Writer: George Pérez
Penciller: George Pérez
Inkers: Alan Kupperberg, Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin, Gordon Purcell, Pablo Marcos, and Phil Jimenez
Colorist: Gene D’Angelo
Letterers: Albert De Guzman and Richard Starkings
Cover Artist: George Pérez
Editors: Karen Berger and Tom Peyer
Standard Edition Cover above: It wouldn’t be a George Pérez series without at least one massive gathering of characters, would it? I’ve used the cover from the digital edition and produced a numbered version here with the key as follows. I’ve gone from left to right in broad rows.
Top row: in the sky is 1) Pariah 2) Black Lightning 3) Red Star 4) Major Victory 5) Dr Light; then up to the top right and 6) Donna Troy.
2nd row: 7) Count Vertigo 8) Green Lantern Abin Sur 9) Harbinger 10) Dr Fate 11) Mr Terrific 12) Heracles 13) Fire 14) Starman 15) Firehawk.
3rd row: 16) Rocket Red 17) Tin 18) Hawkman 19) Robin 20) Pantha.
4th row: 21) Orion 22) Lobo 23) Neptune 24) Ares 25) Captain Marvel.
5th row: 26) Guardian 27) Crimson Fox 28) goddess 29) god 30) Power Girl 31) Steel.
6th row: 32) Jade 33) Flash 34) god 35) Wonder Woman 36) Roman god 37) Roman god 38) Mercury 39) Circe 40) Mars 41) Elongated Man 42) Mirror Master 43) Black Canary.
7th row: 44) Hawkwoman 45) Captain Boomerang; then head past Circe to 46) Dove (Dawn Granger) 47) General Glory.
8th row: 48) Platinum; the past Wonder Woman to 49) Son of Vulcan.
9th row: 50) Green Lantern Katma Tui 51) Obsidian 52) unknown 53) Blue Beetle (Dan Garrett) 54) Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) 55) Etrigan 56) Deathstroke 57) Vigilante 58) Darkseid 59) unknown 60) Aquaman 61) Swamp Thing 62) Deadman 63) Dolphin 64) Lead 65) Martian Manhunter.
10th row: 66) Katana 67) Iron 68) Bronze Tiger 69) Vixen 70) Deadshot 71) Batman 72) Klarion 73) Phobos 74) Superman 75) Silver Swan.
11th row: 76) Metamorpho 77) Huntress 78) Ice 79) Green Lantern Guy Gardner 80) Skyman 81) Mercury 82) Poseidon 83) The Ghost.
12th row: 84) Dove (Don Hall) 85) Nuklon 86) Phantom Lady 87) The Wrath 88) Poison Ivy 89) Amanda Waller 90) Firestorm 91) Valda 92) Lady Quark 93) Geo-Force 94) Gold.
Collectors’ Edition Cover on the right: Same as the above but with the border around it obscuring a ton of different characters!
Page 1 – Panel 1: We start on new Olympus where the gods are still battling it out. The speaker in the caption is Cave Carson as we’ll see in a moment.
Page 1 – Panel 2: A seismograph reading that’s “zigzagging like a spastic’s scrawl” – probably shouldn’t use that phrase these days.
Page 1 – Panel 3: Far as I can tell, these are fairly generic figures.
Page 1 – Panel 5: The Greek and Roman sea gods, Poseidon on the left and Neptune on the right, fight. Carson’s caption says “Hong Kong reports enormous tidal waves crashing almost 100 kilometers into its coast.” The Island of Hong Kong is only about 50 kilometres wide in total!
Page 1 – Panel 6: The eyes and glasses belong to Dr Jenet Klyburn who we’ll see more of in a second. Carson must be getting confused if he thinks the Great Barrier Reef is off Greenland!
Page 1 – Panel 8: Here’s Dr Klyburn, one of the senior staff at STAR Labs in Metropolis.
Page 1 – Panel 9: And still in the Antarctic are Bulldozer Smith on the left and Cave Carson on the right.
Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 1: Left to right, Superman, Starman and Guy Gardner fly above New Olympus which appeared in the skies above Earth at the end of the previous issue. Superman is talking to Hawkman whom we’ll see in a moment.
Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 2: Superman, ever the optimist. Guy’s mention of “what [Circe] did to Wonder Woman” refers to Wonder Woman’s death at Circe’s hand in the previous issue.
Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 3: This appears to be the ruins of Circe’s stronghold which was destroyed in the previous issue.
Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 4: Back row, left to right, are Dr Light; Red Star; and Rocket Red; middle row is Deathstroke and Deadshot; in the foreground is Hawkman. Deadshot is shown here in his normal red and silver outfit; during the Suicide Squad attack on Circe’s castle, however, he was in civvies as, at this point in his career, he wasn’t wearing the suit.
Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 5: This is the island of Dianata where the shepherds were attacked in the previous issue.
Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 6: Sat atop the temple is Crimson Fox; on the ground, working from the back forwards are Deathstroke; Elongated Man; Deadshot; Metamorpho; Martian Manhunter; Blue Beetle; and a partially silhouetted figure in the foreground. You might ask how Deathstroke and Deadshot can be both at Circe’s stronghold in South America and on Dianata in the Mediterranean. It appears, on the next page, that both groups are actually on Dianata.
Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 7: Dr Fate’s tower in Salem.
Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 8: Moving front to back we have Dr Fate; Zatanna; Omen; and Terry Long. Dr Fate mentions “Pariah’s prediction” which is probably too grand a title for the doom-saying Pariah performed in THE NEW TITANS #81. Lilith is Omen’s real name; he speaks about Donna Troy, his wife.
Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 9: Terry connected with Pariah in THE NEW TITANS #81, making Pariah realise that other people had suffered as well as him.
Page 4 – Panel 1: Pantha and Flash on Dianata. Flash isn’t impressed with the current crop of Titans, having been a founding member of the original team.
Page 4 – Panel 2: He’s sceptical of Deathstroke because the Terminator was an enemy of Wally’s Titans for a long time. Wally mentions Garth (Aqualad) and Victor Stone (Cyborg).
Page 4 – Panel 3: Joining them are Phantasm, Rocket Red and Red Star. Wally and Red Star had a long-standing feud with the Flash being openly critical of the Russian’s home country and politics.
Page 4 – Panel 4: Red Star fights back; the “buy that” comment might be a poke at Flash’s (and the USA’s) capitalism; and just to get under his skin, Red Star calls Flash “Kid Flash.“
Page 4 – Panel 5: Robin on the left, Batman on the right. Robin says he’s “never seen anything like this” – having debuted as Robin only a year or so before WAR OF THE GODS, this is his first crisis event. Batman says he’s seen plenty – by this point, he’s lived through the original CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, LEGENDS, MILLENNIUM, INVASION, and ARMAGEDDON 2001. However, only CRISIS had red skies and he shouldn’t remember that now.
Page 4 – Panel 7: Weirdly, Batman appears to use a cigarette lighter as a radio.
Page 4 – Panel 8: Aquaman off the coast of Themyscira. He mentions the goblet that Batman spent some time tracking down in previous issues.
Page 5 – Panel 7: This is the pyre that Wonder Woman’s effects were burnt upon in WONDER WOMAN #61. Stood before it is . . .
Page 5 – Panel 8: . . . Menalippe, who is joined by Heracles who holds the caduceus and helm of Hermes who was killed by Circe in the previous issue.
Page 5 – Panel 9: Menalippe, oracle of the Amazons, is convinced the still-burning pyre is a sign.
Page 6 – Panel 1: Standing above the beach looking down are, left to right, Hawkwoman; Power Girl; and Ice.
Page 6 – Panel 2: They’re discussing what they’ve heard from Pariah but any revelation from him must have happened off screen as we haven’t seen anything of Pariah since THE NEW TITANS #81, and there he only spoke to them.
Page 6 – Panel 3: Somewhere else, what looks to be atop an icy peak, stand Pariah and Lady Quark. They both talk of a plan that we haven’t yet heard, with the exception of Dr Fate, back on Page 3, suggesting Circe has to be attacked all at once. Despite Terry Long having made a “connection” with Pariah in THE NEW TITANS #81, it seems here he’s back to indulging in self-pity.
Page 6 – Panel 4: Self-pity which Lady Quark has neither time nor sympathy for!
Page 6 – Panel 5: The off panel speaker, Harbinger, refers to Pariah as Mossa, his real name.
Page 6 – Panel 6: And here’s Harbinger who is actually on . . .
Page 6 – Panel 7: . . . Themyscira, specifically in the healing room with Epione on the left, and Hippolyta in the middle. Since the original Crisis, Harbinger has had the ability to split herself into multiple versions which is how she can be in more than one place at a time.
Page 7 – Panel 1: Harbinger talks of the plan almost being over – “operation’s twilight” as she puts it – but apart from attack at once, we’ve still heard nothing of this plan.
Page 7 – Panel 4: “I don’t understand any of this.” These words could be the tag line for this series!
Page 7 – Panel 6: The words are spoken by the spirit of Wonder Woman – the “demon of hell” she mentions is Etrigan whom she met in THE DEMON #17.
