The first year of John Byrne’s three-year run on Wonder Woman was, as I’ve said, better than I expected. The second year is also better than I remembered but I don’t think it’s good — way more bland than Byrne’s reboot of Superman and way, way below his X-Men work with Claremont (much as they got on each other’s nerves, they really brought out the best in each other’s talents).
His first story arc is a four-issue reworking of an old Hawkman story, “The Men Who Moved the World.” The story involves an ancient civilization buried under the Antarctic ice as conditions on Earth have changed; they want to change it back so their city can live again. Hawkman resolved that in one issue. Wonder Woman takes four. While I like the ending resolution relying on common sense and negotiation rather than fisticuffs, it’s not a threat that needed to take that long.
It’s significant because the civilization gives Wonder Woman a shapeshifting, transparent device that can shape itself in response to her mental commands. For example, becoming an invisible jet, just like the pre-Crisis WW had. This seems like a pointless retcon but I think it’s a sign of what Byrne had planned for his third year.
Second, we meet the Champion, AKA Harold Campion, a Gateway City millionaire who gets involved in the fight and proclaims his intent to make Wonder Woman his. She finds herself falling under his spell, an aspect that gets dropped without explanation. It turns out he’s Hercules, taking mortal form to get revenge on the Amazons for his centuries of imprisonment under Paradise Island (something we learned about during George Perez’s War of the Gods arc). However he realizes he was being a dick and apologizes for his intent to seduce and humiliate Hippolyta’s daughter.
Then comes a pointless two-parter bringing back the Cheetah and — typical for Byrne’s passion for retcons — pushing her back towards villainy after William Messner-Loebs made the effort to reform her. However this begins a new plotline which involves Wonder Woman turning back to clay. Trying to figure it out she talks through her life to this point, leading to an uninspired 10th anniversary issue (cover above) which rehashes the post-Crisis stories.
It soon becomes clear that with the Olympians departing from the mortal world, all the Amazons are turning into clay. 
Investigating eventually leads Donna and the resurrected Artemis into hell for a battle with the demon prince Neron. This gives Byrne another chance at a retcon: Artemis didn’t just win the Wonder Woman title because Hippolyta rigged the contest but because Hippolyta also transferred some of Diana’s power to Artemis. Apparently having Artemis even close to being a match for Diana was too much for Byrne to take.
Unfortunately the power-stealing is still in operation so things don’t go well in Hell, culminating with Wonder Woman getting a lethal blast of eldritch energy. Despite the best efforts of the Justice League and demonologist Jason Blood, it appears the second year will end with the Amazing Amazon dead. Say it ain’t so, Joe — er, John!
I’ll be back hopefully next week with the resolution.
#SFWApro. Covers by Joe Kubert, George Perez and Jose L. Garcia-Lopez, all rights remain with current holders
Pingback: Rebooting everything that isn’t nailed down: John Byrne’s Wonder Woman, Year Three | Fraser Sherman's Blog