Wonder Woman turns 66 and all of a sudden, the news media shows an interest in the old gal.MS. Magazine is currently celebrating their 35th annniversary with one of those “covers through the yers” remixes of the original Ms. cover featuring Princess Diana, and there are interviews with new WW scribe Gail Simone in the mainstream press as well as articles outlining the character’s history. I’ll bet Warner Brothers is quietly kicking themselves for not being able to get the WW flick off the ground in a timely fashion right about now.

Two years ago, Joss Whedon, the creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” was hired to write and direct a Wonder Woman feature film for Warner Bros., but in February of this year, Mr. Whedon abruptly walked off the project, saying in an interview, “I would go back in a heartbeat if I believed that anybody believed in what I was doing. The lack of enthusiasm was overwhelming.” Ten months later, producer Joel Silver shelved the movie indefinitely.

Over in her own comic book, the news hasn’t been much better. In 2006, Wonder Woman publisher DC Comics had one of those “can’t miss” big ideas that somehow always seem to miss. A companywide revamp of its titles (which also include Superman and Batman) was under way, and at its conclusion, Wonder Woman, then being written by the crime novelist Greg Rucka, would be canceled and relaunched with a new first issue. “Grey’s Anatomy” scripter Alan Heinberg committed to a five-issue opening run, to be followed by five issues by New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult.

But the Heinberg relaunch rapidly went off the scheduling rails, and by 2007 he’d only delivered four issues. Ms. Picoult’s five issues hemorrhaged readers faster than “Jonah Hex,” DC’s lone cowboy title, and “Amazons Attack,” a miniseries commissioned to fill a hole in the book’s publishing schedule caused by Mr. Heinberg’s delays, was reviled by fans who decried it as an abomination. No movie. Declining readership. Angry fans. Was everything lost for the Maid of Steel?

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