Page 7 – Panel 8: Floating on the right in red is Deadman; below him in green is the Spectre and off to the right in blue if the Phantom Stranger.
Page 7 – Panel 9: As Deadman says, Klarion altered Circe’s spell without her knowledge, again in THE DEMON #17.
Page 8 – Panel 3: Donna Troy, still captive on New Olympus.
Page 8 – Panel 4: Terry Long and Omen.
Page 8 – Panel 5: Dr Fate.
Page 8 – Panel 6: Superman says they’re “doing this for Diana” – that was the rallying cry at the end of WONDER WOMAN #61.
Page 8 – Panel 7: At the top in the air are Rocket Red; Jade; and Silver Swan; in front of them (still flying) is Hawkman. Jade’s created two green platforms: on the left of the panel, top to bottom, is Deathstroke; Pantha; Red Star; Flash; and Dr Light. On the other one, below Hawkman, are Creeper on the left and Peacemaker on the right.
Page 8 – Panel 8: Top left are the legs of Fire; then Booster Gold; then the feet of Dove in a yellow costume (see Page 24 – Panel 3). Next row down has Blue Devil; Martian Manhunter; and Metamorpho. Next row is Mr Miracle; then Nuklon; and below them Crimson Fox. On the other side of Metamorpho is Big Barda and Elongated Man; to the left of Elongated Man is Blue Beetle; below Elongated Man is General Glory on the left and, in the green top, is that Gypsy?
Page 8 – Panel 8: And diving down into New Olympus, from the top down, are Guy Gardners; Superman; and Starman.
Page 9 – Panel 1: Superman attempts to reason with the gods, while Fire proclaims there’s no point.
Page 9 – Panel 2: Flash and Starman both rush towards Donna Troy; Wally (The Flash) West and Donna have been friends since they were both in the Teen Titans together.
Page 9 – Panel 3: Hawkman points out the inability to keep track of where you are in the disorienting New Olympus.
Page 9 – Panel 4: Firehawk at the top of the page; Nuklon just below her; Jupiter to the right. As shown above, the heroes’ sense of direction and aim is affected.
Page 9 – Panel 5: To the left, hanging off the steps, is Nightshade; next to her is Deathstroke; next to him is Elongated Man. Beneath Deathstroke is Peacemaker. Again, aim is affected.
Page 9 – Panel 6: Martian Manhunter being struck by Artemis; Silver Swan in the bottom left; Superman’s boots at the bottom.
Page 10 – Panel 1: Back on Themyscira, a band of Amazon’s guard “Doom’s Doorway” into which Heracles and other Amazons have apparently entered.
Page 10 – Panel 2: And here are the Amazons while below them . . .
Page 10 – Panel 3: . . . is Heracles himself.
Page 10 – Panel 7: Waiting for Heracles is Charon whom we haven’t seen since WAR OF THE GODS #1 when he cast Harmonia into the Styx and was charged by Pluto to guard the doorway.
Page 10 – Panel 8: Heracles appears to blast Charon with some sort of energy burst.
Page 11 – Panel 1: The Amazons catch up with Heracles. Given the size of Charon’s ferry (shown in the water) you have to wonder how long it would have taken Heracles’s original plan of “commission the ferryman to guide us” to transport the twenty or so Amazons across the river.
Page 11 – Panels 2 to 5: Either way, a conveniently dislodged pillar allows Heracles and the Amazons to cross the Styx.
Page 11 – Panel 6: Back to New Olympus, left to right are Silver Swan; Ram of the New Guardians; a random god; Robotman in the bottom right; and Checkmate above him.
Page 12 – Panel 1: Aphrodite and Hephaestus at Hestia’s Hearth; Aphrodite refers to Hephaestus’s forge exploding which happened in the previous issue.
Page 12 – Panel 2: His comment of “Not even a former wife!“, while referring to Aphrodite, comes out of nowhere and makes no sense, making me wonder if some of his dialogue was lost.
Page 12 – Panel 3: In the previous issue, we saw either Hephaestus’s face in the flames or that of Vulcan, his Roman counterpart. Here we see the Son of Vulcan.
Page 12 – Panels 4 and 5: And here is the Son of Vulcan who here’s his father’s words in Panel 4 and in Panel 5 are the delightful words of . . .
Page 12 – Panel 6: . . . Lobo who we last saw in the previous issue. Behind the Son of Vulcan is Lead, one of the Metal men.
Page 12 – Panels 7 to 9: And just like that, the Son of Vulcan puts Lobo to sleep.
