Wonder Woman’s new daughter is a DC tribute to polyamorous origins

This week’s Wonder Woman #800 marks an anniversary for the DC flagship title and the conclusion of writers Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad’s run on the series. Writer Tom King and artist Daniel Sampere are the next team taking on the book, and #800 offered a mighty tease of their plan: A story set decades in the future of the DC Universe, featuring Wonder Woman’s daughter, Lizzie.

Why Lizzie? Well, it’s short for Elizabeth — Elizabeth Marston Prince, that is. Prince, from long tradition, is Diana’s chosen surname. Who was the Marston Diana Prince worked with in order to give birth to Lizzie? That’s for King and Sampere to know, and us to find out when their run begins on Sep. 19.

Elizabeth Marston, the only polyamorous member of Wonder Woman’s original trio of creators who lived in our world today, is named after her.

What’s happening on the pages of your favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Monday Funnies, Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor enjoyed this past week. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. It may be that there is not enough context. The comics will be fantastic. If you haven’t read the previous edition yet, please do.

Image: Tom King, Daniel Sampere/DC Comics

William Moulton Marston, a comics author and academic researcher, is officially credited with creating Wonder Woman. But historians agree, he was at the very least inspired by — and more likely collaborated with — both of his partners, Elizabeth Marston and Olive Byrne. Elizabeth and Olive both named their sons and daughters after William, they raised them in the same household, and for more than 50 years following his death, Olive continued to live with Elizabeth.

Lizzie, the daughter of Diana. What is known about her? We don’t know much about her! King and Sampere’s short story seems to set her up as the bossy little sister Batman and Superman’s sons never asked for, not to mention some ominous stuff about the three Lassos of Fate, an imprisoned king, and “the myth that killed America and birthed a new Wonder.” We’ll have to wait until September’s Wonder WomanClick here to learn more.

Marvel Comics Image: Kelly Thompson Javier Pina David Lopez

It’s wholly fitting that Kelly Thompson, co-creator of Jeff the Land Shark and writer of his breakout Marvel Unlimited series, would put him in her final issue of Captain MarvelBefore it too gets a brand new creative team, and new #1 in this fall. His celebrity also extends to the Marvel Universe superheroes.

Image: Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo/DC Comics

Tom Taylor is a writer, and Bruno Redondo is an artist. They are both no strangers when it comes to applying wild creative constraints. Nightwing issues. But reading them is like watching a trick shot compilation — “Why would they try to do tha— It’s true!.”

This week’s Nightwing is entirely “shot” in first person, making much use of reflective surfaces, drawings of hands, and, perhaps most shockingly, half a dozen pages set in an extremely detailed subway car interior. Redondo probably had it mocked-up in a 3D software program. The idea that he freehands the drawing makes me feel faint. He then produces this splash-page of how it would look to be inside the car when a rocket hits it. It was just dizzying.