Chapter Eleven: …Change their Minds and Change the World!—Part Two...
Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City
Year: 1986
"Endgame it is then. I've already talked about using the myths to enrich the story. We can also use them to explain how the Amazons have laser rifles, space ships, and telepathic memory machines. We are picking things up from the old continuity after all. Since Aphrodite is their patron goddess, we can just say her husband Hephaestus taught the Amazons about technology and they've advanced it since.
"As to Paradise Island itself, it's a magical island so I'm going to keep the Kangas and bring in creatures from Greek myth. We'll see giant Stygian wasps, Sphinxes, Ladon the Dragon and others of his kind. Harpies too." Bird Boy, someone snickered. "As for domesticated or at least tamed animals, there can be herds of pegasi, a chimera or two to be used as beasts of war, and griffins in the royal stables. In the lakes and rivers of Themyscira also live Naiads and in the forests Dryads who play their days away with the Amazons. We can keep the merfolk colony in the waters around the island that Bobby Kanigher came up with." Mer-boy, someone coughed.
"Beyond that, I'm going to open up Paradise Island. I don't know what other writers were thinking but it makes little sense to preach peace when you're an isolationist." He paused slightly. "No offense," he told said other writers.
"None taken," one said.
"Getting back to the story, part of this will be the Amazons fully integrating themselves into the outside world. Queen Hippolyta will introduce herself at the UN and maybe we'll even see her escorted to the White House by Colonel Diana Prince, a final thank you from the President. And if I'm going to be serious about opening up Paradise Island to outside visitors, the no men rule will have to go. Themyscira will also be racially integrated. I don't think that previous writers and artists showing the Amazons as all white was a deliberate slight, at least not in recent years, but now that I have the chance, I'll change that. Nubia's just the most obvious example.
"As to what they act like, they're ordinary folks I suppose, some good, some bad, some indifferent. I at first toyed with the idea of creating a warrior society but decided against it and that's not just to keep the same continuity. The Amazons do enjoy being so strong and maybe some even like fighting but to say that they'd make war for the sake of peace has a very shallow ring. Remember when Peacemaker made a cameo in Crisis? (Which I, in fact, drew!) He said 'We'll kill them all if that's what it takes to keep peace on this earth!' Different look, same lack of logic. There are some hardcore manhaters but when push comes to shove they are still the most loyal and devoted to the bunch.
"As to what they look like, they are Amazons so I imagine that most are as tall as or taller than an ordinary man and will all, as a rule, possess superhuman strength. For example, they're doing some repairs or construction but they don't bother with heavy machinery; they just carry building materials by themselves. When Queen Hippolyta sees some of the weaker Amazons, relatively speaking, struggling to move a sixty ton slab she offers to help. Not surprisingly, she is the strongest Amazon of all—except for Diana and she doesn't count as her strength was magically enhanced by the gods—and is strong enough to hoist the slab into place by herself.
"Also in that Wonder Woman's sixtieth anniversary is coming soon I hope to do a big story I have brewing in my mind called War of the Gods where the gods of Earth's various pantheons have been tricked into battle by the witch Circe and Wonder Woman must make them stop. Roy, you asked for the wicked witch and here she is!" Thomas pumped his first in to the air.
"We'll of course be building up to the big adventure in the years to the anniversary and, if it be the will of God and Mrs. Kahn, I'll stay on long enough for the big finale. Part of this is… a new beginning!" He was crestfallen when he got stony silence. Someone asked what Perez was referencing.
His old/new nemesis snickered. "The super-team did it better with the goddamn Batman."
Nobody appreciates my humor thought Perez. "In the wake of the revelation of her mother's deception," he groused, "of the Crisis, of breaking up with Steve, of losing her secret identity and the big fight in DC against Ares, Diana decides to abandon conventional superheroics in order to focus on what she's supposed to be doing, changing minds and changing the world. With Paradise Island opening up to 'Man's World' and looking to get UN membership, Diana is her people's natural ambassador. I plan on Diana the diplomat operating out of New York City being the default version for a long time. She's worked there from # 179-269, 1968-1980, so the Big Apple is familiar stomping grounds to her. She's also familiar with the UN having worked there as Diana Prince though now the princess goes there for very different reasons.
