The 12 Labors of Wonder Woman - Part 5
Jun. 27th, 2011 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
TL;DR version: Amnesia and bad continuity have left Wonder Woman unsure of her abilities, so she asks the JLA to monitor her next 12 missions to make sure she's still fit for duty. Black Canary is the guest-star this issue, and she comes across a bit better than Aquaman did last issue.
Wonder Woman #216, 1975. Selected panels from a 20-page story.

I think this is the only time they've ever mentioned Dinah going to college (other than the Police Academy in some versions). I wonder what her major was?
Our story begins with billionaire shipping magnate

Peter is sent to buzz Paradise Island in a helicopter, but as soon as he gets close, the Amazons disintegrate his copter and trap him in an "air-wave net".

"Tee hee". This Artemis a lot more cheerful than her post-Crisis counterpart. ;)
Rest assured, we're told that Hyppolyte radioed a nearby ship to pick up poor ol' Pete.
Black Canary arrives in New York on her motorcycle, just in time to see a flying saucer steal a sculpture from the front of a museum. Naturally, Wonder Woman is on the case:

Diana puts the statue on the wing of her invisible jet for safekeeping, then breaks into the saucer to take care of the crew:


The sculpture is returned, and Wonder Woman heads off to her United Nations job as Diana Prince. In the crowd below is none other than Diamondopoulos, who gloats to himself that the "tracer-dust" he put on that statue will allow him to contact Wonder Woman wherever she is.
(You may have noticed a pattern in these stories of WW encountering odd crimes and emergencies early on in the issue, and never bothering to follow up on them. Apparently, this sort of thing happens to her so often, she's given up trying to make any sense of it.)
Black Canary also heads to the U.N. to begin her spy duty. I had to include this panel of Canary parking her motorcycle, because it's my favorite bit of dialogue from the issue:

One of the fun things about this storyline is seeing the methods the different heroes use to keep tabs on Diana. In this case, since WW has never seen Canary "out of uniform", she simply passes herself off as a reporter named "Shelley Ames" (with press credentials supplied by You-Know-Who at the Daily Planet) so she has an excuse to hang around Diana's office. But no sooner has "Shelley" introduced herself to Diana, then:


I dig Diana's green pantsuit. Very hip. Hillary Clinton would approve.
Diamondopoulos says that if Wonder Woman doesn't tell him about what happens if a man sets foot on the island, he'll bring an army of men to invade and find out himself. In truth, he doesn't expect her to spill the beans, he just wants to make sure she goes to the island (not sure why, since he already knows how to get there).
An interesting use of the Canary Cry here:


Black Canary uses the JLA teleporter to travel to Paradise Island, but finds it deserted. She starts poking around the abandoned buildings:

Diamondopoulos' men are invading in strange-looking walking saucers. The Amazons, on foot and in one-woman helicopters, try to keep them away from shore:


With the saucers wrecked, the men try to storm the beach on foot. Finally, Hyppolyte declares that they've messed around with these losers enough, and calls the whole thing off:


Ok, I changed my mind: "No need to bow to me" is my favorite line in this issue. :D
We see a flashback to the early days of the Amazons, when Hercules stole Hyppolyte's magic girdle and took them prisoner. Aphrodite bails them out, but with a catch:

In the immortal words of David Tennant: "What? What? WHAT???" Happily, this particular bit of canon was never referred to again.
Meanwhile, back on the decoy island, Diamondopoulos is trying to sneak onto the beach in a motorboat, unaware that he's been duped. Wonder Woman is waiting for him:

Canary finishes writing up her report. But she decides to redact the part about the Amazons going ga-ga over the first man to set foot on the island. She doesn't say it, but you just know she's worried about what would happen if Ollie ever found out about that...
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Date: 2011-06-28 05:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-28 05:22 am (UTC)Cause the former had her brain imprinted on her daughter, who was stuck in suspended animation between Earths One and Two.
Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque; the latter I think just died off-panel.
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Date: 2011-06-28 02:29 pm (UTC)http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1304586.html
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Date: 2011-06-28 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-28 05:38 am (UTC)Later, in Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #3, the JSA visit her grave.
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Date: 2011-06-28 11:10 am (UTC)That's why she "suddenly developed" her Canary Cry when she emigrated from Earth 2 to Earth 1. Originally it was said it was a side effect of the move, but the retcon made it so that it was her daughters power, now under better control.
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Date: 2011-06-28 05:20 am (UTC). . .
Nobody ever remembers Steve Trevor.
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Date: 2011-06-28 06:04 am (UTC)Aphrodite's a dick.
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