Review: Wonder Woman #19 (Legacy #819)
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Tom King
Art: Daniel Sampere
Colors: Tomeu Morey
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
Diana finally comes face to face with The Sovereign and we discover the fate of Emilie’s baby. Yeah, it’s over…uh, it’s not… .
Positives
Daniel Sampere and Tomeu Morey always turn in good work and Wonder Woman #19 is no different. Their art is the one thing about this run that can ALWAYS be lauded. It’s just a shame the book is unreadable and all that’s worth doing is looking at the pictures.
We finally find out something about Emilie (though it’s not enough to have been the catalyst for this storyline) and we get a suggestion of why Trinity is such an unlikable snot. Knowing what I know now, I’ll give her a break. I won’t buy a comic with her, but I’ll give her a break. Damian and Jon are going to have a difficult time dealing with her crap, but it’s not her fault.
Tom King’s script does have some tension and a bit of excitement to it this time out, but it’s probably due to the fact that we are supposed to FINALLY be done with this ridiculous storyline. Even if he’s still on the title (Why, DC?) at least we can move on to something else. Any chance for change from this story and narrative style is a positive, right?
And, yet…
Negatives
The same issues that have existed with this series continue to exist…overwritten, lack of agency for Wonder Woman, focus on the Sovereign not Diana, everything feels very boring, there’s no real excitement, Trinity is a terrible character. None of that has changed with Wonder Woman #19.
And, just like the whole contrivance of expelling the Amazons in issue #1, this issue relies on a similar thing. Because, despite what you may have read, this story is not over. It’s just the end of the first part (God, please take me now!). The sequel King teases in the first few pages once again demonstrates that King is only interested in DESTROYING. He doesn’t seem capable of building and growing. Spoiler- Emilie’s baby kills all the Amazons except for Trinity. Diana, Donna, Cassie, Yara, etc are all dead. That’s how King views the Wonder Woman mythos- only HIS creation is capable of succeeding (we assume) that’s the story that’s yet to come. But, that continuation is in 18 or 20 years in story. Could this be the subject of the previously announced Trinity book?
So, once again, Diana does something really weird…she makes the Sovereign carve “liar” into his chest with a special dagger. It’s utterly stupid and serves zero purpose…except to set up Diana’s death with this same dagger at the hands of Emilie’s daughter. She conjures this dagger out of thin air (? she doesn’t have this power ?), and forces the Sovereign to use it. It’s also way over the top for Diana. If she’s not going to give him a tap on the noggin to drop this old man, as he surrenders (overly dramatically) all she has to do is tie him up and take him for imprisonment on Themiscyra. The dagger and carving make utterly no sense, it’s like a villain telling the hero his whole plan so the hero has time to figure out how to stop it and stop it. Apparently, King sees Diana as a lame, conceited, self important villain. I mean there’s no other explanation for her doing this. Just take his ass to Themiscyra and be done with it.
Furthermore, this act by Diana, it’s extremely humiliating which goes directly against the “choose love” that she claims to be engaging in when she doesn’t resort to violence against the Sovereign. Love is clearly not at play here, but rather humiliation. It’s a type of psychological violence. It once again shows how little King understands the substance of Wonder Woman and how he can barely get past the superficial elements before things unravel wildly.
Negatives Cont’d
But, the message is far more important for King than writing a good Wonder Woman comic. We get the message…it’s blatant. It’s not wrong, it’s just executed very poorly done, like something you’d expect from an immature, angry teenager. And, of course the other message that King hammers home is that there are no heroes. Heroes are always broken in some fashion. Diana’s move with the dagger that will eventually be the weapon used to kill her is a clear play on hubris. King is trying to make Diana’s story into a classical Greek tragedy with a hero who falls because of hubris. That’s right, that’s what everyone wants to see, Wonder Woman as the prideful hero who falls and takes all of her people down with her. Read the room- fans LIKE Wonder Woman…. King doesn’t. And, he certainly doesn’t understand her.
But, that’s what works for King. For Tom King, there can’t be heroes who inspire, only people that are false heroes because deep down they are really corrupt and/ or broken. This of course makes King himself feel better and doesn’t provide any aspirational example for people to be inspired by. Instead, King just tries to drag everyone into his own emotional/ psychological issues. Sorry, Tom, not everyone is broken and not all of us give into it. King has given up and he’s trying to convince himself that the way over it is to just dig in deeper, to give up, to not try. Some of us believe in goodness and self sacrifice. Some of us believe in heroes and that there is hope for mankind. Some of us believe in trying to be better people and not give into it or wallow in self pity. King needs to seek genuine professional help, seriously.
Verdict
Geez, Wonder Woman #19 is amateurish in it’s heavy handedness and juvenile in its contrivance. If one needed a better reason to get Tom King off of Wonder Woman it’s this comic. There’s no reason to continue reading this comic. If this is how DC is going to treat Wonder Woman, then they should just give it to some writers who know what they are doing and let them do it independently. Nothing makes you feel more depressed or hopeless than reading a Tom King comic.
