Wonder Woman #14 // Review
It begins with a death and ends with a birth. Events tumble through the pages without a strong connection to the linear flow of time. There’s a somber moment before the next big rush of action as writer Tom King ushers Diana off into the next major adventure in Wonder Woman #14. Once again the action is brought to page and panel by artist Daniel Sampere. The color of Tomeu Morey add depth and weight to a remarkably strong dramatic issue. The fourteenth issue in the series marks a major turning point for King’s run with the series that could prove to be deeply satisfying.
Steve Trevor was called-in to meet with a rather important man that he’d been warned about. A typical supervillain might capture him and threaten the superhero with the death of someone close to her. The Sovereign isn’t going to work that way. He’s angry. He’s frustrated. He pulls the trigger. Some time later, Trevor’s body is found floating in the tidal basin of the Potomac River. The Sovereign expects Diana to come for retribution. She does not. What could be keeping her away? It’s something more than grief...and it will find her searching for something beyond death.
Steve Trevor was introduced to the comics page only a little less than a year after a certain Steve Rogers was introduced to the comics page over at Timely Comics. The Steve Trevor/Captain America parallel feels particularly strong as Tom King focuses an issue on him and the effects of his loss on Diana. Trevor mentions knocking out Charon on the ride to the afterlife in order to have just a few more minutes with Diana. That’s what a badass US serviceman would do if it meant an opportunity to steal a few more moments with a woman bearing the beauty of Aphrodite. There’s a lot to admire in King’s script for issue #14, but its greatest strength might just lie in a sharply dramatic characterization of Steve Trevor.
There are some very tender moments between Diana and Steve that are captured for the page in a way that feel more or less perfect. He brings the modest swagger of Steve to the page in a clever expression of his personality. He also does a good job with the cold emotionlessness of villains. His characterization of a couple of Diana’s friends on a park bench is absolutely brilliant, though. She’s on a park bench. She hasn’t heard from Steve in a while. A couple of friends are there to comfort her. To her left there’s this journalist she knows from Metropolis--a guy named Clark who grew-up poor in a small town in the midwest. Clark’s posture is open and concerned with a soulful presence on the page. To her left sits her billionaire friend from Gotham City--a guy named Bruce wears a crisp black suit and sits on the park bench with perfectly formal posture...looking just exactly like a guy who went to private school. A guy who was raised with poise by a butler. It's a remarkably clever rendering of a couple of the most legendary characters in all of comics. Sampere brings them to the page in a way that feels intimately connected to their backstories. Clever, clever stuff.
This isn’t the first time Steve Trevor has died. It might be the single best-framed death of Steve Trevor since the character first appeared back in 1942. All too often the death of Diana’s love has come across as being tragically peripheral to the center of her life. King’s treatment of the event hits the page with great force. And naming Diana’s daughter after Sarah Elizabeth Marston is a nice touch. King manages a few clever turns throughout the issue, but the overall plot structure from death to birth is deeply satisfying on a few different levels.
