‘Absolute Wonder Woman’ Annual Will Deal With The “Athena / Medusa Question”

Absolute Wonder Woman #3 crop

Here’s a little announcement that may have slipped under the radar (well, it certainly slipped under my radar): DC Comics‘ hit Absolute Wonder Woman is getting an annual, set after the events of Absolute Wonder Woman #5.

The news actually dropped waaaay back on October 10, on the Escape the Mojoverse podcast. While talking to writer Kelly Thompson about the first year of the series, one of the hosts noted the moment — and spoilers past this point — where, after Diana turns into Medusa to stop the monstrous Tetracide, she prays to the Greek gods, including Athena, who cursed Medusa in the first place. And as noted in the book, it’s Athena’s “cruelty” to Medusa that saved the day.

That’s a dangling plot point Thompson will return to in the annual… Specifically, that the story of Medusa is a “contested” one, i.e there are “a lot of different takes on mythology.”

“They haven’t put the solicits out yet, but the annual is gonna deal with this a little bit,” Thompson explained. “It’s gonna go back to this Athena / Medusa question. It’s a very cool story.”

Well, obviously, it’s going to be a cool story, since the award-winning Kelly Thompson is writing it. But who will draw the Annual?

“It’s already being drawn,” Thompson continued. “I don’t think I can say who’s doing it because I’ll probably get in trouble if I do that.”

Based on Thompson’s statements on the subject, it likely won’t be one of the regular artists of the book. Hayden Sherman is the main artist, while Mattia de Iulis and Matías Bergara have filled in two issues each, with Dustin Nguyen adding art for Young Absolute Wonder Woman back-up stories. Granted, it also could be any of those. But TBD on that particular point.

And as noted above, the Absolute Wonder Woman Annual will be set earlier than the currently running issues of the series, which find Diana recovering from her time in a maze, and upcoming, either battling and/or teaming up with Absolute Zatanna.

“I don’t know where exactly we’d say it fits in the timeline, but probably sometime at just between that and the next arc, between five and the next arc,” Thompson explained. “You see these scenes that she’s been praying about it to Athena, like every day, like mercilessly, to try to, like, let’s solve this problem. And I think that goes to Diana being someone who’s very interested in solving every problem she can, even if it’s inconvenient to her, even if it’s going to anger a god that’s her patron.”

This Absolute Wonder Woman Annual is the third one-shot announced for the line, including the just-released Absolute Evil #1, and an Absolute Batman: Ark M Special, which will be released in December. As for when this Absolute Wonder Woman Annual will be released, that’s TBA — though DC’s January solicits will likely be released this week, so stay tuned.

Comic Book Club Live Info:

Want to watch Comic Book Club live? We stream every Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on YouTube and Twitch. Come hang out, and ask questions of our guests (and us!). And you could potentially win a $25 gift card to Midtown Comics. You can check out a current list of upcoming guests and other live appearances on our Shows page.


Discover more from Comic Book Club

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply