Legendary comic creator John Byrne saved the classic legacy of Wonder Woman, even as he made her mythology infinitely more complicated. He accomplished this with a lengthy retcon involving Wonder Woman's death, magical clones and time travel; all the hallmarks of 1990s' comics.
When George Perez revamped Wonder Woman following Crisis on Infinite Earths, he made a number of big changes. Most of these changes were well-received, such as Wonder Woman officially being confirmed to be as strong as Superman. Another major change was that Wonder Woman could now fly independently, with no need for her trademark Invisible Jet.
One change that led to complications, however, was Perez's conceit that Wonder Woman was a newly established hero, who did not help to found the Justice League and didn't arrive in Man's World until five years after the Modern Age of Heroes had started. This meant that Donna Troy (aka Wonder Girl) was now a member of the Teen Titans two years before her mentor made her first appearance, necessitating that Donna Troy be given a new background with no connection to Wonder Woman. This also meant that all of the stories featuring Wonder Woman fighting alongside the Justice Society of America during World War II were no longer canon. When John Byrne took over writing and drawing Wonder Woman in 1995 with Wonder Woman #101, he set out to address these complications.
Byrne began rebuilding Wonder Woman's reputation by pitting her against Superman-level threats such as Darkseid of the New Gods and Doomsday. Byrne also gave her a new sidekick in the form of Cassandra "Cassie" Sandsmark, a bold tween who was granted super-powers by Zeus purely because she had the audacity to ask for them, who became the new Wonder Girl. However, Byrne's masterstroke began during his final year on Wonder Woman, with a year-long storyline that started with Diana's death fighting the demon Neron in Wonder Woman #124.
For two issues Diana was in a catatonic state, her body still technically alive but her soul adrift. Salvation and something more arrived in Wonder Woman #127, when the goddess Hera healed Diana's broken body and transfigured the divine power which originally made a clay statue into a flesh-and-blood girl. Thus was Diana of Themyscira reborn as an Olympian; the first mortal to be granted such an honor in millennia. No longer Wonder Woman, Diana was now the Goddess of Truth.
Unfortunately, divinity did not suit Diana at all. The laws of Olympus forbid her acting directly in the affairs of humanity when she saw people in need. The gods were also only allowed to act on behalf of those who prayed to them, further limiting Diana's ability to help others. Diana despaired, for the world still needed a Wonder Woman to protect it, but who could hope to replace her?
A new Wonder Woman would emerge in the final pages of Wonder Woman #128, leaping into the fray to save Donna Troy from a would-be assailant. At first Donna thought the figure in the familiar costume was Diana, somehow restored to life. It turned out to be Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons and Diana's mother.
Wonder Woman #128-129 explained how Hippolyta was responsible for Diana's death, having ordered the Amazon mystic Magala to work a spell to weaken the divine magics that empowered her daughter. She did this because of a prophecy which said that Wonder Woman was doomed to die and Hippolyta, hoping to save her daughter, ordered a new contest in order for Diana to defend her right to act as the Amazon's champion and ambassador in Man's World. Magala's spell weakened Diana enough for the Amazon Artemis to win the contest, leading to her death in Diana's place in Wonder Woman #100.
The spell continued to drain Diana's strength even after she resumed her role as Wonder Woman and Hippolyta feared her hubris had led her daughter to die anyway. The Amazons leaders agreed when they learned of Hippolyta's actions and it was decided that only a special and appropriate punishment would allow their queen to atone for her dishonorable actions. As the world needed a Wonder Woman to protect it, it was decreed that Hippolyta would take up her daughter's position and serve the mortals Diana had died defending as the new Wonder Woman.
In Wonder Woman #130, a news report showing Hippolyta in her new Wonder Woman costume stirred the memories of Jay Garrick, the first Flash, who had vague recollections of an older version of himself and a woman dressed like Hippolyta saving his life when he was a young hero. Seeking out Hippolyta, the two concluded that they must have traveled back in time together and that they should make that journey now to avoid causing a paradox. Jay Garrick returned just a minute after he left, explaining that Hippolyta had elected to stay in the past.
