Wonder Woman: When you wish upon an invisible jet…

Tom King and Daniel Sampere’s newest issue of Wonder Woman drops, and it might be the most pugnacious issue yet. Wonder Woman has a very special day with a very special young boy, while the Sovereign continues his attack on Wonder Woman, the rest of the Amazonians, and essentially women in the DCU in general. All this plus another chapter of the young Trinity, with Jon, Damien, and Lizzie, as they try to free Lizzie from the Black Mercy attached to her by King and Belen Ortega. So let’s get to it…

Tom King’s Wonder Woman run has been quite contentious, and to say Tom King is one of the most divisive writers in the medium over the last fifteen years would be an understatement. He’s often a writer that you either love or you hate, but there seems to be very little room between the two. As someone who truly enjoyed his run on Batman, the Vision, Omega Men, and so on, I can clearly state that I’m on the side of I enjoy his stuff. Not everything, because there are few writers who I don’t have a story or issue that I don’t have an issue with, and this issue is one of those issues that just doesn’t quite hit home. 

The parts of the issue where we see Diana and the young boy who is dying getting his Make-A-Wish dream come true might be one of the most magical moments in Wonder Woman’s history that I can think of. Yes, Diana literally took on the United States’ Army. Yes, she’s killed her adversaries when she had no other choice, but it’s those acts of violence that defines who she is. Many people think it’s truth, which they absolutely are correct. She’s even been the literal goddess of truth, but above all of that is love. Love. 

The absolute greatest thing Wonder Woman stands for is love. It’s the love that she shares with this young child, as he lays dying, thinking that his loving Wonder Woman more than Superman, or Batman, as if a boy loving Wonder Woman means there’s something that’s inherently wrong with him. This is something that I’ve dealt with for several years. The questions, the uncertainty, the feelings of somehow being…weird because somehow loving Diana, or things thought of as being for girls. Unfortunately this wasn’t the entire issue. 

As the Sovereign continues his war on the Amazons, and Wonder Woman in general, his influence is shown to be deeper than we once thought was possible. While it’s an interesting plot point, it’s just too incredulous to be believable at this point. Like the point where the President actually kissed his ring. It’s just rather nonsensical, and something that’s beginning to make my interest in the character to waiver. I mean, being the literal embodiment of aging white men who are comic fans, and how they push back against the presence of women in the medium should be sending me over the moon, but it’s just kinda starting to bore me. It might be the glacial pace that’s starting to dull the sheen, but I hope this is the quiet before the storm.