"Not everyone in the DCU, both hero and civilian, will like the new direction. They might compare her new 'agenda' to the apolitical Mala who bent over backwards to be a good American. She's since permanently moved to the US, become a good citizen, and has consistently voted Republican," he added. "Diana's critics will see her as something of a buttinski and dream of having the old Wonder Woman back, a Wonder Woman who just did her job with no strings attached and never told anyone who to vote for.
"She's no political demagogue, however. In religion, for example, she is scrupulously respectful. A posh Catholic couple asks for to be their baby's godmother and she stuns everyone by refusing. When asked if she thinks she's too good for them, she says it's because she's not good enough. If she doesn't call Yahweh her god how can she profane the ritual of baptism by pretending that she does? She sponsors a friend who she'd met earlier in the story arc saying that the child's godmother must be able to raise the child in the faith. When the ceremony rolls around, we see her there watching and smiling as the godparent vows to make the child a good Catholic."
O'Neil grinned. "Looks like she believes in Christianity more than most Christians."
"You don't know the half of it! Back in Puerto Rico where I was born, the only reason babies get baptized is so that all the adults can get stone drunk at a baptism party that the child can't even appreciate because it's asleep in a crib… But enough with my complaints," sighed Perez.
"As for her religion it has indeed died out in Patriarch's World though there are Greek polytheistic reconstructionists trying to revive it. Guys, I'm serious!" he blurted out when he saw the surprised looks on people's faces. "I read that over in Greece there are newly minted Zeus worshippers trying to bring back the old faith. As for their fictional counterparts' relationship with Diana, they hail her as a prophet and some even worship her outright, much to her embarrassment. For most of them, the day she descended from the sky to land at the door of their only formal temple of worship to read the works of Homer and Hesiod and tell them of her adventures was the greatest day of their lives. It was faith rewarded and they were the first invited to Paradise Island when it opened its doors to the world.
"She is friendly with Hindus due to their shared polytheism and I plan on showing her praying in shrines to Ganesha, for example. In both religion and politics, Ambassador Wonder Woman will forge close ties with India. She also has a working relationship with the Christian right and I'd like to see her at the Vatican meeting Pope John Paul II. As for meeting the gods, this is where it gets interesting!
"Apollo's oracle not only forsaw the eclipse of the gods, in modern times it also predicts their possible death. Zeus decides to prepare for this by making a pact with the gods of the various other pantheons. He chooses as his ambassadors Hermes for his being the messenger of the gods of Greece and Diana for her wisdom and her experience with the mortal world. Things have changed drastically since the glory days and they need someone with feet in both worlds.
"The first step on the tour is Heliopolis, home of the gods of Egypt, where they speak with Osiris and Isis." Perez smiled when he saw a thoughtful look cross Thomas face. "As a psychopomp, Hermes leads on to the land of the dead where he and Diana are greeted by falcon-headed Horus. He asks Diana to pass on a message to Hawkman; he wants the hero to know that he appreciates his keeping the god's face alive. She gladly agrees and she, and Hermes, goes to meet Horus' parents and tell them of Hades' recent fall from grace. For his duping Ares into digging his own grave, Zeus stripped him of all his power and sent into exile. He is currently working as a mortal undertaker in a non-denominational funeral parlor. As such, the Greek underworld has no king—and no queen either as Persephone followed her husband into exile.