Page 13 – Panel 1: This scene continues straight on from the one in the previous issue. Starting from the bottom left and moving clockwise we have the Son of Vulcan; Black Ada; Lead; Iron; Platinum; Shazam; Gold; Tin; Mercury; with Billy Batson on the altar.
Page 13 – Panels 3 to 8: Little point in annotating anything here as it’s all laid out in the captions as Shazam explains how he decided to create “a champion for all mankind.“
Page 14 – Panels 1 to 5: Again, no point noting anything here as Shazam gathers the other elements that go to make up Captain Marvel’s powers.
Page 14 – Panel 7: Shazam’s caption gives a short version of the creation of Black Adam as a corrupted version of what the wizard intended.
Page 14 – Panel 11: Son of Vulcan talks about trying to stop the Roman gods and ending up in the Styx which is where we first saw him in WAR OF THE GODS #1. As far as I can tell, at no point did we actually see him trying to convince the Roman gods they were being deceived – it all happened off screen before the series began.
Page 15 – Panel 1: He tells of the meeting between him and Harmonia, and of Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman being ejected from the chaos realm, all of which happened in WAR OF THE GODS #1. The line about Marvel being diverted and meeting Lobo recounts events in LEGION #31.
Page 15 – Panels 2 and 3: The Romans forcing Captain Marvel to fight for him and then dragging him across the galaxy exhausted Marvel which is why Billy Batson is comatose on the altar.
Page 15 – Panel 4: Zeus is struck by lightning, his spirit being sent to Iron of the Metal Men – Zeus vanished in WAR OF THE GODS #2, but we didn’t know until now what had happened to him.
Page 15 – Panel 5: Likewise, Hercules is struck, his spirit transferred to Gold in the inset panel – this also happened in WAR OF THE GODS #2.
Page 15 – Panel 6: Atlas (with Heracles standing before him) is struck in WONDER WOMAN #58, his spirit transferred to Platinum in the inset panel.
Page 15 – Panel 7: Achilles is struck (Starman and Phantom Lady at the back of the panel) in STARMAN #38, his spirit transferred to Tin in the inset panel.
Page 15 – Panel 8: And Mercury (with the Flash in front of him) is struck in FLASH #55, his spirit sent to Mercury in the inset panel.
Page 15 – Panel 9: Shazam reveals the final spirit, that of Solomon, is in Lead, and all they’re waiting for is Wonder Woman.
Page 16 – Panel 2: Harbinger appears and breaks the news that Wonder Woman is dead.
Page 16 – Panel 3: The Fates told Harmonia next to nothing back in WAR OF THE GODS #1, and Pariah has said precious little in the main series’ issue and even in THE NEW TITANS #81 he was vague, so I’m not sure what Son of Vulcan or Harbinger are talking about here.
Page 16 – Panel 4: Harbinger says there “is still one more who must be freed from New Olympus” – she’s referring to Donna Troy who’s been captive there since the beginning.
Page 16 – Panels 5 to 6: Son of Vulcan has an idea.
Page 16 – Panel 6: On the left is the Greek god Poseidon; Aquaman in the middle; the Roman god Neptune on the right. Above Aquaman is Hawkman.
Page 16 – Panel 7: And here’s Circe who was last seen streaking off into the heavens at the end of the previous issue, planning to create the world anew in Hecate’s name. Seems she’s settled for just New Olympus.
Page 17 – Panel 1: Front and centre is Circe on her throne; clockwise from the right are Donna Troy; Phobos; Bronze Tiger; and the Flash.
Page 17 – Panel 2: Eris is imprisoned in the globe.
Page 17 – Panel 4: Circe explains why Eris is imprisoned: in the previous issue, her golden apple was destroyed by Harmonia; it appears Circe wanted that apple containing Ares’ essence and, as Eris didn’t deliver, she’s imprisoned her. From memory, I don’t think Circe commanding Eris to capture Ares’ essence was shown.
Page 17 – Panel 5: As Phobos boasts of killing Harmonia – which he did in the previous issue – we return to the scene of the crime, Ares’ home.
Page 17 – Panels 6 to 8: Ares mourns the death of his daughter, Harmonia.
Page 18 – Panel 1: The Roman god Mars is still up for a fight, however.
Page 18 – Panels 3 and 4: In the previous issue, back on Page 8, Harmonia’s necklace disappeared following her conversation with Wonder Woman. No mention was made of it and unless you were paying attention, you’d probably have missed it. However, for some reason, the same symbol appears within the eyes of Ares (I’m assuming it’s in both his eyes, even though we only see the one close up) and this appears to symbolise Ares’ realisation that he and the other gods have been tricked.
