Wonder Woman (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1983. It was published on November 4, 1982.
Synopsis for "Beautiful Dreamer, Death Unto thee!"
Wonder Woman is plagued by a shadow-monster which equals her in power, until she encounters the Sandman, who calls the thing an escaped nightmare and helps her against it. The dream-creature vanishes, and the Sandman explains that he was monitoring her dream and saw the Shadow-Thing emerge and attack her in the real world. She becomes Diana Prince again and goes to the Pentagon, where she is rewarded with a promotion to major by Gen. Darnell. After she becomes Wonder Woman again, she dozes and briefly encounters the Shadow-Thing again, but her Robot Plane vibrates into the Earth-Two dimension and she is saved by the Wonder Woman of that world.
Wonder Woman accompanies her Earth-Two counterpart to the latter's home, where she meets Steve Trevor of Earth-Two, married for 20 years to his Wonder Woman, and Lyta Trevor, their teenage daughter, who also has Amazon powers. After she returns to her own Earth, Wonder Woman helps her Steve Trevor defeat terrorists, after which she proposes marriage to him, and he accepts. Later, Diana Prince fakes her own death so that she will have no identity-conflicts later on, and is touched by Steve's, Etta's, and Gen. Darnell's words at her funeral, which she attends as Wonder Woman. Afterward, the Sandman appears to Wonder Woman, explains his origins, and reveals that he is in love with her before departing. Wonder Woman has several dreams of what her life might have been like if she had had to rule Paradise Island in her mother's stead, if she had fallen in love with a man who turned out to be a crook, if she had married Superman, or if she had been an arrogant, power-hungry Wonder Woman. None of these dreams turn out happily. Finally, when Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor are exchanging vows on a special platform just off Paradise Island, with the Justice League and several other heroes joining Hippolyte and the Amazons in attendance, she says "I do", but Steve refuses to marry her. In private, he tells Wonder Woman that he has lately become obsessed with Diana Prince, and her death has left a void even the Amazon cannot fill. Steve and the wedding guests leave, and, hours later, Diana finds herself crying on the beach. The Sandman appears and makes her sleep with some of his sand, taking her into his dream dimension. He proclaims his love to Wonder Woman, but they are interrupted again by the Shadow-Thing. Both of them fight the creature, but, after she encircles it with her magic lasso, she learns that it is a personification of her fears, self-loathing, and death wish. Then it vanishes forever. The Sandman and Wonder Woman end up back on Paradise Island's beach, where he confesses that he knew the true identity of the Shadow-Thing before he returns to the Dream Dimension. Afterwards, Wonder Woman manages to convince others that Diana Prince is still alive, and reestablishes a romantic relationship with Steve Trevor.
Appearing in "Beautiful Dreamer, Death Unto thee!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Sandman (Garrett Sanford) (Origin)
- Amazons
- Lyta Trevor (First appearance)
- Steve Trevor (Earth-Two)
- Superman
- United States Air Force
- Wonder Woman (Earth-Two)
Antagonists:
- The Shadow-Thing
Other Characters:
- Gods of Olympus
- Jimmy Olsen
- Justice League of America
- Lois Lane
- Mrs. Vandefeller
- Perry White
- Power Girl
- Ronald Reagan
- Shiela Phillips
- Teen Titans
- Trevor Stephens
- Kangas
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Wraparound cover.
- The following characters appear on the issue's cover but not in the story itself: Aquaman, Ares/Mars, the Atom, Batgirl, Changeling, Cyborg, Elongated Man, Hawkwoman, Hephaestus/Vulcan, Hermes/Mercury, Kid Flash, Martian Manhunter, Raven, Robin, Supergirl, and the Super Jrs. versions of Wonder Woman and Superman.
- The inside front and back covers feature black-and-white splash pages by George Pérez and Mike Kaluta, respectively.
- The chapter that reveals the Sandman's origin, illustrated by Keith Giffen, is drawn in a style closely reminiscent of the character's creator, Jack Kirby.
Trivia
- The narration implies that Wonder Woman's visions might be events that actually transpired on other Earths. The Flash #123 established that some people may see other Earths in their dreams, such as Earth-One's Gardner Fox dreaming of the Flash of Earth-Two. Whether or not Diana's dreams are true events is left ambiguous.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Wonder Woman Recommended Reading
- All-Star Comics (Volume 1)
- Comic Cavalcade (Volume 1)
- JLA (Volume 1)
- Sensation Comics (Volume 1)
- Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman (Volume 1)
- Superman/Wonder Woman (Volume 1)
- The Legend of Wonder Woman (Volume 1)
- The Legend of Wonder Woman (Volume 2)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 1)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 2)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 3)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 4)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 5)
- Wonder Woman (Volume 6)
Links and References
The events from this issue or series involve a Multiversal Crossover between Pre-Crisis worlds and characters. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Pre-Crisis Multiverse Crossover category.
See also Post-Crisis Multiverse Crossovers.