Absolute Wonder Woman #22 // Review
Ares is talking to his father. His father is about to tell him to do something that he doesn’t want to do. He’s going to ask him to attack Diana of the Wild Isle. Ares knows this. He also knows that he’s going to refuse him. Ares knows that Diana s poised to bring about the greatest wat the world will ever know. Far be it from Ares to bring a halt to war. Diana is quite unaware of this in Absolute Wonder Woman #22. Writer Kelly Thompson continues the single best series in the Absolute Universe with artist Hayden Sherman and colorist Jordie Bellaire.
Diana is about to leave the Wild Isle. She’s trying to find Barbara Minerva. Her last known location was Area 41.X. That’s where Diana goes to look for her. She’s not there. Not in her cell. There’s blood in her cell, but Diana knows that it isn’t Barbara Minerva’s. And so she’s going to have to go and have a few words with the one person who might know something about Minerva’s whereabouts. And since the person in question is one of the most powerful people in the world, she can’t afford to be subtle.
Thompson amps-up the rage and frustration of Diana as she launches into her search for Barbara Minerva. Thus far she’s been very understanding of a great many things that would likely make the normal person very, very angry. Part of Thompson’s genius lies in allowing that calmness to seem heroically active. Now that Diana is given the opportunity to be truly enraged, there’s a deep elegance to the brutality that results from the situation. There’s a kind of a poetry that plays-out as Diana faces Director Cale. After 22 issues, it’s quite an experience to see Diana truly enraged.
Sherman’s conception of the father of Ares is quite impressive. It's exceedingly rare that a artist is allowed to truly conceive of God's as being forces of nature. Also, too often they're given to looking sort of human with weird costumes in the comic books. The connotation between Ares and...presumably Zeus... is quite a visual to begin the issue on. Aside from that, Sherman has a wide range of different visual techniques to get across the drama and the power of what's going on. From stylish silhouettes to tense close-ups, Sherman's storytelling is very dynamic. Bellaire’s colors lend a magical radiance to everything that also provides brilliantly atmospheric shadow.
There's a fairly overwhelming, dramatic intensity about everything that's going on as a whole new story begins. Thompson and Company have been really patient in letting the story gradually develop. It's also nice to be able to see aspects of the story play out in the background as wel with just a few minor flourishes, Thompson is able to reveal that Wonder Woman is some kind of major hero in the Absolute Universe...recognized as such in the general public as a newscast reveals that she has suddenly reappeared fro the first time in months. Very cool.
