- I be humbly sorry, your highness. But I could not allow you to be harming my most precious Madam.
- — Chuma
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #28 is an issue of the series Wonder Woman (Volume 2) with a cover date of March, 1989.
Synopsis for "Jungle Sacrament"
The Lasso of Truth hers at last, Dr. Minerva uses her Cheetah form to destroy one last liability - the mercenaries behind the Khund breakout. Even so, suspicion falls on her; her first attempt on the lasso is easily recalled by Wonder Woman, who turns to both divine and human allies for help. When the other Olympians - despite Hermes' best efforts - prove unresponsive, and the military and police stalled by lack of evidence, the Amazon Princess personally visits Dr. Minerva's Nottingham manor under the guise of a goodwill tour.
At the manor, Wonder Woman is received by the professor's aide Chuma, who tricks her into drinking poisoned tea. As she crumples to the floor, the old pygmy confirms the link between Dr. Minerva and the Cheetah - two halves of a woman he had pledged his life and service to many years ago.
Once, Dr. Minerva had been nothing but an unusually ruthless archaeologist, hunting a myth-shrouded city in the deepest jungles of Africa. Once, Chuma had been that city's high priest, leading his people in worship of the Vine-God Urzkartaga, which demanded human sacrifice. He and his disciples thus ambushed Dr. Minerva's expedition, claiming any survivors as tribute; only Dr. Minerva, and her closest colleague Leavens, managed to escape.
Unwilling to quit, Dr. Minerva had stubbornly trailed Chuma's party to Urzkartaga's temple. There, she witnessed the sacrificial rites: Chuma slitting and bleeding the prisoners, female worshipers gathering the blood and brewing it with sacred leaves, Chuma offering the brew to an old woman clad in cheetah-skin. These rites, however, climaxed with gunfire instead of a drink - gunfire from raiders out of neighboring Boatenga.
In moments, the Boatengans had destroyed the brew, slain its would-be drinker, overrun the worshipers. Blaming all this on his own negligence, Chuma had given himself up for dead, only to be tackled into the (relative) safety of the temple by Dr. Minerva. Shortly after, a grenade blast sealed the temple entrance - and with it, the fates of a mismatched duo who would one day become two of Wonder Woman's deadliest foes.
Appearing in "Jungle Sacrament"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Chrissie Fenton
- Gods of Olympus
- Julia Kapatelis
- Vanessa Kapatelis
- United States Air Force
- Steve Trevor
Antagonists:
- Cheetah (Flashback and main story) (Origin)
- Chuma
- "Colonel" Malachai Devereaux (Dies)
- Richard Ralston (Dies)
- Urzkartaga, the plant god (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Boston Police Department
- Larrabee (Flashback only) (Dies in flashback)
- Tom Leavens (Flashback only)
- Youngston (Flashback only)
Locations:
- Africa (Flashback only)
- Boatenga
- Temple of Urzkartaga (First appearance)
- United Kingdom
- England
- Nottingham
- Minerva Manor
- Nottingham
- England
- United States of America
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Having agreed to join (on a part-time basis) in Justice League International #24, Wonder Woman includes a Justice League Europe meeting on her tour, the events of which are shown in Justice League Europe #1.
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)