“…Wonder Woman?”
“The Amazons… It’s what they would call their champion… the absolute best of them…”
Heroism is a concept that is complicated in modern superhero media, as its focus is centered on both the political ideology of a character and their modern mythological narrative. Every new rendition of a character has to take steps to build off of and/or evolve from the norm the original has designed. Thankfully, Absolute Wonder Woman continues to do just that in the most creative ways possible.
Coming hot off the previous issue, the threat of the Tetracide grows deadlier as readers get to see the darkness and bravery that Diana equips herself with issue to issue. The strongest benefit of Kelly Thompson’s storytelling is that she is letting the ongoing battle between the military, Diana, and the Tetracide do the bulk of the work as it allows her to continuously sprinkle in flashes of Diana’s childhood and upbringing.
With this, Thompson is able to introduce concepts and characters whether new or grounded in classic Wonder Woman history or Greek mythology itself. Following this is more understanding into Diana’s cultural struggles with finding her heritage as she takes part in a Greek ritual, one that involves her dominant arm as sacrifice.
The ritual itself is a play on the many sacrificial rituals scattered across Greek myth. However, what makes this unique to Absolute Wonder Woman is how it frames Diana’s coming of age where she does everything to help others in the way she believed the Amazonians would have.
DC
On its own, it’s a striking judgment of her character and shows that she is willing to sacrifice limbs or even her own life to save innocents. However, as a grander analysis, it is proof that Diana strengthens herself on the historical aspect of her heritage, not wanting to let down her ancestors and be as brave and loving as they once were. This, compared with the societal designs of Superman or Batman, tells a broader picture of what Wonder Woman actually is to readers.
Simply put, Superman exists as the people’s hero who stops landlords, corrupted CEOs, and protects the abused, Batman exists to crumble criminal underworlds and protect the youth so they could grow into happier lives at the sacrifice of his own happiness, and Wonder Woman is the tireless warrior who stops at nothing to honor the fallen and protect those who cannot defend themselves whether with love or violence.
Thompson’s writing on this issue is continuously beautiful as it succeeds to not only revamp the idea of Wonder Woman but does so in a way that is respectful to the audience and to many of the Wonder Woman stories before it. What helps the writing to its fullest is the art from the wonderful (ha) Hayden Sherman.
Sherman’s art gets stronger and stronger with each installment. Their style has been shown to be adaptable since their first comic series, Wasted Space, as Sherman often switches from a more messier to detailed style with each title they’re attached to. Absolute Wonder Woman is a new advancement of their art style as they take subtle inspiration from cartoonists such as Trung Le Nguyen who focus on finer lines and more intricate character design.
DC
Additionally, Sherman’s design work continues to stun with the introduction of the Absolute Universe’s take on Barbara Minerva, the Cheetah. While appearing as a fresh face to the title, Sherman uses this as a way to tease her complicated nature with Diana with a beautiful expression of body language throughout the issue as Diana is drawn to be physically close to major story characters such as Barbara and Steve. Sherman uses body language quite heavily throughout these last few issues, not only as a way to express how kind Diana is, but to show how fierce and tender she can be towards the characters she interacts with. It is a striking character portrayal and helps show rather than tell the audience how Diana is towards others.
Absolute Wonder Woman #3 is a perfect issue. It introduces new faces and tells the tales of the titular hero all while allowing the audience to peer deeper and deeper into Wonder Woman’s mind. Thus far, this stands to be the strongest Absolute title out of the Trinity titles, and I can’t wait for more.
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