Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #15 is an issue of the series Wonder Woman (Volume 2) with a cover date of April, 1988.
Synopsis for "Swan Song"
Wonder Woman experiences sensual dreams of Superman, which distress her - especially since she cannot confide in Julia, currently visiting family in Greece, or Steve and Etta, who are busy developing their own romance. Meanwhile, Mayer Publicists, Inc. plans a Wonder Woman Fair for the Boston Common, with all proceeds going to charity (but most of the credit unjustly claimed by new executive Skeeter Boyd).
Miles from both parties, Boston resident Maxine Sterenbuch is attacked by a Chinatown tough, only to be saved by a stranger named Solomon Buchman. Buchman proceeds to confront her with evidence that she'd been attacked because of her friendship with Valerie Beaudry, paramour to millionaire industrialist Henry Cobb Armbruster. Valerie, to Maxine's shock, had been born heavily disfigured by nuclear radiation; this radiation also gave her the ability to produce ultrasonic sounds, which Armbruster's company exploited, cybernetically converting Valerie into a beautiful enforcer code-named the Silver Swan.
Buchman then explains his own connection to the Swan: his father had been the head technician in Valerie's conversion, as well as the Swan's first kill. Having stolen all his evidence from one of Armbruster's subsidiaries, he now pursues revenge on the Swan - a pursuit that Maxine reluctantly joins, suspecting Armbruster will not permit any loose-ends from Valerie's former life. In truth, Armbruster now considers Maxine largely irrelevant; his primary focus has shifted to the Wonder Woman Fair, whose star the Swan is deeply jealous of.
The fair opens on-schedule, attended by many of Wonder Woman's friends and admirers as well as Maxine and Buchman. As usual, Wonder Woman remains ambivalent about her celebrity - an ambivalence quickly replaced with horror when the Swan descends from the sky and attacks.
Appearing in "Swan Song"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Lt. Etta Candy
- Vanessa Kapatelis
- Myndi Mayer
- Skeeter La Rue (First full appearance)
- Steve London
- Deni Hayes (First appearance)
- Steve Trevor
Antagonists:
- Henry Cobb Armbruster (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
- Mister Choi (First appearance)
- Kwan (First appearance; dies)
- Silver Swan (First appearance & origin) (Flashback and main story)
Other Characters:
- Dr. Benjamin Buchman (Dies in flashback)
- Solomon Buchman (First appearance)
- Allison Clooney (First appearance)
- Eileen Flowers (First appearance)
- Inspector Ed Indelicato (First appearance)
- Mrs. Kafora (First appearance)
- Barry Locatelli
- Murray (Single appearance)
- Maxine Sterenbuch (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
- Superman (In dream sequence only)
Locations:
- Massachusetts
- Boston
- Boston Common
- Chinatown
- Mayer Publicists, Inc.
- Ogawa Electronics (First appearance)
- Hanscom Air Force Base
- Wakefield
- Kapatelis summer home
- Martha's Vineyard
- Gay Head Cliffs
- Plymouth
- Plimoth Plantation
- Boston
- North Dakota
- Woodworth (Flashback only)
Items:
- Wonder Woman's Armaments
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in the following:
- Buchman yells what is presumably Chinese to distract Kwan, though the actual lettering depicts a string of gibberish.
- Wonder Woman and Silver Swan's battle seemingly takes them some distance from Boston and its aftermath even more so with the Swan landing on Martha's Vineyard and Diana apparently in Plymouth, both some miles south of the city.