Page 18 – Panel 5: This is Apokolips, home of . . .
Page 18 – Panel 6: . . . Darkseid whose face is partially obscured by the preceding panel. Behind him, in brown and blue, is Kalibak, his son.
Page 18 – Panel 7: Facing off against the hordes of Apokolips are the gods of New Genesis. To the top left in the air is Lightray; in the centre of the panel in red is Orion; below him in green and red is Fastbak.
This battle started in the previous issue and, like almost every other battle between Orion and Darkseid, they’re promising the death each other.
Page 19 – Panel 1: Desaad, Darkseid’s lackey, monitors events on Earth.
Page 19 – Panels 2 and 3: As Darkseid says, Orion and the others attacked first, believing Apokolips to be attacking New Genesis. For once, Darkseid’s not the one at fault here.
Page 19 – Panel 6: Darkseid, Fastbak, and Kalibak look at the newcomer whom Fastbak names as Highfather.
Page 19 – Panel 7: Highfather is accompanied by Harbinger. Harbinger’s dialogue here seems garbled as if it’s missing something; I wonder if “It’s true, Lord Darkseid. All that will be continue and you will hasten our journey into oblivion.” shouldn’t read something like “It’s true, Lord Darkseid. All that will be is at risk. Continue and you will hasten our journey into oblivion.“
Page 19 – Panel 8: Handily announcing himself if the Black Racer, the New Gods’ messenger of death.
Page 20 – Panel 2: Darkseid explains how Circe’s spell could affect the New Gods.
Page 20 – Panel 3: Lightray at the back on the left; Mr Miracle on the right; Orion at the front.
Page 20 – Panel 5: Harbinger back with Pariah and Lady Quark; Harbinger’s clearly using her ability to be in multiple places at once. As before, Pariah considers that death would be a blessing for him.
Page 20 – Panel 6: Son of Vulcan followed by Lobo, both heading towards New Olympus.
Page 20 – Panel 7: Lady Quark, a team-mate of Lobo’s in LEGION, fears Lobo’s unpredictable nature will endanger the plan so heads off to stop him doing anything reckless.
Page 20 – Panel 8: Gotham City under siege by bestiamorphs and harpies. As mentioned on Page 4 of this issue, Gotham has been chosen because of the Themysciran goblet’s power being unleashed there.
Page 21 – Panel 1: Batman and Robin, with Batman rallying the members of the Outsiders.
Page 21 – Panel 3: Looker on the left, Black Lightning on the right.
Page 21 – Panel 4: And finally Katana.
Page 21 – Panel 7: Back on New Olympus, Circe on the left; then Superman; Eris; and Phobos. Circe’s mention of “a fog” is the result of the sorcerers’ spell. Somehow, Eris has a sense of what’s about to happen.
Page 22 – Panel 1: The Son of Vulcan arrives. Behind him, on the left, is Deathstroke.
Page 22 – Panel 3: Circe’s blast tears into the Son of Vulcan.
Page 22 – Panel 4: And over at Hestia’s Hearth, Hephaestus hears the cry of his Roman counterpart, Vulcan, who feels his son’s pain, as Aphrodite looks on.
Page 22 – Panel 5: As his forge did in the previous issue, the hearth explodes, this time seemingly killing Hephaestus.
Page 22 – Panel 7: Harbinger again using her multiple personalities as she talks to Epione in Themyscira . . .
Page 22 – Panel 8: . . . Black Adam and Shazam in the Bana-Mighdall temple . . .
Page 22 – Panel 9: . . . and flies off from Pariah. Here she also mentions the “veil is lifting“, the same “fog” that Circe mentioned.
Page 23 – Panel 1: Lady Quark at the top of the page; Lobo below her; behind Lobo’s left arm is Deadshot; and below Deadshot is Pantha. As everyone says, Lobo’s behaviour isn’t normal.
Page 23 – Panel 2: Superman at the top wrestling with a god; Count Vertigo below.
Page 23 – Panel 3: The Son of Vulcan’s smouldering body is in the bottom left; clockwise from him are Donna Troy (atop the pillar in the background); Circe; Phobos; and Eris.
Page 23 – Panels 5 to 8: As Circe attempts to drain the Son of Vulcan’s power, she realises he doesn’t have any.
Page 23 – Panel 9: Instead she is struck with an energy blast from . . .
Page 23 – Panel 11: . . . Lobo . . .
Page 24 – Panel 1: . . . who has just rescued Donna Troy.
Page 24 – Panel 2: Flash, fearing for Donna’s safety, and Deathstroke behind and beneath him.
