Wonder Woman #2 - First Appearance of Ares, Printings and Contents

Identification plate

Series: Wonder Woman (DC, 1942 series)
Issue: #2
Publication date: Fall 1942
Key date: October 1942
On-sale date: October 17, 1942
Indicia publisher: Wonder Woman Publishing Company Inc.
Price: $0.10
Pages: 68

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of Ares - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of The Duke of Deception - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Aphrodite - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Sheldon Mayer - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	-	cover	1	pencils: Harry Peter; inks: Harry Peter	Ares First, Princess Diana, Wonder Woman
1	Boys and Girls! Here Are The Men Behind "Wonder Woman"	foreword, introduction, preface, afterword	1	script: Alice Marble; pencils: Alice Marble; inks: Alice Marble	Sheldon Mayer First
2	The Spirit of War	foreword, introduction, preface, afterword	1	script: William Marston; pencils: Harry Peter; inks: Harry Peter	Ares First, Etta Candy, Princess Diana, Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman
3	Part 1: Mars, the God of War	comic story	13	script: William Marston; pencils: Harry Peter; inks: Harry Peter	Aphrodite First, Ares First, Etta Candy, Phillip Darnell, The Duke of Deception First, Princess Diana, Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman
4	All-Star Comics; The Justice Society of America	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5
5	All-Flash	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5
6	Part 2: The Earl of Greed	comic story	13	script: William Marston; pencils: Harry Peter; inks: Harry Peter	Ares First, Etta Candy, Phillip Darnell, The Duke of Deception First, Adolf Hitler, Princess Diana, Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman
7	Fat and Slat	comic story	1	script: Ed Wheelan; pencils: Ed Wheelan; inks: Ed Wheelan
8	Flying Colors	cartoon	1	script: John M. Jenks; pencils: John M. Jenks; inks: John M. Jenks
9	Clara Barton "Angel of the Battlefield"	comic story	4	script: Alice Marble; pencils: Sheldon Moldoff; inks: Sheldon Moldoff	Clara Barton
10	Part 3: The Duke of Deception	comic story	13	script: William Marston; pencils: Harry Peter; inks: Harry Peter	Ares First, Etta Candy, Princess Diana, Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman
11	The Rainmaker	text story	2	script: Jay Marr
12	Green Lantern	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5
13	Mutt & Jeff	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5
14	Part 4: The Count of Conquest	comic story	11	script: William Marston; pencils: Harry Peter; inks: Harry Peter	Ares First, The Duke of Deception First, Princess Diana, Wonder Woman
15	Buy War Bonds	public service announcement	2	script: William Marston; pencils: Harry Peter; inks: Harry Peter	Etta Candy, Phillip Darnell, Princess Diana, Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman
16	The Big Eight!	promo (ad from the publisher)	1
17	Editorial Advisory Board	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.33	letters: typeset
18	Sachim Bird by Gertrude Robinson	text article	0.67	script: Josette Frank
19	Picture Stories from the Bible	promo (ad from the publisher)	1

Where to read it

Collection	Year
The Great Comic Book Heroes #[nn]	1965	On eBay ›
Wonder Woman Archives #2 ISBN 1-56389-594-3	2000	On eBay ›
The Wonder Woman Chronicles #2 ISBN 978-1-4012-3240-5	2012	On eBay ›
Wonder Woman: The War Years 1941-1945 #[nn] ISBN 078583284X; 978-0-7858-3284-3	2015	On eBay ›
DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes #[nn] ISBN 0-8212-2076-4	1995	On eBay ›
Wonder Woman: The Golden Age Omnibus #1 ISBN 978-1-4012-6496-3	2016	On eBay ›
Wonder Woman: The Golden Age #1 ISBN 978-1-4012-7444-3	2018	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Golden-age paper is brittle. Ask about page suppleness and check edges for chips in the photos.
Check for trimmed edges, married covers, and clipped coupons - all common on books this old.
Confirm the indicia matches this plate; many golden-age titles changed names mid-run.

Series context

‹ #12 of 329#3 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com