Wonder Woman #4 Review

     

     

Written by: Tom King
Art by: Daniel Sampere
Colors by: Tomeu Morey
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Daniel Sampere (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: December 19, 2023

Wonder Woman #4 finds the Sovereign, through the American President, labeling Wonder Woman an enemy of the people. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman spends the day making a dying boy's wish come true.
Is Wonder Woman #4 Good?

Wonder Woman #4 is bizarre. Wait! Let me back up.

Tom King has written the most bizarrely conflicted comic I think I've ever read, and that's saying something. Why? Because You have genuine moments of heart and tenderness happening amid unbelievable (not in a good way) turmoil. Imagine having a lovely tea party outside in the middle of a hurricane that formed without warning, and that gets you close to the idea.

Is that a good thing? No, because the tender moments are emotionally impactful but make no sense in context. Further, the maelstrom surrounding Wonder Woman's lovely day strains credibility. In typical King fashion, the geopolitical events are just plain ugly.

When last we left Wonder Woman, she climbed the steps of Steel's office building, easily knocking out every soldier in her path, to get to Steel and whatever information he had on Emelie. The issue ended with a soft shocker that Emelie was pregnant. Meanwhile, the Sovereign used the Lasso of Lies to convince a soldier, who was at the Montana battle against Wonder Woman, to commit suicide, leaving a suicide note that blamed Wonder Woman for emasculating him.

Now, the Sovereign somehow makes everyone (the press, government officials, and the public) believe that Wonder Woman is to blame for Delgado's death, and he orders the President to give a speech declaring Wonder Woman an enemy of the people. While all this is happening, a suburban couple somehow manages to contact Wonder Woman and get her to come to their house to spend a day with their dying son in a Make-A-Wish scenario.

    

What's great about Wonder Woman #4? There are two highlights of this issue. First, Daniel Sampere's art is phenomenal. I regularly praise Dan Mora's work on World's Finest and Shazam!, but Sampere and Mora are in a dead heat for best of the best artists at DC. As every Wonder Woman comic should be, this one looks gorgeous.

Second, Wonder Woman's day out with the dying boy, Jack, is heartbreakingly sweet. Jack knows he's dying, but he shows courage and joy in all the ways that make you want to hug him and shed a tear. I have to give credit to King for crafting a tender scenario. What's not so good about Wonder Woman #4? Let's start with the least problematic to the most. The narration is overwritten. The crux of the conflict centers on the President's forthcoming speech and everyone who either has a hand in crafting it or the players reacting to an early draft. However, the Sovereign narrates the entire issue, and his manner of speaking is slow, verbose, and plodding. There's a fine line between regal and boring, and this issue crosses that line repeatedly.

Next, how in the world did a suburban couple manage to find Wonder Woman and get her to come to their house to spend an entire day with her son as a dying wish? Wonder Woman is actively being hunted while she is hunting Emelie. Yes, sure, the whole point of the "Day with Diana" is to introduce the idea of becoming a mother, but you have to make it fit the plot. As sweet as it is, Jack's day doesn't belong where King placed it.

     

Third, this is the third issue in a row where nobody, including Wonder Woman, shows any interest or puts effort into finding Emelie, the Amazon who started this whole mess. When Steel revealed Emelie was pregnant, that should have triggered a cascade of questions, urgency, or at least some reaction, but you get nothing. It's as if that big (not really) shocker didn't happen, and Wonder Woman doesn't seem concerned the United States is on the brink of war with the Amazons.

Next, I was put off by the last issue due to the lack of sensitivity and care shown by using the very real problem of PTSD and veteran suicide to create a shock for its own sake. I'll take that assessment back slightly because King does use Delgado's suicide in this issue, but he uses it as an impossible-to-believe plot device where the entire country blames Wonder Woman for Delgado's suicide, labeling her a murderer and setting up a declaration of war against the Amazons. The problem here is a repeat of the problem in the first issue where King expects readers to believe that everyone would simply turn against Wonder Woman for an event that is clearly not her fault. The American public would never unilaterally agree on anything, so to get readers to believe America would almost wholly turn against Wonder Woman is too much to swallow. This point, more than any other, feels like King thinks the readers are stupid.

In all, King is combining good scenes in a rushed plot for a comic that's fighting against itself and going nowhere fast. Here, we have another example of DC editors not doing their job to reign King in.


About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces:

Wonder Woman #4 is a bizarrely conflicted comic that has scenes of genuine emotion combined with rushed, impossible-to-believe scenes in a plot going nowhere. Sampere's art is fantastic, and the sweet moments between Wonder Woman and a dying boy are excellent, but everything surrounding Wonder Woman's day out is either rushed or poorly developed.

5.5/10