I can't wait to see how this all plays outespecially when Diana finally comes face-to-face with the one who ordered the death of the love of her life. Will she show mercy, or will she launch the Sovereign into the depths of space, where no one can hear his screams? Read Full Review

This issue and this arc in particular is perfectly paced, and the final issue has left plenty of room to discover new twists. I have no idea what King's next act is, but it'll have a lot to live up to after this year-plus of stories. Read Full Review

Wonder Woman Issue 18 is a remarkable reward. Its a stunning book both in terms of storytelling and visuals. Read Full Review

Wonder Woman #18 showcases the poise and power of Diana as she marches from the Washington Monument to the White House. Read Full Review

There's no denying how cool Wonder Woman #18 is in all its badassery. If you're here for a deep, game-changing story, this issue might feel like a bit of a detour, but if you love seeing Wonder Woman in full unstoppable force, Wonder Woman #18 delivers in spades. While it doesn't push the plot forward much, it's a visually stunning, adrenaline-fueled march that reaffirms why Diana is one of the greatest warriors in comics. Read Full Review

Wonder Woman #18signals the beginning of the end for the Sovereign. Tom King's arc is thankfully drawing to a close with dreary pacing, ponderous narration, and a gaggle of inciting incidents that go nowhere. If not for Daniel Sampere's glorious art, this series would be D.O.A. Read Full Review

Decompressed: "to convert (something, such as a compressed file or signal) to an expanded or original size."

-Merriam-Webster

I don't even know what to say. Is this a bad issue? That's subject to what you like. Is this taking too long? Absolutely! Can Daniele Sampere & Tomeu Morey make compelling storytelling art together? Subjective. But the consensus agrees that yes, in sure they can do that and do it well. Matter of fact, most readers that are on the fence about Kin's run on Wonder Woman say the moment there's a change in the creative team, they'll drop the series, me included. Can Clayton Cowles add onomatopoeias that will ring loud in your head while reading a panel? Yes, he's one of the best in business. Can Tom King get to the point without dragging us through yet another round of allegories or symbolism in opposition of each other like patriotism vs government? No, I believe he can't!

King has to remind us of the days of yesteryear. When Diana was just another character used in military/US propaganda. Just another lover of the star and stripes. I'm not sure that in the year of our lord 2025, this is what Wonder Woman comics should be about. Or even have her character in a position to represent the good the morals and values of this country. At this point, I'll be okay just to see her in a villain of the month, one-issue story type of deal.

Look, I get what the Sovereign represents, okay? The Rise of oligarchs in the world. The special interest and the powers that be that rule this country and maybe even the world. The Sovereign is the equivalent of the fall of the Fairness Doctrine and the Supreme Court ruling on citizens united vs the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in the real world, right? The power of unchecked misinformation fed to the masses and money being funneled into government for influence in law making. All of this corruption is personified in the character of the Sovereign. That's stated and shown multiple times during this run. I mean issue 18 has the Sovereign hiding in the white house after his home was destroyed. He's sitting in the oval office in the president's chair. King is being very critical of US politics, props for that. Big W for the analogy, we see you, Tom. But this has taken too long in my humble opinion.

People, it has been 18 issues. Can anyone say what Diana has accomplished. Or just tell me what anyone or anything in this run has accomplished? To be fair, we can take out the Space issue with Superman when they went to find a gift for Batman's birthday. Then also take out the issue with Jack, the sick child that Wonder Woman took to Themyscira as a Make-a-Wish episode of sorts. Then also remove the 3 issues that tied to Absolute Power. So were down to 13 issues total of storytelling.

I get that the death of Steve Trevor is a big deal and that event birthed Trinity, from Diana's mourning and grief. Say what you will about Trinity, I'm just saying those are two things that happened in this run. But even then, all of this is being narrated by the Sovereign. The textbook definition of an unreliable narrator, right? Remember this whole story already happened and is being told to Trinity in some dungeon somewhere in Greece (Wonder Woman #800).

The Sovereign lost, he's imprisoned, probably bitter. Why would he tell the truth anyway? His greatest enemy's daughter is in front of him asking questions to him about the Wonder Woman. This Wonder Woman run can be a lie for all we know. King has that safety net as if he can just retcon everything he wrote at the end of his run. Not saying I think that's what's gonna happened I'm just saying it's a plausible outcome.

Let's look beyond the aesthetics and the monumental efforts by Sampere to make interesting and enjoyable. What can you say has been resolved? Conflict wise? Story wise? Action wise? We are still dealing with the Sovereign, 13 issues in.

An old and decrepit man with a lasso than can make people believe lies. Which by the way, we just found out it never worked on Diana. Apparently, her struggles were more of a Diana versus her own thoughts, rather than struggling with the lasso of lies. She let herself get caught so she could rescue Cheetah. Where in the actual f@#$ do you even get that? When was it stated by Wonder Woman, or any of her allies, that she knew Cheetah was being held hostage???? When? I might've missed it entirely, or I don't remember this being a thing at all... I'll come back to this later.

(Edit: @kodycollects took the time to show me the panels where Cheetah revealed it was Diana's plan to get caught, all along. In retrospect it does look like it was planned. Even though there's no discussion about it by anyone.)

If you're a fan of anyone from the extended Wonder Family I feel for you. Especially if you're a fan of Cassie or Yara. Because Tom King continues to struggle to incorporate them consistently, in any point of the story. With the exception of like 3 moments. They're just there. A few times there seemed to be a glimpse of hope. That maybe King is in fact doing something, anything with them. Just for King to sit them on the bench again.

