Them

Context

These characters are quite minor, even by our peculiar standards. But they appeared during an important era of Wonder Woman, in 1969.

For more about this span, you should first read the Wonder Woman (karate mod era) character profile.

Background

Powers and Abilities

“Them” are a hateful, spiteful street gang. They mostly rely on people not daring to face them, though.

Their leader, Top Hat, has a trick umbrella with a blade in the end, and a knife hidden in the handle.

They have more Hero Points  than you’d expect. The fight was not that easy for Diana.

History

Them was a trio acting as a small street gang in New York City’s Lower East Side. They were skilled at using intimidation and harassment to extort favours from ordinary folks.

Them then captured a runaway teenager named Cathy Perkins, turning her into a slave. But Cathy fled, and hid in Diana Prince’s boutique whist she was away.

Diana came back just as Them discovered Cathy. They threw her a leash and dog collar. Angered, Diana beat them up and threw them out of her boutique. She then sheltered Perkins until she would agree to return to her parents’ place.

Harassers

The trio swore that they would repossess their slave and make Diana a slave. Then they used their usual tactics against Diana and Cathy. They chanted under their windows all night long, had street contacts harass them, shredded many of the clothes in the boutique while Diana was away, and eventually threw Molotov cocktails into the shop.

This angered Diana’s neighbour, Tony Petrucci. He was a Việt Nam war veteran and possibly a mobster. Petrucci, some of his boys and Diana faced Them and a half-dozen other street criminals. During the scuffle, it was revealed that Top Hat had a hidden compartment in her hat, where recently stolen jewels were stored.

The defeated gang was taken away by the police, and never seen since. As for Cathy, Diana hired her to help her with the boutique.

Description

See illustration.

Personality

Vicious, cruel, petty, under-handed witches. They know honest people usually have neither the time nor the courage to face their constant harassment and will not resist them for long. This makes them quite confident, and somebody putting up strong resistance will greatly anger them.

They know they are small fry, and keep a respectful distance away from people who actually might be dangerous and/or connected. But they did not realise quickly enough how dangerous Diana Prince could be.

The material heavily implied that Them are lesbians. But this is done using codes from the 1960s, which are now baffling and easy to miss. It is also in line with common depictions of queer characters until at least the 1990s.

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Wonder Woman v1 #185.

Helper(s): Roy Cowan, John Colagioia.