The Famous Authors and the Comics They Should Have Written thread made me think of all the famous authors who have worked in comics over the decades. 

In particular, someone brought up the idea of Gloria Steinem writing Wonder Woman. While she never wrote Wonder Woman, she was indirectly responsible for prematurely cutting short what would have been a truly revolutionary storyline by world famous sci-fi author Samuel R. Delany, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, a Science Fiction Grand Master, and winner of 4 Nebula and 2 Hugo awards. 

Delany was brought in to write Wonder Woman by Denny O'Neil at the end of the Mod Wonder Woman era. He wrote just one issue, #203. It's labeled on the cover as a "special women's lib" issue, something gleefully undermined by the editors by giving it a t+a bondage cover. The story inside is really eye opening, as Delany is dealing with issues likely way over the head of many of the title's readers - namely, the story sets up a discussion about divisions within the feminist movement between white liberal activists and working class women of color. 



This was just supposed to be the first part of a six-part arc where Diana gets involved in the women's lib movement, culminating in a story where she defends an abortion clinic from male attackers. Mind you, this was in 1972, before Roe v. Wade made abortion legal.

Needless to say, certain powers that be at DC weren't entirely thrilled with this storyline. And that's when Gloria Steinem apparently visited DC as part of preparation for the Wonder Woman collection she was writing the introduction for as part of a publishing deal with Ms. Magazine. While at DC, she complained about the mod era, feeling that Wonder Woman had been stripped of her power and authority. 

DC jumped at this as an excuse to kill Delany's storyline. They canceled the rest, kicked him off the book, and brought back Robert Kanigher, who was responsible for the mindless pap the book had been doing for years before the mod era. They were then able to claim they were being progressive by bringing back the powered Wonder Woman at Steinem's request, while Steinem was able to claim a victory as well. And both of these PR "victories" for feminism came at the expense of what would have been the first truly feminist mainstream comic ever. It's infuriating. 


So... what other big name writers have worked in comics?