This is a special double sized Anniversary issue featuring a multi-part story line pencilled by a number of different artists. The cover itself is a wraparound which also features black and white line art on the the inside cover pages. The issue features no adverts inside. The Huntress back up feature takes a one issue sabbatical too.
Three AM in Washington DC in a dark alley way, Wonder Woman finds herself face to face with a terrifying, dark entity. She has been suffering from a series of nightmares for the last week featuring this same creature. As it reaches towards her she feels fear and is surprised when it actually touches her. Before she can react she is struck across the face and sent crashing into some trash cans.
Still unsure whether this is real or simply a vivid dream, she unhooks her lasso and attempts to ensnare her foe. But the golden rope merely passes through the entity and she realises that she cannot touch it! Once more it grabs her by the neck intent on killing her and she struggles vainly to break free.
Just then a throbbing, surging vortex seems to unravel the sky above and through the dark portal leaps the Sandman. He orders the creature to release her at once. In response, the entity casually hurls the Amazon at him but he manages to catch her safely. As he prepares to engage the creature though it vanishes in a flash of light.
The Sandman asks Wonder Woman if she is OK and she replies that she is fine, assuming she is still dreaming. He tells her that she is in fact sleepwalking and that she has seen that creature before in her nightmares. She confirms the fact, adding that it has never been so real until tonight though. He responds that it never should have been either. He says that it is part of his job to ensure that nightmares like that always remain outside this dimension. From his HQ in the Dream Dimension he monitors dreams and when he had seen her nightmare suddenly manifest itself, he had launched into the Dream Stream, which forms the vast, ethereal border between her world and his. He had then streaked down to save her before it killed her as it would surely have done. He adds that the sight of one so lovely as her was well worth it though!
She thanks him for saving her, more than for the compliment, adding that as for the nightmares she has been under a lot of pressure lately both from her own job and from the man that she loves. He replies that perhaps she should change her job…or the man. She curtly replies that the matter is her business. He concedes the point, saying that he will just add one more piece of unasked for advice before he goes. He doubts that she has seen the last of the Shadow Creature so she should “watch that curvaceous bod of yours”. With that he leaps back through the portal before she can reply.
She thinks to herself that the Sandman has some nerve meddling with her personal life. However, even she has to admit that every day she is finding it more and more difficult to live as two very different women. As if to prove the point she races home in order to hop into bed as Diana Prince before Etta wakes up.
Not many hours later at the Pentagon, the two flat mates arrive for work a little late, for which Diana apologises. Etta replies that it is no problem as Diana has been putting in a lot of overtime lately so she is sure General Darnell will understand. But as they enter the office the office intercom goes and Darnell summons them inside immediately. As Diana prepares to take full responsibility for their lateness she is surprised to find that in fact the General wants to award her her stars and promote her to Major! Darnell congratulates her, saying that she deserves it for helping to capture General Electric. He then kisses her on the cheek and tells her that she should knock off early today and get some sleep. She and Colonel Trevor will be joint heads of the Arms Talks in Mexico in a few days time…
A little later at a nearby coffee shop Steve Trevor explains to Diana that he has already done most of the preliminary work for the conference, but her input might be helpful. She detects some frostiness in his voice and guesses that his ego must be hurt now that she ranks equal to him. He does not even recall that it was in fact she that did most of that research for him! As he takes another sip from his coffee he says that he wonders whether this “New Army” has changed too much for him. He has even been thinking of resigning his commission. She bluntly replies that he should just say what he is really thinking – that she was promoted just because she is a woman and that he does not think she can cut it! He tells her that he has never really thought of her as a woman at all and she icily replies that in that case he will not notice that she is leaving.
Diana leaves a bewildered Steve, who is wondering what he has said wrong, and she steps into an alleyway. She tells herself off for losing her temper but Steve has chosen a bad day to test it with his masculine military macho. But now she is labeling him! She begins to wonder if perhaps he has a point but decides that she is not thinking rationally due to lack of sleep the previous night. She changes into her Wonder Woman costume and summons her plane, planning to have a catnap. However, she almost misses the ladder as she climbs aboard due to her tiredness. As she gets into the cockpit, she continues to resent what Steve said about never having thought of Diana Prince as a woman. How can he claim to be in love with Wonder Woman and never have suspected in the past year that the two of them are the same person?
