Wonder Woman #18: You Can’t Stop Me

Wonder Woman #18 is the penultimate issue of the story arc that started in Tom King and Daniel Sampere’s first issue of the series. The road to this issue has been long and tumultuous for Wonder Woman, whose cavalier and defiant approach to the Sovereign’s villainous escapade proved how powerful she is when compared to the other greats of DC’s pantheon. Most notably, Wonder Woman’s ability to fight for a singular focus and maintain her composure even when placed under the most dire of circumstances has truly defined this character under King and Sampere’s vision, leading to Wonder Woman #18 where she finally takes matters directly to her enemy while storming the White House.

To summarize the issue simply, Wonder Woman #18 starts with Diana eating an apple while seated up against the Washington Monument and then follows her as she calmly walks all the way up to the White House doors, easily defeating or overcoming any obstacle in her path. In many ways, this issue feels like Diana is given the “Batman” approach of having a backup plan for every scenario. But digging a little deeper, Wonder Woman #18 is indicative of the kind of characterization that King and Sampere have set forth for Diana, showcasing how her deeply strategic mind leads her to approaching every conflict with some sort of plan rather than jumping head first into an unknown situation. More than anything else, this showcases a hero who is able to utilize her strong emotional connection to the conflict as a fuel for her mission without it being a deterrent.

By denoting this issue as the semifinale to the introductory long form arc to this series, King and Sampere utilize a lot of the page real estate to bank on concepts that were set up several issues ago. For example, the second volume of this series showcased Diana go through torturous events under The Sovereign in order to free The Cheetah from his clutches. That idea finally pays off here from a strategic perspective that keeps the long form storytelling strong and provides payoff to those who keep constantly caught up.