Fans of Lynda Carter‘s ‘Wonder Woman’ might want to sit down for this: “Wonder Woman ’77,’ the comic based on and taking place in the world created during the iconic ‘Wonder Woman’ TV show that ran from 1977-1979, hit stores last week. The project was launched, rather unknowingly, by writer Marc Andreyko, who details the story below:

“I’m friends with [DC senior vp integrated publishing] Hank Kanalz. We went out to lunch last year where I said, ‘Batman ’66’ is such a big success, when are you gonna do ‘Wonder Woman ’77’ with Lynda Carter?’ He looked and me and said, ‘Hmm.’ A few months later, I got an email saying, “Hey, you wanna do Wonder Woman ’77?” Laughing, he said his response was along the lines of, “Is the sky blue?”

And its good to know that fans can rest assured that ‘Wonder Woman ’77’ is being shepherded by a big fan of the original show, one who will do his best to stay true to the tone and thematic elements from the original series. In his own words:

“I loved the show…I’m surprised that I didn’t have permanent brain damage from spinning around trying to change my clothes. I went to catholic grade school, so having to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning and put on a uniform, for weeks I’d get up and spin, and spin, and hope that my tie was on… As a kid, there was such a dearth of superhero material, except for comic books, that seeing a live-action show with costumes and special effects was amazing… There’s a reason that people around the world still think of Lynda Carter when they think of Wonder Woman. There was just an elegance, and a class and a level of respect and accessibility, that was unseen for a very long time. There’s something about the poise and respect that she brought to the character that makes it an iconic portrayal of an iconic character. As a kid, you were just like, ‘I want to be a good person because Wonder Woman’s a good person.’ “

Andreyko has promised that, much like the writers of ‘Batman ’66,’ he is not out to mock on the original series, as many writers might be prone to do in the situation:

“I think [Batman ’66 writer] Jeff Parker has done a magnificent job of capturing the tone of the Batman TV show, and cutting through years of postmodern irony and snark to get to the heart of it…He’s not just making fun of it, which I think is smart — that’s a really weak joke with a punch line that’s so obvious that you can’t use it more than once. If you’re coming into it from a point of judgment, you shouldn’t be writing it.”

So with original stories that would have fit nicely on the show back in the 70’s, ‘Wonder Woman ’77’ will proudly carry on the story of Lynda Carter’s Princess Diana of the Amazons, and hopefully, we’ll have another classic ‘Wonder Woman’ comic series to help build excitement for the superheroine’s upcoming big-screen debut in ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.’

Source: THR