Wonder Woman Holiday Gift Guide 2012

If the commercials I’ve been seeing since before Halloween are any indication, the holiday season is upon us, so it’s time for our third annual Wonder Woman Holiday Gift Guide!!  If you’ve got a Wonder Woman fan in your life or you’re compiling your own Christmas list to send to Santa, look no further.  I’ve got you covered.

Each item is linked to a website that sells it, but I strongly encourage you to check out your local comic book shop first and see if they have what you’re looking for.  You can find your LCS here, or call 1-800-COMIC-BOOK.  Now, let’s revel in some mass consumerism and check out all the cool Wonder Woman stuff you can give and/or receive:

Wonder Woman: Blood by Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, and Tony Akins

Catch up on the new DCnU Wonder Woman with the first volume of the new series.  While things get a little dodgy right after this book ends, the six issues collected here are very fun and lovely.  If you haven’t checked out the DCnU Wonder Woman, this book is worth a look.

Wonder Woman: The Twelve Labors by various

You get over 200 pages of comics in this collection of Wonder Woman’s return to the Justice League in the 1970s.  There’s art by comic legends like Curt Swan and Dick Giordano, and it’s retro fun all around.  Plus it’s cheap!!

Wonder Woman Archives, Volume 7 by William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter

This is not cheap, but it’s a darn good time.  Go back to the very beginning with some tales of the Golden Age Wonder Woman from the 1940s.  These stories have everything: space invaders, bondage, jingoistic war adventures, god of the underworld Pluto with a machine that renders Wonder Woman into a being of pure colour.  How can you say no to all of that?

iPhone 4 Wonder Woman Hard Case Cover Skin

All the kids have the iPhones these days, so help them look super cool with this awesome Wonder Woman skin.  It doesn’t do anything useful at all, but it looks nice.

Wonder Woman T-Shirts

There are tons of great t-shirts to choose from at sites like Stylin’ Online and Superhero Stuff, and this is one of my favourites.  The selection for girls is way classier than the boys selection, but there’s lots of cool stuff to choose from for both.  But it’s winter, so if you’re chilly in your t-shirt…

Junk Food Wonder Woman Hoodie

… this’ll keep you warm on those cold winter nights.  Plus it’s Junk Food, which is a pretty quality brand.  It’s all fake vintage, which is fun, and it looks very comfortable.

Wonder Woman Mug

You’re going to want to enjoy some hot beverages over the winter months, and there’s no better way to do so than in a nice, oversized Wonder Woman mug.  You’ll look cool AND get more coffee, tea, or hot chocolate than usual because it’s extra-big!!

Wonder Woman DCnU Figure

Action figures are the best.  This new Wonder Woman figure is part of the Justice League line and is based on Jim Lee’s art instead of Cliff Chiang’s, which is a bit of a bummer.  I love Jim Lee, but a set of Cliff Chiang Wonder Woman figures would be SO COOL.  Regardless, this one is still fun, AND it comes with a sword!!

Wonder Woman Mrs. Potato Head

For younger Wonder Woman fans, and the young at heart, we have this fantastic Mrs. Potato Head.  She’s got the tiara, the bracelet, the lasso, the boots, the outfits… it’s impressively accurate.  If Wonder Woman was turned into a potato, this is EXACTLY what she’d look like.

Original Cliff Chiang Art

Are you looking to impress someone with a lavish gift?  Or are you just straight up rich?  Then original art is the way to go.  Original pages may be pricey, but they’re SO cool and very fun to own.  I should know… I got the above page for my birthday.  Chiang’s original art is gorgeous, and it’s a good investment too.  Plus, classy!!

So there you go!!  So many festive options.  Or you could just make your loved ones something special instead of basically just swapping goods of equal value.  It’s sort of a dumb system we’ve got going with this whole Christmas  thing.  Anyway, happy holidays!!  Go buy and/or get bought some cool stuff.

Me So Christmas, Me So Merry OR Wonder Woman Lego!!

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas yesterday!!  Or a fantastic normal day yesterday if you don’t celebrate Christmas… sorry everything was closed.  War on Christmas my ass, am I right?  It’s the biggest holiday in the universe!!

Anyway, because I am an adult and celebrated Christmas like a grown up, after I opened my presents yesterday I first put all the stickers in my brand new NFL sticker book… it’s one of those awesome ones where you get packs and put them in the right spot and fill up the book.  It’s super cool, and totally something that adults get.

