Wonder Woman – Volume 5 – 55

Synopsis

Wonder Woman and Artemis clash on the battlefield but Diana’s calm head wins the day tactics wise and she manages to ensnare her Amazon sister in her golden lasso.

Meanwhile as Rustam continues to carve his way through the army Queen Faruka visits Atalanta in her cell and tells her that the commotion outside is not a conquest but a birth. She then gets a report from Rustam who says that he is making headway against their enemies and that if Wonder Woman manages to turn Artemis against their cause he will cut them both down.

Elsewhere on the battlefield Wonder Woman enables Artemis to realise the truth – that Rustam is using the Bana-Mighdall to his own ends and that this brave new future is not a choice that is being made by the Amazons themselves, but one that they are being manipulated into taking.

The two Amazons then face the Bana-Mighdall warriors and disarm them. Rustam senses the tide is turning against him however and attacks Wonder Woman and disarms Artemis. But the latter summons the bow of Ra again and together the two Amazons draw it and fire on him.  But Rustam not only cuts it down but smashes the bow itself into pieces with his flaming swords!

Wonder Woman then takes him on directly and during the brawl manages to wrap her lasso around his ankle without him knowing. She reveals to him that she helps people and would have been happy to help him in his hour of need too, but he chose the path of destruction instead.

With the fight over on the battlefield they race to Atalanta’s cell where Artemis pins Queen Faruka against the wall, ready to kill her. But Diana talks her down and tells her that the Queen’s fate must be decided by her people. Artemis reluctantly drops her sword and an initially triumphant Faruka sneers that the Bana-Mighdall will never remove her from power.

A few days later the people have spoken however and while still Queen, as Diana had guessed, they decide to also free Atalanta. She now acts as Faruka’s counsel to balance the way-wood Queen’s violent impulses.

As the two Amazons watch the ceremonies Diana says that hopefully working together they can change hearts and minds amongst the Banas. Artemis replies that she hopes so and will visit again if so.

A surprised Wonder Woman asks why she is not rejoining her Amazon sisters and is told that the world is bigger now for Artemis and like Diana, she cannot return home. Wonder Woman then tells her that she is one of her closest sisters and while they may not always see eye to eye, they have a strong bond which should be recognised.

She then hands a stunned Artemis the Golden Perfect lasso that she had taken from Superwoman during the Darkseid War, adding that Artemis is more than worthy to wield it. She adds that it will, in future, be named the Golden Promise and hopes Artemis will live up to it.

Later the two of them join Atalanta in a farewell meal. She toasts Diana and thanks her for her help, adding that the night always dissolves into morning and praise be that there is no such darkness in the Amazon Princess.

But we see a final image of Diana’s forehead where a strange symbol sits, hidden from the view of others – including the Princess herself.