Tetratron's Thoughts

Art by Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha, and Nicola Scott. Story by Kelly Sue DeConnick

I talked about this guy already in my review of the first arc of Tom King's run but since I plan on going into depth on other WW villains, I figured I get him out of the way first since he's the new hotness at the minute.

Wonder Woman's rogues gallery is often regarded as one of the weaker, or worst, ones by a lot folks. I disagree obviously, but I can see why would one get that idea. They typically aren't represented well outside of WW's book and pretty much every new author when they come on to WW bring in their own new villain to hype up only to be quickly forgotten once they leave.

This brings us to the Sovereign, the latest in this long line of hyped up new villains but he's had a bit more attention as he's the creation of Tom King. The best kinds of villains for superheroes reflect some aspect about the hero or stand-in for a certain problem unique to the hero they face. This goes true for Wonder Woman villains, so what does Sovereign stand in for?

There's a lot one could say just going off the image provided and his whole status as the latest in a long line of "secret Kings of America". To me however, I find the more interesting interpretation of the Sovereign as a stand-in for well...certain types of superhero fans.

If you're a WW fan you're probably familiar with the type. The fan who doesn't actually read WW and yet has very strong opinions on her and her place in the DC universe. The type of fan to say Wonder Woman has no good stories and then admit in the same breath they've read maybe less than 5 issues of WW's adventures in their life. The fan who likes her being on the Justice League but doesn't want her to do anything that could outshine her male counterparts. Can't be strong as Superman, can't be too fast because that would impede the Flash, can't be smart because that's Batman territory. She can fight well they'll say but then they'll bring up every rando in the DC Universe they claim is a better fighter if Diana didn't have powers, so even that has an asterisks. The type of fan who cheers when Superman lifts planets with his pinkie or when Batman defeats capital-G God "with prep time" but if Wonder Woman lifts so much as a heavy rock than she's a Character I Don't Like. And definitely don't want Diana espousing any feminist talking points that might make them uncomfortable.

That's the Sovereign.

There's been criticism so far that lot of Sovereign's plots in each issue can be summed up as "Sovereign thinks this will be what breaks Diana but she triumphs in the end". And that's fair honestly but looking at it through this interpretation of Sovereign than of course that's what he'd do. Of course Sovereign would think sending in the U.S. Army would be enough to defeat her; she's not Superman, she's not Batman, she's not the Flash, she's just Wonder Woman. Of course he'd lose his temper when Wonder Woman not only triumphs but exceeds his expectations. Sovereign, like these fans, doesn't truly appreciate Diana as her own person/character outside of the role they've arbitrarily assigned her. Wonder Woman fans know this stuff isn't a threat to her, but Sovereign doesn't and he fails as a result.

It's only when Sovereign begins recruiting Wonder Woman villains from her long derided rogues gallery is when he starts seeing some results. 20,000 U.S. soldiers couldn't do it but a witch, a psycho, a giantess, a swan, a thief, and a goddess dominatrix could.

And it's also when he goes recruiting her villains it shows what he thinks of Wonder Woman. Unlike the others where he sends his lackey, Sargent Steel, to do the recruiting. He goes to meet Grail in person. Why? Well he says it's because as a goddess she's afforded certain respect but it's interesting he doesn't seem to consider that towards Wonder Woman, who for all intents and purposes is a goddess as well. What makes Grail different?

Grail's an empowered women but doesn't seem interested in going about changing the world to make a better place like Diana (at least not anymore). Notice how his dialogue notes he only respects her because of her Darkseid lineage, a patriarchal figure whereas Diana draws strength traditionally from the female Olympian goddesses, her mother, and her Amazon sisters' training. He shows reverence to Grail because of her father and ultimately, she doesn't fundamentally threaten the status quo like Diana's very existence does. In essense, she's the "acceptable" version of Wonder Woman to the Sovereign and what he represents. A strong sexy woman but one who isn't here to upstage any of their favorites or challenge any of their beliefs.

And as see from the dialogue throughout King's issues, it was all for naught as Sovereign finds himself imprisoned on a small island ultimately defeated regaling his tale to Lizzie Prince. If only he hadn't underestimated Wonder Woman...

I've been reading this monthly but wanted to wait until the first few issues were collected as a trade to review it since King's work I'm told his work reads better collected than standalone. King and Sampere were probably the biggest high profile team to be put on the Wonder Woman book since Rucka back in Rebirth in 2016 (eight years ago, damn).

I have real prior attachment to King's work since I've read his Batman run sparingly and almost none of his various miniseries. Interviews he gave went back and forth on making me excited. On one hand, he brought the old tired line of "WW has no good stories" that he usually backtracked on when pushed but on the other hand his story about being inspired by George Perez to write the book despite his initial disinterest was nice to hear.

