Danger looms for Wonder Woman as the enemy grows in power in the latest issue out this week. Wonder Woman #5 continues to show a secret enemy that has manipulated the American government for over a century to grow in power. It also shows Diana’s attempt to protect her “Wonder Girls” in another solid issue from Tom King and Daniel Sampere that integrates captioning and tight plotting well.
Wonder Woman #5 opens with Wonder Woman asking Yara Flor, Cassie, and Donna Troy to agree to a contest. It’s unclear what the contest is for, but each chooses a different thing to compete in. This sets up different activities for Wonder Woman to compete with them in while keeping the prize a secret, at least until the first contest is complete. Yara picks arrows, Cassie picks something a little more physical, and so on and so forth. It’s fun to add anticipation while building towards a final moment that fans will adore.
Meanwhile, we see the villain side amass an army of supervillains. It’s not unlike a heist, intercut with the contests is the reveal of different classic Wonder Woman villains getting asked to join the fight against Wonder Woman. King uses captioning to detail why these villains are picked and why they’re a good fit to fight Wonder Woman. The tone of the captioning works as it conveys the villain’s side as if it’s an official government report. It also helps newer readers catch up on who each villain is with a bit of history or reasoning for them being picked.
Love how we think she’s normal sized until…
Credit: DC Comics
King and Sampere do a good job playing with expectations, dropping in some surprises, and building towards the good vs. evil and the armies that accompany them. It also suits Wonder Woman to not want those she loves to be dragged into battle while confirming how these heroes think of Wonder Woman.
Lighter on action for sure, Sampere continues to show a steady hand with framing and the intensity of a moment. It’s difficult to pull off an arm wrestling contest or even the arrow shooting contest between Yara and Wonder Woman. The layouts are very clean and straightforward, though varied, allowing Sampere to fill each panel with perfect framing.
We also get another backup story written by King with art by Belen Ortega, showing us the adventures of Trinity (Wonder Woman’s daughter), Damian, and Jon Kent. Once again, the youthful spunk of these kids, who are now in their late teens, is a sight to see. It’s interesting to see their outfits since this technically occurs in the future. It’s a lighter story, to be sure, but it helps convey the dynamic of these three characters hammering home. They’re more like siblings than friends. Plus, it has a kangaroo fart joke.
Tension builds in Wonder Woman #5 as a war is coming and armies are forming. Getting to see classic Wonder Woman villains with perfect introductions of each is a nice change of pace while raising the stakes tenfold.
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