Then I set to work building a complex, grown up present.  The result was that Lex Luthor captured Superman!!  OH NO:

But luckily for the Man of Steel, Wonder Woman showed up:

And then attacked a now frazzled Lex Luthor:

Plus the Doctor and Amy showed up in the TARDIS:

And then, with Superman now freed, all four of them were ready to take down Lex Luthor:

And he was, of course, vanquished.

Then I spent the rest of the day reading comics and watching Thor… like an adult!!  Also, I killed a lot of Templars and jumped rooftops in Constantinople.  And ate gingerbread cookies all day.  I totally won grown up Christmas… everybody else, with their clothes and housewares, were far less entertained.  Though I suppose looking at me like I was a weirdo might have been entertaining for them.  I HAVE WONDER WOMAN LEGO!!  HOORAY!!!

Wonder Woman Holiday Gift Guide 2011

It’s just under a month until Christmas (or, FAR more importantly, the Doctor Who Christmas Special!!), and all of the other various holidays are fast approaching, so it’s time for our second annual Wonder Woman Holiday Gift Guide!!  If you’ve got a Wonder Woman fan in your life, or are a Wonder Woman fan yourself and are looking for some items to put in your list for Santa, I’ve got some cool stuff for you to check out.  There’ll be Amazon links for each item, but a bunch of them you could probably get at your local comic shop, which is way more fun AND supports your community.  You can find your LCS here, or call 1-888-COMIC-BOOK.  On to the festive fun:

Wonder Woman Chronicles, Volume Two by William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter

The adventures of the Golden Age Wonder Woman are a very fun and VERY bizarre read, and these Chronicles books are the ideal format for reading them.  The Archive editions are lovely but super pricey… this is a far better deal.  Plus, Etta Candy rides a kangaroo in one issue.  Who wouldn’t love that?

Showcase Presents: Wonder Woman, Volume Four by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru, Mike Esposito, and more

If the Golden Age isn’t your scene, try the Silver Age.  It’s got less bondage, but way more pterodactyls.  It’s 21 comics for $20, plus they’re printed in black and white so you can colour them if you want.  AND Wonder Woman battles the perilous Paper Man… he can fold himself into a paper plane!!  That’s the Silver Age in a nutshell, really.

Wonder Woman Blanket

Technically, this is a slanket or a snuggie or whatever term you prefer for these weird blanket/sleeve amalgams.  But it’s got Wonder Woman on it!!  You can be cozy AND look super cool!!

Flashpoint Wonder Woman Action Figure

I know Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies was a bit of a disappointment, but the design for Flashpoint Wonder Woman was pretty fun, and this is a sweet figure.  I mean, it’s got a sword!!  Actions figures with swords are the best sort of action figure.  Plus no one will know what it is, so you’ll look like the most hardcore Wonder Woman fan ever when you explain to your friends that it’s an alternate universe Wonder Woman figure.

Wonder Woman Socks

Think about how your day was today.  Now, think how much awesomer your day would have been if you were wearing socks with a Wonder Woman logo AND these socks also had a cape.  Your day would have been WAY better, right?  These are so classy.

Wonder Woman T-Shirt

There are lots of awesome Wonder Woman t-shirts, but this “Wonder Woman for President” one is pretty great.  I love a Golden Age throwback.  As always, all of the cool shirts are for ladies… the sexist buggers who run this t-shirt racket won’t give us male Wonder Woman fans a break and let us have cool designs too.  I’d wear the hell out of this shirt!!  But those sleeves are really short… my armpit hair would probably stick out, and that’s not a good look.

And now for the kids, because it’s important to indoctrinate them early:

Wonder Woman: The Story of the Amazon Princess by Ralph Cosentino

This book is a perfect way to introduce kids to the story of Wonder Woman, and it’s crazy cute too!!  Now that I think about it, this is pre-DCnU Wonder Woman, but the basics are still the same.  Plus old school origins are always a good time.

Little People DC Super Friends: Wonder Woman and Batgirl Pack

You’ve got to set kids on the right path early, so you should instill a love of DC’s coolest super-ladies in your toddlers with these figures.  The only thing better than Wonder Woman is Wonder Woman AND another kick ass DC heroine, really.  You can also get Wonder Woman in a sweet star-spangled car!!

