Absolute Wonder Woman Reveals Secrets of Diana’s Red Lasso

Absolute Wonder Woman #6 is another slam dunk from a book that has redefined Wonder Woman excellence. Absolute Wonder Woman keeps throwing new things at readers, from the identity of her mother — now Circe — and the place where she was raised. Even her mission has changed, but one thing hasn’t changed — Wonder Woman’s willingness to protect humanity. Many of the changes to the character have been cosmetic, including Absolute Wonder Woman’s new, massive sword, and readers have noticed that she is carrying a lot of new weapons. This includes one of the Wonder Woman’s most iconic weapons — her lasso. Absolute Wonder Woman now has three lassos, each one different from the others. There’s the familiar golden Lasso of Truth, a new blue lasso, and a red one, called the Nemesis Lasso.

Readers have seen this lasso used in the book’s second issue, and it seems to hurt people based on their sins. This is a very different from other lassos readers have seen, and it’s also different from the last red lasso seen in Wonder Woman comics. The first red lasso we saw was Cassie Sandsmark’s lasso, and its powers were lightning based, because Cassie’s father was Zeus. This red lasso is different. Absolute Wonder Woman #6 gives the origin of this new weapon, and it’s one that uses the stories of Greek mythology in an awesome way.

The Titan and the Serpent

Absolute Wonder Woman #6 sees Wonder Woman enter the Underworld for an audience with Hades. The God of the Underworld forces her to disarm, and when she’s done, he asks what the Nemesis Lasso is made from. Wonder Woman relates the story of her going to Mount Prometheus to meet the Titan of the same name. The legend of Prometheus is one of the coolest stories in Greek myth. Prometheus felt bad for humanity, living in a world that spent half of every day in cold darkness and stole fire from the gods to give to humanity. The gods weren’t exactly happy about this, and Prometheus was imprisoned on top of a mountain, where a bird would come and eat his liver every day, with it growing back during the night. Prometheus loves humanity, which is why he’s perfectly happy to help Wonder Woman.

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Diana asks for some of his blood to make a weapon to protect humanity, and Prometheus agrees, upping the ante by telling her she can take some of his flesh as well. Wonder Woman uses her ax to cut off the tip of his finger, bottling the blood and taking the skin. He also gives her another gift, resurrecting Pegasus to help her in her coming missions. In the present, Hades asks her if that was all the lasso was made of, but Diana isn’t done. She tells him that it also has basilisk venom in it, and Hades asks her if she killed the last basilisk. She says yes and relates the story, how she blinded herself to fight it, and her victory. Wonder Woman and Circe then retrieved the carcass, and used every part, some of it going into the Nemesis Lasso.

The Nemesis Lasso Is a Weapon Made to Destroy Gods

Recent years have seen Wonder Woman use many different weapons, especially swords, but her most well-known weapon is the Lasso of Truth. Readers have seen several different types of lassos over the eight decades of Wonder Woman’s existence — the Tom King/Daniel Sampere Wonder Woman run gave readers the black Lasso of Lies and then there’s the aforementioned red lasso of Cassie Sandsmark — so Absolute Wonder Woman getting new lassos makes complete sense. This is a very different Wonder Woman and her weapons would be different as well. The Nemesis Lasso is a great twist on the formula of Wonder Woman’s lassos, not just because of what it was made from, but how it was made.

Absolute Wonder Woman was raised by Circe, a character known throughout mythology for her witchcraft. Circe taught Wonder Woman witchcraft, as well, and the two of them worked together to make Wonder Woman’s weapons. One of the things about well-written witchcraft is that witches use all of the parts of creatures they sacrifice, which plays into the Nemesis Lasso’s creation. The two of them used the flesh and blood of a Titan and the venom of the last basilisk, and possibly more, to create a weapon made to kill gods. Absolute Wonder Woman has earned a lot of praise for just how smartly its created, and this is yet another example of that.

Absolute Wonder Woman #6 is on sale wherever comics are sold.