"At the moment, it's taking everything that Minos, the literal judge from hell, to keep the demons and the damned in check. And that's with the Eryines, harpy like vengeance goddesses, serving as his enforcers! The land of the dead is in turmoil without a strong hand to bring order. Using her silver tongue and golden heart, Diana manages to convince Osiris to become king of the land of Hades. He transforms into Serapis, the guise by which the Greco-Egyptians of Alexandria knew him, right there and volunteers." He paused. "With how the Greeks and Egyptians sometimes worshipped each other's gods and included them in each other's myths if any two pantheons would be friends, it would be these two.
"She also meets and hammers out a peace agreement with the Aeseir. With how they, and their Valkyries, particularly Gudra, frequently aided the Germans in World War II, some Amazons don't trust them. This is doubly so for Mala who takes the place of Golden Age/Earth-Two Wonder Woman who Gudra historically fought. Diana is more willing to take a chance—she remembers how some Valkyries fought by her side when she rescued Paradise Island from Ares. It's not friendship but cold peace is better than cold war.
"It's worth saying that despite having worked on the character back when I was at Marvel, I have no plans for plagiarism. To differentiate the two, our Thor will be closer to the myth. You know, red head and bearded, happily married with two wonderful kids. And to scramble things up more, Odin—in continuity with the myths and Marston—is a grim god of death who causes war so that he might play soul reaver amidst the slaughter. …And Loki is more conman than villain, an all-get-out pain in the neck who has a habit of getting everyone in trouble, and a habit of getting everyone out.
"Diana will befriend the Hindu deities as well as well as those of other pantheons. Y'know, I imagine her room in Themyscira's New York embassy will wind up having statues of every god known to man! Heck, she might even meet with the Spectre to start not a religion but a relationship with Jesus.
"All this, however, will be needed because Circe is coming. DC's had lotsa Circes going as far back as the 1940s. However, there was never any attempt to synchronize the various versions appearing in Superman and Captain Marvel. In all honesty, she was inconsistent even in Wonder Woman. As such when she is reintroduced, Diana learns that she has never faced Circe, not really. All the other Circes she or anyone else ever faced were merely her agents. The real witch decides the time for hiding behind lookalikes is over and that its time to show her face.
"She's the daughter of the Titans Helios and Perseis and is the former princess of Colchis. It's on the Black Sea over in the Soviet Union," he added. "Circe's also the most powerful witch in the world having learned everything Hecate—her second mother and goddess of black magic & ghosts—could teach her. From her father and both her mothers, she learned to hate Olympus. On her parents' part, they remembered the old days before Zeus stole their kingdom; her father Helios, in particular, never forgave the usurper for taking away his solar chariot and giving it to the upstart Apollo.
"As for Hecate, she was herself an offspring of the Titans and for that the Olympians always considered her an outsider. That was seen when her husband, Hades, arbitrarily divorced her and made her slave to his new wife Persephone. She's since abandoned the world, willing her soul and her power to her most devoted servant Circe. The witch has lived in seclusion on the island of Aeaea ever since killing her brother King Aeetes and destroying Colchis on a whim. That, of course, is where she had the fling with Ulysses. Since the days of ancient Greece where she has increased in power and in terms of the unseen empire she has spread across the world. Now she knows the time is right to strike.
"She of course hates Olympus' champion. I imagine halfway through my run we'll see Circe for the first time and see her capture Diana. Of course, Etta and stepsister Vanessa will go to the rescue. DC's resident Greek superhero, Olympian might help them. The big story will happen when Queen Hippolyta decides to open Paradise Island to and establish full relations with the outside. Her mother giving a speech at the UN is meant to be Diana's high point and it is… until Circe frames them for crimes they didn't commit.
"It will be a mega-crossover event with a four part mini, War of the Gods, and the main series taking center stage. Various other titles will tie in… with Ms. Kahn's permission of course!"
"If your issues leading up to the 'big finale' are good enough," she said, "then certainly."