King came in swinging in certain respects with stuff like the general plotline of the U.S. vs. Amazons and introducing the idea of Diana having a daughter (to be talked about a later time). But if there's one main thing I think I could talk about when it comes this run so far is that I think I figured out what King is going for so far. That being to give WW her equivalent of a Batman: Hush story.

Hush, for the few who don't know, being the famous Jeff Loeb/Jim Lee Batman story from the 2000s most notable for the introduction of the titular Hush character and it's art (if you've seen any Batman poster or image from the past two decades, chances are you've seen a page from Hush). Part of what makes the story so famous being that while it's story pretty bare bones/thin, it serves as a very popular tour of both Batman himself and his larger world without having to retread his origin. His rogues gallery, his relationship with Catwoman, the Bat family, Superman, you name it Hush probably has it. So with that in mind, I thought I'd tackle this first volume through the lenses.

New Villains, Same Problems

Like with Hush, we're introduced to a hyped a new villain (not uncommon in WW history sadly) who was supposedly always in the background before finally "revealed" in this storyline. In this case, The Sovereign, a "King of America" who speaks in plural and the latest descendent of a long line of rulers who has been secretly ruling America since the first colonists arrived.

We get quite a lot of him in this opening arc, mainly through his narration as it's presented in past tense of Sovereign telling Diana's future daughter, Trinity, of his failed war against her mother. This has been a point of contention for some as instead of getting Diana's own insights of what's going on around her, we instead this guy's P.O.V. just telling us how he continually underestimated Wonder Woman only for her to continually triumph over him despite what he through at her.

One of the things King said in interviews was to make "Wonder Woman cool" and this has been reasonable criticism that most of the plots have been "Sovereign underestimates Diana and is surprised when Diana overcomes him". With this in mind, my interpretation of Sovereign has come to be he's less about what he says about America (though there certainly is stuff there to look at) and more specifically how he's a "stand-in" on certain types of comic book fans.

The type of comic fan who knows Wonder Woman but doesn't read her solo adventures, at most reads her when she pops up in other people's books. The type of fan who thinks WW's traditional weapons of the bracelets and lasso are lame in comparison to the sword and shield. The type of fan thinks Wonder Woman's only "role" in the DC Universe is to be a second-rate female Superman and token girl on the Justice League. A Wonder Woman who knows her place and doesn't upset any feelings by bringing up any of that annoying feminism. Like Sovereign, these fans are surprised (and in the case of "power scalers") and quick to anger when Diana far out exceeds their expectations and challenges their previous view of her.

Sovereign getting defeated so easily is a surprise to him but not to us. And so far he hasn't been defeated by the popular image of Diana as a sword swinging barbarian looking for blood. But by a Diana who forgoes her sword, and relies on her own natural abilities and her true iconography of the lasso, bracelets, and even the Invisible Jet. A Wonder Woman who can take time out of her life to visit a sick boy and take him to Themyscira. A Wonder Woman who relies on her relationship with Steve Trevor for help, not the traditional "alpha males", Superman and Batman.

We, as Wonder Woman fans, already know Wonder Woman is cool but Sovereign (like these fans) doesn't.

Now with that in mind, it's not like there hasn't been problems with King's approach. His dialogue has never been his strongest aspect and even with my own interpretation in mind, it does get flat out repetitive after a while. Solicitations (as of this writing) seem to suggest issue #14 will the start of the end of the Sovereign storyline and in that case, I am interested with how King will proceed from there once he can't fall back on Sovereign's narration.

A Grand Tour

King has said in interviews he's using a mentality of "give the fans what they want/makes them happy". This primarily meaning, despite new creations like Sovereign or unrelated characters like Sarge Steel, much of his run has been a grand tour of most of the major aspects of Wonder Woman world.

Lasso and bracelets as her main tools? Check

Invisible jet? Check

Showcase her villains? Check

Reference the clay origin as much you can? Check

And continuing beyond just these six issues with spotlights on Steve Trevor and Cheetah.

Probably the biggest example of this being he originally made it a rule that he wanted to keep the focus on Diana and that meant "no Wonder Girls". But fans asking him repeatedly made him change his mind and thus, amusingly enough, King has probably done more to write a cohesive "Wonder Family" in a similar fashion to the Bat-Family than people like Gail Simone, George Perez, or Greg Rucka.

It's a nice move from King though ironically, while I thought he's written them well, I'm actually not the biggest fan of the Wonder Girls if I'm honest. So I'll just ask King nicely if he ever sees this that I'd happily take an Artemis team up!

Villains We Love To Hate

It's been a contentious issue for many WW fans that her rogues gallery is so often poorly thought of and treated. Tying back into my earlier point about Sovereign being a stand-in for the people who underestimate Wonder Woman's value in real-life, I'd say that also goes for the villains.