Now you’re all set for the holidays!! Or, you know, you could just make people something cool and Wonder Woman-related.  Things get totally out of hand with the gift buying… making stuff for people is super fun too.

Twelve Days of Wonder Woman: Day Twelve

It’s the final day of our holiday countdown!!  Happy Christmas Eve!!

Perhaps not surprisingly, our final cover is from Comic Cavalcade #9, and is drawn by Everett E. Hibbard.  The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern look to be helping out Santa Claus again, and are delivering presents to a young boy:

What is nicest about this cover is that the heroes are helping out a family who are clearly not at all well-off.  The plaster has fallen off the wall in spots, the blind is torn, and the pillow and blanket are both patched.  Plus, they obviously can’t afford any kind of security system, as evidenced by the heroes breaking in with ease.  Anyway, on what is a ridiculously materialistic holiday where we too often spend lots of time, money, and effort on people who really don’t need anything, it’s good to get a swift kick in the ass about poverty.  I heartily endorse this cover!!  Not in a “break into people’s houses and give them presents” way (that’s rather illegal)… in a “help the less fortunate in general” way.  I don’t want to go to prison as your breaking and entering e-accomplice.

As a fun Christmas Eve treat, here is a festive Wonder Woman story from the 1975 album “Exciting Christmas Stories”.  The story is entitled “The Prisoner of Christmas Island”… enjoy:

And, just because you’ve all been good this year, let’s finish with a little “Oh Christmas Troy”.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Twelve Days of Wonder Woman: Day Eleven

It’s very nearly Christmas!!  Welcome to the eleventh day of the countdown!!

We have another fun Super Friends cover for today with Super Friends #22, drawn by J. Bone.  Green Lantern has built a sleigh with his power ring, and the Super Friends are joyously flying through the air:

I think Batman is throwing presents at criminals they are flying over top of.  Everyone else is staring forward, looking at the camera as it were, but Batman is sort of leaning over the side and it looks as if he had just snapped his head forward to smile for a picture.  It feels like in the next second after this cover, Batman will be staring down at the ground menacingly, dropping presents precisely to clang off the heads of criminals.  He’s always vigilant.  And Wonder Woman might be in on it too… she seems to be passing him presents for his aerial assaults.

Tune in tomorrow for our last day of Wonder Woman covers, and TWO fun festive surprises!!

Twelve Days of Wonder Woman: Day Ten

Why doesn’t the tenth day of Christmas get sung awesomely like “five golden rings”?  That’s the best part of the song… if the fifth day gets it, I think the tenth day should too, twice as enthusiastically even.  Anyway, day ten!!

We go to Comic Cavalcade yet again, this time with Comic Cavalcade #25, drawn by Bob Oksner.  Santa has fallen ill, so Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and the Flash have stepped up to help finish off the toys:

Santa Claus strikes me as far more plausible when he and the elves are building sleds, dolls, and boats… if I was a kid these days, I would wonder about elves putting together an Xbox 360.  Apart from the obvious copyright problems (we all know Microsoft are monopoly fans), it takes some serious engineering skills to build today’s fancy electronics.  But I suppose if anyone could do it, it would be Santa and the elves.

Also, were it not almost Christmas, you’d have gotten an irate post about Wonder Woman painting a doll and gender stereotypes and whatnot, but I’ll let it go for today.

Twelve Days of Wonder Woman: Day Nine

We have reached the ninth day of our Christmas cover countdown!!

Today’s cover is Christmas with the Super-Heroes #2, an updated version of the 1970s specials that was released in 1989, drawn by Stephen DeStefano and inked by Larry Mahlstedt.  All sorts of superheroes are helping out in Santa’s workshop, including (clockwise from the top) Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, Nightwing, Plastic Man, the Atom, the Flash, Hawkman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman:

This issue looks like it has some cool stories in it.  There’s Batman story written by Dave Gibbons, a Deadman story drawn by Dick Giordano (featuring the ghost of Supergirl), and a Wonder Woman story written and illustrated by Eric Shanower (of Age of Bronze and Oz fame… have you read his Marvel Oz books?  If you haven’t, go buy them now… he does a killer job writing them, and Skottie Young’s art is maybe the best thing ever).  I’d actually like to track this issue down… that’s some good stuff.