Wonder Woman #8 is a major chapter in Tom King’s run, at least if the solicitation is to be believed. This issue will finally have Wonder Woman meet the person who has been trying to destroy everything about her and the Amazons: Sovereign. So far Sovereign has been successful in at least turning the US government against Wonder Woman. Though he has failed more than succeeded. That was shown in the last issue as Wonder Woman defeated all of the members of her rogues gallery that Sovereign assembled. How will Sovereign recover from this failure? Let’s find out with Wonder Woman #8.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Tom King
Artists: Daniel Sampere and Belen Ortega
Colorists: Tomeu Morey and Alejandro Sanchez
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
WONDER WOMAN #8 SOLICITATION
“THE AMAZON WARRIOR VS. THE SOVEREIGN! Wonder Woman vs. The Sovereign! After being captured by a team of villains, Diana finds herself at the mercy of the scariest of them all. Unbeknownst to our hero, the Sovereign has been pulling her strings since the very beginning of our tale, and now it’s time for her to see the world his way as she falls under the influence of the Lasso of Lies! Plus, Trinity visits the past and unexpectedly changes the future!” – DC Comics
REVIEW
Wonder Woman #8 is a comic book that suffers because of what came before it. With how much effort Tom King made to drive home Sovereign’s presence as the narrator in every issue it robbed anything that could of made this issue special. There are creative attempts made to how Sovereign tries to break Wonder Woman that are just not effective because of the last six issue so of this particular story.
If taken on its own Wonder Woman #8 certainly has creative aspect with how the attempt to break Wonder Woman is handled. The majority of the credit goes to the continued excellent artwork by Daniel Sampere. He does an amazing job visually showing the pain Wonder Woman is going through with what Sovereign is putting her through. The distinction between the “ideal” 1940s setting with the reality of a bloody Wonder Woman being taunted by Sovereign is great visual storytelling. It does show as commentary attempted with Wonder Woman as a character.
Unfortunately Wonder Woman #8 does not exist in a vacuum on its own. Rather this is the payoff to the first six issues of this series to make Sovereign a big threat. Starting off the second arc by building on the first is reliant on buying into Sovereign as a credible threat to Wonder Woman. Especially after seeing Wonder Woman defeat the majority of her rogues gallery alone there is zero buy in that Sovereign has or will defeat Diana. The lack of credibility is what makes everything Sovereign is doing, no matter how creative the visual storytelling is.
It makes the eventual moment Wonder Woman breaks out of the imaginary world created by the Lasso of Lies did nothing to help Sovereign’s lack of credibility. Not even one issue after capturing Wonder Woman we see his plans fall apart. The old man is all talk at this point.
And how does Sovereign answer Wonder Woman breaking out? By getting a bunch of nameless guards in SWAT gear to try to save him. After Tom King already showed Wonder Woman defeat Sargent Steel’s security, the US army, and most of her rogues gallery, all on her own, Sovereign’s guards looked pathetic. It would’ve been more effective if as soon as she broke out we saw a recovered Grail or Circe put down Wonder Woman. That would at least buy you into this story of Wonder Woman.
It doesn’t help that King also drops the ball with how the Wonder Girls are integrated into the story. After they made their big speech about having Wonder Woman’s back they did not help her out against her rogues gallery. And rather than saving Wonder Woman from being captured they kidnapped Sargent Steel, who was in the area. King has really done no favors to Donna Troy, Cassandra Sandsmark, and Yara Flor in this story. That is once again shown with there scene in Wonder Woman #8.
The ending for the Trinity, Damian Wayne, and Jon Kent back-up continued the fun these stories have been. While this does not sell on Trinity eventually becoming part of the main story, this has been a fun Elseworld-style story. Damian and Jon not realizing that Trinity is changing history was a great comedic bit that Belen Ortega nails. These back-up stories certainly show King is holding himself back by being locked into the Sovereign narrative rather than just telling different, compelling Wonder Woman story.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If Wonder Woman #8 was a standalone issue without any sort of history behind it the creativity would’ve made it a winner. Unfortunately, Tom King has dropped the ball so hard with making Sovereign a credible threat that the story in this issue falls apart almost immediately. The saving grace is the continued excellent artwork by Daniel Sampere that carries the entire story to at least be a visual showcase.
Story Rating: 2 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 5.5 Night Girls out of 10
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