When Jay and Hippolyta arrived in the past, it became apparent that their arrival had somehow altered the original timeline and things were happening that Jay didn't remember, such as the Nazis abducting Johnny Thunder and stealing his Thunderbolt. Hippolyta elected to stay behind and help the JSA in fighting the Third Reich, spending eight years in the past and becoming, as far as the world was concerned, the first Wonder Woman, before returning to the present day to continue serving her penance. The practical upshot of all this is that within the span of three issues (Wonder Woman #131-133) John Byrne brought every Golden Age Wonder Woman story back into continuity.
Byrne also brought Donna Troy back into the Wonder Woman family, literally, by rewriting her history so that she was now Diana's long-lost twin sister. This retcon was also set into motion during Wonder Woman #131, as Donna Troy listened to Jay Garrick tell the story of what happened when he and Hippolyta traveled back in time. Excusing herself from the room to take a phone call in the Garricks' kitchen, Donna was attacked by a villain called Dark Angel, whom Donna recognized. Dark Angel spirited Donna away as Jay Garrick and his wife entered the room, showing no signs that they remembered Donna was there or indeed had ever been there in the first place.
Wonder Woman #132-133 detailed the origins of Dark Angel and how she was a demonic being who had been bound to the service of Adolph Hitler by a German sorceress. Dark Angel was almost successful in destroying the Justice Society of America, but they were saved thanks to the intervention of Hippolyta. This led Dark Angel to swear revenge and seek out the Amazon queen once she was free of the spells that bound her. Rather than attack Hippolyta directly, however, Dark Angel decided to avenge herself upon Hippolyta's daughter.
Wonder Woman #134-135 revealed how Donna Troy came into being and how Dark Angel had abducted the wrong Amazon youth in her quest for revenge. As the only child on Themyscira, a young Princess Diana felt lonely, despite all the Amazons treating her as if she were their own daughter. Sensing that Diana desired a playmate her own age, the mystic Magala used her magics to split Diana's soul, fashioning a magical clone of Diana that could offer her the close kinship the older Amazons could not. For six months the Diana clone lived in seclusion with Magala, who lived apart from the other Amazons as a hermit. It was this clone that was abducted by Dark Angel, who sensed the part of Diana's soul that was used to bring her into being.
Diana and Magala thought that the copy had simply ceased existing because the magics Magala used to create her were unstable and risky to use, which was why Magala had kept the clone's existence a secret from the other Amazons. In truth, Dark Angel had sent the clone into a continuing cycle of suffering, being born and reborn into a series of horrible lives. With each life lived, Dark Angel would then use her magics to alter reality and erase all evidence of the clone's existence, so that Hippolyta would never be able to find her lost daughter. The clone's latest incarnation held the name Donna Troy and was allowed to become a superhero and a mother before losing her powers and her son, as Dark Angel began the cycle anew.
This time, however, things were different, as Hippolyta was outside the normal flow of time when Dark Angel worked her spell and remembered Donna Troy upon her return to the present. By a happy coincidence, so was the current Flash, Wally West, who was insulated from Dark Angel's memory-erasing spell by the Speed Force. The two heroes and their allies journeyed into the underworld to fight Dark Angel and rescue Donna Troy. Dark Angel was defeated, but she used her final spell to blast Donna Troy's spirit into oblivion, leaving her soul a blank slate with no memory of the women she had been before.
Luckily, Diana manifested just in time to save the day, bringing with her the Golden Lasso of Truth. Using Wally West's memories as a starting point and her own divine powers channeled through the lasso as fuel, Diana was able to restore Donna Troy to life with her personality largely intact. Though she did not remember every aspect of her former life as there were many fine details The Flash was unaware of, the core of Donna's being was still intact and she was officially recognized as an Amazon and Diana's sister in spirit, if not quite her literal twin.
Wonder Woman #136 ended with Diana resuming her duties as Wonder Woman, having been exiled to Earth in a mortal form for violating the laws of Olympus with her continuing efforts to aid her friends. The issue also marked the end of John Byrne's three-year run on the Wonder Woman book, having managed the miraculous task of reestablishing Wonder Woman's place in the DC Comics universe, replacing her earliest published adventures into continuity and reestablishing Donna Troy as a full-fledged Amazon and Diana's twin sister. It did this in an incredibly convoluted fashion but it still stands as a staggering accomplishment.
https://ift.tt/2ylM2Dv
April 19, 2020 at 07:15AM
