Tax Day may provide some unlikely compensations for pop culture mavens this year including the airing of the documentary Wonder Women!: The Untold Story of American Superheroines on April 15th at 10pm (ET, PT) on PBS’s Independent Lens series.

 

While Wonder Woman is not the sole focus of this documentary directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, it’s clear from the trailer (and the film’s Website) that the director examines the career of the Amazon warrior from her original creator, the fascinating proto-feminist (and bondage lover) William Moulton Marston to the introduction of Gail Simone, who has had the longest run of any female creator on the book (Simone was not, as is often reported erroneously, the first female to write for the character since she was preceded by Mindy Newell, Trina Robbins and Jodi Picoult).

 

Wonder Woman remains one of the most fascinating and yet elusive superheroes, at least in terms of mass market exploitation.  In spite of the success of the Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter, subsequent attempts to create a new Wonder Woman series are yet to bear fruit--though the CW Network continues to try (see "No Pilot Order Yet for 'Wonder Woman'").