Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me A Match...

File this one under How Things Have Changed:

For those distressed by DC's ham-fisted match-making of Superman and Wonder Woman, you might be interested in this.

Back in Wonder Woman #253 (1979), the editors revealed that they had been planning to romantically pair up Diana with a fellow member of the Justice League, but a fan had written in suggesting the very same pairing, so they put a kibosh on the idea (more on that peculiar reasoning in a bit).

They didn't reveal whom the super-beau was supposed to be, which led to plenty of comment/speculation is the letters column of #259 (1979):

Oh, the things to note!!

**The list of married heroes? In the nu52, Atom, Flash and Hawkman are no longer on that list, and Elongated Man doesn't exist as far as we know. Apparently, in 1979, marriage was considered much cooler by DC than it is in 2012. But hey, at least they let Aquaman stay married!!

**Green Arrow "can't" because of Black Canary? Yeah, like Ollie ever kept it in his pants. Of course, in the nu52, I don't believe that Arrow and Canary have even met. (I should also note that it doesn't even occur to Anthony Mizzi to pair Diana with Dinah...but hey, it was 1979)

**"Superman can't because of Lois Lane" How about that? It was inconceivable that Superman could be interested in someone besides Lois Lane, the very idea dismissed out of hand. Such an idea was viewed as simply a non-starter. Oh, the golden years...

**"Red Tornado can't because he's an android"?? The Vision had been macking on hotties for over a decade by this point, and had been married for 4 years. I guess DC just wasn't as culturally advanced as Marvel in 1979...

**"Green Lantern was the one..." Hahahaha...Hal Jordan and Diana romantically involved?!?!? Seriously?!?!? Hal Jordan?!?!?! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!! No, really guys...you're not kidding?!?

**I'm really not sure of the logic Jack C. Harris is presenting here. You drop your plans because some reader also suggested it? I can sort of half understand it, in a "preventing someone for suing us for stealing their ideas" way. Although that makes no sense, given the thousands of letters DC receieved every months--did they seriously go through all their letters and and make sure that none of the storylines they were planning were ever suggested by readers? Hell, why have letters pagers, then?!? You're just inviting trouble. Seems more like "we changed our mind, but decided to blame the fans..."

Still, the "we changed because a reader suggested it" explains the Monarch/Captain Atom/Hawk debacle, so maybe that really was how DC operated...

**OK, so one fan suggests something they already planned, so they drop it...but if "enough of you write" they'll go through with it? That blows the whole reasoning out of the water. WTF?!?

**I know that DC in those days could be quite rigid and hierarchic in their editorial houses over who got to do what with whose character. But the fact that the editor of Green Lantern was no longer the writer of Wonder Woman means you can't do the idea? Really? It doesn't seem that too many "logisitics" would be involved--they're going out, so once in awhile GL appears for a couple of panels in WW, and vice versa. Really, why is that so hard to contemplate??

**Hal Jordan and Wonder Woman?!?!?!?! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!