Absolute Wonder Woman and the Love of Love
- Diane Lee
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Wonder Woman has always been in a strange, diminished position; the character has never been allowed to shine the way she could. She is in the core Trinity of DC Comics—alongside Superman and Batman—yet she is constantly relegated to the sidelines in favor of her male counterparts. Wonder Woman is the token woman of the group, paired up with one of the men of the Trinity in uncomfortable moments of forced heterosexual attraction that only happen because there is a woman in proximity to a man. The character has also had the fewest live-action film adaptations out of the Trinity, with a particularly uninspired performance by Gal Gadot; my personal (least) favorite line is “Kal-El, noooo.” I also find mainline Wonder Woman comics to be lackluster: Tom King’s Wonder Woman lacks consistent characterization, and she is often reduced to a side character in her own story. Being a Wonder Woman fan is infuriating sometimes. Despite her massive popularity, it feels like DC is crafting her stories begrudgingly and with no interest in the actual character.
Absolute Wonder Woman, though, is a love letter to its titular character.
The story starts as such: instead of being raised by the Amazons on her home island of Themyscira, the gods punish the Amazons by banishing a baby Diana, the last of their people, to Hell to be raised by the witch Circe. Under Circe’s care, Diana learns to wield magic alongside her weapons before journeying back to the surface world as a protector.
From the beginning, Absolute Wonder Woman is groundbreaking. The Absolute Universe explores an alternate reality in which DC heroes lack the relationships and resources that shape their identities. Author Kelly Thompson takes Diana out of her home while still paying homage to the mythological elements of her origin. Her choice to feature the witches of Classical mythology is a brilliant one—these women straddle the line between mortality in divinity, in service to the goddess Hecate or as the children of the gods. Sisterhood is perhaps one of the most important aspects of Wonder Woman’s origin, and even if Diana no longer has the Amazons, she does not lose her strong relationships with other women. The witches are also outsiders, alluring but ultimately too far on the fringes to be afforded the same grace as their hero and princess counterparts.
This is the perfect context for an edgier Wonder Woman story; note, however, that edge does not mean that this story is maudlin or full of itself. The story’s sharper edges are tasteful and always tinged with the underlying hope and kindness that are crucial in rounding out Diana’s character.
This edgier feel manifests in how Thompson’s Wonder Woman appears on the page. Character design is meant to reflect a character’s context, motivations, and passions on first glance; it visually defines a character and is integral to telling their story. Wonder Woman’s classic design features a red tube top, blue skirt or Daisy Dukes with white stars, and sometimes an eagle on the chest. Wonder Woman is Amazonian, drawing from Classical mythos and coming to the U.S. functionally as an immigrant, but her original design feels distinctly American. A viewer without any context on Wonder Woman’s backstory might take one look at her and think she is a femme Captain America.
In Absolute Wonder Woman, however, Diana is allowed to become more visually distinct. I am obsessed with Diana’s redesign in the Absolute universe. The red and black color scheme is wonderfully striking and a nod to the colors of the environment she grew up in, paired only with silver accents instead of the original mixed metals that artists tend to favor for the character. She keeps the iconic ‘W’ symbol in the shape of her breastplate, but alongside that is now a shoulder guard, segmented plate armor, greaves, and a full sleeve tattoo. It is striking, attractive, and retains the feminine touch that has taught young readers that femininity and strength (physical, emotional, or mental) are not mutually exclusive.
Hayden Sherman is brilliant in both his character design and his layouts. He eschews traditional straight-edge paneling in favor of round edges and layered panels that create lively movement across the spread. His inking is tight and intentional but never stiff. Every composition is layered with close attention to detail and liberal use of texture. The pen’s grit is allowed to shine through, giving each spread a handcrafted quality. Sherman’s faces are deceptively simple but lovingly crafted, with the heaviest line weight concentrated in Diana’s eyes and lips. Diana’s eyes are full of emotion, shining with a hopeful light that feels otherworldly. She is also made distinct amongst the supporting characters, standing tall and her accessories given extra detail through careful hatching. She is visually striking in a way that immediately solidifies her role as protagonist. Accompanying Sherman’s inks is Jordie Bellaire’s coloring work. Bellaire uses limited color palettes to bold effect, favoring warmer tones that tinge the story with hope and add to the lovely storybook-like quality of Sherman’s inks. Like Sherman, she does not shy away from texture; in many spreads, she utilizes watercolor and marker textures that bleed the colors into each other. It adds so much motion to each page—this world is truly alive, the art tells you, and the messages here actually matter.
There is so much more I could say about the story itself, but I firmly believe that everyone should dive into Absolute Wonder Woman spoiler-free. However, what I would like to emphasize is that this iteration of Wonder Woman does not confuse justice for lack of emotion. Thompson’s writing shines because she makes the conclusion that even though Diana is a fighter, she is still fundamentally gentle. Diana is someone who loves the world and will fight tooth and nail to protect it because of that, she fights with purpose and for all that is beautiful. One of my favorite lines in the comic is “kindness and compassion are all that will save us now.” Radical kindness is what we need; after all, what motivates us to keep going if not love for each other?
Rating: INDY
Diane Lee is a freshman in the College studying English and TTRPG design. They are fond of knights, ghosts, and superheroes.