These Saturnic captives are dangerous girls! You'd better put Venus Girdles on them before untying their hands. 
- — Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman #28 is an issue of the series Wonder Woman (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1948.
Synopsis for "Villainy, Incorporated"
Wonder Woman captures a group of Saturnic prisoners, As she leads them away to their spaceship their group leader Eviless pleads for mercy. She asks that the females be allowed to stay on paradise island to avoid repercussions for their conquest failure. Wonder Woman agrees to keep the women but straps them down with Venus girdles. The girdles remove all desire to do evil and compels the wearers to submit to authority. Eviless feigns sickness and faints but she secretly ties wonder woman's rope around her arm. She later revives and is placed in a holding cell where she uses the golden lasso to escape. She rounds up her gang of Saturinic girls and she is also joined by villains from the prison. They capture Queen Hippolyte and use her to round up the rest of the Amazon's on the island. The Amazons are gassed and fitted with belts to keep them subdued. Wonder Woman returns to the island to rescue her Amazon sisters but she is immediately captured by Eviless and her band of villains.
Trap of the Crimson Flames
Wonder Woman is captured and taken prisoner. She is transported by boat to Transformation island. On the way there she rescues Evilness from drowning when she falls over the side but Evilness shows no gratitude and recaptures Wonder Woman. Once they reach Paradise Island, Queen Hippolyte and Wonder Woman are tied to a pole with flaming chains. The chains get tighter and tighter as they burn. In the meantime, the Amazon prisoners on the island revolt under the leadership of a prisoner named Irene. They overtake the Saturnics and rescue the princess and her mother. They discover that four prisoners have escaped, Clea, Giganta, Hypnota, and Zara. They also discover that the queens Crown Jewels have been stolen. Wonder Woman returns to the Mans world to pursue them. Back in Washington DC, Diana receives a tip that a brunette is trying to sell a diamond that matches the description of one of the Crown Jewels. Diana confronts an office worker named Clarice Mystik to see if she is the one with the diamond but Clarice denies any knowledge. Wonder Woman spies on Clarice and observes a crimson flame emerge from her purse. The flame hypnotizes Clarice to come to the Temple of Flame. She follows Clarice and observes her disappearing down a manhole in the street. Wonder a Woman follows her down but she is quickly captured by Zara. Zara shows her that she has also captured the Holliday girls and orders Wonder Woman to execute them with a flaming sword as she is hypnotized
In The Hands of the Merciless
Wonder Woman is held captive by Zara. She is ordered to execute Clarice Mystik for failing to sell the Crown Jewels. Failure to do so would result in the execution of the Holliday girls. Wonder Woman fakes a stumble and instructs Etta to use the flaming sword to cut her bonds. Wonder Woman is set free and quickly captures Zara and her gang. Wonder Woman finds the missing jewels but half of them are missing. I the meantime Steve Trevor meets with a mysterious guest in his DC office. He recognizes the mystery female to be Queen Clea who is trying to purchase a surplus submarine from the government. Clea leads Trevor to a cave where he shows him her jewelry stash to prove she has more than enough to pay for the submarine. Steve recognizes the Jewels as belonging to queen Hippolyte. He attempts to take Clea into custody but he is subdued by Giganta. Clea still needs to obtain a submarine but Steve will not relent or cooperate. She then attempts to kidnap the Holliday girls to hold as buying leverage. Wonder Woman arrives to the rescue but she is overpowered by Giganta. Clea then uses Wonder Woman's might to help her steal a submarine but she is foiled by Professor Zool and the Holliday girls who have been transformed partly into apes by an evolution machine. They capture Clea and return her to a Paradise Island to face the Queen.
Appearing in "Villainy, Incorporated"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Villainy, Inc. (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Amazons
- Saturnites
- Clarice Mystik
- Irene
- Professor Zool
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- "Villainy, Incorporated" is reprinted in:
- "Villainy, Incorporated" is the last Wonder Woman story by William Moulton Marston.
- "Villainy, Incorporated" is the second comics story to feature a team-up of super villains. The first such story appeared in More Fun Comics #70.
- Also appearing in this issue of Wonder Woman was:
- Wonder Women of History: "Elizabeth Barrett Browning", by Robert Q. Sale
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Wonder Woman Recommended Reading
- All-Star Comics (Volume 1)
- Comic Cavalcade (Volume 1)
- JLA (Volume 1)
- Sensation Comics (Volume 1)
- Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman (Volume 1)
- Superman/Wonder Woman (Volume 1)
- The Legend of Wonder Woman (Volume 1)
- The Legend of Wonder Woman (Volume 2)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 1)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 2)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 3)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 4)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 5)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 6)