Page 24 – Panel 3: The character in the foreground is Dove who wears a yellow costume (see this issue of HAWK AND DOVE) even though, by Page 31 – Panel 3, she’s shown in her usual blue and white costume; Fire behind her; Flash below them; an unknown just to the left of Flash who might be Lobo (presumably having dropped Donna Troy to avoid Flash) but I’m not convinced.
Page 24 – Panel 6: Lobo and Donna vanish.
Page 24 – Panel 8: The war gods appear above Olympus. In the clouds, left to right, are Loki; Ares; Mars; and Shango. Beneath them, in the bottom left, are Firehawk and Harbinger; below them are figures too indistinct to make out. With clarity granted by Harmonia, Ares reveals that the war is a sham.
Page 25 – Panel 1: Left to right are Jupiter; Dolphin; and Superman.
Page 25 – Panel 2: Mars reveals to Jupiter that Circe was behind everything.
Page 25 – Panel 3: Standing left to right are (possibly) Athena; Hera; Peacemaker; with Martian Manhunter (still smouldering from Artemis’ attack on Page 9) in the bottom left.
Page 25 – Panel 4: Iphthime and Heracles judge Circe’s reaction to the war gods’ intervention. On the top right is Circe and below her, not that easy to make out because of the colouring, is Phobos.
Page 25 – Panel 5: Left to right are (probably) Persephone; Hades; and Pluto; with Heracles in the foreground.
Page 25 – Panels 6 and 7: Hades realises Hecate is about to unleash the dead.
Page 25 – Panel 8: The spirit of Wonder Woman, and Deadman.
Page 26 – Panel 1: Left to right are Blue Beetle; Neptune; Poseidon; and Aquaman.
Page 26 – Panel 2: The dead have risen: on the left is Aquagirl, on the right Little Mermaid.
Page 26 – Panel 3: Dan Garrett, the original Blue Beetle, on the left, with the current, Ted Kord, on the right.
Page 26 – Panel 4: Green Lanterns Guy Gardner; Katma Tui; and Abin Sur. It makes sense for these two Lanterns to be here as they both died while on Earth.
Page 26 – Panel 6: Left to right in the air are: an unknown; Mr Terrific; Skyman; Queen Bee of Bialya; Commander Steel; The Ghost; Silent Majority.
On the ground are Iron Major; Lady Liberty; Vigilante; Valda; Rick Flag; Mirror Master; and Mindboggler.
Page 27 – Panel 1: Back on Themyscira where there Amazons are guarding Doom’s Doorway. I’m pretty sure the caption should read “How long can the Amazons hold them off?“
Page 27 – Panel 2: Power Girl; Hawkwoman; and Ice. There’s mention of a “master plan” and “Dr Fate’s scheme” but who knows what that is?
Page 27 – Panel 5: Dr Fate bringing Azure to the party. Azure was last seen in HAWK AND DOVE #28.
Page 27 – Panels 6 and 7: Hippolyta arrives at the funeral pyre of Wonder Woman which has finally died. Fate’s mention of relying on the Phantom Stranger makes little sense as the last time we saw them together, the Stranger basically walked out on his fellow sorcerers.
Page 28 – Panel 1: Harbinger talks of “Harmonia’s gambit” which she’s heard of from the Phantom Stranger – what gambit?! When did the Stranger and Harbinger share any time together?!
Page 28 – Panels 2 to 3: This is the left hand side of the page, with Hippolyta sculpting the body of Wonder Woman from the clay of Themyscira.
Page 28 – Panel 4: Menalippe watches on.
Page 28 – Panels 7 to 12: This is the right hand side of the page with the Metal Men, one per panel: Lead; Iron; Platinum; Gold; Tin; and Mercury.
Page 28 – Panel 13: Shazam and Black Adam either end of the altar with Billy Batson between them. It looks like Black Adam was supposed to have some dialogue here . . .
Page 28 – Panel 14: . . . because Shazam responds to something we don’t hear!
Page 29 – Panel 1: Circe’s mind fog is lifting; the undead Golden Eagle behind her.
Page 29 – Panel 2: Fate’s Tower where we find . . .
Page 29 – Panel 3: . . . Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, and Lilith. Fog/mental umbrella – it all means the same thing.
Page 29 – Panel 5: Zatanna’s dead father, Zatara, appears and tries to kill his daughter.
Page 29 – Panel 6: In the background is Terry Long, Donna Troy’s husband. Zatara’s blast is stopped by the giant hand of . . .
Page 29 – Panel 7: The Spectre.
