“Treachery in the Arctic” is the first of three Wonder Woman stories that were strange Northerns. This one appeared in Sensation Comics #65 (May 1947). It was written by Joye Murchison as “Charles Moulton”. The art was done by Harry G. Peter. (Wonder Woman wasn’t the first superhero to up North. Fawcett Comics had beaten DC to the punch. Captain Marvel Jr. went to Alaska in 1943 and Mary Marvel in 1946.)
In remote Naskim, Alaska, Lim Snait murders his partner, Tom Sands, for his gold claim. After shooting Sands, he sends his Eskimo accomplices to Chief Oomchek with a fake story. Snait’s plan is truly “Treachery int he Arctic”.
Wolf, Tom’s lead husky jumps the killer and tears the gold claim paper in half. Snait shoots Wolf but he escapes.
The Eskimo accomplices, Renek and Zarek, go to the chief and accuse Karluk of the killing. Karluk is a teacher, having gone to the white man’s school. Karluk is arrested. Duna, Karluk’s fiancee, hears about these events from her brother, Arglio. The young boy writes a letter to Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman calls for her invisible plane and is off. Steve Trevor isn’t about to be left behind.
Duna tries to help Karluk by confessing to the chief. This in turn makes Karluk confess because he won’t see his bride-to-be in prison. Soon the police will arrive and take Karluk for trial. Leaving the jail, Duna sees Wolf, wounded and dying. She finds the half of the gold claim.
Snait comes up behind Duna and demands the paper. Duna reveals she understands Snait’s plot. He must kill her now so he ties her up and places her on an ice flow. The ice will head out to sea where the polar bears will get her. Snait returns for the beginning of Karluk’s trial. His frame-up seems to be working.
A blizzard moves in. Despite the snow, Wonder Woman sees Duna on the ice flow. She flies to the rescue as six polar bears approaches the frozen girl.
WW uses a chunk of iceberg as a weapon to scare off the bears.
The animals aren’t that easily thwarted. She has to knock some heads together to drive them off. Wonder Woman unties Duna as Steve arrives in the invisible plane. Safe and sound, Duna tells everything she knows about Snait’s plot…
A guilty sentence is about to be passed in the court as Wonder Woman shows up. Duna tells the judge that Denek and Zarek lied. Using her Lasso of Truth, Wonder Woman has them reveal that Snait forced them to commit perjury. The gold miner threatened to kill them if they didn’t lie to the chief.
Snait pulls a gun on Wonder Woman but she is not afraid. Snait runs for it but WW tackles him. The murderer is caught and Karluk is freed. Tom Sands’ gold claim goes to the Eskimo village, where its wealth can be used to fund more education for Oomchek’s tribe.
“Treachery in the Arctic”, Wonder Woman’s first trip to the North, ticks off many of the Northern cliche boxes: the murdering partner, the plot to frame an innocent, a polar bear fight and native locals who are subjected to white greed. All of these elements are pretty standard. In the next two adventures we go even stranger as WW discovers the lost inhabitants of Atlantis!
You can find these Wonder Woman comics and more here.
