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Wonder Woman Vol 5 38

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"Swan's Song": In a flashback, Vanessa Kapatelis tells her story: a young girl dreaming of being a ballet star, she was involved in an attack by a petty super-criminal calling himself Major Disaster. He made several buildings coll

I'm angry. I'm hurt. I've lost my mother and... it feels like I've lost Diana, too.
— Vanessa Kapatelis

Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #38 is an issue of the series Wonder Woman (Volume 5) with a cover date of March, 2018. It was published on January 10, 2018.

Synopsis for "Swan's Song"

In a flashback, Vanessa Kapatelis tells her story: a young girl dreaming of being a ballet star, she was involved in an attack by a petty super-criminal calling himself Major Disaster. He made several buildings collapse and one of them crushed on Vanessa. Wonder Woman, while fighting him, came to rescue her and after lifting the rubble up, she called Steve Trevor to bring her away. She was tired and in pain, so she collapsed after that and she could not see Diana beating Major Disaster: she is sure that was quite a show. Still, her mom and other people told her about Diana flying all the way to the hospital alongside the helicopter that transported her.

Soon, Wonder Woman became her dearest friend. Her and Vanessa's mom were the two people always standing side by side with her, even when she received the bad news: she wasn't going to be able to walk again, as the incident caused by Major Disaster paralyzed her legs. She was sad, but Diana's courage and support kept her going forward. She started drawing again, something she rarely did when she could dance but a passion nonetheless: she drew the girls who did ballet with her, and the nurses and doctors visiting her, all as training for an opera about her and Wonder Woman, fighting crime in tandem. Vanessa showed the drawings to Diana, and she was enthusiast about them, she even posed for a sketch. In this opera, Vanessa was the hero Silver Swan, a name she took after the Swan Lake, her favorite piece.

The thing was, time passed by and Diana was with her less and less. Vanessa's mom explained her that Wonder Woman had to help all humanity, not just her: she was busy, but she still cared for her. Vanessa believed it, and when the doctors came and told her there was a possibility for her to walk again, she was determined to do everything to show Diana she was a warrior, like she said. It seems she was one in a trillion of people who could adapt to a new experimental technology developed on the basis of the superhero Cyborg: nanobots that could be injected inside the body and controlled with the mind. She had to learn to will the robots inside her with her brain, telling them what to do. She made progress: one step, then two, but after a week of treatment the shock came. Her mother died in a freak accident, and the police told her it wasn't anybody's fault, it was just a tragedy. Vanessa lost her mother, and Diana was nowhere to be found. She was alone and the emotional roller coaster she had to endure stopped all the progress she made with the new cure.

Then she watched Diana on TV, every day. She looked at her saving people and staying with them, being a friend and not only a protector. Those people had her, they were alive and they could walk. Why was she the only victim who could not walk? Why everyone escaped from danger without being damaged? She was alone, she was no one's best friend.

Virginia Shoreline, Wonder Woman's Residence

Diana comes back to her residence to find Jason and several uninvited, at least by her, guests. They just had a pretty crazy party. Diana is enraged, and Jason quickly tells everybody to leave. She tells Diana that he just wanted to know the city a bit, he's a guy who likes to bond with people, be social. He promises everything will be cleaned up and tidied up. Diana is shocked by the fact he cannot understand her anger: she's a superhero, she cannot let anyone enter her house. Now she will have A.R.G.U.S. search for bugs or bombs or anything an enemy could plant there. Diana is worried that Jason took the wrong choice: he told her he wanted to become a hero like her, not living in her shadow but being on par with her. He did not understand that being a hero is a duty, is sacrifice: all the guys who had power and thought being a hero was some kind of funny thing either retired early or died. She wants Jason to understand the responsibilities, or he will end up dead.

As Steve calls her to inform her he's going to recover the relics Giganta told Darkseid wanted, Diana must go because a family she rescued a while ago, the Darlings, called because they think they are endangered. Leaving Jason with the desire that he will think about what they discussed, Diana finds a macabre scene inside the residence of the Darling family: they have been brutally killed by a new villain, Diana's former best friend, Vanessa Kapatelis. Now she is Silver Swan, Wonder Woman's worst enemy.

Appearing in "Swan's Song"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Brian (Single appearance)
  • Darling Family (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
    • Mr. Darling (First appearance; dies) (Flashback and main story) (Cameo)
    • Mrs. Darling (First appearance; dies) (Flashback and main story) (Cameo)
    • Unnamed child (Single appearance) (On a TV or computer screen) (Cameo)
  • Julia Kapatelis (First appearance) (Deceased) (Flashback only)
  • Cyborg (Mentioned only)
  • Darkseid (Mentioned only)
  • Giganta (Mentioned only)
  • Gods of Olympus (Mentioned only)
  • Hippolyta (Mentioned only)
  • Edgar Degas (Mentioned only)

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:






See Also


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