Page 30 – Panel 1: Back to New Olympus with Phobos and Circe at the top; then Superman below and to the right; the undead Terra strangling Geo-Force (her brother) to the left; and Firehawk at the bottom.
Page 30 – Panel 2: Superman’s claim “the whole universe is riding on” him stopping Circe’s bolt seems designed to prove what a big threat Circe is but, by now, the whole story’s so jumbled it sounds hollow.
Page 30 – Panels 4 to 6: Superman gets into the path of the bolt but it continues, as he falls aside.
Page 30 – Panel 7: Menalippe sees the bolt coming . . .
Page 30 – Panel 10: . . . and throws herself forward. At the same time . . .
Page 31 – Panel 1: . . . Billy Batson becomes Captain Marvel once more . . .
Page 31 – Panel 2: . . . the bolt strikes Menalippe, throwing Hippolyta aside . . .
Page 31 – Panel 3: . . . and backfires to Circe as Phobos watches while Dove (Dawn Granger) is strangled by the undead Dove (Don Hall).
Page 31 – Panels 4 and 5: Circe is transported to Cronus where she is greeted by . . .
Page 31 – Panel 6: Donna Troy and . . .
Page 31 – Panel 7: . . . Wonder Woman. It makes sense that Donna shows no surprise at seeing Wonder Woman alive as she’s been trapped on New Olympus for this whole event so wouldn’t know Circe had killed her.
Page 32 – Panels 1 and 2: Despite helping Shazam in his quest to return Captain Marvel’s powers, the wizard forces him to leave this world – pretty shabby treatment, if you ask me.
Page 32 – Panel 4: Left to right are Captain Marvel and the heroes and gods who empower him: Hercules; Mercury; Solomon; Achilles; Zeus; and the giant Atlas.
Page 32 – Panel 5: Captain Marvel doesn’t understand the “great bonding” – he’s not the only one!
Page 32 – Panel 7: The Metal Men back to their normal selves now that the spirits of the gods and heroes have been released.
Page 33 – Panel 1: Captain Marvel arrives on Themyscira; Ice and Firestorm at the back; Dr Fate in front of them; Hawkwoman to the right.
Page 33 – Panel 2: Firestorm handily introduces a Dr Ngai who, as far as I can see, has appeared as if from nowhere, with Power Girl at the back.
Page 33 – Panel 3: Azure, representing the Aztec gods.
Page 33 – Panel 4: Orion with Harbinger and Pariah in the background.
Page 33 – Panel 6: Lobo, still harbouring the spirit of the Son of Vulcan.
Page 33 – Panel 8: In saving her queen, Menalippe died.
Page 33 – Panel 11: Donna Troy, Wonder Woman and Circe. Wonder Woman says to Donna that they “have to see this through as planned!” What plan? Donna has been a prisoner in New Olympus since the start of the event and Wonder Woman’s been battling Circe since she arrived here – when did they have a chance to discuss a plan?!
Page 34 – Panels 1 and 2: Both Donna and Wonder Woman refer to “them” – we’ll find out who they are in a moment.
Page 34 – Panel 5: Phobos in the foreground leaping to escape; Fire in the top right; Black Canary bottom left; and either a god or Amazon in the top left.
Page 34 – Panel 6: Pariah whining once more; Lyla is Harbinger’s real name.
Page 34 – Panels 8 and 9: Wonder Woman goads Circe into firing another blast.
Page 35 – Panel 1: But Wonder Woman has . . . a magic disc? That somehow turns up now, without having been even hinted at before?
Page 35 – Panel 2: Circe’s blast is directed through Donna Troy’s tunic.
Page 35 – Panel 5: The Phantom Stranger arrives.
Page 35 – Panel 6: He explains to Circe that the pantheons are appealing to a higher force. Left to right are Hawkwoman; Dr Ngai; Ice; Lobo; Captain Marvel; Power Girl; and Dr Fate. No sign of Firestorm, Azure or Orion, though.
Page 36 – Panel 1: Deathstroke; Crimson Fox; and the disintegrating corpse of Vigilante. Circe’s power is being drained, allowing the dead to die once more.
Page 36 – Panel 2: Green Lantern Guy Gardner on the left; Nightshade on the right; the crumbling corpse of Abin Sur in the foreground.
Page 36 – Panel 3: Rocket Red in the top left; Aphrodite cradling Hephaestus in the middle; Starman in the bottom right; despite Aphrodite’s words, that’s neither Hades nor Pluto in the bottom left
Page 36 – Panel 5: Circe begins to crumble as Hecate deserts her.
