Wonder Woman by Tom King vol. 4
The people of Moray Island have had it with superheroes. Everyone there has lost something as a result of their actions and, following a successful petition to the United Nations, they were granted the right to make it a sovereign nation free of those people. This is a problem for Wonder Woman because her friend Etta Candy has tracked the missing Amazon, Emilie, and her daughter there. What’s worse is that one of Diana’s old villains, Mouse Man, came with the original group of refugees and has spent the last few years turning it into his own fascist paradise. The Justice League’s hands may be tied by their respect for the rule of law, and the World of Men just doesn’t seem to care. So it’s a good thing that Wonder Woman, and her baby daughter Trinity, do and are ready to do something about it.
While I’ve not been on board with every superhero comic that writer Tom King has delivered over the years, his work on “Wonder Woman,” with regular artist Daniel Sampere, has been consistently entertaining. That’s because with each volume, including this one, he’s found interesting ways to challenge the title character while not grinding her down or making her come off as ineffective. Putting her up against a revamped Silver Age villain recast as a totalitarian leader who thinks he knows what’s best for everyone, and has been able to put it into practice, may seem like a simple enough task, but it’s done with enough attention to detail to make for an interesting story. It also has Sampere’s bold and detailed artwork to keep you glued to the page.
In other words, vol. 4 doesn’t break the mold, but it still satisfies. My only concerns are with where this series is going from here. As Diana makes her way through Moray Island, we’re shown glimpses of the future as the grown-up daughter of Emilie, now called The Matriarch, has ground the heroes of the DCU under her heel. The Matriarch also recreates a version of the battle that was fought at the end of vol. 1 just to show her adoring public how much better she is than Wonder Woman.
When it comes to building up a future villain, it doesn’t get more obvious or less subtle than this. Which also manages to make the character’s introduction not very interesting. Yeah, it sucks to see what has happened to all those heroes in this dark and gritty version of the future, but it’s just stuff that’s told to us. The Matriarch is succeeding right now because of the dictates of the plot and its writer, and not any particular merits of her own as a character, which stokes my annoyance more than anything else. Sure, Jorge Fornes’ art is well-suited to the task, but it’s doing all the heavy lifting at this point.
My other concern about the future of this series comes from the two-parter that closes out this volume from guest writer Stephanie Williams and artist Jeff Spokes. It takes us back to Paradise Island as its residents have to look after Trinity while Diana is away only for a malevolent presence to turn everyone’s desires against each other. Spokes’ art is smooth, kinetic and stylish – very easy on the eyes in other words. Williams’ script, however, isn’t bad but it doesn’t find an interesting new angle to take with this story. I appreciate that she didn’t go for a simple one where the Amazons overcome adversity, vanquish the villain, and laugh about it when Diana shows back up, but the speechifying about the Power of Sisterhood we get at the end makes me feel that simplicity may have been better here.
According to the solicitations, Williams will be back writing another guest arc in vol. 5. Which means that we’ll hopefully see an upward trend in quality with that story. Vol. 5 also has the subtitle “The Wonder War, Act I” which means that we’ll be seeing more of The Matriarch and whether she’s capable of being interesting when King isn’t solely focused on building her up as a threat. These concerns aside, the bulk of vol. 4 indicates that the ongoing story King and Sampere is telling will continue to be worthwhile, and I’ll be back to see how things go for the first part of what looks to be their biggest storyline yet.