Tom King is no stranger to, shall we say, controversial comic book runs. His mini- and maxiseries tend to garner near-endless praise, but whenever he’s given free rein to tell a story across more than fifteen issues, it tends to pad itself. A lot. That’s one of the biggest criticisms of his newest run on Wonder Woman (2023), especially with the introduction of his ultimate villain, the Matriarch. From what we’ve seen of her so far, she’s a fierce, unstoppable warrior who is the daughter of both an Amazon and the Sovereign, and her goal is to take over the entire world. Frankly, that’s all she’s been.
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The Matriarch has suffered from the biggest failing of all: a padded showcase. Instead of getting to know her, all we’ve seen of her, and we’ve seen an awful lot of her, has focused on selling just how impossibly strong and cool and powerful she is. Sure, watching her kill Superman and Batman at the same time makes her look powerful, but when that’s all we see of her, we don’t know who she is, only what she does. Thankfully, after nearly a year of just watching her rip through the DC Universe, Wonder Woman 2026 Annual: Wonder War – The Matriarch Special #1 has finally given us a look inside her head. For the first time, the Matriarch is a genuinely interesting character because, for the first time, she feels human.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
| Pros | Cons |
| Deep dive into who the Matriarch is and what she wants | Lizzie’s dialogue feels unnatural |
| Makes fantastic use of all of her past appearances | Lots of focus on how the Matriarch was Lizzie’s shadow without showing us much of this relationship |
The Matriarch Who Chose to Be a Pawn
The Matriarch has haunted Wonder Woman’s comics for some time now, but never as anything more than a shadow we were supposed to fear. She had all the classic King-isms, being a character who skyrockets to unimaginable power and has no personality outside of that, but this issue finally gave us a glance into why she acts like that. Steve and Trinity fled into the past to avert the future where she ruled, and the Matriarch followed, sailing on the river of the dead. There, she confronted the people she slayed over the years, all while her own inner voice taunted her, challenging her perception. The Matriarch asserted that she was free, acting as the Fates’ warrior, but her inner thoughts said that she was simply too afraid to know how to do anything else.
This was an entire issue spent solely in her perspective, tackling her thoughts, fears, and reasoning, and it did wonders for letting the reader connect with her. Up until now, feeling anything about the Matriarch took effort on the reader’s part, but this annual let us explore the answers to questions we’ve been asking since the start. Her struggle with feeling worthy was especially poignant, using the Green Lantern ring she’s so fond of to great effect. Instead of using it to show how cool she (or Wonder Woman) is, it used it as a physical symbol of her need for validation. She could only take it by being the strongest, and she has to be the strongest. It’s what she’s defined herself as.
It also ends in such a way that makes it clear why she is the villain of this story, given that she realizes her mistakes but lacks the inner strength to fix them. As for negatives, the weakest part of this story is definitely the dialogue from Lizzie. The relationship between the Matriarch and Trinity is meant to be one of her defining features, but we hardly see it. With so little panel time, every line out of Lizzie’s mouth has to be impactful, but that just makes them feel forced. The Matriarch’s path to power is also glossed over, and I find it hard to believe the Amazons would just let all of this happen, but that’s a broader story issue. This annual could only address so much, and what it did, it did well.
Endless Expression and Fun Movement
Belén Ortega, Eduardo Pansica, and Júlio Ferreira were the artists for this adventure, and they brought a wide array of expressions to the table, which is exactly what this story needed. The Matriarch has always been a very stoic character, but we saw that break down completely during her journey down the river. At first, she maintained her blank, angry expression, but with every challenge to her sense of self, we saw shock and fear creep in. By the time she broke, her terror and desperation were palpable. The cut between her sobbing on the ground before Nubia and her animalistic fury and desire to win was brilliant visual storytelling. There’s a whole lot of subtle moments that bring out the best in the Matriarch and the others around her, but the main villain certainly shines the most.
As for how these expressive characters interact with the world, their motion is just as fluid as their faces. The Matriarch torpedo headbutting Aquaman’s torso is a highlight that I loved. Instead of focusing on making everyone look cool, the combat lets us breathe in the awkward, blood-pumping strangeness that fights like these generate, to great effect. Of course, we also have to give props to the colorists, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Tríona Farrell, who managed to make great use of an environment that was mostly black and red. The river did change consistently from blood to orange Gatorade a bit too much for my liking, but they were fantastic at making the Matriarch pop.
Overall, the team working on this annual made a dull villain come alive, and I’d love to see more of Leah Williams and Stephanie Williams as a writing duo in the future. What do you think of the Matriarch? Let us know in the comments below!
Wonder Woman 2026 Annual: Wonder War – The Matriarch Special #1 is on sale now!
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics -
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Image Courtesy of DC Comics
