Like the crash of thunder from the sky comes the Wonder Woman, to save the world from the hatreds and wars of men in a man-made world! And what a woman! A woman with the eternal beauty of Aphrodite and the wisdom of Athena- yet whose lovely form hides the agility of Mercury and the steel sinews of a Hercules! Who is Wonder Woman? Why does she fight for America? To find the answer, let us go back- Back to that mysterious Amazon isle called Paradise Island! To that enlightened land of women floated the unconscious form of a man- Captain Steve Trevor- A U.S. Army intelligence officer who tried to stop a mystery bomber from raining death on an American army camp. Here on Paradise Island, on which man had never before set foot, the Amazon maid Diana fell in love with Captain Trevor, and decided to bring him back to America and help him wage battle for freedom, democracy, and womankind thru-out the world!
— The opening narration of the story
Sensation Comics #1 is the debut issue for the Anthology Comic, Sensation Comics, published in January 1942 by DC Comics (then known as National Comics), written by William Moulton Marston (under the pen name "Charles Moulton") with art by H.G. Peter. It also marks the first time Wonder Woman appears as the lead feature of the comic. The story itself continues where Diana's origin story left off, with her returning Steve Trevor to America, establishing her superhero career, developing a Secret Identity and finally stopping the Nazis from bombing army camps.
Other features in the comic include a "Black Pirate" story ("The Marriage of Jon Valor"), a Mister Terrific story, who also makes his first appearance in this comic ("Who Is Mister Terrific?"), a "Gay Ghost" story ("The Origin of the Gay Ghost"), a "Little Boy Blue" story ("The Origin of Little Boy Blue") and a Wild Cat story, another first appearance ("This is the Story of Wildcat")
For Wonder Woman's chronological debut, see All-Star Comics #8.
Tropes pertaining to Wonder Woman Arrives in Man's World:
- Action Girl: Once Diana leaves Steve at the hospital, she finally gets to do some superhero action while in Man's World. It starts with her taking on a gang of bank robbers single-handedly and ending with her fighting alongside Steve against a hoard of Nazi soldiers and scientists.
- Battle Couple: At the climax of the story, Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor fight against the Nazis together and foiling their plan to bomb U.S. military outposts.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Indeed, there are plenty of elements in this story that are either ultimately discarded or just plain forgotten. For example, Wonder Woman having a Secret Identity, ala Superman and Clark Kent. While she did keep her "Diana Prince" alias for a while, it was ultimately abandoned once George Pérez rebooted her origin post-Crisis in favor of Diana having her superhero identity being public as well as being an ambassador for Themyscira. That aspect is still the norm to this day, aside from some brief reintroductions to the Prince identity either in canonical or (more often) non-canonical works.
- Likewise, her being an army nurse. While that stuck around for a bit, she ultimately decided to become an army secretary as most people know her to be.
- Guardian Angel: Steve thinks Wonder Woman to be his. She herself doesn't deny that.
- Head-Turning Beauty: Wonder Woman ends up getting quite a lot of attention (mostly from men) once she lands in Man's World.
- Identity Impersonator: This trope is literally how Wonder Woman became "Diana Prince"; she comes upon an army nurse crying at the steps of the hospital. She was lamenting the fact that her husband can't send her to South America because the pay at his new job is small. Diana, taking sympathy for the poor woman (and noticing that she greatly resembles her with her glasses off), offers to give her a great deal of money in exchange for taking her place at the hospital. The nurse, named Diana Prince accepts.
- Identical Stranger: Diana comes across a woman who looks almost exactly like her and offers to take her place as a nurse just so she could be go to South America.
- It Amused Me: When an agent sees Wonder Woman's "Bullets and Bracelets" skills and offers to put it on stage, she accepts mostly because she "had time to kill 'till Steve recovers consciousness." Once she becomes an overnight sensation, she decides to retire from show business because she was getting bored.
- Love at First Sight: When Steve finally awakens, he falls for Diana the first time he sees her. Though at that point he already knew she'd saved his life and she was in the process of expertly flying a plane so he had some idea of her personality and skills already.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Like Lois Lane with Superman, Steve Trevor is head over heels in love with Wonder Woman, but shows little interest in Diana Prince.Diana Prince (Wonder Woman): You don't need Wonder Woman now- you've got me!Steve Trevor: Listen, Diana. You're a nice kid, and I like you. But if you think you can hold a candle to Wonder Woman, you're crazy!Wonder Woman, thinking: So I'm my own rival, eh? That's funny... If Mother could only see me now... as a very feminine woman... a nurse, no less, in a world full of men, and in love too- with myself as a rival!
- Origins Episode: This story continues where All-Star Comics #8 left off, with Wonder Woman landing on Man's World, beginning her heroic career and developing her Secret Identity.
- Secret Identity: The dual identities of Wonder Woman and Diana Prince are established here.
- Smooth-Talking Talent Agent: The first (named) villain Diana runs across in Man's World is a sleazy Vaudeville agent named Al Kale, who talks her into doing bullets-and-braclets as a sideshow gimmick. It proves to be a smash-hit, but when Diana (who was mostly doing it to kill time while Steve Trevor recovered in the hospital) calls it quits, he tries to run off with a 100% cut of the receipts. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't get to enjoy his ill-gotten riches for too long.
- Super-Speed: Wonder Woman is fast enough to outpace a speeding automobile.
- Super-Strength: We get to see Wonder Woman's incredible strength in action; she grabs a bank robber's hand and swings him like a rag doll before throwing him at the gang, stops a car by grabbing it from behind and knocks out a Nazi paratrooper with a single punch.
- Those Wacky Nazis: No duh, considering this is set in WWII.
- Two-Person Love Triangle: Again, like Superman, Wonder Woman ends up in one of these with Steve Trevor and her alter ego, Diana Prince. She finds this kind of funny.
