Origin Stories

Wonder Woman begins with more detail and background than any other comic we have read so far. Superman, for example, only spends a few panels discussing his origin. The reader is left using their imagination to come up with why Superman's home planet was destroyed and what his ancestors were like. In fact, I skipped ahead and flipped through Batman and found a similar lack of background; you'll be disappointed with the one panel about why Bruce Wayne chooses the "bat" as his inspiration.

On the one hand, I'd like to simply say that Wonder Woman had a more detailed origin story (in TWO comics actually) because it makes her story more interesting. On the other hand, I wonder if Martson felt she needed a background linking her to the ancient Greek gods to help justify a woman superhero. After all, Wonder Woman was the very first female superhero in a male-dominated world.

It's hard to answer this question from a 1940s point-of-view. I personally find it more bizarre that Superman and Batman lack any in-depth story about their background. But maybe that was the norm, and Wonder Woman needed a little bit extra to validate her power. I'd like to hear what other people think.