Wonder Woman was created by Dr. William Moulton Marston, using the
pseudonym Charles Moulton. He got the inspiration to create this
character from a theory he read by Dr. Ashley Montagu, called
"The Natural Superiority of Women." The artwork was done by Harry
G. Peter, and added to the success of Wonder Woman. Harry would
continue doing artwork for Wonder Woman until 1958. It is interesting
to note that Dr. Marston was also one of the chief developers of the
polygraph lie detector test. (I guess we now know why Wonder Woman has
a magic lasso that forces people to tell the truth!)
Wonder Woman was not only a comic book heroine--she was to become
a symbol for women's rights groups in their fight for equality in
society. She served as a role model for the leaders of these
groups. Wonder Woman represented a new breed of "strong women", in that
she came from an island where women were the dominant gender and was
herself extremely capable, physically and mentally, yet she did not shy
away from donning a rather skimpy costume, one that consisted of much less
than society was used to seeing on other feminist role models.
Wonder Woman had her first appearance in All-Star #8, but her origin continued in Sensation Comics #1. In 6 months time she would get her own comic book, Wonder Woman #1.
In the 1970's Wonder Woman would also make it to the small screen, in a T.V. series starring Linda Carter in the title role. Wonder Woman still lives on to this day in her own book.