"Thanks! We will see Circe framing the Amazons for various murders and using her bestiamorph agents in various world governments—US especially—to turn the people against them. Remember the mythical Circe and the comic book versions that have appeared before could turn people into animals. But why exactly is Circe doing all this? It's because she knows as a fact something that others only faintly grasp; she sees that Wonder Woman is bound for godhood, Gaea level elder godhood at that. Diana is Gaea's chosen and has given her power beyond reckoning. Circe sees this and wants it for herself, first for the powers own sake and so that she might crush Olympus once and for all.
"She's been sowing seeds of discord and Diana's increasingly less effective diplomatic efforts aside, the witch's efforts are about to bear poisonous fruit. Most every pantheon by that time has sworn a vow on non-interference on the mortal world and has kept that vow for centuries. (Some had no choice as their ex-worshippers put themselves sunder the aegis of you-know-Who.) Now, however, they are convinced that the uppity mortals have to be put in their place and the old days when said mayflies groveled at their feet be restored. To the degree they fight each other, each pantheon either thinks that the other one threw the first punch… or they just like killing things and see the chance to do it.
"Wonder Woman sees this and recruits the aid of our other mythological heroes like Olympian, Son of Vulcan, Captain Marvel, and of course Wonder Girl and the rest of their family to try to put a stop to the end of this madness. It's no use as Olympus is locked in mortal combat with Asgard, as the gods of Egypt revenge themselves on a secularized Israel, as the cruel gods of Babylon gleefully offer Saddam Hussein their services against any and all comers. The only gods who manage to keep their act together are those of India who arrive to shield their worshippers from the madness. Outside of the Indian subcontinent, if you have faith in a god greater than those strange idols, you are safe. If not, you're doomed.
"However, all the gods are ultimately descended from Gaea, the planet's first deity and share her power. Thus when the gods go on a bloody rampage against each other and the planet, Gaea grows increasingly weaker. Circe waits until the elder goddess is sufficiently weakened to steal the power. When that happens, Diana stops where she is, falls to the ground, and clutches her chest in pain. That's when she sees Circe, now an unstoppable power mad Titaness, use her new strength to level whole cities. The pantheons are in ruins, the superheroes are forced to retreat, and the world militaries are in shambles. Diana sees all this and knows what she has to do. She takes off her bracelets, walks past the wounded up to the witch to say,
"'I know how good it feels being so big and strong. To see your muscles swell so large they look like they're going to burst out of your skin, to fly into the heavens and to crush mountains in your hands, to know that literally nothing can stop you, to know that everything else is so much cardboard. But there's a difference between us, that you use power to do whatever you want and I don't.
"'You have no idea how hard it is to be that strong and to still try to be good. Always holding back, always afraid you might break something, break someone, knowing that you'll have to spend the rest of your life in a straight jacket because if you lose control even for a second somebody would die! But you know what, I don't care anymore! I don't care if I kill you; in fact, that's probably what I'll try to do. It's time for to show you, show everyone, just how pathetic you really are and just how powerful I really am.'
"And with that we see a punch whose shockwaves make a thousand foot crater and flatten everything in a mile, maybe ten miles! Circe flies though the air screaming as she crashes through building after building without even slowing down. She does stop when Diana flies at light speed to intercept here with a pile driver that sends her straight down to the ground. And that's where she pounds her into a hundred foot deep crater. Circe rallies and punches Diana into orbit and with that, the battle is joined.
"I plan on this being Wonder Woman's single greatest personal battle ever and, like she said, on using it to show just how strong she really is. Whole mountain ranges are destroyed, cities are left in ruins, earthquakes are felt on the other side of the world and tsunamis drown towns—evacuated of course. For a while it looks like the overpowered Circe might win by overwhelming her with monsters but Diana blasts them away with a bolt of lightning from her bracelets; they were made from Zeus's shield which was in turn made from the bones of Amalthea, the she-goat who suckled him. It all climaxes with Circe unconscious on one of the moons of Jupiter and waking up to see Diana floating above her and holding another moon overhead. (By the way, Jovian moons are as big as planets.) Bludgeoning someone half to death with a celestial body… now there's a finisher!
