I Finally Understand Why Tom King’s Wonder Woman is So Divisive

Wonder Woman is a member of DC’s fabled Trinity and is having something of a renaissance in the comics. Absolute Wonder Woman is a juggernaut, a book that has ruled the top ten since it debuted and feels like it has also gotten the lion share’s of the praise for the Absolute line. On the other side of the DC Multiverse, Wonder Woman has also been one of DC’s better selling titles, anchored by a team of A-list creators — writer Tom King and artist Daniel Sampere. King is always a controversial creator in the fandom, partly for his history as a former CIA operative and partly for his writing, but I’ve always liked his work. In fact, liked isn’t the right word. I love the vast majority of King’s work and I love Wonder Woman.

King and Sampere’s Wonder Woman has introduced readers to two new important Wonder Woman characters — the villainous Sovereign, secret king of the United States, and Trinity, Wonder Woman’s daughter. The narrative premise is that Trinity is visiting the Sovereign in his prison, and he’s telling her about why he is there. Wonder Woman is not technically the main character, but I feel the books does a great job of capturing who’s Wonder Woman is. It’s a bombastic story, with complicated emotional and political storytelling. It’s exactly what I want from this book right now. However, there are plenty of people who have their complaints, and I feel like the longer the read the book, I understand why.

Wonder Woman Has a Number of Issues That Can’t Be Denied

To understand where I’m coming from, we’re going to have to understand the problems with King’s Wonder Woman‘s run. The biggest one I’ve seen in online circles, including the Wonder Woman subreddit, is that the story isn’t really about Wonder Woman because she’s not the main character. In reality, the main character of King’s run so far has been the Sovereign. The story is being told by the villain and as such can’t really get into Wonder Woman’s reactions. We see them, yes — no one complains about Sampere’s evocative, detailed pencils, and the book has also gotten amazing fill-in artists like Guillermo March, Tony S. Daniel, and Bruno Redondo — and Wonder Woman does talk, despite what some complaints say, but we don’t really get to see how she’s holding up in real way.

It’s always a bit weird for a female-centric superhero title to be suborned by a male character. I completely understand this complaint from some fans, because I get it. As much as I can praise the art, dialogue, even the Sovereign’s own narrative, I can’t deny that Wonder Woman is missing something vital from its equation — Wonder Woman herself. This can be especially frustrating like a writer with King, since King does do characters in mental distress rather well. King is known for frankly depressing narratives that dig down into the characters he writes, finds the pain, and uses that pain to make the elevation of the main character — King’s character definitely go on elevating journeys — that much more uplifting. However, even that approach feels wrong to a lot of Wonder Woman’s fans. Many fans feel that King’s storytelling style works better for limited series than it does ongoing ones like Batman and Wonder Woman. There’s also the fact of a male writer writing about feminist topics that doesn’t stand right to some, which I understand.

King doesn’t take it easy on the characters he writes, and Wonder Woman has been no different. Steve Trevor was put into the book as Wonder Woman’s classic love interest and King wrote their relationship in a way that felt wrong to a lot of fans. I can see this complaint as well. Trevor and Wonder Woman have had a very up and down relationship over the years, and this latest stint does feel artificial — it’s much more of a plot element than anything else. For me, I like the way it’s written, I think that Wonder Woman would love Trevor in the way she does in the book, but that feeling isn’t universal in the fandom and it’s understandable. Wonder Woman’s bisexuality has rarely been talked about in the mainline comics, and some fans aren’t happy that we’re just back to Steve Trevor. Trevor’s death in the series is another moment that gets its share of scorn, partly for a misinterpreted panel passed around the Internet. However, that does bring us to the next understandable problem with Wonder Woman — the patriotism.

I’ll be honest, this one has always perplexed to an extent. The patriotism of King and Sampere’s Wonder Woman reminds me more of the kind of patriotism that we get from the best runs of Captain America; a love for the underlying meaning of the United States, the myth that is often hard contrasted by the truth. I don’t feel that it’s particularly jingoistic, but it does have its undertones. This speaks to one of the wider problems with Tom King in general; his past in the CIA. I understand why people get the vibes they do from the book. I also think that it’s a little overblown, but I do get it. Tom King’s writing has always had certain tropes that not everyone has enjoyed, and Wonder Woman can certainly feel very much like a King story. There are some people — like me, for instance — that love King’s style of writing, but the complaints about it are completely valid. I’ll never fault anyone for not liking it.

Wonder Woman Is a Destined to be A Contentious Masterpiece

I love Wonder Woman. It has just the right blend of things that I like from Tom King comics. It has what I want from Wonder Woman — the battle at the Washington Monument was the best action scenes I’ve ever seen. I’m invested in the love story between Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. I love the character of Trinity and want to see much more of her. I like what the book has to say about the natures of power and the secret power structures that exist all around us. I like when King gets epic, and I want more.

However, there’s no way I can actually defend King’s Wonder Woman, either. The book leans into feminism, yet its woman main character isn’t the source of the narrative. A man is. Misogyny is a big topic of the book, yet it feels a bit misogynist itself. The book definitely has problems that make a lot of sense. Its detractors make a very good case. I don’t know what the future holds for this book, but I’m foreseeing it as one of those books that some love intensely and some people hate intensely, and nary the twain shall meet, unless it’s on the battlefield of one’s and zero’s. And the best part is that they both have good points, so they’ll be entertaining arguments.