April 1970: The Amazon and the Clown

Wonder Woman and … Jerry Lewis? Talk about your odd couple.

But actually, the comedian had run into other superheroes in his DC Comics title The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, notably Superman, Batman and the Flash.

“Unfortunately, while this story (in issue 117) is explicitly touted as featuring the new Wonder Woman, it reads very much as though writer (Alan) Riefe and editor Murray Boltinoff weren’t all that familiar with what had been done to the character over the past year,” recalled Tom Brevoort. 

“In an attempt to spike interest in her series, Diana Prince had given up her Amazon power and taken to running a boutique while studying the martial arts under her sightless Asian instructor I-Ching. She would get involved in spy adventures very much inspired by Diana Rigg in the UK import television series The Avengers, and took to wearing white outfits. So most of the magic and the mythology had been stripped out of the series in an attempt to make it more relevant. But you wouldn’t know that from this Jerry Lewis tale.”

Mike Sterling noted, “Jerry’s run as a comic book character began in 1952 with The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. After the Martin/Lewis comedy act broke up, the title was continued as The Adventures of Jerry Lewis.”  

“What made Jerry Lewis stand out to me was his longevity,” wrote Sterling. “His comic book ran 124 issues before coming to an end in 1971. At DC, Green Lantern and Green Arrow were dealing with the impact of drug abuse, Batman was returning to the dark, gritty roots of his origin and a Jerry Lewis comic book was being published.” 

Comedian Bob Hope’s title had an equally impressive run of 109 issues. I once interviewed Hope prior to his show at the local university, and kicked myself later when I realized I’d forgotten to ask him about his lengthy career as a DC Comics character.

Still rankles me.