The Name She Lost- Inanna #1 (Free Comic Book Day 2026)

 By Mark Rodriguez

One of the books for this year's Free Comic Book Day that got us curious was The Name She Lost- Inanna. She's a new character from Vault Comics but at a quick glance you'd think it's a new Amazon from Themyscira. The cover grabbed our attention so we picked it up, as Wendy grabbed it before I had the chance to do so. Let's check it out.

 

The story opens 5000 years ago, in the city of Uruk, the first city of Sumer. Soldiers line up at the castle overview to defend the city as a huge army looms over the horizon. One of the soldiers is pretty young and is shaking in his armor. The approaching army say they come in the name of the city-states of Eridu, Sippar and Larak. They call for the death of Uruk. As the army marches towards them, the scared soldier prays to his goddess, the Mistress of Heaven, known for her love of blood, to save them. Suddenly Inanna appears in front of the army, saying she hears the great sound of the young man's fear, which is prayer.

 

Inanna's appearance motivates the men to charge towards the army. They chant her name as they fight the invading army as Inanna declares they will spill rivers of blood for her. As the war rages on, Inanna says she will have the powers of the Earth, both the heavens and the world below. She states that no goddess like Ereshigal, hero like Gilgmaesh or beast like the Bull of Heaven will have more legends or tales like Inanna.

We cut to modern day, San Francisco as Mayor Teller is giving a speech about how he plans to bring the city together to solve the issues. A woman in the crowd, filming with her phone, asks how he responds to criticisms that he has given control of public land to companies like Gateseven. The Mayor says some problems can be solved with a strong back and smile, but for others, you need to think outside the box. The city has a housing issue and business issues, so he decided to let the smartest guys in the room take a stab at it. 

Just then a big earthquake happens, strong enough to knock people in the crowd off their feet. The Mayor tells everyone to stay calm and they don't need someone getting hurt trying to be a hero. The woman fell over and dropped her phone. As she tries to grab it, she turns to see a tree about to fall onto her. She braces herself for her fate. The Mayor run in and grabs her, running out of the area to avoid having the tree fall on them both. He asks if she's OK and she says she is.

Mayor Teller says it's OK if he plays hero and decides to answer her question. He says another problem the city has is all these earthquakes. He tells her they can come together with the tech industries and solve these issues together. One of the reporters ask Teller if he's thought about running for president in a few years. He says it will be one step at a time and he'll get around to that eventually.

Later that night, three guys walk along the beach talking about how the Mayor looked swooping in to rescue that girl. Just then they notice a naked woman washing ashore. They run in to pull her out of the water as one of them films this to show the Mayor that they can be heroes too. The woman is pretty heavy and one of them says she might be some sort of bodybuilder. The woman suddenly snaps awake, grabs one of the men by the arm and throws him several feet away.

The woman sets her foot on the guy and asks why he was touching her. Another guy tells her to get off him since he was trying to help. He says they'll just leave her in the bay and runs at her with a bottle. She grabs him by the wrist. The man is surprised by her strength and asks her who she is. The woman has a moment where she tries to remember... and then says she's Inanna. She shoves the bottle back so it bops the guy on the head. The guy falls over and his friend checks on him. 

The guy asks Inanna what she has to say for herself as he was just trying to be nice (while running at her with a bottle..?). Inanna grabs one of their shirts and asks if they know her. The man is filming her live and says a lot of people are about to. Inanna looks at her arm, which glows with some sort of ancient writing. She puts on the shirt and walks off, saying she hopes that's good. 

 

Inanna walks through the city, taking in her surroundings as she walks past meth clinics, gay bars and homeless people behind dumpsters. She walks some tents and one of them has a woman designing a new jacket for a man to give to her daughter. Inanna walks past and the woman asks if she's OK.

The woman asks if someone tried to hurt her, and she says she hurt them instead. The woman asks if she wants to come with her. Inanna grabs her and asks to be left alone. The woman asks if she's on drugs and it's alright if she wants help and doesn't have to be alone. Inanna says she remembers so little but she was alone. She in complete darkness but then she heard a sound. She says the sound was quiet at first but it got louder. She suddenly collapses.

The woman asks if Inanna is alright, as she is shaking so bad her jewelry is rattling. Inanna says the sound has come from others, but never from her. She says it's the sound of fear.

 

My Thoughts- 

Interesting start to the story as a literal goddess from ancient times somehow washed up on shore in modern day. Of course as a Free Comic Book Day issue, this is only half the story, but it does promise that Inanna will be facing both modern day threats but also people from her era coming after her. Part of the mystery, of course, will be in how she got here to begin with.

There isn't too much to say since there are so few pages, but the comic doesn't pull punches when it comes to the 'real world' with real issues like homeless people and people being addicted to meth and so forth.

As for the guys that pulled her out of the bay, it's a mixed bag on whether they were actual jerks  or not. They did pull her out of the bay after all. While she did attack one of them that was just trying to help her out, one of the guys came at her with a bottle. Then the other guy was like 'he was just being nice'. Dude, your friend came at her with a bottle! If Inanna was a normal woman she would have gotten seriously hurt getting bashed over the head with a liquor bottle.

The Story is interesting so far. The art is nice and colorful. I wasn't expecting to see Inanna show up wearing only her necklace... but the comic did go the 'tasteful nudity' route where things just so happen to be 'in the way' of her ladyparts. 

The story was written by a woman named Inanna Sarkis, who grew up with people making fun of her name. Her parents would teach her about her culture and Mesopotamia. It later gave her the idea regarding what if she was Inanna, reborn in modern day. This led to this comic and a way to bring Inanna's myth to modern readers through a personal lens. 

It looks like the book is actually a trade paperback which is already available on the Simon & Schuster website, so this isn't the typical monthly comic you'll find at the comic shop. This is 'Book One' so hopefully we can get an entire saga out of this one. It has a good start so far.