Page 36 – Panel 6: Best I can surmise, Circe’s power was funnelled through Donna Troy to the gods’ representatives who in turn petitioned Cronus for help. He in turn has curtailed Hecate’s powers which leave Circe with nothing.
Page 36 – Panel 7: Hecate herself bursts forth from Circe’s position, quoting her curse.
Page 37 – Panel 1: As Hecate attempts to inflict her curse on Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman uses her lasso as a focal point for the gods’ powers. Or something similar, maybe.
Page 37 – Panels 2 to 10: The gods’ representatives, left to right: Orion; Hawkwoman; Dr Ngai; presumably Ice with miscoloured hair; Lobo; Captain Marvel; Dr Fate; Power Girl; and Azure. Still no sign of Firestorm.
Page 37 – Panels 11 and 12: And just like that, Hecate is defeated by Cronus.
Page 37 – Panel 13: Heroes and gods look on. Top right is Elongated Man’s head; bottom right might be Heracles; in the middle is Jupiter; next to him might be Athena; bottom left is probably Metamorpho.
Page 37 – Panel 14: Left to right: probably Athena; Hera; Heracles.
Page 37 – Panel 15: Zeus returns to New Olympus. To the left of the panel, top to bottom, are Silver Swan; Aquaman; and Flash. On the right are random gods at the top; probably an Amazon; Captain Boomerang to the left; Phantasm to the right; and an unidentifiable head next to Phantasm.
Page 38 – Panel 1: Zeus claims it was their children – the heroes – that defeated Circe. This makes no sense as we just saw the heroes petition gods to apply to Cronus to remove Hecate’s power.
Page 38 – Panel 2: Donna Troy back above New Olympus, this time willingly acting as the portal for the Olympian gods to enter and join Cronus.
Page 38 – Panels 4 and 5: Zeus gifts New Olympus to the Roman gods.
Page 38 – Panel 6: Heracles decides to stay with his gods and not return to the Earth.
Page 38 – Panel 8: That sure looks like Hawkwoman giving the orders, but she’s on Themyscira so it has to be Hawkman.
Page 38 – Panel 10: New Olympus prepares to disappear in a flash of light . . .
Note about Page 39: On first reading, this page makes little sense as we move from Superman at Themyscira, then to Donna Troy who has apparently been asleep for three days, then back to Superman in Themyscira meaning he’s been sat there watching things for three days. To correct this, all that needed to happen was have the first panel with Superman moved down. This makes much more sense but it wasn’t corrected in the collected edition. As I did with Pages 32 and 33 in issue #3, I’ve done a simple cut and paste job to illustrate what I mean:
For the notes on this Page, I’m going to use the original Page and Panel numbers but I’ll follow the panels as laid out in the corrected version above because it makes more sense for the flow of the story.
Page 39 – Panel 2: . . . and there’s the flash of light with Donna Troy at the centre of it.
Page 39 – Panel 3: And then everything goes black.
Page 39 – Panel 5: Donna Troy and her husband Terry Long; Donna wakes after nearly three days with everything back to normal.
Page 39 – Panel 1: Superman watching the goings on at Themyscira; though we don’t see her for another couple of panels, he’s talking to Harbinger.
Page 39 – Panel 8: The funeral of Menalippe on the island. Left to right are Hawkwoman; Wonder Woman; Ice; Dr Ngai; Dr Fate; Power Girl; and Captain Marvel. Ice, the two Doctors and Power Girl are carrying Menalippe between them. It looks like the representatives of the gods were chosen to act as pallbearers for some reason.
Page 40 – Panel 1: As Superman flies off, we have the captioned dialogue of the Phantom Stranger, with the Greek Fates replying.
Page 40 – Panel 2: Firestorm back in the cosmos; the Stranger mentions Ron Raymond who used to share the Firestorm persona with Martin Stein, and Lorraine Reilly whom we’ve seen recently as Firehawk.
Page 40 – Panel 3: New Genesis in the top left, Apokolips in the bottom right.
Page 40 – Panel 4: Lobo in a bar brawl as Lady Quark looks on.
Page 40 – Panel 5: The Son of Vulcan enjoying the Elysian Fields, the afterlife for Romans.
Page 40 – Panel 6: Areopagus, the home of Ares. There seems no reason why this panel is in black and white.
Page 40 – Panel 7: All traces of the Bana-Mighdall Amazons are wiped away.
Page 40 – Panels 8 and 9: And Pariah, still whining, vanishes.
Page 40 – Panel 10: Leaving the Fates and the Phantom Stranger at the end of it all.
Crisis on Earth-Prime 