Wonder Woman #27 // Review
Mice have ears. Mouse Man knows. Mouse Man...thinks. He thinks he’s got Diana in a corner. He thinks that he’s in control of the situation. He’s demanding that she submit. He’s demanding that she get on her knees. He’s not going to be happy with her response in Wonder Woman #27. Writer Tom King continues into his third year on the series with another issue drawn to page and panel by Daniel Sampere. Color comes to the page courtesy of Tomeu Morey. It’s a strikingly well-constructed showdown issue that foreshadows some of the darkness resting beyond the resolution.
There’s a mouse girl who has been taken away to an interrogation room. A well-dressed high-ranking officer in Mouse Man’s army is trying to level with her. He’s trying to explain just how powerful and kind and caring and brave Mouse Man is. It seems like a bit of a strange thing to be talking about under the circumstances for the girl, but she might be at least a little happy to be hearing something spoken to her other than the only two approved sentences spoken throughout much of the rest of the island. Still--he IS kind of annoying and so the sounds coming from outside the room are going to be quite welcome.
King has been very patient with the steady pacing of the serial that he's been bringing to the page. It's really refreshing to see scenes play out without feeling rushed. The intense drama of this particular showdown between hero and villain feels like it's been a long time incoming and it feels very satisfying to see it come to a close. The parallel conflict between the girl and the officer is every bit of satisfying. King’s overall pacing in composition of the script feel almost perfect.
Sampere does some great work with balance and symmetry on the page. The layouts of every page feel very much in tune with the momentum of the action. This is a very close conflict between two pairs of characters. There ends up being a lot of really tight close-ups. This would be kind of visually unappealing were it not for the fact that Sampere is doing such a good job of bringing the subtlety of emotion and intention on the faces of the four people in question. It's very sharply dramatic work that renders a great deal of tension. Morey’s colors add to that tension with a great deal of rich visual and emotional detail.
King is working with a long range plan with the series that feels almost brilliant in its composition. He’s finally beginning to reach moments that he probably had conieved of at least a couple of years ago idol proceeds with a steady rhythm of gradually increasing intensity, tension, and complexity. It's impressive to see the larger plot as it begins to reveal it so. The theme that King is covering is quite well-rendered on the page in another satisfying issue.