She begins to drift off to sleep and switches the plane to automatic pilot, leveling the craft at 40,000 feet. But as her eyes begin to close she suddenly sees the Shadow Creature in front of her! She demands to know what it wants from her but it does not reply. As it continues to block her view and she knows she cannot touch it, she decides to outrun it. But as she accelerates to Mach-5 it stays in front of her all the way, receding from view then returning, deliberately taunting her with its hideous nightmarish smile. But she knows she is not asleep – she is awake! She tries to vibrate the plane at such a high speed so as to confuse it. It seems to work as the creature disappears but in the process she has managed to lock the steering mechanism. She realises that she is flying straight towards the Washington Monument and she has no way to avoid it! Suddenly though, just at the last second her plane is pulled up and over the landmark by the nose with what looks like her own golden lasso!
To her amazement, Wonder Woman looks up to see another robot plane on which stands another, slightly older Wonder Woman! She immediately recognises her Earth Two counterpart and thanks her for her intervention. She asks her Earth Two version what she is doing here on Earth One and is surprised to learn that in fact, it is she who has ended up on Earth Two! The Earth Two Wonder Woman tells her that she had vibrated into the other Earth accidentally. She invites her Earth One double to come back to her humble abode for a meal. As they touch down by a large, impressive country house our Wonder Woman is concerned that someone might see her Earth Two colleague and deduce she is Diana Prince. But her double explains that she has nothing to hide anymore because she has already revealed her secret identity to the world some years back. Although very slowly, she ages nevertheless and she has now pretty much retired from crime fighting. Nowadays she prefers to stay at home with Steve Trevor.
As they approach the house they are met by a handsome man in his mid-sixties. The Earth Two Wonder Woman introduces Steve to her Earth One version. She is amazed at his likeness to her own Steve and as he clasps her in greeting she feels the imprint of a wedding ring on her arm. She now notices that her counterpart also wears one too!
As they enter the house they both tell our Wonder Woman how they married almost twenty years ago. The Earth Two Diana had had her doubts about giving up her double life for a while but she had eventually decided to dispose of the pretense. Especially as her version of the “Diana Prince” alter ego was an even bigger wimp than Clark Kent!
They then lead our Wonder Woman into their Memorabilia Room which holds many identical memories from her own life. Suddenly, what appears to be a large beach ball comes flying through the window and Wonder Woman catches it, though is surprised to find it is actually made of metal! A pretty young blonde girl rushes in and effortlessly takes the ball from her. The happy couple then proudly present their daughter, Lyta, to Wonder Woman. The young Amazon has heard of this other Wonder Woman and is pleased to finally meet her at last. She asks whether she can have a training session with both her mother and our own Wonder Woman, but Diana apologies and says that while she would love to, she has some unfinished business back on her own world to sort out – after lunch that is!
A short while later they all happily sit down to a sumptuous meal which is over before they know it. As she waves good-bye to Steve and Lyta, our Wonder Woman whispers to the other Diana that she appears to be aging at roughly half the rate Steve is. Understanding where she is leading with the reasoning, her counterpart replies that yes, she will probably live far longer then Steve but that it is the years they have together now, not the ones they will have apart, that are important. As Wonder Woman climbs on board her plane she waves good-bye and her doppleganger tells her that Diana’s way to happiness may not be the same as her own. But that is not important for if love is not immortal…then nothing is.
