punch against the side of the fish bowl but makes no dent in it. She thinks quickly and removes her tiara, using its sharp edges to cut a hole in the bowl. She the knocks out the circular section she has cut and makes her escape. The delighted Mermaids are about to follow her to freedom when the Man-Fish uses his trident to stop Wonder Woman in her tracks.

The Mermaids freeze, too frightened to escape as the man-Fish whips up the massive trident with the struggling Amazon still trapped between its prongs. Wonder Woman uses her strength to prise apart the Times and frees herself. She clouts the Man-Fish feet first but as she leaps towards the ocean floor his massive hand reaches for her. But she proves too quick for him and his blow falls short. She then dives inside a large clamshell as the man-Fish again attempts to hit each shell in turn, intent on finding which one she is hiding inside of. But as she gets closer and she decides to make an escape he proves fleeter than she had anticipated and he manages to connect his fist. Dazed, she scurries into a giant Sponge as she lunges at her. The infuriated Man-Fish seizes the sponge and squeezes. Ejected from her hiding place like a pea popped from its pod, Wonder Woman uses her momentum to unleash rocket like blows against the savage beast.

With the Man-Fish out for the count, she turns to free the captive Mermaids but finds three more Man-Fish have arrives intent on capturing her! The ingenious Amazon whips a giant roll of seaweed about her for camouflage and with dazzling speed curls the weed around the surprised creatures. With the hands pinned by the weed, she clouts each of them unconscious before freeing the Mermaids from their prison. They carry her loft in gratitude, telling her that from now on she will be recognised by their kind as an honorary Mermaid!

A little later back on Paradise Island, Queen Hippolyta sees her daughter arrive back at the palace and comments that her daughter looks a little more rested than when she arrived. Wonder Woman smiles knowingly and replies that she would have more time to visit if criminals like Mouse Man would reform. She hopes he does and sets an example for others to follow. She then bids farewell to Hippolyta and boards her plane for the journey back to Man’s World.

Synopsis - Second Story

As Wonder Woman races back to Man’s World onboard her invisible plane she thinks to herself how nice it would be to find that criminals like Mouse Man had reformed. But at that very moment in the prison where the tiny crook is being held, an escape is underway!

Mouse Man directs his fellow mice to serve as a distraction to the cat that sits outside his prison cell. The Tabby chases after the fleeing mice as the villain uses the opportunity to dart out between the bars and make a run for it. Outside he finds there is a river surrounding the prison but undeterred, he orders River Rats to form a living bridge across which he can walk. Once on the other side, he races into the city to reap his revenge upon Wonder Woman!

The next day the Amazon Princess reads the news of Mouse Man’s escape and vows to bring him to justice. It does not take long for Mouse Man to make his first move when he and a group of squeaking mice terrorise the women at the Exclusive Diamond a Go-Go Club. As the terrified females leap up onto their chairs, their jewellery tumbles to the floor and Mouse Man directs the mice to pick up the booty.

The following day Wonder Woman reads of the robbery and plans a trap to lure Mouse Man out of his hiding place. She arranges a charity catwalk show whereby women dressed as Amazons will exhibit jewellery to raise money for good causes. For his part, when Mouse Man learns of the event he muses to himself that this is just the sort of thing to appeal to him – and he is sure Wonder Woman not only knows that fact but planned the whole thing! He therefore decides to do a little planning of his own.

And so on the day of the event, instead of Mouse Man and his minions appearing at the dazzling event, a group of armed hoods burst in having been tipped off by Mouse Man. As they attempt to rob the audience though Wonder Woman appears from nowhere and charges at the crooks whop fire upon her. As she deflects the bullets with her bracelets, she thinks that she has expected it to be Mouse Man’s gang instead of these gun happy goons.

With their guns proving ineffective, they decide to rush the beautiful Amazon in an attempt to take her down by sheer force of numbers, but she turns into a human whirlwind from which the gang rebound. In the midst of the battle though, Wonder Woman is unaware of the stealthy approach of Mouse Man and she reacts too late to stop him whipping her magic lasso from her belt. He quickly loops the golden rope around her forehead and orders her to lift him up. Unable to disobey she does as he asks and he then instructs her to leap through the window and escape before the police arrive on the scene.

Holding the lasso like a lead, he commands Wonder Woman to make a hasty exit down the street back to his hideout which turns out to be a dusty old shop filled with Cowboy and Indian toys. She comments that the shop is so dusty it is enough to make one sneeze but Mouse Man ignores her and making her lie down, he trusses her up tightly in her own lasso so that she is “as helpless as a Thanksgiving Day Turkey!”. Her fate will also be that of a Turkey’s too!

She asks him how on earth he can breathe with all this dust around and she offers to clean the place if he frees her! He replies that she cannot fool him and she must obey him as long as he holds the lasso. She agrees, but adds that he cannot force her not to sneeze however! With that she lets out a huge sneeze which sends the tiny crook tumbling away, making him lose his grip on the lasso. Instantly Wonder Woman shakes off her bonds and orders Mouse Man to surrender. The villain, who decides to hide amongst the toys, has other ideas and as she tries to grab him he darts in and out of the toy soldiers, constantly avoiding her grasp. She realises he has the same advantage over her as she had held over the Man Fish a few days earlier.

Suddenly Mouse Man unleashes a torrent of missiles from the various toy catapults and cannons and Wonder Woman is forced to protect herself. The villain uses her distraction to draw his Ray Pistol, intent on firing it at her in order to put her to sleep so he can take her prisoner again. But at that very moment Wonder Woman changes her tact and instead of sneezing breaths in a tremendous breath of air. Like a huge vacuum cleaner the mighty Amazon’s breath draws everything in Mouse Man’s hideout towards her including the crook himself! She catches him as he tumbles through the air and reminds him that no matter how small a package crime comes in, this time they will find a cell that will hold him permanently! With that Wonder Woman lets at the mother of all sneezes and the captured Mouse Man has to cover his ears in indignation and defeat!

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