Wonder Woman #2: Past and Present

Last month’s Wonder Woman #1 brought readers into a new era for the character. The debut issue of Tom King and Daniel Sampere’s run established the state of things and the tone of the series which includes some scary parallels to the real world. The pacing worked well and the highlight was easily the climatic fight between A.X.E. soldiers and Wonder Woman. With Wonder Woman #2, readers get an entire issue of awesome action featuring not just one fight, but two. One is set now against the military throwing everything they have at Wonder Woman. There is artillery, tanks, and countless soldiers, and the other fight is a young Wonder Woman facing another Amazonian in an arena. Both fights are exciting and fluid and give an incredible look at why Wonder Woman is such an exciting and iconic character.

The structure of this issue shows both events concurrently. Wonder Woman’s standoff and eventual battle with the U.S. Military is paralleled by the duel between the two Amazons sometime in Wonder Woman’s youth. The dialogue jumps between the two fights and it is particularly impressive because they are similar enough that readers can see the parallel without the assistance from Daniel Sampere’s incredible art, but the pacing works incredibly well. You don’t get whiplash between the two events and neither takes all of the attention. 

Daniel Sampere is a great fit for this book and character. Major changes in creative teams and storylines can be jarring for readers. If anyone wasn’t on board with this new direction after issue #1, this issue might change their mind. Sampere does some incredible work with action and movement. Wonder Woman does some incredibly cool things during her battles, like using a tank like a hammer on another tank. On top of the near flawless action, Sampere’s ability to capture feeling and emotion in Wonder Woman’s face and eyes especially should be noted. Tomeu Morey’s colors are on par with the pencils. The flashback is more tan/stone and sand and despite being a full-on battlefield, the skies are still blue and make Wonder Woman’s iconic suit look incredible. Clayton Cowles’s lettering is especially effective in this issue. Not only are readers seeing two different encounters and conversations but there is also the overarching narration from the Sovereign, the new villain introduced in issue #1. There are a lot of moving pieces dialogue-wise but Cowles’ spacing of speech balloons and narration boxes are expertly placed and arranged.