Here, it's not the U.S. Army, or any other traditional obstacle Sovereign throws at Wonder Woman that defeats her. Instead the only thing that comes closest enough are her rogues working together.

King didn't go to much into depth on them, I hope to see what he does in future issues, but a detail I liked is the gravitas he and Sampere all gave them. Sarge Steel, Sovereign's lacky and man on the ground, gets made a fool of by almost all of them and even Sovereign himself shows up to Grail in person as a sign of respect. It's a rare showing of WW's villains being treated as people you don't want to mess with.

Issue #6 is probably my favorite purely from a showcase spectacle of seeing Diana run a gauntlet of her most famous rogues and still taking the time to showcase both her sheer power and also endless compassion.

The Princess Herself

This brings us to King's writing of the main woman herself. He hasn't made a secret he finds her difficult and was hesitant to take her on. Something a lot of Wonder Woman fans are used to hearing from most writers.

King certainly leans more towards the royal and slightly stiff way of making her speak. This was similar to how he wrote her the few times she showed up in his work before and I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of it. Diana's been written as formal before with writers such as Perez and Jimenez but here it just kind of bugs me. Mainly the lack of any contractions. I realize King is trying to emulate Diana having an accent but on the page it makes her come as almost aloof to the people around her.

As for her characterization? I'd say he's been mostly on the ball there's stuff that's doesn't sit quite right with me like threatening to disembowel people in the middle of combat but stuff trying to check up on Silver Swan to help her while in the middle of fighting Giganta is a pretty dead-on Wonder Woman moment.

I feel King's hesitance in writing becomes apparent with how much he relies on the Sovereign's narration. I feel, more hope honestly, that this is him finding a way to ease into writing Diana more normally rather than relying on people around her.

The Art

Anyone familiar with this run so far is probably aware the most praised talking point is Daniel Sampere's art. And it's entirely justified, Sampere leans more towards the portraying characters as these living icons, similar to Alex Ross, and his work on Wonder Woman might the best showcase of the ability.

It's known King is a light-scripter, so it's obvious it leaves much what will probably be the most well-remembered moments of this run up to Sampere's imagination.

All told, I'd say Sampere is probably my favorite "modern Wonder Woman artist", at least the best since Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp.

Final Thoughts and the Future

There's still a bit more I want to talk about but I'm only reviewing the first trade here so that leaves out me wanting to get to review his issues following #6 but overall I would say these were so far some of the strongest run of issues for Wonder Woman since Greg Rucka. The art is doing a lot of heavy lifting but if King's philosophy is to "make the fans happy" than I'd say in this fan's case, I'm pleased so far with these first six ones.

I do have more substantial critiques for the later issues but I feel I'll leave it here for now. It's also apparent I didn't talk about Trinity but I feel she's best given her own review/post for herself since I didn't want to muddy the water of this (probably too long) review.

We'll check back in with issues #7 - 10 when the next trade release.

P.S.

Gail Simone on the pitfalls some writers (men and women) fall into when writing Wonder Woman

Darwyn Cooke on battles with DC over Wonder Woman's look in New Frontier

Phil Jimenez on the "contradiction" of Wonder Woman's character

By Tom King (writer) and Daniel Sampere (artist)

I'm calling this a partial review as I'm only reviewing the Tom King segment at the very end.

As a prologue to a larger run there's obviously only so much that can be talked about but I thought I'd just post some thoughts given my post from a week or so back talking about what hopes/thoughts were for King's upcoming run.

Overall, I would say I liked what we saw of Trinity a.k.a. "Lizzie"/Elizabeth Martson Prince. King certainly did what I was hoping for that she'd be characterized differently from her mother and that's certainly what I got.

Yeah, this is about as far removed from just about most characterizations of Diana as you can get. Some of have certainly been more outgoing or boisterous like in the Golden Age but this is a level of open egoism usually reserved to characters like Artemis. I'm not complaining, I do like what I've read so far but I can see why this would turn some people off and she could very easily go into straight unlikable territory if one's writing isn't careful.

From what little we've learned of her so far we do see Lizzie's ego comes from her admiration of her mother as the world's most famous heroine and feels it's her duty to try and live up to that. I find to this to be actually be an interesting take for a child of Diana, actually. It is rather Damien Wayne-ish but given how presumably differently characterized Diana will be under King I think this will lead to more interesting dynamic between mother and daughter than one usually gets from Bruce and son.

Speaking of one half of the Super-Sons, I can't say I'm a fan of them being here. King's already talked about them showing up in future issues (presumably their younger counterparts in present issues) and that really only fills me with dread. Both of them have books to themselves, there's multiple other Superman and Batman books they could appear in, I really don't get why Wonder Woman's one book needs to devote some of it's limited page count to these two. They were written fine in the story itself but what it just reminds me of how DC so often reduces Diana's relationships to just Superman and Batman at the expense of everything else unique about her world.