Written by: Tom King
Art by: Tony S. Daniel
Colors by: Jay David Ramos
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Daniel Sampere, Tomeu Morey
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: July 17, 2024
Wonder Woman #11, by DC Comics on 7/17/24, hunkers down with the JLD as they keep a low profile until they can figure out why and how the world suddenly turned against them.
Is Wonder Woman #11 Good?
Wonder Woman #11 is a mess for a reason that has nothing to do with the comic quality. It's a mess because it contradicts multiple developments in the event it ties into, Absolute Power, and the other titles with connected characters such as Shazam! How can a pretty decent tie-in make an event worse instead of better? Read this issue to find out.
When last we left the Woman of Wonder in Wonder Woman #10, she survived a bizarre battle against Cheetah on a deserted island because the Sovereign couldn't think of anything else to do with her. The enemies slowly turned into frenemies and then something more when they expressed their love for each other. The issue ended with everyone leaving the island after the trio of Wonder Girls clumsily figured out how to fly the invisible jet and arrived for a rescue.
In Wonder Woman #11, we begin Wonder Woman's tie-in to the Absolute Power event. Wonder Woman and the JLD, consisting of Det. Bobo, Madame Xanadu, Spectre, The Captain, Mary Marvel, and John Constantine, take refuge in the Watergate Hotel for a rousing game of "Go, Fish!"
In a scant few pages, inconsistency with the Absolute Power event and other DC titles abound. How did Billy Batson and Mary Bronfield get to Watergate with their powers intact when they're still dealing with Billy's split personality in Shazam!? Why is the JLD in Washington D.C. when Wonder Woman presumably is still Public enemy #1 due to the efforts of the Sovereign? Why is this issue coming out now when Absolute Power #1 and Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1 both take place after this issue, and Absolute Power #1 shows the downfall of this team happening very differently? Oy!
Suddenly, the Amazo robot designed to deal with magic users crashes through the window and systematically begins robbing each character of their magic. Wonder Woman quickly deduces that the magic-stealing comes by way of physical touch. The Amazo robot is also stuttering and sputtering lines from Charles Dickens novels, primarily Great Expectations, indicating some kind of growing neural glitch.
We've seen hints of the glitch in other Absolute Power-related issues. The Amazon robots have a Victorian-era quality to their speech, but it's unclear what that means or how that plays into the eventual conclusion of the event. Otherwise, the action is well-played and exciting.
The issue ends with Billy and Mary getting away after losing most (but not all of their magic) to head into Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1 and the rest of the JLD down for the count.
And... that's it. The team gathers, the robot shows up, they fight, and the Shazam siblings get away. The issue adds nothing to the event other than to explain how an event we already knew happened came to pass. It's not a waste of time, but you could skip it and miss nothing.
What's great about Wonder Woman #11? Tom King and Tony S. Daniel deliver an action-packed, issue-long battle full of energy and excitement. If you're looking for a big brawl starring the Justice League Dark, this is as good as it gets, even if they lose easily.
What's not great about Wonder Woman #11? As I mentioned in the beginning, the big downer of this issue is how poorly it integrates with everything outside of this issue.
There are at least two comics connected to Absolute Power that have already been released and take place after the events of this issue. The continuity between The Captain and Mary Marvel in Shazam! doesn't match their characters here. Further, the context of the battle, where and how Wonder Woman and her magical cohorts are defeated, doesn't match what happened in the first Absolute Power issue. For example...
Mark Waid describes the defeat of characters such as Constantine in Absolute Power #1 by invading their minds to cause them to forget how to cast spells. Here, Constantine is robbed of his magical power as though the magic was imbued in Constantine's body. Well, which is it? Does Constantine have magical power imbued within him that can be stripped away, or does he have knowledge of the Arcane arts like a traditional warlock? Conventional wisdom says it's the latter, so why is Wonder Woman #11 addressing Constantine's character differently than in Absolute Power #1?
How's the Art? Tony S. Daniel does a killer job delivering an issue-long battle with impact, excitement, energy, and engagement. If there was any concern about Tony S. Daniel stepping in for Daniel Sampere, that concern is unwarranted.
