Promethea is a comic book series created by Alan Moore, J. H. Williams III and Mick Gray, published by America's Best Comics/WildStorm.

It tells the story of Sophie Bangs, a college student from an alternate futuristic New York City in 1999, who embodies the powerful entity known as Promethea whose task it is to bring the Apocalypse.

Moore weaves in elements of magic and mysticism along with superhero mythology and action, spirituality and the afterlife (in particular the Tree of Life) and science-fiction.

Sophie Bangs is hoping to interview a woman named Barbara Shelley for a college paper on "Promethea", a character who seems to recur in literature and pop culture through the centuries.

Three years pass and Sophie, having abandoned her duties as Promethea, hides in Millennium City under the alias Joey Estrada with new boyfriend Carl.

However, after being found by the FBI and Tom Strong, Sophie reluctantly becomes Promethea and in turn carries out one final task; bringing about the end of the world.

The controversial storyline[3] involved Promethea assisting various superheroes in fighting a villain called the Queen of Fables.

Artist J. H. Williams III was reported as having no prior knowledge of the introduction of the character into DC Comics' broader continuity, and is quoted as saying: "I can't in good conscience condone this happening in any form at all".

After escaping the mob, alone in the desert she is taken in hand by the god Thoth-Hermes, who tells her that if she goes with him/them into the Immateria, a plane of existence home to the imagination, she will no longer be just a little girl but a story living eternally.

While Sophie journeyed to find Barbara in the afterlife, Stacia/Grace were re-instated to temporarily serve as acting Promethea, leading Stacia and Grace to fall in love.

After Sophie's return, Stacia and Grace refused to relinquish the Promethea title, but were forced to by a court hearing in the Immateria.

An illustrator who created a series of covers for pulp magazine fantasy stories about Promethea, which were written by several writers under the pseudonym "Marto Neptura".

In a text article in Promethea #1, Brannagh's style is compared to that of Weird Tales illustrator Margaret Brundage.

The poet Charlton Sennet, in the 1770s, projected Promethea's likeness onto his housemaid Anna, transforming her into his dream lover.

The writer of a William Randolph Hearst-syndicated comic strip titled Little Margie in Misty Magic Land, Case wrote Promethea into her comic book as a helpful spirit to the titular young adventurer, and ended up personifying Promethea to help soldiers on the battlefield from 1900 to 1920, in a manner similar to the legendary Angels of Mons.

The whole concept is an industry joke about the supposed tendency for comics to get increased sales from a picture of a gorilla, a weeping character, or the color purple on the cover.

Both the Weeping Gorilla and Chucklin' Duck motifs were used in the Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset series by Rick Veitch, and a Weeping Gorilla Comix panel makes a cameo appearance in the story "King Solomon Pines" in Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #5 (scripted by Leah Moore and illustrated by Sergio Aragones).