Following in the success of the Batman '66 digital series, DC Comics began publishing a similar digital-first series set in the continuity of The '70s Wonder Woman television show starring Lynda Carter. With the first anthology special being released in 2015 note the first set of stories were all written by Marc Andreyko, of Manhunter and Batwoman fame, but a variety of other writers contributed later in the following three anthology specials.
After the fourth and final special in 2016, the series was continued in the form of a crossover with the Batman '66 comic, co-authored with Jeff Parker, and then another crossover with fellow Seventies Action Girl show, The Bionic Woman, written by Andy Mangels.
Tropes:
- The '70s: Well, duh. Interestingly, the first season of the show which was set in World War II is only visited during the crossover with Batman '66
- Adaptational Backstory Change:
- Diana's conception in the actual show was never explicitly stated, here the series establishes she was formed from clay as was her origin pre-New 52.
- Barbara Ann Minvera gets her powers to turn into The Cheetah from the Egyptian, cheetah-headed, goddess Mafdet rather than the plant god Urzkartaga.
- Nubia here is a Composite Character of show original villain, Carolyn Hamilton. Nubia is her Amazon name she takes up when she moved to Paradise Island.
- Adaptational Modesty: Zig-zagged. The Barbara Ann Minerva version of the Cheetah ordinarily goes naked or wears a bikini pelt after she's transformed, while this incarnation wears a shirt and denim shorts even in humanoid cheetah form in her first story, but would later eschew clothing in a subsequent story where she tries to get Clayface to defeat Wonder Woman and is shown wearing a jumpsuit in the Batman '66 crossover.
- Adaptational Super Power Change: Wonder Woman is able to fly here unlike in the show and the comics of the 70s. As well as also able to use her powers when as Diana Prince, unlike in the show.
- Barbara Minerva, Cheetah, gets some notable upgrades in comparison to her main comics counterparts, mainly being able to command other Big Cats such as Lions and Tigers but also able to turn others in humanoid Cheetahs at her command
- Adaptation Origin Connection: The Batman '66 crossover has an especially sweet one - turns out, Wonder Woman saving a young Bruce Wayne during the days of World War II was part of what inspired his own heroic identity as an adult.
- All Just a Dream: The “Who is Wonder Woman?” story has Diana find herself in one courtesy of a Mind Screw by Dr. Pyscho.
- The Assimilator: Following on some advice from Cheetah, Clayface attempts this on Diana but it ends up with her controlling him as he attempts to absorb the same magic clay she was made from.
- Back Ported Development: Diana is shown able to fly under her own power as is common in Post-Crisis depictions of the character but of which she was unable to in the actual show or comics of the time period.
- Bland-Name Product: The disco in "Disco Inferno" is Studio 52; the infamous Studio 54 renamed with DC's favourite Arc Number.
- Brain in a Jar: Show original villain, Gault, makes a return appearance.
- The Bus Came Back: A few characters who were one-offs because of episodic formula of show make some return appearances such as Drusilla, Fausta, Caroyln Hamilton (taken the name Nubia upon living in Paradise Island), Gault the Living Brain, and Gloria Marquez (as a new version of Wonder Woman foe, Dr. Cyber).
- Call-Back: A battle with Dr. Pyscho has him project psychic illusions of show villains Fausta Gables and the Skill alien invaders among other comic villains.
- Canon Immigrant: Follows in the lead of Batman '66. As the show only adapted two villains from the comics, the series get some use out of incorporating comic Wonder Woman villains into the show's continuity. Such as Silver Swan, Dr. Psycho, the Priscilla Rich and Barbara Minerva versions of The Cheetah, Giganta note , and Doctor Cyber.
- Composite Character: The Wonder Woman '77 Meets The Bionic-Woman crossover provides two of these:
- Gloria Marquez, a one episode villain from the second season, is revealed to have survived her encounter with Wonder Woman and become Doctor Cyber.
- Reformed villain Carolyn Hamilton is shown to have taken up residence on Paradise Island and taken the name Nubia, Wonder Woman's twin sister from the Pre-Crisis comics.
