Check Out A Preview of 'Wonder Woman '77' Chapter #21

Cover by Cat Staggs[/caption]

Things are looking dire for Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman '77 Chapter 22, the digital-first series from writer Marc Andreyko and artist Tom Derenick that recently came back from hiatus. Steve's body has been taken over by the brain of a supervillain, and Wonder Woman is trapped between his psionic attacks and the guns of her supposed allies, who aren't as concerned with Steve's safety as she is.

This chapter is the second part of a two-part story, “The Revenge of Gault’s Brain.” Fans of the original Wonder Woman TV show on which this series is based will quickly recognize this story as a sequel to "Gault’s Brain,” a Season 3 episode that aired in December 1978. In that episode, Harlow Gault is a wealthy industrialist, played by legendary horror actor John Carradine, whose brain is removed after death so that a new body can be found to prolong his life.

The great thing about a comic like Wonder Woman '77, or its predecessor Batman '66, is that you can do things in a comic that could never happen with the budget of a TV show in the pre-digital era. So whereas Gault's brain spent most of the original story in a jar, here it can occupy a robot body and then possess Steve Trevor.

Fortunately for Steve, his own brain hasn't been surgically replaced as was the plan on television --- Gault's brain is just clasped onto the outside of his skull. The re-embodied Gault is also manifesting substantial telekinetic abilities that never would have worked so well on TV in 1978.

Wonder Woman '77 Chapter 22 is available digitally tomorrow, Thursday August 11.

Art by Tom Derenick