At last, in a world torn by the hatreds and wars of men, appears a WOMAN to whom the problems and feats of men are mere child's play- a woman whose identity is known to NONE, but whose sensational feats are outstanding in a fast-moving world! With a hundred times the agility and strength of our best male athletes and strongest wrestlers. She appears as though from nowhere to avenge an injustice or right a wrong. As lovely as Aphrodite- as wise as Athena- with the speed of Mercury note and the strength of Hercules- She is known only as WONDER WOMAN, but who she is, or whence she came, nobody knows!
— The opening panel of the story.
All-Star Comics #8 is an issue of the early Anthology Comic All-Star Comics (starring the Justice Society of America), published in either December 1941 or January 1942 by DC Comics (then known as National), notable for having a story that introduces the comic book worlds' first superheroine, Wonder Woman. Written by William Moulton Marston (under the pen name "Charles Moulton") and drawn by Harry G. Peter, this short story details the events that lead to Princess Diana leaving her home of Paradise Island note for America to help them fight back against the Nazis during World War II.
She would eventually become the leading feature for the Anthology Comics, Sensation Comics and Comic Cavalcade and star in her own self-titled series Wonder Woman Volume 1.
This story continues in Sensation Comics #1.
Tropes pertaining to Introducing Wonder Woman:
- Action Girl: While she doesn't do any superhero duties throughout the story, she does prove her credentials for this trope during the tournament; she outruns both her fellow Amazons and a trained deer, passes both tests for strength and agility (which sadly are not shown) and showing off her incredible reflexes during the "Bullets and Bracelets" game, which ultimately wins her the entire tournament.
- All-Loving Hero: Diana has an incredible amount of compassion, proven when she's the only one trying to help Steve Trevor recuperate from his crash while everyone else is fearful of him. This trait would last throughout all her appearances later on.
- Breakout Character: To say Wonder Woman became an instant phenomenon would be an understatement. Thanks to this story, she became the headlining feature in the new Sensation Comics, one of the three star features of the new Comic Cavalcade Anthology Comic, star of her own self titled series that lasted for nearly seventy years and joined the Justice Society Of America in All-Star Comics. She's currently up there with Superman and Batman as one of DC's most iconic heroes.
- Bridal Carry: Gender-Inverted; Diana is the one who carries Steve Trevor, cradled in her arms. It's an oft repeated image for many of their appearances.
- Bullet Catch: Wonder Woman's signature move of deflecting bullets with her bracelets is introduced here.
- Classical Mythology: It's the The Theme Park Version here, simplifying the classic stories used and replacing some of the gods' original Greek names with their Roman ones (i.e. "Mercury" instead of "Hermes", "Hercules" instead of "Heracles")
- Defector from Paradise: When learning of the troubles in Man's World and a tournament being held to decide which Amazon will leave Paradise Island alongside Steve, Diana decides to disobey her mother and enters under a disguise.
- Distressed Dude: Steve Trevor is the most enduring comic book example of this trope, as a competent normal human spy continually up against superhuman and cosmic foes alongside his girlfriend and later wife. His plane is set on fire in a dogfight with two Imperial Japanese pilots (whose planes he was able to shoot down in turn) and he crashes off the coast of Paradise Island and spends the rest of the story unconscious, in surgery or in a wheelchair.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Wonder Woman's costume is substantially different from her more iconic outfit of today (i.e. instead of a patriotic Leotard of Power with sometimes a double W on the front, she wears a red top with a gold eagle and star-spangled culottes (that gets mistaken for a skirt) and she sports a fairly different hairstyle too. Her bracelets are also noticeably smaller than they are in future appearances.
- The same can be said for her body type. Rather than having the Most Common Superpower and, more often than not, having more muscle, she's more reasonably shaped and has a more lean (but still athletic) build.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: While most of the well-known elements are introduced in this story, there are some elements that either changed or vanished over time:
- Themyscira is referred to by a very different name, Paradise Island. Also, the island itself is much more technologically advanced than most modern interpretations, which favor a more strictly Ancient Greece-styled setting with technology, architecture, fashions, etc. never advancing past that time in that history.
- Diana doesn't even have a name until the end of the story, where her mother names her after the Greek moon goddess before her daughter leaves on her journey. She's often referred to as "Princess" earlier in the stories. Most re-tellings of her origin have her be named right from the start.
- Etta Candy, the Holliday Girls and the rest of her supporting cast are not introduced and won't appear until much later.
- Her main enemies (Cheetah, Doctor Psycho, Giganta, etc.) also have yet to appear, the main enemies so far being Those Wacky Nazis. Even then, she doesn't get to fight them until Sensation Comics #1.
- Lady Land: Paradise Island is inhabited solely by women, and not by chance either.
- Love at First Sight: Diana falls head over heels for Steve Trevor apparently the moment he landed on the island, enough so that she's willing to leave her home forever just to take him back. That aspect is often left behind in future retellings in favor of a more slow-burn romance or, in George Perez's run just removing the romance entirely.
- Origins Episode: Not only do we see the origin of how Diana left Paradise Island to become Wonder Woman, but we also see the origin of how the Amazons were created and how Paradise Island was formed. We won't even know the details of Diana's birth until Wonder Woman #1.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: The story's opening narration describes Diana as being as beautiful as Aphrodite, goddess of love herself. Indeed, in modern retellings, Aphrodite literally grants Diana this ability herself.