As the plane lifts off, Wonder Woman thinks to herself that the trip may be the best thing that has happened to her since she met Steve a couple of years back. As she prepares to vibrate her way back to her own world she suddenly remembers about the Shadow Creature, wondering whether it had led her here for some purpose or if it had simply been a coincidence. Whatever the reason, as a result she has something she must now take care of…
A short while later back on Earth One at a Naval Dockyard on the Eastern Seaboard, the robot plane swoops down and its mistress leaps down to the ground. Nearby, Steve is standing with some dignitaries who are about to launch a new Sub. Suddenly a shot rings out and a Naval Patrolman falls to the ground. Steve orders everyone to hit the deck as Terrorists storm the event. One of them yells that Trevor had been the intended target of the bullet as they did not want him to attend the Arms Talks in Mexico. But he is soon silenced by a red and white boot as Wonder Woman kicks him to the ground. Steve decks the other terrorist as she finishes off her one with a powerful punch. Steve is surprised how quickly she dealt with the thug without resorting to friendly persuasion with her magic lasso. She whisks him into the sky, telling him that she has no time to waste as she needs to talk to him about something important.
Once they have landed high up on a nearby roof she prepares to speak but he interrupts, telling her that if she is about to chastise him for the way he had spoken to their mutual friend Diana Prince earlier, she need not bother because he has already decided to apologise for being such a jerk. She smiles, saying that Diana is the last person on her mind right now. She then calmly asks whether he still wants to marry her – because if he does then the answer is yes!
They passionately embrace as fireworks explode overheard to celebrate the launch of the sub below. At last they come up for air and he tells her that he is not sure what has made her change her mind, but they should marry quickly before either he wakes up or she comes to her senses! She replies that it is because she already has come to her senses and that they should marry in a couple of weeks time on Paradise Island. As she climbs on board her robot plane he says that it is settled, although she will have to find a way for him to be able to set foot on the island! She tells him she will and they bid good-bye.
Two days later on board a military jet bound for Mexico, Steve is recounting to General Darnell how Wonder Woman proposed to him. And since he has now apologised to Major Prince, she has even agreed to be their maid of honour. Diana herself adds that nothing could make her happier than to see them marry. Darnell slyly says to Steve that if he is going to tie the knot he might as well pick a girl with her own lasso! Diana secretly hopes that the General will not use that joke for the Wedding Toast, but thinks to herself that after what she is about to do, he will not be in the mood for frivolity.
Etta asks whether she wants to read the newspaper article about the upcoming wedding but sees that Diana has a briefcase of top secret papers on her lap, which has also been handcuffed to her wrist. Just then a radio message comes through, warning that HQ has received a message that a bomb was somehow planted in their conference briefcase! They are instructed to jettison the case at once but Diana tells them that she is still handcuffed to it! Steve tells her not to panic and they can get her free in a few minutes but she swiftly responds that there is no time and grabbing a parachute she dives out of the plane. As they look out in horror they see that the chute is not opening and she falls earthwards. A few seconds later the faulty parachute proves inconsequential as the bomb explodes, enveloping Diana!
The Arms Conference in Mexico is postponed a few days by mutual consent and shortly thereafter a memorial service is held in Washington. A tearful Steve consoles a distraught Etta as they are invited to say a few words. Darnell cannot forgive himself for letting Diana strap the case onto her wrist but is told by his friends not to torture himself. Etta tells the congregation that Diana was her best friend. Steve tries to speak but cannot get the words out. The reverend asks if there is anyone else who would like to speak before they close the service and a familiar voice says that she would like to say something.
To gasps, Wonder Woman enters the room and says that she did not think she could bring herself to be here tonight. But in the end she could not stay away. She tells the mourners that in many ways she knew Diana even better than any of them did and she will miss he. She and Diana could not have been closer if they had been sisters and everyone should know that Diana loved them all very much. And she would want that, rather then flowers and tears to be her legacy on this troubled world. Steve thanks her for her moving tribute and asks whether she wants them to postpone the wedding in the circumstances? But she replies that Diana would not have wanted that. As the mourners leave Wonder Woman alone in the room she feels bad for having caused such wonderful friends so much sadness. She never thought Diana’s “death” would hit so many people so hard. Especially her own fiancee who paid such little attention to Lt. Prince.