For example, it happened in the fight against the rogues. All 3 ladies fought or rather competed against Diana for the right be in this so-called war. They all lost, but in the end, they decided to still help. Then what happened? Diana went against 5 villains by herself. The girls showed up only to capture Sgt Steel, so they could interrogate him later and eventually let him go. Not keep him detained or anything because he needed to be free by the time Absolute Power came around so he could be alongside Amanda Waller for that story. They didn't bother to help with Giganta or Greil. But I guess now we know it was part of the "plan". Riiiight. Because letting Diana get pummeled by a giant and then a new god, followed by getting captured, tortured, beaten and humiliated, just so Wonder Woman could get dumped in some body of water, to wash up on an island so finally she could be reunited with Cheetah and eventually with some luck, after fighting her lifelong enemy, she could convince her to join the Wonder family. Yeah, that sounds like a plan to me.

Listen, in retrospect, binge reading these issues might give you the illusion that the Wonder Team was coking something. But even then, nothing is clear, nothing is stated. It's just implied by everyone going through the motions. Another example, on issue 17, the girls actually got the jump on the villains with Donna getting my favorite moment from the issue. Again, ONE ISSUE LATER, Diana makes her move to confront The Old man, and spoiler alert! The Wonder Girls weren't there to help Diana. Who was there? Cheetah! Yeah, Cheetah stepped up to fight Grail... I shit you not. But speaking of Cheetah, let's not even mention what her role was in the assault against the Sovereign. Let's do roll call, Cassie attacked a battleship that had The Sovereigns riches inside. Donna fought and killed Solomon Grundy from some jewelry and Yara robbed a bank that held money for the old man. However, Minerva seemingly murdered a man for the cause. I don't think anyone from the Wonder family would be okay with any of this in any other depiction. Robbing and killing.... color me stupid, I'm not the most knowledgeable on theses characters but it just seems weird they would do any of this.

You might say "oh but this is a Wonder Woman comic, you can't expect the Wonder Girls to be the leading characters" well you have a point, but it was Tom King who introduced them in the story, not me. I didn't get on social media and harassed the writer of the run to add characters to his story without a plan for said characters, I didn't do that, did I? No.

You know what's crazy? I just seen Tom King on Comic Pop Returns YouTube channel say that the standard to tell a good story should be 4 issues. Frank Miller made Batman Year One & The Dark Knight Returns in 4 issues. EACH! I'm paraphrasing, but those are his words more or less. He also mentioned that he feels the weight of responsibility to the costumer because comics are $4/5/6 a pop... But here we are, 18 issues in... passed 4×4(=16) the amount it took Miller to do Year One. Yet, nothing to show for, honestly. I'm opened to discuss this further if necessary... like if you think I'm full of shit, or that I'm a rage/click baiter, or that I don't know anything about this run... I promise you I have collected and read all 18 issues. Check my reviews they're here too. I've gone out of my way to praise the highs of this run every single time. But this time I feel different. Things just don't add up.

Let me leave this on a good note. If you're looking to read any current Wonder Woman book, just get into Absolute Wonder Woman. Don't waste your time or money on this run. It's not worth it on single issue. Matter of fact, I'm not sure I even recommend the multiple trade paperbacks. I would just wait for this entire to be done and collected as a whole. Because y guess is that it will be better to binge read the whole thing. I don't have a choice at the moment, I'm 18 issues deep into this. It's too late for me to just drop it at this point. Once the current arc ends, I'll drop it from my subscriptions. If I hear it got better in the new arc, which by the covers it looks like Batman is going to be all over this, I might come back. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

Now I understand how the readers for Zeb Wells's amazing spider-man felt. They tried to push through it and in the end they felt disappointed. I don't know if I would stick around for 50 plus issues, that's real commitment. for now, I'm seeing this through, Tom King and his Sovereign era won't be the end of me as a fan of Wonder Woman comics. more

Daniel Sampere must be developing scoliosis because he is carrying this run hard on his back, even more so than Jorge Jiminez on Zdarsky and Tynion IV runs on Batman. I think the reason why this series hasn't grabbed my attention on the same level as Absolute Wonder Woman is that the way the dialogue is written feels very formal and old-fashioned. The blue thought boxes are clearly someone telling a story to Trinity, but it doesn't feel natural and feels very clunky. This series is also a big decompression. The art saves this series, but as a long time Tom King fan, this feels very padded out. Tom King's interpretation and vision on how Wonder woman should act in a very stoic or stiff is very different from mine, and thats why there is a big disconnect. more

Well, Daniel Sampere continues to deliver great art on Wonder Woman. This issue feels a little stronger than most of this run, Diana feels like she’s featured more than most issues. However, that’s not saying much. It’s a classic case of “too little, too late” to improve the overall assessment of Tom King’s run on the character. Too much of the issue relies on buying into Tom King’s weak approach to the entire story and lackluster use of Diana. He also finds it necessary to throw in a “poop joke.” It almost feels like this would’ve been a good place to start the story so that the blanks could’ve been filled in as things progressed. The script has a “by the numbers” feel to it. Even though King’s tenure on the title is supposed to go beyond issue #19’s finale of the Sovereign storyline, one can always hope it won’t go much further and Wonder Woman fans can put all this behind them and move into a legitimately good era for the Amazing Amazon. more

+ Like • Comments (2)

• Likes (3)

• orbisstelassis
• Smithd33
• Quinn

Quinn - Feb 19, 2025

Good review. And is it just me who thinks basically nothing happens. Diana starts at the gates of the White House and ends with her at the front door. King did the same thing in his Batman run, have Bats at Arkham’s walls ends with him at the door. Or I could be wrong.

mego-joe - Feb 20, 2025

Diana hasn’t done much at all in this whole run. She actually does more in this issue than the entire run. Normally she just waits…. In this issue she actually took the fight to Sovereign. But, she’s done nothing to find Emilie. Was she mind controlled or seeking revenge? King’s totally dropped that story element.

Sign in to comment