- Continuity Snarl: Solomon Grundy's story is contradictory towards his appearance in Batman '66, considering that the Batman '66 crossover would establish that the 1966 Batman show is in a Shared Universe with the 1975 Wonder Woman show. Solomon Grundy here is established to be an assumed legend and rises to defend a female descendant of his from domestic abuse, which clashes with the Batman '66 comic giving Grundy the origin of Cyrus Gold being a former husband of Marsha, Queen of Diamonds who ended up freezing to death after being told to wait outside the house during winter and was subsequently revived as a zombie by Marsha's Aunt Hilda.
- Crossover: Fittingly enough, the series crossed over with its sister series Batman '66 and then followed up with a crossover with The Bionic Woman
- Fad Super: In the debut story, "Disco Inferno", The Silver Swan, is here re-imagined as the leader singer of the a disco band called "Silver Swan and the Starlings".
- Earlier in the story, Diana fights off an all-female Roller Disco-themed group of Soviets.
- Fountain of Youth: The crossover with Batman '66 reveals one of islands neighboring the main isle of Paradise Island is home to a Lazarus Pit. It's mists are what are responsible for the Amazon's immortality.
- Mythology Gag: Several:
- In "Disco Inferno" Diana and Steve go undercover at a nightclub with Diana dressed in an all-white outfit in a reference to the brief Agent Diana Prince era of the comics where DC turned her into a kung-fu superspy in a white jumpsuit
- The “Who Is Wonder Woman?” story is seemingly an entire issue devoted to this, to break it down;
- It sees Diana trapped in an imaginary world where someone else is Wonder Woman/Diana Prince. This reality's Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor look like their counterparts from the Cathy Lee Crosby version of Wonder Woman (1974).
- In addition, Diana is told her real name in this reality is Donna Troy, the name of the second Wonder Girl in the comics.
- A pair of women who look and dress like Hippolyta and Drusilla introduce themselves as Julia Kapatelis and her daughter Vanessa, who were surrogate mother and sister figures for Diana in the early years of the Post-Crisis comics.
- The title of the story itself is even a reference to a few prior Wonder Woman-related storylines; the opening "Who is Wonder Woman" arc from the post-Infinite Crisis revamp and the Teen Titans story "Who is Donna Troy?".
- The Batman '66 Meets Wonder Woman '77 crossover reveals the diving wet suit Diana wore in the second and third seasons is a standard issue Amazonian deep-sea diving attire.
- Also from the Batman '66 crossover, in the portion set in the 40s Etta Candy shouts out "Woo-Woo" when Diana fights off some Nazis crashing an auction at the Wayne Manor. Her comic counterpart's catchphrase.
- Never Trust a Title: Somewhat. The T.V. show actually debuted in 1975 not 1977 but most of the stories are set in the status quo created by the second season, which did begin in 1977, in which the series did a Time Skip to the then present 70s.
- Predecessor Villain: In "Who Is Wonder Woman" and "The Cat Came Back", it's revealed that Diana apparently had off-screen encounters with the Priscilla Rich version of Cheetah during the time period of the first season set in World War II. Her costume is on display in the Smithsonian by the 70s and Diana initially mistakes Barbara for Priscilla when she debuts as her version of The Cheetah.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Batman villains Clayface and Solomon Grundy both make appearances in the series, with the closest their stories get to acknowledging Batman being Wonder Woman remarking that Clayface is a long way from Gotham during their encounter.
- Ruder and Cruder: The original television show had no profanity to speak of, but this comic has occasional uses of "bastard" and the crossover with The Bionic Woman has several utterances of "hell".
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: Carolyn Hamilton makes a return appearance now living on Paradise Island sporting the name Nubia. Making it so Diana and Nubia aren't sisters in this continuity.
- Witch with a Capital "B": "Disco Inferno" has one of Silver Swan's minions call Wonder Woman a "pompous witch".
- World War II: The stories all primarily take place in The '70s time period the second and third seasons but Wonder Woman's time back in World War II is occasionally referenced to. The Batman '66 crossover has an extended flashback back to the war.
