Wonder Woman #16 – Tom King, Writer; Bruno Redondo/Caio Filipe, Khary Randolph, Artists; Adriano Lucas, Alex Guimaraes, Colorists
Ray – 10/10
Ray: Tom King has gotten a reputation for being the go-to guy for deep emotional trauma in our superhero stories, and he’s certainly delivered on that front – but I don’t think he gets enough attention for just how funny his books are. When he delivers, they’re some of the best out there, and this issue is a perfect example. Last issue, we saw new mother Diana deputize her Wonder Girls (and Cheetah) to dismantle the Sovereign’s empire piece by piece, targeting his financial holdings. Now she’s ready to expose him, but she’s not ready to take the field just yet. Instead, she deputizes the best detective in the DCU – Detective Chimp, who manages to unravel the Sovereign’s composure like no one we’ve seen so far.
The thing about Detective Chimp is that he absolutely does have a chimp’s brain in some ways – he always carries a banana with him! – but he also has a mind that would make Sherlock Holmes think twice about challenging him. We see that unfold over the issue, as Sovereign goes from annoyed to worried as Bobo gets closer by the day. In the end, he manages to unravel something that goes far beyond just the murder that was committed. And while this is going on, there’s a brilliant segment as Diana heads to Olympus to mee with her mother and introduce her to her grandchild. This book is tapping into something really unique about the nature of life and death, and it might just go down as King’s crowning achievement.
And speaking of funny – the backup is equally brilliant. It falls to Jimmy Olsen to reveal the Sovereign’s secret history in a hilarious podcast segment with guest appearances from Clark Kent and Steve Lombard. This is a great way to take a lot of the wind out of the sails of the villain, making him look like a ridiculous fraud rather than an all-powerful king. This creative team has built up Wonder Woman’s world to include the whole DCU by now, and King has put any doubts about his in-continuity work to rest in a big way.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
