Powerful you are, sea god. But you face now an Amazon! And no Amazon admits defeat until the last breath is crushed from her breast! 
Appearing in "Family History"
Featured Characters:
- Ororo of Themyscira (Main story and flashback)
Supporting Characters:
- Angelica (First appearance)
- Diana (Main story and flashback)
- Hippolyta of Themyscira (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
Other Characters:
- Poseidon (First appearance)
- Zeus (First appearance)
- Hera (First appearance)
- Athena (First appearance)
- Hermes (First appearance)
- Angelica's mother
- Professor Malcolm (Ororo's father)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth-9602
- Themiscyra (First appearance) (First appearance)
- Throne Room of the Sea God
- Louisiana
- Mount Olympus
- Mediterranean Sea
Items:
- Arabian Princess (ship)
Synopsis for "Family History"
Ororo of Themyscira is flying above the ocean. The sky is clear, and the ocean calm and smooth. In a single moment everything changes, as a violent storm erupts. She quickly realizes that this is not a natural phenomenon but an act of a vengeful god. This god is Poseidon. Ororo falls from the sky to the sea and is in danger of drowning.
She has as flashback to her early childhood, when she was aboard a sinking sea. That day she almost drowned, but she was rescued. Back to the present, Ororo finds herself hurled from the waters to a cave. There is breathable air there. She finds treasure and a throne there. She realizes that she is in Poseidon's throne room.
The next scene introduces Angelica, aa friend of Ororo with psychic powers. Her "psychic flashes" are reportedly almost never wrong. This day she senses that Ororo is in some kind of trouble. She does not know where her friend is, but she goes to seek her in an old mansion in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ororo holds an apartment there and Angelica has keys to it. She knocks on the door first. When Ororo fails to answer, Angelica uses the keys to open the door. In Ororo's bedroom, Angelica finds Diana of Themyscira. Diana is bruised and her clothes are torn. The two women do not recognize each other. They have no time for introductions either, since Diana passes out.
Back in the cave, Ororo finds a small statue of a woman. She picks it up and has a memory of seeing something like this before, during her early childhood. Poseidon appears and fires a blast at her. Accusing her of being a thief, a common scavenger like all mortals. She shows no fear, and points that Poseidon himself brought her there. She asks for his reasons for doing so. Poseidon claims it was no accident that she was aboard the ship that he destroyed many years before.
Diana has another flashback to her childhood, twelve years following the sinking of the ship. She had a fight with Diana who claimed that Ororo was not a real Amazon. Their mother Hippolyta of Themyscira and another Amazon broke up the fight. When they learned what caused the fight, Hippolyta explained that Ororo was adopted. It was Hippolyta herself who pulled Ororo from the waters. She narrated the story of the rescue and its aftermath. Ororo was the only survivor of the sinking. Her name was found carved on her wrist bracelet.
Back in the present, Ororo accuses Poseidon of killing her parents and more than a thousand people who were aboard that ship. He admits it and sees no point in explaining himself, for he is a god and his needs are superior to those of mortals. He explains that her father was the real target of his wrath. Twenty-five years before, that man found dived at the Mediterranean Sea and uncovered an ancient statue. In fact it was a pair with the statue that Ororo held. He took it, not caring that it belonged to a god. Poseidon immediately caused a storm, but the thief escaped. He then placed a curse on the man, bad lack would follow him as long as he held the statue. Professor Malcolm, the "thief", experienced bad luck indeed. His wife left him, his father died, and his funding was cut off. He blamed the statue and decided to return it to the sea, booking passage aboard the Arabian Princess, a ship sailing from New York City to Cairo. Unfortunately for him, the sea was Poseidon's domain and the god now had a chance to kill him. He did it by crushing the ship. The extended flashback ends.
Back in the present, Ororo is angry after hearing the story. She calls Poseidon a foolish old god who has forgotten his place in the universe. Poseidon gets angrier. He says that he intended to kill her painlessly, since the Amazons of Themyscira are devoted worshippers of his pantheon. He now intends to prolong her agony before killing her. He restrains her and causes her pain. Still defiant, Ororo calls him a fool. For his race once held the power of life and death over humanity. But in time humans became masters of their world and turned from the old gods. They are now nearly forgotten. Professor Malcolm only intended to inform his fellow humans about their deeds and works. That is why he was after ancient artifacts. But blinded by his pettiness and greed, Poseidon viewed him as a thief and destroyed him.
Her words get to the old god, who now realizes he is in the wrong. He releases Ororo. She is not entirely happy, since Poseidon will offer no true penance and suffer no punishment for the slaughter of over a thousand innocent humans. She suspects that Poseidon's temper will soon cause him to return to his old ways. He admits that it is a possibility. Ororo leaves, hoping that her little victory over a god will put to rest the ghosts of her parents and over a thousand other victims.
Notes
The letter page offers additional history for both Ororo and Diana. According to it:
- Both characters shared the title Tales of the Amazons for 54 years. Placing their debuts c. 1942. This is a reference to the regular Wonder Woman debuting in 1941, and receiving in her first title in 1942. Each character appeared in her own 12-pages story in every issue. The title was cancelled c. 1996, and replaced by Amazon (starring Ororo) and Bullets and Bracelets (starring Diana and the Punisher.
- Ororo had her first solo title in 1975, Giant Size Tales of the Amazons #1. This is a reference to the regular Storm making her debut in 1975, in Giant-Size X-Men #1.
- Ororo and Diana have been at odds for years. They fought each other in the 4-issue mini-series Amazons: The Contest, with the title of Wonder Woman reserved for the winner. The battle was savage and Diana used combat lessons she learned from the Punisher. She still lost.
- Diana was a candidate for the Wonder Woman title years ago, when the Amazons held their original contest which would decide who would be their ambassador to man's world. Diana decided to instead go her own way, without the restrictions placed by Queen Hippolyta's rules. Leaving the job to Ororo. Diana has led a strange and interesting life since that fateful day.
- There was another sublot in the Amazons: The Contest mini-series. Featuring a villainous alliance of Professor Psycho, Panthera, Circe, and Giganta. They worked together against Ororo and Diana. A behind-the-scenes role was played by Bruce Wayne.