Just then she hears a noise and turns to see a figure in the shadows. She asks who goes there and a voice replies that he is just a friend come to pay his respects – especially to someone who is mourning her own death! The Sandman then steps out into the light and she pretends not to know what he is talking about. But he says to her that she may be able to keep secrets while awake but not when she sleeps. She asks him if he makes a habit of monitoring people’s private subconscious and he replies that it had saved her life the other night. He then adds that he can understand her anger as people are vulnerable in their sleep – and she does not like being vulnerable does she?
He decides to defuse the tension a little by telling her about himself and proceeds to explain how he had been developing an experimental device to allow the monitoring of dreams. He had been summoned to use his techniques to help the President who had inexplicably fallen into a coma. Once inside the subconscious mind, he had battled the “nightmare” and saved the President, but in the process found himself trapped in the Dream Dimension for good. Eventually he had found a way to return to this world, though only for an hour at a time. And one glimpse of Wonder Woman in the flesh had convinced him that the one thing his dream world lacks – is her! She replies that she is a person, not a thing! She adds that she does not want to hurt his feelings but she is marrying Steve Trevor. The Sandman tells her that he loves her! She tells him that she feels gratitude for his help..and sorrow… but not love.
With that, he turns to go but tells her that he can still see her dreams and knows that she is restless with the decision she has made… and fearful that maybe, just maybe, Steve Trevor is not the right man for her. Once he has disappeared she summons her invisible plane and sets course for Paradise Island. As she flies, she thinks to herself that it is normal to have doubts about any forthcoming marriage but she will not let anything distract her from her wedding plans.
Soon, she is back on her home soil and and after greeting her mother and her Amazon Sisters, the preparations begin. Soon though, realising the Princess is far too exhausted for conversation, Queen Hippolyta sees to it that her daughter is left alone and undisturbed. In moments Diana has fallen asleep…all be it an uneasy sleep…
It is her life she dreams of – the day she met Steve Trevor. However, it is not the Steve who she is soon to marry, nor even the first Steve Trevor whom she has been made to forget by Aphrodite, but instead a strange composite of the two. A merger of Goddess induced remembrances and repressed consciously forgotten memories of a modern day military plane crashing into the sea. She dreams of how she dived into the sea and rescued the drowning pilot. Taking him ashore, his wounds are attended to and Hippolyta tells her daughter that he must be returned to Man’s World.
As the days pass Diana and the young man grow closer and unhappy with her daughter’s attachment, the queen decrees a contest to see which Amazon will take him back home. As the games commence, a mysterious masked Amazon easily beats the other contenders until finally it is just her and Mala, Diana’s best friend. As they face each other in the final test of Bullets and Bracelets, Mala is slightly wounded by a too swift bullet and the winning Amazon reveals herself to be Diana.
The night before Diana and Steve are due to depart for Man’s World, a saddened queen kneels in a nearby temple. She prays to the Goddesses that she is distraught to let her daughter leave Paradise Island and give up her immortality. Time will corrode her youth and age erode her body until she finally dies. She pleads for wisdom but the Goddesses tell her that they cannot interfere with Diana’s obvious love for Steve. In desperation, Hippolyta offers to give up her life to spare Diana’s sorrow and eventual death. The Goddesses grant her wish and take her to the afterlife.
As dawn breaks, the news of her death spreads and a mourning Diana tells Steve that with her mother’s passing, she must take up the mantle of queen – forever! She says that although she loves him with all her heart, her first proclamation is that Mala will accompany Steve back to Man’s World as Wonder Woman. With that, Steve and Mala depart in the invisible plane and Diana takes her place on the throne – a role she did not choose but one she was born to play and she will not betray her heritage. But as she sits alone in the royal chamber, a tear falls from her saddened face…
Suddenly Wonder Woman is awake once more and finds herself slumped on the throne where she had dozed off. The dream had been so real as if she had been seeing an alternate life rather than merely dreaming. She begins to wonder whether the Sandman has anything to do with this although he did not seem angry or vengeful when she had turned down his proposal – only hurt.
