Wonder Woman #31 – Tom King, Writer; Daniel Sampere, Artist; Tomeu Morey, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Tom King took a brief break from this series to allow Stephanie Williams to tell a tale of the Amazons, but now he’s back on board for the second big arc of his run – the Wonder War. For the first two years, we saw Diana battle against a pair of incredibly ruthless and cruel villains, the Sovereign and Mouse Man, both of whom seemed designed to challenge her not just physically but target everything she believes in. All this was happening while she was mourning the loss of her first love, dealing with new motherhood, and searching for answers about the lost Amazon whose killing spree kicked off this issue. And that Amazon gave birth to Lyssa, another newborn Amazon – who it seems is destined to become the Matriarch, the deadliest villain of the run. But before that, she was something else – Lizzie’s best friend. And the unraveling of that friendship makes the tragic backstory for the opening act of this war.
The bulk of this issue takes place in the far future, as the Matriarch plans to continue her conquest. The Justice League is dead, and few are willing to stand in her way. Even Lex Luthor is ready to surrender, handing over a powerful artifact to her in a staged ceremony – or so it seems. He’s actually part of a last-ditch effort by the new trinity – Damian, Jon, and Lizzie – to assassinate the Matriarch before the little hope that’s left is lost. This is something none of the three are comfortable with – the older heroes have hesitations about killing, and Lizzie can’t help but remember the confused, angry girl she grew up with on Themyscira for most of her childhood. There are so many layers to this story that the series seems to speed by at time, but King is essentially just immersing us in a horrible new status quo. There’s plenty of time to explore these characters and this world, especially as it seems we’re just getting started.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
