Comments
This special Treasury sized Collectors Edition was one of several that were published around this period. This anthology issue features a Wonder Woman story reprinted from Wonder Woman #6.
Limited Collectors’ Edition – C45 More Secret Origins Super-Villains
General Info
Issue No:
C-45
On Sale Date:
March 1976
Cover Date:
June - July 1976
Era:
Bronze Age
Story Title:
Wonder Woman and the Cheetah
Creative Team
Cover Artist:
Dick Giordano
Writer:
William Marston
Penciller:
Harry G. Peter
Inker:
Harry G. Peter
Letterer:
N/A
Colourist:
N/A
Editor:
E. Nelson Bridwell, Sheldon Mayer (original editor)
Characters
Main:
Wonder Woman (Diana Prince/Princess Diana)
Heroes:
N/A
Villains:
Cheetah (Priscilla Rich)
Olympians:
N/A
Amazons:
N/A
Other:
Steve Trevor, Etta Candy, Courtley Darling, Inspector Dugan, Detective Casey
Synopsis
Wonder Woman headlines a much-awaited charity performance, but her popularity inadvertently angers program spokeswoman Priscilla Rich. Consumed with near-psychotic jealousy, Priscilla secretly sabotages Wonder Woman’s main act, a complex water-tank escape; though she nearly drowns, the Amazing Amazon improvises quickly enough to escape, winning even more accolades.
After the performance, Priscilla’s ego continues to deteriorate, reaching a nadir when event treasurer Courtley Darling cancels a date in favour of partying with Wonder Woman. As she broods at her bedroom vanity, Priscilla is suddenly confronted by her repressed “secret” personality: a snarling, ruthless, beast-like woman. This alternate personality quickly dominates Priscilla, driving her to create a costume from a cheetah-skin rug, and become a new villainess, the Cheetah.
Possessing all the stealth and grace of her namesake, the Cheetah effortlessly steals the money Wonder Woman’s performance had raised, then sneaks into Wonder Woman’s bedroom and prepares to knife the sleeping Amazon. Only a last-second whim convinces her to forgo the murder, and instead frame her enemies for stealing the money. The next day, Wonder Woman and Darling are charged, but the former accepts all blame, leaving Darling free.
Hours later, Wonder Woman is sent bail and a lawyer’s card by an anonymous “friend”. The card leads her to a local granary, where she finds the Cheetah and a bound Darling. At gunpoint, the Cheetah forces her enemies to jump into the main wheat-bin, meaning for them to suffocate in its millions of grains. Meanwhile, Steve and Etta prepare a real lawyer for Wonder Woman, only to learn about her “friend” from the police; the pair find the granary just as Wonder Woman is starting to free herself, and help her save the near-suffocated Darling.
As the quartet escape the building, they find the Cheetah trying to burn it down. Upon seeing her quarry free, the Cheetah is paralysed with anger, and falls into her own blaze. The case now seems closed, Darling claiming to have a confession of the frame-up; nevertheless, Wonder Woman continues to ponder the truth behind her latest opponent.
