Wonder Woman 2026 Annual: Wonder War – The Matriarch Special #1 // Review
The prophecy about the two sisters came down from the fates themselves on a scroll. That’s not like...unduly dramatic or anything is it? Give that prophecy to a couple of girls who literally live on.a mythical island of warrior women and it’s going to be a bit...dramatic. That drama is delivered with deeply provocative, heart-crushing intensity in Wonder Woman 2026 Annual: Wonder War – The Matriarch Special #1. The writing team of Leah Williams and Stephanie Williams puts together a staggeringly poetic and philosophical look at power, destiny and so much else in an issue that is brought to page and panel by the art team of Belén Ortega, Eduardo Pansica and Eber Ferreira. Color comes to the page courtest of Romulo Fajardo and Tríona Farrell.
“One daughter stands alone, a beacon in dark times. While one daughter greets death surrounded,, shrouded in darkness.” Not exactly the best news to get from the Fates on a festive occasion that involves cake. It’s up to Lizzie and Lyssa to decide what it means. They are going to disagree on specifics. There was something Lizzie’s father always use to say: “Freedom over fate.” They’ve both heard those words. They both hear those words differently.
Names of heroism and villainy and power and responsibility, and the fate and chance and circumstance have been circulating around heroic fiction since the dawn of storytelling.With their exploration of The Matriarch, Williams and Williams find a fresh take on it that crystallizes so much of it in such a very clear and a resident way that is hauntingly, poetic, and deeply philosophical on so many levels. About pacing is almost perfect with respect to the way it all comes across in such a concise double sized issue. This is really something that could have been turned into a full mini series. It wouldn't have the same effect, though.
Given how much is being packed into such a small space, it's quite impressive that the script to manage to engage with the art team and that comic book format as cleverly as it does. Iconic moments are brought to the page with striking clarity in a way that is both compelling as simple action adventure, and it is also very strikingly, iconic and the way it horrendous some of the central things that the script is exploring. The Matriarch end up coming across as a heroic villain. An antihero with a great degree of complexity. The emotional weight of this is probably the most impressive thing about the visuals for the issue.
And then on top of it, all there is an exploration into the nature of the Green Lantern rings that manages to explore the artifact on a deeper level than many of the comic books have managed in the past. The fact that Williamson Williams are able to do is just casually out of the corner of our lot, but seems to be covering so much is just another part of a genius that they're working with here.
