WONDER WOMAN #18 & #19

“CREATURES OF THE DARK” | “THE WITCH ON THE ISLAND”
Written & Penciled by: George Pérez
Finished by: Dick Giordano (#18) & Frank McLaughlin (#19)
Lettered by: John Costanza | Colored by: Carl Gafford
Edited by: Karen Berger

The Plot: (issue 18) Diana awakens in a hospital and as she departs with Julia, Vanessa, and Stavros, she meets the wealthy Theophilus Ventouras and his nephew Demetrios. Ventouras invites Diana to his estate for dinner and to peruse his library to learn about the mysterious island which may have caused her blackout. Soon, Diana and friends visit Julia’s parents, who welcome her into their home. Stavros soon leaves for a secret meeting with a man named Gregori, who wants to keep Diana safe from the “island witch”. Gregori’s safehouse is attacked and the group inside splits up, Stavros returning to his home with one of Gregori’s guards.

Diana and Julia dine at Ventouras’s estate, and after they leave, Ventouras’s butler reveals the corpse of Demetrios, who he believes murdered by Gregori and his rebels. Ventouras transforms into a werewolf and departs, seeking revenge. Driving home, Diana and Julia spot Stavros’s house ablaze. Knowing Vanessa was visiting Stavros, Diana leaps into action. She rescues Stavros from the house, but he says that Vanessa escaped when the house was attacked. Diana finds Vanessa and protects her from Ventouras and an army of demonic animals, but she is ultimately knocked out and taken away by the creatures, revealed as servants of the island witch, Circe.

(issue 19) Julia and the police find Vanessa, who has a scroll given to her by Stavros. While Julia studies the scroll, Diana meets Circe on her island. Circe believes the Amazon princess to be the only person capable of killing her, and plans to slay Diana first. Julia and Gregori’s rebels attack Circe’s island, and Julia makes her way to the chamber where Circe is about to kill Diana. But before the conflict can resolve, Circe is spirited away by an unknown force.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Zeus and his brothers, Poseidon and Hades, recover something called the “Olympian Pact”, which the use, per Zeus, to create a “new” Olympus—presumably as part of the “cosmic migration” Zeus cryptically mentioned last issue. (I still find this stuff incredibly boring, by the by.)

Wonder Woman’s lasso is shown to act as a ward against Circe’s demons; when she lays it on the ground, forming a circle around Vanessa, the beasts are unable to cross over it. Later, Julia wraps the lasso around a boat so she and the rebels can travel to Circe’s island undetected.

Circe fills in some of her backstory for Diana. She also reveals that the current Greek gods are the original Roman gods, who decided to masquerade as “new” gods when Apokolips and New Genesis were created. We also learn that Circe killed Antiope, former leader of the Amazons.

At the story’s conclusion, we learn that it was Hermes who plucked Circe from Earth, though where he sent her remains unknown. We’re also told Stavros will recover from his injuries. And, on the final page, as Diana, Julia, and Vanessa prepare to return to America, Vanessa finds a newspaper that says Myndi Mayer has been murdered.

My Thoughts: As I mentioned last time, it’s cool to see Diana in the land of her ancestors. Honestly, as I think about it, I’m not sure why she needs to be based in America at all! I mean, yes — her costume is basically the American flag, but Pérez has taken great pains to explain why that is, and to distance Wonder Woman from any sort of American patriotism. She’s an ambassador to the world and a hero of same. Why can’t she just live in Greece instead of the U.S.A.?

W.M. Marston would've been pleased with this image.

But regardless of her permanent base of operations, her time in Greece over these issues is a lot of fun — especially the middle chapter, issue 18, which oozes mystery and atmosphere. Circe’s machinations, suspenseful secret meetings, spying animals… it’s a really good chapter and as a result, #19 almost feels like a little bit of a letdown, being more-or-less all backstory and action. The setup in this one is definitely superior to the resolution, which features a literal deus ex machina to save the day. I don’t often like that sort of outcome, though I have to admit that in this case, it helps to sell the idea that Wonder Woman might not have been able to defeat Circe without help — which allows our villainess to be beaten while still maintaining her sense of menace.

In any case, though the finale may be just a bit lacking (and I really mean “a bit”), overall this may be my favorite story arc since the Pérez run started!

Next Week: SUPERMAN #20 teams the Man of Steel with the Doom Patrol in Smallville, then ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN 443 follows his return to Qurac.