Wonder Woman Bondage Covers

While browsing around and trying to decide on an idea for of the next topic on BestComicCovers.com, I came across one of my favorite comic book cover artists, Alex Schomburg, who practically made a living creating bondage comic covers. That was the idea: Bondage Covers.

Okay, so now I had an idea and knew of many Schomburg covers I would want to include, specifically Startling Comics #49, one of my personal favorite covers of all time. Who doesn’t love an Robot with an overactive sense of romance? So I spent some time (translation: half a day) looking for covers that dealth with the topic of female bondage.

But as my search lengthened I realzed that there were a lot of comic book covers that with had images of female bondage and even a few with male and alien bondage. As I started saving some particularly interesting choices I noticed that a certain female was making an  appearance more often that any other. Now I know many readers will say, “duh, of course,” but I was somewhat surprised to see Wonder Woman being tied up, trapped and chained on so many covers. And many of the covers were more recent issues, not just those from the Golden Age.

Upon even further review it became obvious tha phallic symbols were also penetrating many of the covers. Rockets, darts and torpedoes were “popping up” with great frequency, with each weapon intent on ruining her good name. But I digress…

The best bondage covers of all time will have to wait for another day. This day we focus on our Amazonian princess and her efforts to untie, unchain and escape the juvenile entrapments that so frequently put her in mortal danger and sometimes unintentionally humorous situations.

Every effort, believe me, was made to find only the most obvious choices. When you work with a lasso, golden or not, you are bound to tie up a few people and have it used against you from time to time. I tried to include covers where the artist was in on the joke, so to speak. Other criteria used  were: how suggestive was the cover; did the artist go out of his way to make it an inside joke; was body positioning more for the pose than the action; and finally, was the point of view set up to titillate. Please include any covers in the comments you feel are noticeably absent. Now, stick around and see just  how fit to be tied Wonder Woman can be!

Oh, one final observation. I have done my best to place the Wonder Woman covers in chronological order. In doing so, it became obvious that our star-spangled warrior princess became a fan of plastic surgery. Her growth in certain areas was truly a “wonder.”

Wonder Woman #24

In her earlier days, Wonder Woman was a bit more fancy, getting dolled up for her forays into crime’s underbelly. Her bodice is very revealing and looks to be open down to her lower back. Extra long eyelashes, curled hair and tight-fitting uniform all play well together which was certainly on the mind of the artist. It is only natural that Wonder Woman be be tied up on the cover while she ties up her attacker, the Mask.

Wonder Woman #68

“The daring Amazon find herself in an explosive trap,” so the caption reads. Once again our heroine has managed to get herself tied up and this time on a buoy of all things. Death approaches in a very phallic, and not to mention, an angry-red colored, torpedo. I’m guessing the artist had a very involved dream about Diana the night before the cover was created.

Wonder Woman #146

Only 78 issues later and Wonder Woman is once again tied to a buoy. And the Lock Ness monster look like he has romantic intentions for her, or so I would imagine. Why else would she be wearing high-heel red shoes? I mean really, why else would she be?

Wonder Woman #161

The irony here is wonderful. One scantily clad woman is being tied up by a soon to be scantily clad woman. The one doing the undressing (unraveling?) is a few thousand years old, but I’m betting she held up pretty well. Just look at the hour glass figure under those cloth strips.

Wonder Woman #188

I can only assume that any pretense that Wonder Woman is an actual female hero for young girls to admire has been thrown out the window by this issue. Except for the red masthead reading “Wonder Woman” I would have no idea this is Wonder Woman comic book. She more closely fits the part of a sex symbol who usually gets attacked and has her clothes ripped off in strategic places to statisy the Comic Code Authority. At least she is wearing sensible white shoes.

Wonder Woman #196

Wow.

“Wonder Woman” is in quite the revealing position. So, imagine you are the parent and your child asks you to buy them a comic. “Can you describe the cover,” the helpful parent asks. “Sure,” says the wide-eyed innocent youngster. “Wonder Woman is on the cover with her wrists chained, the back of her shirt ripped open with a bulls-eye on her back showing and she is wearing very tight white short pants showing off her firm buttocks.” I’m assuming if the child is a teenage boy he will be buying two copies, one for reading and the other for…um, reading in the bathroom.

Oh, and just how does all this play into her origin as the cover reads.

Wonder Woman #205

Not the first time and not the last, Wonder Woman is tied up by her own golden lasso. Kind of makes you wonder why she keeps it around. It is used as a convenient rope for the bad guy more often than anything. Another recurring theme is also back. Instead of being torpedoed by a red phallic object as in Wonder Woman #68, this time she is riding a large purple missile. Oh my, that looks worse on screen than it sounded in my head.

Wonder Woman #207

Count them. Nine Amazons wearing revealing outfits, while while one of them strikes a pose (arched back and hand on hip) over two other women who are helpless, both bound and gagged. Comic book for children or adult video box cover? You be the judge.

Wonder Woman #219

No surprise to anyone, Wonder Woman is tied up with her own magic golden lasso (the magic seems to be tying up its owner), and this time she has an audience of six men…and one has a video camera? What? Almost seductively, Wonder Woman smiles and teasingly asks, “What are you waiting for? I’ve made myself helpless!”

Elongated Man, a name dripping with double entendre, films the whole affair, giving this cover a very voyeuristic feel. Nice that he just wants to watch to see how she “gets out of the trap” instead of actually helping her out. The casual crossing of his legs is a nice touch-he really is relaxed and ready to see some “action”.

Wonder Woman  #229

“Perverso the Robot”, also known as the Red Panzer, watches with a bit too much glee as Diana is about to meet her end and be violated by yet another angry-red missile. Just how does she get herself into these situations?

Wonder Woman #231

While Wonder Woman isn’t tied up on the cover, I felt the true intent was focused on bondage by trapping her in a tight space. I may have excluded this cover, but the overly arched back and thrusting bosoms were too much to ignore, so to speak. Feels like the beginning of a peep show with Steve and his lady friend watching Diana gyrate around inside a glass pyramid.

Wonder Woman #298

Even in death Wonder Woman can’t catch a break from being used as a sexual device. Frank Miller does a great job showing how bondage and Wonder Woman are forever partners even unto death, as her skeleton, with a beautiful head of hair, remains tied up for all future generations to see.

Wonder Woman #19, Volume 2

One hot chick posed seductively on a bed, drink in hand, and cleavage all the way to next week. The other female is chained helplessly and laying unconscious on the floor AND dressed in a sexy costume. How could this comic cover go wrong?

Wonder Woman #67, Volume 2

Did you even notice Wonder Woman has a black eye, or that there are skeletons in the background? Yeah, me neither. Strategically ripped clothing and chained helplessly, seems to be a formula for WW covers. Bolland did many covers with Wonder Woman and you can see why. The pencils for this cover are below. I like how the masthead has the additional words, “in chains”. Couldn’t most of the covers had added something similar like, “in ropes” or “in a cage” or “in her lasso” and so on.

Wonder Woman #86, Volume 2

Technically she isn’t tied up, but she is being restrained. I really included this just for the “butt-in-your-face” shot on the cover. You know the artist planned this.

Body Doubles #4

And we end with a bang! Three sets of full heaving breasts, three woman dressed like pole dancers and one being tied up (by her own golden lasso once again) make this cover more inline with a book that should be behind the counter rather than one on a comic book rack. God bless the nerdy, young and imaginative men who dominate the comic book industry!