Wonder Woman #11 offers a new start as Wonder Woman’s Sovereign storyline comes to a merciful end, at least for now given Tom King’s long-term booking tendencies. Whether the Sovereign story ended because Absolute Power was right around the corner or not is something only King and editorial know. But the fact is that Wonder Woman is moving on to dealing with the events of Absolute Power. As one of the key characters for the latest DC Universe event, Diana Prince’s actions have a lot of weight on how things will go. With that in mind let’s see how the tie-in begins with Wonder Woman #11.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Tony S. Daniel
Colorist: Jay David Ramos
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
WONDER WOMAN #11 SOLICITATION
“JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK DEFENDS EARTH AGAINST TRINITY OF EVIL! WALLER’S WAR! Wonder Woman’s quest for the truth is placed on hold as she comes face-to-face with Amanda Waller’s latest toy, a TASK FORCE VII robot ready to take all her powers for good! Do the Justice League Dark have enough tricks up their sleeves to save our Amazon princess? Find out as this tie-in to “Absolute Power” begins!” – DC Comics
REVIEW
What a massive difference it makes for us to go completely away from the entire Sovereign debacle. Finally, after eleven issues we get to see Tom King write Wonder Woman without being handcuffed to trying and failing, to get over a one-note villain. The results show exactly why King is on this series as he can write a competent title starring Diana Prince. And it only took tying this series into the Absolute Power event for it to happen.
Right away Wonder Woman #11 opens with a creative freedom we didn’t see in the previous ten issues. By simply having Diana interact with the Justice League Dark in a poker night setting we get so many fun interactions. We see how Diana interacts with a cast of characters around her. John Constantine, Detective Chimp, Shazam, Mary Marvel, Jim Corrigan, and Madame Xanadu were a great mix. The variety of personalities with Diana further amplified the current situation of the heroes laying low in the period before Absolute Power.
This opening provides some key insight into where the heroes were when things popped off in Absolute Power #1. Amanda Waller’s plans to destroy every aspect of the superhero community were well underway at the start of the latest DC Universe event. Absolute Power #1 was simply an endpoint to a phase of Waller’s plan that involved seizing full control. The Justice League Dark poker scene spotlights this in a way that gives us each member’s frame of mind going into this event.
It leads into how Wonder Woman #11 turns out to show us the extended battle between the Failsafe Amazon and Justice League Dark we only saw the aftermath in Absolute Power #1. Even with knowing the results of the battle King and Tony Daniel choreographed the fight well to get both sides over. As we saw in the first issue of the event, the heroes will not be going out without a fight. Even if they did get ultimately defeated, with most losing their powers, they won’t stop fighting.
With that in mind, King and Daniel were able to emphasize how overwhelmingly powerful Failsafe’s version of Amazo is. Because it is one thing to copy powers, it is a whole other thing to be able to absorb them almost completely. The Justice League Dark going all out trying to defeat the Failsafe Amazo made the android even more terrifying when you see how everything they tried failed.
Things leading to Wonder Woman, Billy Batson, Mary Bromfield, and Detective Chimp being forced to retreat sets them up for Absolute Power #2 well. However, this will also be the aspect where King, like all others writing Absolute Power tie-ins, needs to be careful with. Making the reader feel forced to read more than the main event mini-series and the comics like Wonder Woman they were already following will be tough. Teasing that the Task Force VII mini-series is required reading does not build a feeling to go out and buy that comic book. Instead, it puts into question to put a pause on following the Wonder Woman series while Absolute Power is going on.
Overall, Wonder Woman #11 certainly played to Tony Daniel’s strength as an artist. The choreography in the Justice League Dark vs Failsafe’s Amazo all flowed together well. The impact of how much power was being used on each side was very much felt. Though admittedly this wasn’t the best-looking Daniel’s art has looked. Compared to his past work this was just solid. Some details were lacking it didn’t feel like this should be considered among his best work. That is more on the expectation levels Daniel has set for the comic books he draws than anything else.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Wonder Woman #11 accomplishes exactly what readers looking to check out tie-ins to big comic book events will want. Tom King expands on what we saw in Absolute Power #1 by giving us what felt like director’s cut content that provided insight into Wonder Woman’s side of the story. In the process, King and Tony Daniel deliver what is easily the most fun issue of this creative run to date.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
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