Boundless Creative Energy — Reviewing ‘Absolute Wonder Woman’ #10

A compassionate peaceful warrior not afraid to bring a giant sword or axe to fight for those who cannot fight. This about sums up Wonder Woman as a character, which Absolute Wonder Woman has been presenting truly perfectly.

With the tenth issue, Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Jordie Bellaire, and Becca Carey showcase this wonderous character to her fullest once more.

Calling this one of the best books that DC Comics publishes month-after-month feels redundant in some respects. Yet, it’s a point that is worth highlighting time and again because it most certainly fits that bill.

Everything about the series feels pitch-perfect and demands to be read repeatedly, just for the sheer joy of it all. Sherman’s artwork continues to excel and knows no boundaries at all. Creating a gorgeous tableau of imagery beyond anything you might expect to see — rich emotive character work through faces and bodies married to a dense deep tangible backdrop of scenery.

Characters don’t just move through the pages. They power through them; owning their space as the paneling changes highlight their figures, forms, and energy. It all captures the best possible angle or direction for each scene, allowing the audience every opportunity to absorb every crumb of deliciousness.

Just devour the sequences in this issue where Diana becomes drugged by her new foes. The trippiness speaks to the absolute impossible realms that comic books can achieve when given the free reign to do so. Standing tall above the confines that can often ensnare many of it’s fellow books.

Flashy coloring makes those scenes just as much as the overall imagery. Bellaire is one of the best colorists around and it shows in everything she touches. Pairing this duo has been a masterclass situation. Watching as those colors bleed through all the panels and scenes with such accuracy, embracing the dark and rough alongside the bold and bright.

The colors also dabble in a more controlled, natural set of tones in most sequences, boosted by many shadowy and darker elements for this particular story’s setting. It grounds the character and the story in this world that has been besieged and formed by the darkest of universal beings. It allows the brighter tones to slip through and highlight the light this character brings with her, no matter the situation or space.

Matching all that visual energy beat-for-beat is the lettering from Carey, crafting genuine dense voices on the page, as the various bubbles and captions flow with ease. It frames the overall action and helps keep the eye on track through the pages, shifting bubbles and fonts as necessary to give the audience’s mind direction in hearing and crafting these character’s unheard voices.

If it hadn’t already happened in the past, Thompson would surely be added to my list of favorite writers with this series. Jumping on board was easy because I already love what she does as a writer, which was why it was so easy to grab this title for review.

Character depth is a simple tool that Thompson wields with ease and power, making sure that the reader truly understands who these people are, why they do things, and everything in-between. From the first page of the first issue, this series has flawlessly captured the heart that defines Wonder Woman. Shifting her origins and connections does nothing to wipe away the pure soul of a character that we love to see on the page.

This issue specifically calls that out in the flashback sequences: a young woman born to be turned into a specific weapon of good who happened to be even more true than those behind her ascent could’ve ever imagined. She sacrifices her own well-being to save those who cannot save themselves; cherishing every type of life and willing to give second chances where necessary, but never foolish or naïve enough to believe that some things must be dealt with through force.

The heights that this series continues to achieve and is poised to achieve is almost mind-boggling.

Absolute Wonder Woman #10 is now available from DC Comics.