Overall, Wonder Woman #11 is a fine issue on its own, but the inconsistencies between the script and how it integrates with Absolute Power are just plain sloppy. Do you need this comic to learn essential information about Absolute Power? No, but it could have been essential if it was released in the right order and Tom King and Mark Waid had bothered to talk to each other.
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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Final Thoughts
Wonder Woman #11 delivers a fast-paced, action-packed issue that pits the Justice League Dark against one of Amanda Waller's Amazo robots. If you want a comic that's nothing but a fight from beginning to end, you'll probably be pleased. That said, this issue contributes nothing new to the Absolute Power event, and the plot is riddled with inconsistencies concerning the characters in this issue and the same characters in other Absolute Power comics, which misses the whole point of a tie-in.
5.5/10
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I just find it very ridiculous that the idea of Amazos talking Victorian manifests in King's run as "this Amazo is just randomly reciting Dickens having nothing to do with the conversation going on particularly and just filling up the page in order to sound profound cause we are reciting a book you know!!" While the same idea has them talking and responding to conversation normaly just in an old fashioned manner in other related issues of other runs ( I would argue it has not been shown well those places either cause they don't sound that victorian but at least that beats hammering it in your face by just randomly reciting Dickens without any reaction to surroundings the whole issue cause you know... Victorian! And it's supposed to be a subtle thing people eventually notice, at this point why wouldn't Failsafe just rework this Amazo that is not capable of communication?? Detective Chimp having a theory that is just concluding this Amazo is talking Victorian when it has been reciting Dickens this whole fight is just hilarious but not probably how it was intended). This has been done in almost all of his runs including Batman several several times be it Alfred's last message, Catwoman talking, Thomas Wayne, all of that mini series Killing Time , the Christmas caroles in Batman/Catwoman (that awful awful series). He keeps utilising this without integrating it in his story properly, I am baffled why he never does and it always feels like it is there only to show it as more than what it is and just gives a headache to reader cause it's just noise without meaning and takes docus from other parts of the story unnecessarily. I have never heard a good interpretation of their meaning in his stories. The backup stories with Trinity have been horrible.
ReplyDeleteI’m surprised you didn’t mention how none of the characters seem to speak in character. Detective Chimp does not speak like a thesaurus, Madame Xanadu is not a ditz, Spectre is way too happy, and these characters chose to trust Constantine over Corrigan, which would never happen. Constantine is disposed by other DC Characters, they just tolerate him for his help.
ReplyDeleteSadly that is a default for most King issues. The characters almost never sound like themselves in his stories. I don't mean this as a personal attack, just a comment on the quality of his writing but he almost always does the same character type voice and feel for all his series. His Damian is so out of character, I have been dreading his take on his team up with Wonder Woman in the following months for some time.
DeleteI think the best way to describe it is: Tom King written characters sound like Tom King. That weird thing he does when he writes. Ex: "He...He lies. He lies because he can lie.( insert reference to characters past from earlier and better written lore) He doesn't alway lie."
DeleteOr: "cat...Bat... we met on the boat....we met on the street....we met on the street" or "I can beat superman...response: have you considered [insert the actual topic of conversation being painfully exposited by a character]... and then the response to three speech bubbles full of text: I can beat Superman". Etc etc. It really makes his characters sound weird and the same and also like they are talking at each other instead of to each other. The worse one for me: " [insert a character explaining a situation or bringing up a good point]...the response: meow. I think sadly some people regard this as profound and genius but it's just the veneer of sophistication and depth without actual character or insight made worse by getting extremelyyyy tiring and repetitive like a nail on chalkboard after 4 or 5 issues of this style of dialogue writing.
DeleteAnother writer who unfortunately suffers from a bad style of dialogue writing that gets repetitive and the same for all characters is Bendis. (I would argue Taylor too, these three are difficult for me to get through their issues for this exact reason in the first place to then start analysing all the problems that usually come with their plots and scripts. Combined it makes it a miserable reading exprience)