Absolute Wonder Woman #1 (2024)

When an unknown object appears off the coast of Gateway City, the news station "The Gate" sends their reporter Allan on the scene to report what they know of the mysterious upside-down pyramid hovering in the air, leaving government officials baffled. Before long, the object unleashes hundreds of flying creatures called "Harbingers" upon the civilians of the city. Besieged by these hellish beasts, the citizens panic as their city begins to suffer catastrophic damage from their assault, with the citizens then once more caught off-guard by the arrival of another hellish visitor, Diana of Themyscira. The masked Amazon swiftly eliminates many of the threatening creatures attacking the city with a swing of her Athena Blade and the help of her steed, Pegasus. Marking herself with the blood of the fallen that is pooled on the floor, she braces herself for a moment. Reciting an incantation of magicks, a flare of power emanates from the Amazon as her power erupts violently, repelling the dozens of harbingers attempting to approach her. Flashing back to years ago, on the Wild Isle of Hell, we find the barren wasteland as a prison for the great sorceress Circe. Scavenging for what resources she may find in the barren lands she now calls home, she is visited upon by a being of pure light, the god Apollo. The sun god commands her to approach, handing her the newest occupant of the underworldly prison. Circe asks the meaning of a baby being brought to Hell for her, Apollo answering that she is the last of the Amazons, the rest of their people having been punished for their crimes against Zeus, and Circe shall be her warden. Furthermore, Circe is given a new decree for her punishment, that she may never speak the word "Amazon" so as not to let the child know of her origins. Compelled by Apollo, Circe attempts to say the word, finding the decree to be held true. Apollo takes his leave, Circe questioning him about what if the child should die, to which Apollo responds apathetically that the gods do not care. Circe, feeling no responsibility for the child, simply lays the newborn Amazon babe on a mound near her and watches as one of Hell's beasts, a serpent, immediately approaches the exposed child. Expecting a quick death for the unprotected child, she is shocked to find that the infant snatches the serpent mid-bite and tosses it into the distance. Intrigued by such an interesting child, Circe decides to indeed raise her, watching as the beasts of Hell are no more capable of harming the child than the first serpent was. The young Diana proves herself compassionate as well, for while these beasts attempt to prey upon her, she treats them with kindness and compassion, charming her new adoptive mother. As the years pass in Hell, Circe and Diana manage to turn the barren and disgusting wasteland that they call home into a progressively more comforting and livable abode. Circe uses her magic to provide resources and support in raising the precocious child. While initially reluctant, Circe repeatedly comes to realize that the way to fall in love with a child is by raising it. With age comes curiosity, and Circe teaches her as best she can in their situation, imparting what morals she knows, the magicks they can access, and the feeling that she has inside her for a word she does not know yet holds in her heart. Approaching adulthood, Diana becomes Circe's protector, having honed her superhuman abilities, and becoming a warrior that Circe comes to realize that she must let go out into the world soon. Back in Gateway City, Diana asks a soldier if he is in charge. The flabbergasted infantryman barely able to muster a word to her, simply pointing his head in the direction of his commanders. Diana following suit as she warns that they must evacuate the city of all civilians within a mile, for the harbingers are not dead by merely stunned. As a massive arm of a new Harbinger reveals itself from the object above Gateway City, a more monstrous versions of the Harbingers, Harbinger Prime, arriving to challenge Diana, who staunchly announces that the beast must either return from whence it came or be sent back by force. A roar of the mighty Harbinger is enough to challenge her power, but Diana and Pegasus retaliate in tandem, as Diana approaches the body of the Harbinger and begins another incantation of magick. Unable to finish her spell, she is blasted by two beams of energy from its eyes, Diana remarking on their "laser eyes" as a nuisance. Harbinger Prime's eyes glow as he commands the Harbingers to rise, Diana remarking her dismay as the fallen Harbingers rise to their feet and proceed to assault her once more. The Harbinger leader attempts to blast the princess again and again, failing to land his attacks due to her swiftness as she circles him, then using her braces to repel the attack straight back at Harbinger Prime as the strike instead lands on its own face. The angered beast lashes out another blast on Diana, Diana sent flying backwards from the attack and landing abruptly on another side of the beach. Flashing back once more to the Wild Isle, Diana asks her mother of the word that she feels within her, one that she knows is important, one that she is afraid to speak. Circe consoles her daughter, assuring her that she is not afraid of the word, but afraid of the change that will follow it, and so asks her to say the word she feels within her, Amazon. As Diana of the present stands her ground once more against the mighty Harbinger Prime, the Diana we concurrently see of the past asks Circe what the meaning of the word "Amazon" is, Circe telling her that it is simply what she is, yet unable to say the word still. With tears in their eyes, they wonder why the Gods made this their life. Circe explains that the Amazons were once protectors of the world, and that the world may fall without them. Compelled by her mother, Diana proclaims herself an Amazon over and over again. The Diana of the present proclaiming it as well, then approaching the Harbinger to announce that as long she draws breath, this world will not be his.