Just then she sees a sinister shape in the shadows. She swiftly darts across the room but finds nothing. Did the Sandman tell her she would see the creature again – because he sent it to spy on her? Seeking comfort she awakens her sleeping mother and confides recent events, including how the shadow creature had tried to strangle her to death. Hippolyta replies that a troubled heart will often dream of dying.
With that. Hippolyta suggests that they take Diana’s mind off things by going to inspect the Wedding Platform that will allow the ceremony to take place without male feet touching their soil. Pleased with the preparations, Diana then slips off to the beach to sit quietly and rest. She muses how simple her life was on Paradise Island before the fates plunged Steve into it. But now she loves him and not even an island called Paradise can ever be enough for her without him. She would follow him anywhere. And with that, the exhausted Amazon Princess drifts off to sleep once more…
Again she dreams of a plane crashing into the ocean off Paradise Island and once more she dives in to rescue the pilot. But this time, the man she saves is a far different man from Steve Trevor – a man called Trevor Stevens. Yet once more, a young naive Diana falls for his charms even though Hippolyta can see what a low down scoundrel he really is. The queen orders him to leave the island the next day but that night as he eyes up the wealth all around him, he considers killing the queen. But Diana interrupts his train of thought and tells him that she loves him and will be leaving Paradise Island with him against her mother’s wishes.
Dressed in her Wonder Woman costume, she leads him to her robot plane under the cover of darkness. As they take off Stevens says that he wishes he could have salvaged some of the equipment from his plane before it sank. She proceeds to fly the invisible jet into the ocean and uses her lasso to retrieve a long, airtight box from the wreckage as directed by Stevens. She fails to see the gleam in his eyes though.
But as they prepare to surface and depart for Man’s World they see that the queen has sent out an Amazon armada after them. Diana sees that they will be resurfacing right under the vessels and knows that while her plane is virtually indestructible, their boats are not! The Armada is sent flying by the waves and Wonder Woman desperately tries to use her lasso to save as many of her Amazon sisters as possible. But Stevens tells her they must leave and she begrudgingly sets course for Man’s World, still thinking off the other hurt Amazons she has had to leave behind. She tells him how she feels so ashamed but he casually shuts her up by kissing her and soon they are landing at Miami Airport.
As they climb out Wonder Woman greets the onlookers in friendship but Stevens is more concerned about a nearby group of policemen. He grabs the box she had retrieved for him and removes a machine gun. He explains that the police ‘saw him off’ a few weeks ago and with that he opens fire on them, mowing them down. A horrified Wonder Woman realises that her mother had been right all along and that Stevens is evil. He turns the gun on her but she easily deflects the bullets and kicks the weapon from his grasp. She ensnares him in her lasso and he is forced to confess that he had stolen the gun and the plane in which he had eventually crashed. But as the police take him away he smiles and adds that he does not need the lasso around him to tell her that he never loved her – not for a minute.
