They are truly the best eyes.
A large problem I’ve been having with modern superhero comics is the slow decline of long-form storytelling. You get into a new series, it’s unfortunately Green Lantern to Alan Moore’s dismay, and you follow it long-term. The series gets published for a very long time – this is fantastic! However, you go back to that run a few years later with a fresh bit of clarity and realize that everything was somewhat rushed because the creative team was so used to working on comics that get canceled within ten or so issues that success was unusual to them. This is common place now, so many comics try to speed up certain character development that it feels so much more hollow than it could’ve been.
This is the major problem with this month’s installment of Absolute Wonder Woman, the third part of the “Season of the Witch” arc.
Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman have done some great stuff. Sherman has been knocking it out of the park and Thompson, despite hitting a few speed bumps, keeps the car moving steadily. Unfortunately, this issue truly highlights the big fault of this series and why it’s beginning to feel hard to care about the character introductions and their overall discussions. Since this arc started, we’ve been introduced to the Absolute Suicide Squad – Zatanna, Giganta, Doctor Poison, Cheetah, and Ara, who I keep forgetting is on the team. I’m so sorry.
DC
Now, Thompson provides some fun bits with these villains but goes in a direction that feels very sudden for a cast of characters we’ve just met. We learn this issue that Veronica Cale has been emotionally controlling the Suicide Squad and the emotional torment of super-villains is a staple with the Suicide Squad, it was literal plot of John Ostrander’s original run but Ostrander didn’t reveal his cards this early.
I’m in no way expressing that Thompson write on Ostrander’s level but her work suffers from the problem I mentioned earlier of rushing a character development that could’ve felt more meaningful. We went from having a series that opened with the strong proposal of starting fresh with a superhero that hasn’t had the best decade compared to the boys in the Trinity and it’s evolved into a comic where a lot of its fan base will feel like they can’t grow with these characters.
The heart of serialized superheroes wasn’t the action, it was being able to see them go home and try to live a normal life outside of the costume. When I read Absolute Wonder Woman, I want to see Diana, her cast of friends, and even her villains walk out with a chunk of character growth that will fester with every issue. With this book’s current status, all I’m getting is too much dialogue and flashbacks that feel increasingly pointless to the actual plot of the book.
DC
On a much more positive note, Hayden Sherman is fantastic. As I’ve expressed previously with the messier plot structure, Sherman makes for a fantastic job to still keep the comic looking as clean as can be. The action set pieces with Zatanna and Giovanni are wonderful and provide some unique interpretations of how magic functions in this universe. Additionally, Sherman knows how to make an environment look lived in which is starting to become a bit of a lost art in mainstream superheroes due to deadlines or last minute story decisions. Even if a book has its low points, there will always be a diamond in the rough and that continues to be Sherman’s work.
After everything, I do want to clarify that I’m rooting for this series. Wonder Woman is a character that should matter and I feel like this series is the step in the right direction in saving her from the rough few years she’s had in pop culture. Absolute Wonder Woman #18 might be disjointed, but there is still enough there to keep cheering Thompson and Sherman on.
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