Wonder Woman #24 // Review
There’s a little girl who has been away from her mother for quite some time. There’s a hero who is there to help her find her home, but there’s a problem with communication. The little girl speaks the same English as the hero, but the only things she’s saying are “Mouseman knows,” and, “Mice have ears.” That’s all ANYONE says on the island. It’s going to be a difficult task to get the girl back home in Wonder Woman #24. Writer Tom King continues a deeply satisfying run with Diana in another issue brought to page and panel by artist Daniel Sampere and colorist Tomeu Morey.
She’s not helping. Not directly, anyway. It’s a fascist state that Wonder Woman finds herself in. It’s one where most people are only allowed to speak only just the two sentences. Those who are high-ranking might be able to speak more. And they might find themselves in rather a difficult position as it is the case that they’re trying to understand why this powerful woman so freely speaks more than her allotted words. As Wonder Woman arrives, the people on the island have been so insulated that they don’t even seem to know about the outside world...
To complicate matters, Wonder Woman has brought her baby daughter Lizzie to the island. She IS a single mother and she’s going to need to take her daughter to work. The fact that that daughter happens to be a baby makes things narratively interesting for Wonder Woman...but the fact that the grown-up version of the baby daughter has her own title that’s ALSO written by King makes for a very clever, little corner of the DC universe the likes of which Wonder Woman’s never really had a chance to have before. King is making his own, little family pairing of titles that feels quite unlike anything that’s been attempted before. Very cool stuff.
Wonder Woman fights while cradling a tiny baby. Even with one arm gently occupied, she’s making short work of large heavily-armed men wearing hats with mouse ears on them. There’s no logical reason why this should look anything other than ridiculous. And yet...Sampere manages to make it look both beautiful and brutal at the same time. Furthermore...the run-down totalitarian state continues to look impressively immersive thans to some clever decisions made on backgrounds and som brilliantly expressive work on the part of colorist Morey.
King is writing a line between absurdism and brutal action drama. There's also a kind of psychological horror about it all. It's such an interesting mix of different somatic elements that are coming to play in the course of this particular set of issues. It seems strange to follow up a villain as powerful as The Sovereign with someone like Mouseman. It IS an interesting progression, though. This particular Mouseman is a tiny man with an inferiority complex that would rival the one possessed by the current occupant of the White House. What happens when a figure like this is given the smallest possible nation to rule over? It’s fascinating stuff.