With that, Wonder Woman wakes from her dreams once again, totally disorientated. She suddenly sees the looming face of the Shadow creature above her and reaches out. But it disappears once more leaving just its sinister smile to linger for a few moments afterwards. Still unsure whether this is some old enemy taunting her or if it really is the Sandman behind it all, she decides to take her mind off things by delivering some V.I.P. invitations to the JLA satellite. As she enters she is greeted by a smiling Superman who congratulates her on her engagement. He takes the invites from her and says he will be happy to pass them on to the others. With that she leaves, thinking to herself that he is such a gentle and kind man and she wonders whether he and Lois will ever marry. But as she heads back earthwards the thoughts make her come over all drowsy again and she helplessly falls asleep once more…
She dreams another dream that is vividly real. High above Paradise Island, a weakened Superman, who has been hit by a passing Kryptonite Meteor, falls to the sea and is saved by Princess Diana, who has never seen a man before, let alone a ‘Super’ Man. Once more, a contest is held to see who will accompany Superman back to Man’s World and once more, it is Diana who wins, even designing her own costume inspired by Superman’s. The two heroes fall quickly in love and marry. As they are making their way to their honeymoon location though they see a volcano erupt, endangering nearby villages. Superman immediately uses a huge boulder to plug the cone while Wonder Woman uses her lasso to pull the neck tight. Some lava splashes out though and catches her costume alight. She swiftly removes the burning costume and Superman covers her modesty with his cape. They kiss passionately
A few weeks later the newlyweds have settled back into their “normal” lives as Clark Kent and Diana Prince. However, they have not spent much time together as each hero has had to rush off to other emergencies. And so it goes on – day in, day out – one crisis after another – they pursue their heroic careers. They give unselfishly of their powers, their minds, even their hearts, to every good cause except each other! Until one day it comes to a head and on one of the rare occasions their paths cross, a tearful Diana hands back her ring saying she had hoped it would not come to this. They both realise that their marriage was always doomed by their two super careers…
And then she is awake again! Luckily, the robot plane was on automatic pilot and is already landing back on Paradise Island. Confused by the numerous interpretations of her life the dreams are conveying, she asks for Paula’s help, who is the chief Amazon Scientist. She advises that Diana contacts Steve and let his words reassure her. She therefore telephones him at the Arms Conference and he tells her that the talks have not gone well but he will be flying out for the big day tomorrow, although he has not had much time to think about the wedding up until now. She says that she has been the same and is about to tell him that she loves him when they are cut off. She puts the phone down, feeling incredibly tired but not wanting to fall asleep again. But even the mighty Amazon cannot fight her exhaustion and she falls to the floor unconscious…
Her dream is of Paradise Island again, just after she has won the right to become Wonder Woman and return with Steve to Man’s World. Steve’s delight that his “Angel” is joining him soon turns to dismay as she tells him that she is returning with him to impose sanity and order upon his world, as an avenging Angel! She tells him that she had nearly fallen in love with him but she had remembered the hardships and horrors men have wreaked upon women since time in memorial.
And so a subdued Steve is flown back to New York in the invisible plane but as they approach the Pan Am building they see a hijacking taking place on the Helipad. Wonder Woman leaps out and uses her lasso to grab the fleeing copter and bring it back down to the ground. The thugs open fire but after deflecting their bullets she ploughs into them, sending them flying. She soon rounds them up with her lasso but one of them is still hanging by his fingernails from the rooftop ledge where he was thrown by the force of her charge. Steve points to him for her to save him but she says that he is scum and callously watches as he falls to his death. At the last minute though she decides he might hit an innocent passerby and dives down to save him. In front of an amazed crowd she decks him before taking him into custody.
As the days pass and she cleans up crime in the city she is offered the key to the city by the mayor but she rudely tells him that if she wants something from Man’s World, she will not need a key! She adds her own face to Mount Rushmore without permission and when not imposing her own brand of hard justice she enjoys the only company she finds tolerable in the outside world – her own!
One day she decides to pay the President an unannounced visit and instructs him to resign and appoint a woman in his place. As she speaks though, armed guards enter the room lead by Steve. He tells Wonder Woman that she is under arrest and she advances on them. Steve warns the soldiers not to fire as the bullets may ricochet off her bracelets but too late they open fire and a bullet does indeed ricochet, striking Steve! She sheds a tear, having not meant to kill him but as the guards close in on her she dives out through the window. She flees, a fugitive from the very justice she was sent to administer – wanted by the authorities – dead or alive!
At that moment she awakes once more and finds herself lying on the floor of the monitor room with the Shadow Creature’s face mocking her from every screen. She switches them off and sees outside that the guests have all arrived and the minister and Bride Groom are waiting for her on the platform. She is not ready! She can hardly think straight and keeps seeing her various ‘might have been’ lives swirling around in her mind.
