Absolute Power has bee the breath of fresh air Tom King’s Wonder Woman needed. Whether forced or because he wanted to, King has shown Wonder Woman being the superhero we know her to be. All it took was taking the boring and poorly developed Sovereign character out of the picture. Now with Wonder Woman #13 we will continue to see how Diana leads the heroes remaining to breakout their allies from Amanda Waller’s prison. Will her team be successful? Let’s find out with Wonder Woman #13.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Tony S. Daniel and Khary Randolph
Colorist: Leonardo Paciarotti and Alex Guimaraes
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
WONDER WOMAN #13 SOLICITATION
“Gamorra found! Wonder Woman and Robin have finally located Amanda Waller’s super jail holding the powerless heroes they once fought alongside. Can the new dynamic duo break them out before they become trapped themselves? An undercover ally may hold the key to everything!” – DC Comics
REVIEW
If the goal of Wonder Woman #13 was to relate to Damian Wayne’s Robin than Tom King and Tony Daniel absolutely succeeded. During the moments that Damian is eye rolling in this issue you as the reader are as well. Maybe that is what King and Daniel intended but it certainly did not make the most of what this Absolute Power tie-in could’ve been.
Wonder Woman #13 tapping into the potential simply comes down to King more concerned about putting over Diana Prince and Steve Trevor’s relationship. In a way this comic book is very reminiscent of Wonder Woman 1984 with how Diana’s relationship with Steve is put over everything else in terms of importance. It certainly not surprising since we saw a similar commitment to getting this relationship over above all else in Wonder Woman #9.
King even shows self-awareness of how all in he is with Diana and Steve’s relationship by Damian’s commentary. Whenever they get into their make-out sessions while breaking their friends and allies out of prison Damian is there to call them out. Though even with this self-awareness it does not make up for how this made it so there was zero character development for Diana or Steve.
Which is made even more disappointing given that this could’ve been an opportunity to have some cool team-up moments. That includes having Diana interact with Cassandra Sandsmark, one of the heroes Diana, Steve, and Damian break out of Amanda Waller’s supermax prison. King once again drops the ball in the opportunity to show the importance Cassie has as Diana’s former protégé and sister. It’s made even more frustrating with the only interaction between the two was a wink Cassie gives to Diana in one panel.
All of this highlights how King doesn’t tap into how cool this prison breakout story could’ve been. We get hints of that when the focus is on Wonder Woman and Robin battling their way through to breakout their allies. If the entire issue was completely dedicated to this it would’ve highlighted how great of a warrior Diana is and that she does not need her powers to be a badass. The only badass moment we do get is Diana blocking some bullets, which Daniel’s does a good job at showing.
The back-up Trinity story may be the weakest of all these Trinity stories that King has done. Reading this back-up it felt as though King has run out of steam when it comes to these Trinity stories. That is not a good thing when we are supposed to get a new series focusing on her coming up. While Khary Randolph artwork was fine he has done so much better in other comic books.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Tom King drops the ball on tapping into the potential Absolute Power provided him to tell a cool prison break story in Wonder Woman #13. The choice of focus on Wonder Woman’s relationship with Steve Trevor ended up superseding all the potential of this type of story. Add in how King has seemed to lost steam on narratives around the Trinity back-ups and this is comic book best forgotten.
Story Rating: 2 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
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