We were fated to meet, child - from the day you were born! It's time you learned of your true heritage! 
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #12 is an issue of the series Wonder Woman (Volume 2) with a cover date of January, 1988.
Synopsis for "Echoes of the Past"
While preparing for his father's funeral, Steve tells Etta the story of his disappeared mother, Diana Rockwell. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman receives the same story - much expanded - from the strange warrior beneath Themyscira. This warrior, the Amazon Princess soon learns, is none other than the spirit of Diana Rockwell herself.
The elder Diana recounts her love of aviation - how it drove her from adolescence through adulthood, how it helped her begin a family yet kept her from hearth and home. Even motherhood could not dissuade her from flying as a transport pilot through World War II and beyond; and during one such flight, a freak accident had brought her to Themyscira, where she found Doom's Doorway and several Amazons struggling to hold back an escaping Cottus. Without thought, she had charged Cottus with sidearm blazing, driving the giant back and preserving the Amazons' lives at the cost of her own.
The two Dianas are suddenly joined by Hades, God of the Dead, who adds his own knowledge to the story: to honor Diana Rockwell, Hippolyte had ordered a full warrior's funeral, complete with armor designed after the pilot's "coat-of-arms", the American flag. A suit of the armor, along with the pilot's sidearm, would be sealed away until the Great Contest some forty years later. Such is the Amazon Princess's true heritage: to bear the mantle and name of Themyscira's most honored heroine.
With the story completed, and Wonder Woman's purpose affirmed, the elder Diana is finally allowed to enter the afterlife. Wonder Woman bids her spiritual predecessor farewell and continues her quest, little suspecting that thousands of miles away, Steve is paying similar respects at his father's funeral.
Meanwhile, Hippolyte's search for her daughter meets resistance from Echidna's minions as well as the treacherous Pan, who sows skeletal warriors from the Hydra's teeth to stop her. When Hippolyte overcomes all of these obstacles, Pan begins focusing on her daughter; masquerading as the next challenge-giver, Pan tasks Wonder Woman with returning to Man's World, and helping the Green Lantern Corps defeat the Manhunters.
Unaware that she is now the only Amazon in the caverns, Hippolyte follows her vulture companion into a decayed temple, where she is ambushed by a flock of harpies. As she fends off the harpies, the Amazon Queen discovers that Doom's Doorway contains a most unexpected prisoner: the demigod Heracles, now petrified into a helpless statue.
Appearing in "Echoes of the Past"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Amazons of Themyscira
- Queen Hippolyte (Flashback and main story)
- Menalippe (Flashback only)
- Philippus (Flashback only)
- Gods of Olympus
- Hades (First appearance)
- Diana Rockwell Trevor (Dies) (Flashback and main story)
- Col. Steve Trevor (Flashback and main story)
Antagonists:
- Cottus, the last of the Hecatoncheires (Flashback only)
- Harpies
- Hydra (Appears only as a corpse)
- Skeleton warriors
- Pan
- Pillar of Pallor
Other Characters:
- Doug Aanonson
- Edna Aanonson (First appearance)
- Everett Aanonson (First appearance)
- Herakles (Behind the scenes)
- Vulture
- Ulysses Stephen "U.S." Trevor (First full appearance) (Deceased) (Flashback and main story)
Locations:
- Elysian Fields
- Themyscira (Flashback and main story)
- Doom's Doorway (Flashback and main story)
- United States of America
Items:
- Wonder Woman's Armaments
Vehicles:
- PT-19 (Flashback only)
- Diana Rockwell's Sabrejet (Flashback only)
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in the following:
- This issue is a tie-in to Week One of Millennium, and runs roughly concurrent with Millennium #1, where Pan is obliquely revealed to be a Manhunter.
- Steve tearfully begs his just-deceased father to accept "[his] decision" - which Wonder Woman #14 and #15 reveal to be resignation from the Air Force.
- This issue dates the major events of Diana Rockwell's life as follows:
- Born 1930
- Married November 8, 1940
- Declared dead December 24, 1948
- Why Diana Rockwell could penetrate Themyscira's magical defenses would later be explained in the series' second annual.
- Herakles' name is now spelled Heracles.
Trivia
- In classical mythology, the Spartoi were neither skeletal nor associated with the Hydra; Pérez's depiction here draws more from the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts.
See Also
Links and References
  The events from this issue are related to Millennium, a 1988 crossover event spanning through all DC Titles, in which the Guardians of the Universe left and Earth was put in danger by the robotic Manhunter Cult. Week One
Millennium #1 · Firestorm (Volume 2) #67 · The Flash (Volume 2) #8 · Justice League International #9 · Outsiders #27 · Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #12 Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
Week Five
Week Six
Week Seven
Week Eight
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