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This issue is the final story before the Wonder Woman character receives a major (and some may argue drastic) overhaul. With sales of the book ever declining, the editorial staff at DC decided to take a gamble and re-fashion their most iconic female hero to match the times. In issue 178, they set about putting that vision in motion, which sees almost everything that William Moulton Marston had created thrown away and replaced by a hip, sixties, female version of James Bond, which some have suggested bore more than a passing resemblance to Diana Rigg’s character, “Emma Peel”, who starred in the popular TV show “The Avengers”. Below is the announcement that appears at the end of the issue.

Even to this day fans remain divided about this bold new direction. Did it help save a book that was fast approaching cancellation or was it a travesty, merely pandering to the popularistic fad of the moment? Either way, the new, “improved” Wonder Woman would be around for a few years before a halt was called to the great experiment as a result of public demand.

As this was a “final” issue of sorts, DC took the opportunity of having Supergirl guest star and having the novelty of their two most famous heroines battling each other “to the death”.