"It ends with her returning to Earth amidst the ruined city and with her defeated foe in her arms. After seeing what she did, the people looking on her with fear that she might explode them like soap bubbles just by touching them. She doesn't fault them; it's only when she puts her bracelets back on that she dares to trust herself. The fight is over, Circe is taken away, and the world is safe once again.
"The Amazons are cleared of any and all charges leveled against them and prove as good as gold by helping to rebuild what was destroyed. The heroes and the civilian population recover and they pitch in. As for the gods, however, they have been humbled first for their being duped by Circe and secondly that it took a mortal to save them all, a mortal who surpassed them in courage and wisdom and compassion.
"Zeus summons Diana to Olympus and there before him and all the gods of Earth whose lives she saved so that she whom he would make a goddess can take her place. It is there we see her apotheosis, there we see Zeus and Odin and Ammon-Ra invite her to stay among them. To the surprise of everyone except the fans reading the story, Diana says no. She is honored by the gift they have given her and she will work tirelessly to use it for the greater good. But to do that, she must stay on Earth to help those in need and help make a better world.
"Thus Diana is the goddess she was always meant to be. Once a mortal, she walks amongst mortals, sister and friend to everyone. Her people the Amazons, have opened their doors to Man's World and have invited them to their island home. Thus it shall be forever."
Days of Future Past: If not forever, then at least for nearly twenty years. Starting with William Messner-Loebs, other writers picked up Perez' lead with varying degrees of success but they always tried to live up to the standard he created. Wonder Woman as a goddess had the same powers as before except she was now functionally immortal. She was too modest to seek worshippers but she gladly accepted them and did her best to give them guidelines by which to live their lives. So in addition to being an ambassador and a superhero, she was also a religious leader. To that end, she had the powers one would expect a deity to have, such as seeing into the hearts and souls of her worshippers, conferring blessings, general magic, and unlimited access to those things reserved for the gods. Vishnu, Amaterasu, she stood as their equal.
As for Diana's extended family they shined. One memorable story from the William Mennser-Loebs era had Queen Hippolyta strip her daughter of her title and order a new contest to determine the champion. Among the competitors were Donna Troy who was finally old enough to compete and Nubia who was determined to win the legitimacy the title would grant her crusade. Fury, who had been the Earth-Two Wonder Woman daughter, competed against her "mother;" both in fact as Mala, who had taken Diana's place in the Golden Age also competed. Atalanta and her Bana-Mighdal Amazons also tried out.
The reason Hippolyta called the fight, or so she claimed, was that Diana was increasingly out of touch with the common folk. As part of that, she demanded from her daughter(s) that she temporarily renounce her powers and thus ensure a "fair" fight. Diana acquiesced and the goddess competed as a mortal against mortals; having gotten so used to her unbelievable new strength, she was in for a surprise! While she consistently placed first in many contests, albeit barely, against her sisters, Nubia and Donna, she quickly came to respect the training and determination of every Amazon. That included her mother.
To everyone's shock, Hippolyta did compete and show why she and nobody else was the Queen of the Amazons. Despite dead heat, Hippolyta managed to beat Diana in the last contest and claim the title of Wonder Woman. During her time in Man's World playing "superhero," however, fans reading began wondering if she had gone mad with how out of character she was. It was ultimately revealed that Hippolyta had seen that "Wonder Woman" would be killed and that she had challenged her daughter to the contest because she knew that if she didn't win and take their place, that Diana or one of her other daughters would win… and go off to die.
On learning about this Diana, Donna, and Nubia all raced to save their mother from the monstrous White Magician; they failed. Diana, who had known her the longest took it the hardest and called herself a bad daughter for having so often disobeyed her. Hippolyta admonished her and with her last strength took the tiara from her brow, proclaiming her daughter now and forever, Wonder Woman. As the eldest daughter, Nubia became the new Queen of the Amazons. Donna stayed on as her sister's right hand and as the new Wonder Girl's mentor.
