Written by: Tom King
Art by: Tony S. Daniel
Colors by: Leonardo Paciarotti
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Daniel Sampere, Tomeu Morey (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: August 21, 2024
Is Wonder Woman #12 Good?
Wonder Woman #12 is a mildly amusing bit of fluff that may put a smile on your face but is nowhere near essential as an Absolute Power tie-in. Whether you are or aren't a fan of the way Tom King portrays Wonder Woman, you get more of the same here, and the humor largely works.
When last we left Diana in a poorly-timed Wonder Woman #11, she and her Justice League Dark (JLD) decided to temporarily find refuge in the Watergate Hotel until they could connect with allies elsewhere. Suddenly, their hideout was attacked by the Wonder Woman-styled Amazo robot, Paradise Lost, who robbed most of the team of their powers. Only Billy Batson and Mary Bromfield escaped.
In Wonder Woman #12, we catch up with Diana and her partner in interrogation, Damian Wayne, as they alternate between coercion tactics in an attempt to get Captain Boomerang to divulge the location of Amanda Waller's secret prison.
At the risk of sounding cavalier, that's it. Tom King subjects readers to a mildly amusing character montage, showcasing Diana's attempts at using love and kindness to convince Boomerang to talk, contrasted with Damian's less-gentle tactics that usually involve dangling Boomerang from a rope.
Back and forth, back and forth. Diana appeals to Boomerang's kindness. Damian dangles Boomerang over sharks. Diana enlists Boomerang's son in the hope that fatherly love will do the trick. Damian dangles Boomerang over crocodiles.
In the end, the greatest power of all isn't' love or fear but the stupidity of an overconfident Flash Rogue.
There isn't much to this review because there isn't much to this issue. Wonder Woman #12 is effectively an issue-long, mildly amusing comic strip or comedy sketch. In terms of contribution to the Absolute Power event, there's nothing here anyone would consider essential, but the unlikely good cop/bad cop pairing of Diana and Damian is admittedly good enough for light amusement.
What's great about Wonder Woman #12? Diana and Damian make a surprisingly good "odd couple" with contrasting approaches to interrogating Captain Boomerang. Most of the jokes land, and the outcome is harmless fun.
What's not great about Wonder Woman #12? There's no setup to show how Wonder Woman, Damian Wayne, and Captain Boomerang got into this situation, which feels like a disjointed lack of cohesion with Absolute Power.
Wonder Woman's dialog uses an uncharacteristic amount of clipped English that verges annoyingly close to Yoda-speak.
Again, the tie-in accomplishes almost nothing of importance to contribute to the Absolute Power event. If you skipped it, you'd miss nothing.
How's the Art? Tony S. Daniel steps in for the main title artist, Daniel Sampere, to deliver a strong set of visuals, good comedic timing to match the script, and a generally pleasant aesthetic. Daniel and Sampere don't have radically different styles, so readers picking up this issue simply because they're following the main run won't be put off by Daniel at all.
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 #12 delivers a tie-in issue that's high on mild humor but short on importance when Diana and Damian Wayne team up to play good cop/bad cop with Captain Boomerang. Tom King's humor mostly lands, and the interactions between Diana and Damian are surprisingly engaging, but King's clipped English dialog for Diana almost reaches Yoda levels of odd, and the contribution of this plot to Absolute Power is practically non-existent.
6.5/10
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A good and fair review, especially the final thoughts bit. Despite not being an important issue, it's the only decent issue of this run and King didn't ruin Damian's character like I had dreaded, he's actually nice unlike his depictions in the back ups so credit where it's due. (It had some clever writing in it even with the jokes plus some surprisingly touching character moments and no annoying narration, weird story beats or badly written repetitive dialogue and ooc moments. The final punchline even made sense! Why wouldn't he write all of his comic issues like this? He clearly can and maybe even write better than this too.) This run has been horrible and Diana has not been improved but this one issue here gave a good dynamic to work with, something that the Amazons side of the DC universe usually lacks. (hopefully the next issue with Damian is like this)
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