The trend in superhero characterisation at that time was to depict more realistically flawed and human protagonists whose complexity challenged traditional notions of the hero. This did not result in an appealing, sympathetic hero for readers who preferred the invulnerable powerful goddess remembered from childhood. Unfortunately, Sekowsky’s input into the direction of the stories after Wonder Woman’s new introduction was not maintained.
At this time Denny O’Neil had evident political ambitions for his work, continuing the commercial and critical success of his work with Green Lantern/Green Arrow. O’Neil’s reasoning for killing off Wonder Woman’s boyfriend Steve Trevor seems not intended to de-sexualise Wonder Woman, but mainly because he was a “dull character.” O’Neil specifically hoped to articulate an explicitly feminist message and interpreted her loss of superpowers, costume and boyfriend as a more realistic empowerment of an ordinary woman.
The storyline in the Women’s Lib issue only hints at the internal workings of the Wonder Woman/Diana Prince character, but chooses to focus on her material, everyday struggles, issues that Delany engages with in many of his other works. Financial problems cause Diana Prince to temporarily stay with her friend, Cathy, a “women’s lib” activist, in a Lower East Side New York City tenement apartment. Along with the costume, Wonder Woman has shed the secret identity and now inhabits her ordinary Diana Prince character exclusively. Readers are asked to witness Diana Prince’s experiences and consider why she initially doubts the efficacy of feminist activism. When asked to help campaign with Cathy’s political action group for equal pay for female employees of a department store owner, Diana Prince’s initial reaction is skeptical and standoffish. The continuing story shows a growing awareness of how uncomfortable being a woman is for her in the society she has immigrated to.
Diana Prince is a homeless and unemployed woman who is tempted by a job offer from the villainous store owner, Philip Grandee. Grandee offers her both a penthouse apartment and a thousand dollar a week salary for her celebrity endorsement of his store, a marketing move involving the “Wonder Woman” character that referentially suggests what happens outside of the text. Grandee wants to appropriate the image of Wonder Woman and of women’s liberation for commercial purposes, all while engaging in practices that oppress ordinary women.