At last she pulls herself together though and dons for her bridal cloak. She apologises to Steve for being late and as the ceremony begins, she wonders whether she is still dreaming? But as the Reverend asks if Steve will take her for his bride he replies” no”! He then asks the surprised Reverend if the couple can have a few minutes alone. With that, Steve and Wonder Woman fly over to one of the empty moored ships in the harbour, while from the dream dimension the Sandman watches unseen. Steve tells Wonder Woman that the last few days have been hell for him – because he has been obsessed with someone – other than her! She asks if he is involved with another woman and he replies that he does not know. It is so confusing for him because the person he has been thinking about is – Diana Prince! Wonder Woman reminds him that she is dead and he tells her that he never realised how much Diana meant to him until now.
She tries to tell him that Diana and her are the same person but he thinks she is talking metaphorically and says that he cannot marry her while he feels so empty without Diana Prince in his life. She says she will tell the congregation that the service is canceled as he goes off to think things over. And so, as the bewildered guests leave, Hippolyta consoles her daughter…
Later that night a solitary figure lies on the beach in the moonlight. Wonder Woman muses to herself that the choices she has made in her real life do not seem to be any less disastrous than those she saw in her nightmares. She has deceived Steve as “Diana Prince” from the moment she met him. Even if she revealed the truth to him how would he ever trust her again? As she sobs she feels a hand gently caress her cheek. She looks up to see the Sandman who tells her he needs her – and loves her. He asks if she is ready to join him in his realm now? She begs him to just leave her alone but he uses a strange powder to force her back into sleep. He then carries her into the Dream Dimension…
As she comes to she finds herself in a beautiful world full of stars and auroras. He tells her that she will be his queen for all eternity and she asks whether he had created this world just for her. He replies that she has created it herself and as if to prove it, she merely thinks of a golden sun rise and it happens before her eyes. He says that here she is a veritable goddess here and she asks if that makes him a god? He replies that “no, it makes me just a lonely man”. With that he kisses her passionately on the lips. He then summons a Unicorn and together they ride through the fantastic landscape. She asks him whether he was responsible for the nightmares and the Shadow creature? He replies that neither will prey on her again and he swears to her that he caused neither. He merely monitored and helped..and fell in love. She says that she wants to believe him but feels there is something he is not telling her.
Suddenly an arm grabs her from behind and pulls her from the steed. She finds herself grappling with the Shadow Creature once more which is even larger and stronger than before. But perhaps in this dimension it can be touched she thinks to herself. With that she delivers a powerful blow that sends the creature reeling. But it soon recovers and leaps on her, choking her with all its might. Sandman dismounts and races to help her, kicking the beast off her. But it retaliates and floors him with a punch. Wonder Woman uses the distraction though to unhook her lasso and loops it around the creature. She commands it to surrender and tell her who it is and why it has been taunting her. The creature’s shape changes into something resembling herself and replies that it is, and has always been , her own fears and self loathing! Perhaps some might even call it – her death wish! Yet now that it can no longer hide within her in this place of dreams and now that she can see it for what it really is, it has become no more. With that it dissolves into nothingness!
As both Wonder Woman and the recovering Sandman begin to return to the real world, she asks if he is all right? He replies that he is fine apart from feeling ashamed of himself. He had known all along of her repressed anxieties about her two lives and her worry that Steve loved Wonder Woman and not Diana Prince. Her dreams were an open book to him but he should not have taken advantage of them. Her anxieties finally became so strong that they manifested themselves into the monster but he had thought she would be safe once in the Dream Dimension.
She tells him that she still loves Steve and he accepts the fact, wishing them an open and honest relationship. But she should give Steve time. With that he leaves through the portal and she bids him farewell – as a friend.
Soon she is flying over the night skies of Washington DC having first made a quick stop in Mexico to issue a telegram. She arrives at a sheepish Steve’ s apartment who is surprised she is even still speaking to him. But she gives him a longing look and kisses him as he tells her he really does love her. Just then the phone rings and as they continue to embrace he manages to pick up the receiver. An ecstatic General Darnell tells him that they have just received a telegram from Major Prince who is alive and well! She somehow survived and she will explain everything on her return. But Steve’s thoughts right now are on the woman in his arms…
