2006 Relaunch
In conjunction with DC's "One Year Later" crossover storyline, the third Wonder Woman comic series was launched with a new #1 issue (June 2006), written by Allan Heinberg with art by Terry Dodson. Her bustier features a new design, combining the traditional eagle with the 1980s "WW" design, similar to her emblem in the Kingdom Come miniseries.
Donna Troy has taken up the mantle of Wonder Woman; Diana has disappeared to parts unknown, though there are reports that she has been seen in the company of an eastern mystic named I Ching. The World Court drops the charges against Diana for the killing of Maxwell Lord.
When Diana returns she takes on the persona of Diana Prince, now a secret agent and member of the Department of Metahuman Affairs. She is partnered with Nemesis and the two report to Sarge Steel. Her first assignment is to retrieve her sister Donna Troy, who has been kidnapped by several of her most persistent enemies; their powers have been augmented by Circe. After this is accomplished, Diana takes back the title of Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman re-form the Justice League of America and collaborate on the team's roster.
Wonder Woman asks Kate Spencer, whom she knows to be Manhunter, to represent her before a Federal grand jury empaneled to determine if she should be tried for the murder of Maxwell Lord; though the World Court has exonerated her, the US government pursues its own charges. Upon concluding their deliberations, the grand jurors refuse to indict Diana.
During the story-arc written by Jodi Picoult in issues #6–10, and which ties into Amazons Attack, Diana is captured and imprisoned by the Department of Metahuman Affairs, led by an imposter Sarge Steel. She is tortured and interrogated to garner information that will allow the United States government to build a Purple Death Ray previously used during Infinite Crisis.
For reasons of her own, Circe resurrects Diana's mother Hippolyta. When Hippolyta learns that her daughter is being detained by the US government, she goes on the warpath, leading an Amazon assault on Washington, D.C. Freed by Nemesis, Diana tries to reason with her mother to end the war.
In Wonder Woman Annual #1 (2007), Circe gives Diana the "gift" of human transformation. When she becomes Diana Prince she transforms into a non-powered mortal. She is content, knowing that she can become Wonder Woman when she wishes and be a member of the human race as Diana Prince.
The relaunch was beset by scheduling problems as described by Grady Hendrix in his article, "Out for Justice" in The New York Sun. "By 2007 only delivered four issues ... Ms. Picoult's five issues hemorrhaged readers ... and Amazons Attack!, a miniseries commissioned to fill a hole in the book's publishing schedule caused by Mr. Heinberg's delays, was reviled by fans who decried it as an abomination." Picoult's interpretation received acclaim from critics, who would have liked to have seen the novelist given more time to work. Min Jin Lee of The Times stated, "By furnishing a 21st-century emotional characterization for a 20th-century creation, Picoult reveals the novelist's dextrous hand."
Gail Simone took up writing duties on the title beginning with issue #14.
In the Final Crisis storyline, Diana is attacked by Mary Marvel who infects her with the Morticoccus virus. This seriously deformes Diana and brainwashes her into becoming one of Darkseid's Female Furies. She aids him in conquering Earth along with other female superheroes/villains such as Catwoman, Giganta and Batwoman.
During the Blackest Night event, Diana is lured to Arlington National Cemetery by Maxwell Lord, who is reanimated as a Black Lantern. When Wonder Woman arrived, he sprang a trap, using black rings to revive the bodies of fallen soldiers. Wonder Woman uses her Lasso to reduce Lord and the soldiers to dust; as she leaves, the dust begins to regenerate. Later Nekron, lord of the dead, and the one responsible for the creation of the Black Lantern Corps, reveals that he allowed for Diana's earlier resurrection, in order for him to have an "inside agent" among the living. Briefly reanimating Bruce Wayne as a Black Lantern, Nekron creates an emotional tether in Diana, allowing him to place a black power ring on her and transforming her into a Black Lantern. Soon after, a duplicate of Carol Ferris' violet power ring attaches itself to Diana, using her unrequited romantic love for Batman as well as the love she feels for the whole of Earth to destroy the black ring, at the same time turning her into a Star Sapphire. Diana was also given spiritual aid from Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, in accepting the ring. Some time later, Max Lord attacks Wonder Woman in Coast City. Wonder Woman encases Max's body in a violet crystal and then shatters it to pieces. She then encounters Mera who had transformed into a Red Lantern during the fight, their two rings interfaced with each other, Wonder Woman constructed the violet light giving Mera some measure of control over her new-found savagery. Wonder Woman joins the power of white light and loses her Star Sapphire ring in the final battle.
Wonder Woman was also seen in Justice League of America, encouraging Donna Troy to help create a new Justice League.
Read more about this topic: Publication History Of Wonder Woman