WONDER WOMAN

Created by the man who brought us the lie detector, his careerist wife, and their live-in lover, this feminist icon is the most important woman in comics. Naturally, that means she’s often been given short shrift, frequently demoted to menial status (she was a founder member of the Justice Society, but only as secretary) and depowered and repowered more often than all the X-Men combined.

But on form, she’s almost as powerful as Superman, looks better in hotpants and has the additional superpower of reducing fanboys to putty in her hands. Over the years, Gloria Steinem has extolled her role as a strong female role model – she was the first cover girl on Ms magazine – and novelist Jodi Piccoult recently essayed a critically acclaimed series of stories for her. If they ever give her a steady (and maybe female) creative team, she could be a true icon for the 21st century.