Wonder Woman – Volume 5 – 78

Synopsis

With the death of Aphrodite, love no longer exists in the world. Without the power of love, Diana’s powers are weakened and she is defeated by the Cheetah, who is armed with the God Killer sword. During the fight both her tiara and bracelets are shattered by the weapon and the victorious Cheetah strips her of her lasso before leaving her defeated and wounded, lying in the mud.

She calls out in prayer to Antlantiades, and the God accompanied by Steve rush to her aide and bring her home. She relates to them what happens and who she should have been able to easily disarm her foe but felt weighed down during the fight. Plus the sword itself has been somehow enhanced. Antlantiades says that with her mother dead, so is love and the world will be slowly turning to chaos without it. She rushes back to Sumergrove to protect her followers there.

Diana and Steve are left alone but there is an awkwardness between them and it seems that with the absence of love, even their own relationship has become strained. Wonder Woman realises she must find out how the God Killer sword has been enhanced and track down Cheetah.

Diana seeks out the help of Veronica Cale, who she knows barely feels love anyway and will be one of the few people she knows who will be least impacted by its absence. She explains what has happened and says she has come to call in the debt that Cale owes her, following the return of her daughter from Themyscira.

Cale manages to retrieve a sliver of the sword from Wonder Woman’s stomach wound and says she will get her best people in R&D to analyse it.

On her way home Wonder Woman comes across some looters, who she stops in their tracks. But hey tell her that they are just one of hundreds across the city as society itself is beginning to break down.

And all the while Cheetah surveys the results of her deeds with pleasure…