Wonder Woman: The Once And Future Story is a 1998 oneshot Wonder Woman tale of the Post-Crisis Wondy written by Trina Robbins with art by Colleen Doran.
Diana is called in by her friend Julia Kapatelis when a strange recently uncovered cairn in Ireland is revealed to be the tomb of a mysterious ancient warrior woman accompanied by tablets written in ancient Greek. While there she discovers an upsetting parallel between the story of a captured ancient queen and one of the archeologists working on the site.
This comic contains examples of:
- Adventures in Comaland: While Artemis is laying unconscious after Theseus nearly beat her to death, and had her dragged off thinking he had killed her, she hallucinates her patron goddess Cybelle calling her back to life, before the voice resolves itself to belong to Findabar, one of the kitchen slaves who snuck out with Etain to check on her body, found her still living and treated her wounds.
- Attempted Rape: When Artemis brings a pitcher of wine to Theseus in her guise as a slave he almost immediately tries to rape her, tearing her clothes off and pinning her to the couch. When she tries to fight him off he violently beats her unconscious and mistakes her for dead, calling the guards to drag off her body.
- Beneath Notice: Artemis sneaks into Theseus' palace by disguising herself as one of the new slaves brought in to work in the kitchens. This ensures people aren't paying attention to her, and works until Phaedra catches her talking secretively with her mother at which point Phaedra "promotes" her and dresses her in a very revealing outfit to serve Theseus in an attempt to stay in her husband's good graces by delivering him a pretty new girl to rape.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Etain is by far the sweetest and least assuming of the slaves. She's also the only slave to kill any of the slavers and their guards before the slave revolt and she gets away with it as she's quick, quiet and knows how to dispose of a body so it won't be found. She is quiet cheerfully enthused about killing the first guard while he tried to corner another slave too.
- Big Eater: Etain is fond of food and when the cook is out of the kitchen samples the food, and steals a pie and other small things even as the other slaves warn her of the danger should she be caught. She brushes them off by saying she's not going to be caught and it's her little rebellion against those who own and control her whom she has no real way to fight right away.
- Cut Himself Shaving: When Diana questions Moira Keneally on how she got the bruise on her face Moria tries to avoid answering before claiming she clumsily walked into a door at the hotel the night before. In truth her husband hit her.
- Domestic Abuse: The tale focuses on Diana learning about the Ephesians, an ancient civilization similar to Themyscira. Ephesian queen Alcippe was taken by Theseus and made into his wife, and by the time her daughter Artemis arrived to rescue her she was horrified to discover Alcippe had been broken by Theseus' abuse. In the modern day, Diana has to deal with the fact that one of the archaeologists who found Artemis's remains is also being abused by her husband.
- Expy Coexistence: The tale of Artemis that Diana reads contains a number of parallels to her own story, with a warrior princess secretly entering a contest they've been forbidden from to become her matriarchal society's champion, and given a blue and red outfit as champion before venturing into the wider world, though their are clear differences. Artemis' mother Queen Alcippe's story of being defeated and raped by Theseus is similar to Diana's mother Queen Hippolyta's story of being defeated and raped by Hercules, though Hippolyta escaped her captor. Etain being a boisterous Big Eater who is Artemis' first friend in the wider world and an excellent and dangerous fighter while being a sweetheart is similar to Etta Candy being Diana's first friend in the wider world. General Thalestris and her mentor like relationship with Artemis has marked intentional similarities to Philippus and her relationship with Diana. Oreithia as Artemis' aunt carries a similar position and personality to Diana's aunt Menalippe.
- Fun T-Shirt: Diana sleeps in a long purple shirt that says #1 Warrior Princess.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Phaedra's jealously of Theseus' newest wife sees her delivering slave girls to him with the intent that he rape them while thinking of her generosity in order to stay in his good graces and sees her attacking and beating Alcippe herself. Her jealously is partially and possibly mostly inspired by fear of her husband and what might happen to her if he loses interest in her.
- "I Can't Look!" Gesture: Theseus' drinking buddies look away uncomfortably as he beats a slave girl to death for resisting his attempt to rape her.
- I Have Many Names: The Irish gals say that they worship Morrigan, while others worship other goddess, but there are those who say there is only one goddess with many names and faces which is implied to be partially true and it is known that in the DCU deities have aspects which can be their own personalities or can merge into a greater deity.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Findabar gets run through to the hilt with a sword from the back during the slave revolt, her killer's weapon ends up stuck through her rib cage as she falls leaving him disarmed.
- Improvised Weapon: When Artemis tries to fight off Theseus' attempt to rape her he grabs a nearby stool and starts bashing her repeatedly in the face and torso.
- Instant Messenger Pigeon: Artemis is given a messenger pigeon trained to return to Ephesus to carry her message of where the Ephesians are to attack to rescue Alcippe once she finds her mother. When she does let the bird go the Ephesian warriors and ships arrive on shore before she's finished her speech she gives while she does so to her new allies.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Thesus refers to the bodies of slaves he's beaten to death as if they are objects rather than humans, calling guards to drag "it" away.
- Let Me at Him!: Princess Artemis tried to make a run from her hiding place to attack Theseus as he forced her mother onto a boat, but was held back by her aunt Oreitha, who pointed out that her doing so would reveal those of their people who had managed to hide from the invaders and that she would be quickly overpowered and captured herself if she was allowed to try.
- Made a Slave: As Diana translates the tablets the defeated Ephesians are shown enslaved and stolen from their homeland by Theseus and his men.
- Murder-Suicide: James shoots his wife when she comes to check on him at the pub after he said he was only going for one beer. He then holes up in the pub with her threatening to shoot himself or anyone who enters, and eventually does try to shoot himself in the head. He's prevented by Wonder Woman who also manages to get Moira to medical care before she bleeds out.
- Oh, My Gods!: When Dr. Kapatelis reveals Artemis' remains and the preserved weapons alongside her Diana exclaims "Gaia!"
- Patron God:
- While the Ephesians seem to worship Artemis and Athena as well given that they have statues of them their patron is Cybelle, whom they call on and pray to before the contest to select their champion and whom Artemis leaves an offering to before she sets sail on her mission.
- When Artemis asks the group of foreign slave girls she snuck into Theseus' palace whom they worship they respond that their goddess is Morrigan, and that they were stolen from the island of Erin, modern day Ireland.
- Slave Liberation: Several of Theseus' slaves are planning to kill him and try to make their escape, Etain invites Artemis to join their plot after helping nurse her back to health.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Theseus is presented as one of the nicer slave masters, and he's an irredeemable murderous rapist who sees slaves as property without any consideration for their humanity.
- Training Montage: While Artemis recovers she's seen in a series of panels taking place over several days or weeks training with the kitchen slaves as they sneak away for brief periods to recover her strength and for all of them to brush up on their fighting skills.
- Very Special Episode: Wonder Woman: The Once And Future Story is focused on domestic violence victims being able to get the support they need to escape their abusers, and the story ends with a page with a few paragraphs on the topic and a list of numbers for various support groups and domestic violence hotlines.
- Willing Channeler: When the Morrigan arrives in crow guise as the Irish girls initiate Artemis into their group Findabar willingly invites her goddess to use her to speak to the group.