As for Diana's supporting cast, Etta Candy married boyfriend Howard Huckaby and eventually became a Lieutenant Colonel before leaving the Air Force to become Secretary of the Department of Metahuman Affairs. She remained a staunch ally ready to help her old friend against supervillainy in any way she could. This was doubly true as her stepsister, Vanessa Kapetalis, became Wonder Girl in John Byrne's run. Steve Trevor just… disappeared.
Greg Rucka's run was also well received. It was famous among other things, for his modernizing the Greek gods into cell phone using designer clothes wearing deities. This was due in part to Diana's influence but also out of a desire to defy stagnation. This was most clearly seen when Aphrodite became queen of Olympus after her champion bested Zeus' in mortal combat. Athena, however, was gladly welcomed as the queen's prime minister. Diana was likewise happy to serve as her grandmother's right hand.
Simply said, the status quo made by Perez lasted from 1986 to 2006. Wonder Woman, was at once the Goddess of Truth, champion and ambassador of Olympus to the pantheons of Earth. At the same time she walked amongst mortals as their hero, the ambassador of Themyscira and global peacemaker. She wore many hats but she wore them well. Even when Loebs and Bryne played down Diana the diplomat in favor of having her moonlight at Taco Whiz or play second fiddle to Jack Kirby's Demon, it was still there in the background.
In fact, with the sole exception of the Golden Age, it was the longest single uninterrupted period of stability in her history. After the constant new beginnings of the Bronze Age, twenty years of status quo—relatively speaking—were a breath of fresh air. Twenty years of the same city (New York), the same supporting cast (Donna Troy, Etta Candy, Nubia, Julia and Vanessa Kapetalis), the same "job" (Themysciran ambassador), however, led to taking things for granted. Rucka most certainly shook things up when he ended his run with Amazons Attack, widely regarded as one of the greatest Wonder Woman stories ever.
He had been building up to it all through his years writing both Diana's titles, Wonder Woman and Sensation Comics by a number of things. Paradise Island was removed from its pocket dimension and appeared just off the coast off the Carolinas, something that immediately put Washington DC on alert. Queen Nubia, despite Diana's pleas, refused to sign any peace treaties or even non-aggression pacts with the US, stating that her word was good enough. (The tragedy, of course was, that it was good enough but that no sane President could accept it.) Themyscira refused to trade with the United States for fear of cultural contamination and would not share its technology telling Congress to its face that Patriarch's World would use it for evil ends. The Amazons repeatedly refused to turn over any criminals that sought asylum. Most dramatic, of course, was when the flying islands of the Themyciran archipelago, came crashing down into the sea thus causing a tsunami that killed thousands and left thousands more homeless all along the American east coast. When it was revealed that the islands were brought down and thus the subsequent tsunami caused by the "gods" to whom Diana of the Amazons belonged, it was considered an act of war.
At all came to a head when Circe coerced Veronica Cale into filing a case against Themyscira in the American courts for custody of her daughter, Lyta, who was technically an American citizen. (Lyta was born in America when Circe masqueraded as a mortal named Donna Milton.) The American government, already on the brink of war and with its Navy blockading the islands, demanded that Themyscira return the child to "Donna Milton." The Amazons knowing Lyta's true lineage, refused, and attacked the social services agent, taking him prisoner.
This was the final straw and the U.S. launched a nuclear strike—the US wasn't sure if anything else could stop the Amazons—followed by hazmat suited Marines storming radioactive beachheads. They were then ambushed by the Amazons who had survived by going deep below the island and were promptly dealt the most humiliating defeat in their storied history. The sight of big manly Marines reduced to naked whimpering wrecks clutching US flags like baby blankets by a bunch of women said all that needed to be said of the oncoming fight.
