- Am I ready? I've spent centuries waiting for this. I'm ready for anything.
— Gloriana Demeter
Glory is a superhero that was created by Rob Liefeld for Image Comics in 1993. She first appeared in Youngblood Strikefile #1 and later went on to star in her own series, as well as several crossover mini-series with Avengelyne.
Glory Vol. 1, Rob Liefeld's version, consisted on 21 issues. Although Liefeld created the character, the series was mainly written by Jo Duffy and penciled by Mike Deodato, Jr. In it, Glory was Gloriana Demeter, the daughter of Lady Demeter of the Amazons and Lord Silverfall, a demon of the Underworld. Glory struggled with both her Amazonian side and her Demon side, eventually moving to Earth to fight in World War II along with Supreme.
Even after moving from Image Comics to Awesome Comics, Glory never caught on and was eventually cancelled. Then, in 1999, after Alan Moore was done rebooting Supreme and writing Youngblood: Judgment Day (which erased a lot of the '90s "dark and edginess"), he began writing a reboot of Glory. Now, Glory took on the identity of a human waitress by the name of Gloria West. Unfortunately, only one issue (#0) was published before Awesome Comics shut down. Two more issues were published by Avatar Press in 2001 under the name Alan Moore's Glory.
And that was pretty much the end of Glory until 2012 when Joe Keatinge and Sophie Campbell took everything that had come before and remade it.
Gloriana Demeter is the daughter of Lady Demeter and Lord Silverfell, two members of an alien race so old that they inspired the myths of angels and demons. Gloriana was born to be the peacemaker between them and, if need to be, to kill if one of them got out of line (this was usually Lord Silverfell, who tried to kill Glory and her mother during most of her childhood). However, Glory got tired of being simply a tool, so she moved to Earth.
That was nearly a hundred years ago. Now, Glory has been missing for a long time. Now, a young woman named Riley Barnes, who has been having dreams of Glory since childhood, has gone looking for her. Finally, with the help of a woman named Gloria West, she finds Glory...who has been beaten within an inch of her life. Gloria tells her that something really, really bad did this to her...and they're coming back.
Tropes used in Rob Liefeld's Glory:
- Most Common Superpower
- Mystical White Hair: Pretty much the only thing that stayed the same between all three versions.
Tropes used in Alan Moore's Glory:
- Alternate Company Equivalent: Moore's run made Glory an even more blatant Wonder Woman copy by introducing characters based off the Golden Age Wonder Woman stories. The Danger Damsels are counterparts of the Holliday College girls, Madame Melissa Von Manacle is a Paula Von Gunther counterpart, and Glory's boyfriend Trevor is a blatant Steve Trevor copy.
- Affectionate Parody: The "Temptation Comics" segments vary from loving homages to parodies of the early Wonder Woman stories by William Moulton Marston which remove any subtext regarding the bondage themes Marston worked with.
- Arch-Enemy: Glory's "Golden Age" foe is Madame Manacle, a bondage obsessed tyrant who runs her own country.
- Four-Girl Ensemble: The Danger Damsels seen in the second issue, comprising of Wanda Beerboy (One of the Guys), Athena Bright (The Smart Guy), Precious Darling (Daddy's Girl), and Lotta Scoops (Big Eater). They're a parody of the Holliday College sorority girls who used to help out Wonder Woman during the Golden Age. Lotta seems to be a direct Alternate Company Equivalent of Etta Candy, albeit a skinny one.
- Reflective Teleportation: Glory has an ability called "The Slip" which allows her to teleport using reflective surfaces, or as the narration of issue #0 puts it "where light casts the deepest shadow".
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Spiritual Successor: It certainly looks like this is where Moore first got the idea and themes for Promethea (blending mythology, adventure, and romance). - Superpowered Alter Ego: Gloria West has no powers, is six inches shorter than Glory, and what little she remembers about being Glory she attributes to her schizophrenia.
- Wonder Woman Wannabe: See Alternate Company Equivalent.
Tropes used in Joe Keatinge's Glory:
- Action Girl: Glory, Gloria West, Riley, Nanaja, Lady Demeter.
- Anyone Can Die: By the end of the series, nearly all the main characters are dead. Including Riley.
- Arc Words: I'm ready for anything.
- Ate His Gun: Emilie, who was afraid of growing old, while Glory stayed young.
- Bad Future: Riley dreams about one five hundred years in the future, caused by something that Glory did.
- Bittersweet Ending: The world is saved when Riley sacrifices herself to bring Glory out of a berserker rage. Glory travels to the afterlife to find her and bring her back, but Riley says that she is okay and happy to be with everyone else who died. Glory returns to the living with her family, however, knowing that she can never return to the afterlife.
- Fantastic Racism: Lord Silverfell would prefer if you didn't call his people "monsters." That's racist. They are properly "Thulians."
- Flashback/Flashforward: The first storyarc, "The Once and Future," is divided up into three issue: "The Way It Was" (showing flashbacks to Glory's childhood and Riley's childhood), "The Way It Is" (the present day), and "The Way It Will Be" (flashforwards five hundred years to show the Bad Future).
- Go-Karting with Bowser: More like eating waffles with Lord Silverfell.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Riley sacrifices herself, letting Glory kill her, knowing that she is preventing a Bad Future.
- The Nothing After Death: According to the Knights of Thule, Glory dooms herself to oblivion by visiting her dead friends in the afterlife. A person can only make the trip once, so after she dies for real Glory will experience only an endless, eternal void.
- Really 700 Years Old: Glory is over five hundred years ago, Lady Demeter and Lord Silverfell even older. Subverted with Nanaja, who is still quite young.
- Retcon: In Liefeld's Glory, Glory's people were literally Amazons and Demons. Here, they are alien races that influenced angels and demons, but specifically come from a world called "Thule." The series also retcons Moore's Glory, by having "Gloria West" be a real person that was briefly taken over by Glory.
- Sequel Hook: The series ends with one for the then-upcoming reimagining of Prophet, which ended up even more well-regarded than this series.
- Shout-Out: At one point, in a flashback Glory is seen being turned into a puppet, much like one of the Flash's classic issues.
- Wonder Woman Wannabe: In flashbacks, Glory appears to be an expy of Wonder Woman, making Emilie an expy of Etta Candy.
