Wonder Woman 2:

Creators: Tom King, Daniel Sampere, Tomeu Morey, Clayton Cowles

Last week when I picked up my copy of Wonder Woman 2, I noticed that it had a backup story. I’m not a huge fan of back up stories because it typically means more expense for a story I didn’t ask for. Over time there have been good stories for sure, but more often than not, the stories lack punch. I would imagine that writing an 8 page story takes a skill that many have not developed. For this issue, the back up story was a lead in to the mini series, Amazons Attack which is springing out of Wonder Woman. Are these issues good? Yes and mostly.

Wonder Woman 2 is flat out excellent. Tom King is on form here delivering a very personal story on a large scale. In issue 1, we have an anonymous Amazon kill a bunch of men at a bar. In a very all too familiar fashion, society overreacts and turns on the Amazons, expelling them from the United States. King gives us a new baddie: The Sovereign who holds the Lasso of Lies. He sits on his throne as king of America.

What makes this issue so good is the layout/format. King gives us two parallel stories that exist together on the page. In the current story, Diana must face down the US military. Sgt. Steel has brought the big guns to take out Wonder Woman and break the Amazons. In the other story, it’s Diana in a showdown against another Amazon warrior for the right to enter the world of man. The art is wonderful and stories parallel each other showing Diana’s resolve and excellence in battle. While the issue is action heavy, it still feels personal. In both stories, she is challenged personally- both the US military and the Amazonian believe that she will see the futility in fighting against a seemingly insurmountable foe. False. She dismantles the military and is willing to take a sword to the stomach to obtain a two swords to one advantage over her adversary. The issue ends here with Diana victorious.

The backup story serves to remind us what happened previously in Wonder Woman. From there we have a woman gassing up her car who is cast under a spell. She then proceeds to blow up the gas station. We then jump to Akahim and Yara Flor. The Oracle in her village has a vision that someone is using the pool hall incident to eradicate the Amazons. Her vision: “All the Amazons will die!” As the Oracle collapses, she repeats a few prophecies. The story ends and leads to Amazons Attack #1.

Amazons Attack #1

Creators: Josie Campbell, Vasco Georgiev, Alex Guimaraes, Becca Carey

The best thing about Amazons Attack #1 is that it removes the insanity, and over abundance of characters, of most events from Wonder Woman’s book to this side story. We get more talking heads discussing the situation on mock news channels. This technique can be effective, but it’s overdone. I realize it’s an information dump to catch the reader up, but it was already done in Wonder Woman 1. If someone is reading this issue, it’s likely they have read Wonder Woman and thus would not need the dump. The rest of the issue revolves around Queen Nubia going to have a meeting with the president of the United States, or so she assumes.

The Amazons are blamed for the pool hall event and someone is making sure that they look guilty at every turn. The meeting with the president will prove to cast them in a negative light. Against Nubia’s will, Faruka and Yara show up bringing the three Amazon tribes together. The three are forced to fight for their lives against agents who are under the spell of our mysterious villain. Mary Marvel, with her Amazonian powers, (see Lazarus Planet) shows up to save them. The video screens on the street cast them as villains, and they will now be hunted.

Overall these two issues work pretty well together. I’m genuinely interested in this story. The set up is very plausible in how it represents our news cycle and society. King’s idea here shows how an isolated event can lead the masses to completely turn on a group of people. It doesn’t take much to turn hero to villain. It’s poignant and a nice backdrop for a story.

But what I’m really interested in is this new villain, The Sovereign. Tom King seems interested in dealing with the concept of lassos. Of course Diana has the Lasso of Truth and the Sovereign has the Lasso of Lies, and we will get a third lasso with the new character Trinity. I’m curious to see this lore and how King uses it. I’m in for the rest of this event.

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