In a strange subversion of the status quo that Perez began, the Amazons stormed Washington DC to avenge their dead island. Sadly, Nubia proved Ares' foster daughter as she led her people in bloody revenge against every man, woman, and child. Despite a broken heart, Mala, the Wonder Woman of World War II, rallied her Justice Society of America friends against her former sisters. Diana and the League followed close behind. One of the more famous scenes involved laser rifle toting Amazons coming out of nowhere to storm Air force One and telling the captured president, "You think we'd use bows and arrows?" When the Secret Service refused to surrender Air Force One, a dozen Invisible Jets materialized around it.
Not that America's armed forces were being lazy and showed why Diana was afraid; yes, the Amazons were stronger than any man but not stronger than all of them put together. For example, one Amazon charged at two US Army Rangers deflecting bullets all the while when she fell down dead. A third Ranger with a smoking rifle stepped from concealment and said the plan worked. On seeing that she was still crawling forward to kill them, despite a bullet in the brain, the three men just rolled their eyes and emptied their magazines from a safe distance into her skull until she was finally dead. High five.
The US had been caught off guard but it was fighting back and in the long run it was simply a fight that the Amazons could not win. Queen Nubia saw why when even after the President was their prisoner, another President appeared out of nowhere! As Diana told her sister, never count out the VP. She tried to get her sister to listen to reason but it was of no use. When it was clear that her sister Amazons would not stop, she and Donna and Vanessa joined with Mala and the superheroes against them.
Whilst Diana and her friends did win, it was a hollow victory. When Aphrodite finally intervened at her granddaughter's behest to exile the criminals—they were no longer her Amazons—to a pocket dimension, they left cursing the gods and cursing Diana as a traitor. It was just the beginning as seen when she 'killed' Max Lord in order to stop a mind controlled Superman. Though it was revealed that she killed a robot (thus explaining why Lord was acting so out of character all of a sudden), Diana was traumatized and declared her mission to bring peace, to be a symbol of love ruined. No she hadn't killed, but she would have. How could she look people in the face and honestly tell them to "give peace a chance"?!
It was under that logic that when Gail Simone took over immediately after Rucka that Diana, who was separated from her sister Amazons anyways, abandoned her diplomacy for the now non-existent country of Themyscira. With nothing else to do, Diana went back to Washington and asked her old friend Etta Candy for a job. By then Candy had retired from the US Air Force to become Secretary of Metahuman Affairs and was indeed glad to have her old pal as one of her agents. If a glasses wearing secret identity let Clark establish a link with the mortals, it could do the same for her. Diana Prince was back and Wonder Woman resolved not to lose sight of humanity, not this time.
That hasn't changed in recent years though it undoubtedly will. Glimpses of the future consistently show her as not only the goddess queen of a new pantheon but as Gaea herself. What happens next? Only God knows the future.
Author's Notes and Replies: Hi guys, glad to be back and glad to have this finished! I mean I like Diana but this is too much! After this I plan for some last words on Superman and Batman and then finally move to the Justice League. Yay! But for now let's dip into the mailbag, shall we?
Sir Thames: Glad to have you, as always. ;-)
"Anonymous": Strange... I knew of Vartox but I didn't make the connection between him and Hercules until now. As for the Gargareans, Atalanta's pre-Crisis Amazons who lived in the Amazon rain forest just mentioned men in general; I haven't given thought to expanding that. As for hording technology... I think you'll have liked this chapter. :-D
Wolvvbm: Glad to see you like the nods to the Golden Age and while they have different views, Poison Ivy and the Debbie Domaine Cheetah could indeed find common ground. Nice touch! I hope you like the words I have here on Etta Candy though I must apologize for any lack of the Holiday College girls. :-( As for the rest of Earth-Two (Power Girl, Huntress), that's what the next chapter is going to be about!
And thanks for your kind words. :'-)
That's all and I bid you all a nice day.
PS: Hey Anonymous, that issue of Avengers looks interesting could you give me the number please?