Wonder Woman #20 is written by Tom King and published by DC. Artwork is by Guillem March and letters by Clayton Cowles. Main cover art (left) is by Daniel Sampere and Tomeu Morey.
Wonder Woman #20 is available from today, in print and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your digital copy from Amazon Comixology UK right here.
Synopsis
Dark Knight of the soul! After the harrowing defeat of the Sovereign, Diana turns to Batman for help solving a murder on Mount Olympus. It’s the team-up you’ve been waiting for…the Caped Crusader and the Amazon Princess!
Review
A new chapter begins in the pages of Wonder Woman today. Following the defeat of the Sovereign, Diana has a new mystery to solve and a new artist to help realise it. After leaving us on a devastating glimpse in to the future last month. Tom King’s Amazonian saga is pulling in some Greek Gods and a Dark Knight as it pivots in a bold new direction.
For almost two years King has told a sweeping arc pitting Diana against the Sovereign. It’s been a typically politically charged story which has challenged the core of who Wonder Woman is as a character. King has pushed Diana to breaking point whilst also pulling in a bigger supporting cast than the book has had in recent years. So the change to a more personal, introspective story works incredibly well. Bringing back the nine-panel layout makes this feel more traditionally King and tees up the perfect setup for a detective story.
Wonder Woman has a title has worked very much in isolation for its first arc. Whilst it was forced to tie in to both Knight Terrors and Absolute Power events. Its core story really honed in on Amazonian characters in isolation. So to welcome Batman in to the story as a co-lead is refreshing and exciting. It’s particularly interesting to see him doing his World’s Greatest Detective schtick on Greek Gods rather than the usual lowlife goons of Gotham.
The setup for the murder mystery is nice and simple. Wonder Woman is communicating – through a goat no less – with her mother. It transpires that following a rather raucous bacchanal Hippolyta has woken up with the body of Ares in her bed. A rather familiar looking dagger in his back. Adamant she didn’t commit the crime, Hippolyta calls on Diana to help unravel the mystery and thus our whodunnit begins.
I momentarily thought we may have travelled back in time slightly. The sight of the dagger, an important aspect in last month’s cliffhanger, made me think that King was going to tell us a story about how it came to be. Its place in the story is absolutely not accidental. But for now it’s more incidental then vital to current events.
Aside from the nine-panel layout, March has a lot of work to do given the who’s who of guest stars in this issue. From Zeus to Aphrodite, there are plenty of Greek gods who need to be questioned as Diana and Batman attempt to get to grips with the events leading up to Ares’ murder. Each character brings them with their own slice of Mount Olympus which in itself is ripe for artist interpretation. March also colours this issue which leads to some cool lighting choices throughout. I’m not pitting March against Daniel Sampere, the two have very different styles and both work well in the context of the story they are visualising.
Verdict
Wonder Woman returns strong with the first chapter of a brand new arc. Blending Dark Knight detective story with Greek mythology makes for a tonal shift in King’s story. But it’s a shift which is an electric page turner.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
