Fear and the power to overcome it aren’t solely the purview of the Green Lanterns in the DC universe. With a pantheon as rich as Greek mythology, where tragedy runs rampant, fear is as much a part of that tapestry as any other story. And when up against the twin gods of Fear and Terror, only someone with Diana’s fortitude can even begin to cut through what’s real and what’s illusion. That’s the simple yet compelling plot of Absolute Wonder Woman #24.
Diana’s faced her fair share of challenges so far, but now she’s confronted by an enemy that is as much within as an external threat. This issue does a great job of balancing the action of the outside world as she faces a new divine threat, while also confronting her friends’ lives being used against her – which she might not respond to in the best way possible.
Might vs Malice
Issue #24 kicks off with Diana rushing off to confront Zeus’ eye appearing over Gateway City. Of course, she quickly surmises that this isn’t the divine All-Father at all, but an illusion conjured by someone else. Turns out, the twin gods of Fear – Phobos and Deimos – are the ones responsible, and they’re here for Diana.
What follows is a fight they can’t win physically, but instead manage to peer into Diana’s psyche to find her immediate weakness: her fear over what happened to her friend Barbara. Satisfied with what they’ve found, they take off. Diana, driven by her own doubts and anxieties, then proceeds to do whatever she can to find her lost friend, even if it means using magic to once again protect the city from this new threat. But what will her actions mean for a populace already weary of her mystical meddling? And will Barbara even need saving? Or will Diana be the one in need of rescue from what Barbara has now become?
Fear is in the Eye of the Beholder
Fear is the central theme for this particular issue, and one that Kelly Thompson ensures is at the forefront of the readers’ minds when they’re traversing these pages. Once again, we get a problem that Diana simply cannot brute-force or negotiate her way out of, because the core issue comes from her own deep-rooted anxieties about her friends. And that is something these latest divine adversaries exploit exquisitely in this issue.
Phobos and Deimos, the twin sons of Ares and Aphrodite, are presented as deeply layered villains in this scenario. While Thompson initially gives readers (and Diana by extension) the assumption that they’re merely operating through Scarecrow-based tactics of creating fear for the sake of it, as the fight between Diana and the gods goes on, we get to see more layers to their madness. The twin gods are presented as sons looking to prove a point – they know of their mother’s patronage of Diana, and to an extent they feel jealousy of that fact. This is also presented really well by how they explain that they avoid their own mother, because their powers allow them to read her fears and amplify them, which they don’t want to do so as to not let her suffer. It’s surprisingly tender, and provides some really good nuance to what could’ve easily been a couple of one-note villains – a fate that Phobos and Deimos are usually relegated to in other media.
Diana herself also finds herself at odds in this scenario, not expecting such a layered outcome, and certainly having her confidence genuinely taken for a ride by these twin terrors. While she initially sees through the illusions the gods have placed and proceeds to physically confront them, it becomes swiftly clear that she doesn’t have the upper hand for once. Thompson puts Diana in a pretty difficult position – her cool magical weapons and abilities don’t help her, and the Gods get to take her fear and run off to exploit it. This starts a chain reaction where Diana also proceeds to act rashly in response in her attempts to curb the wave of fear Phobos and Deimos are generating across the city. And while Steve Trevor does try to warn her of the possible consequences of her actions, Diana’s own doubts and overconfidence propel her forward. It’s a great progression for the character, and I appreciate seeing more of Diana being more humanly flawed of late, without having constant wins handed all too easily to her, while also not seeing her constantly get beat down by physically powerful opponents.
Absolute Wonder Woman #24 takes a very simple plotline and turns it into something special. There’s more than enough context through both flashbacks, action, and introspection that gives both Diana and her latest opponents’ actions enough meat to keep readers hooked. As for the root of all this – Barbara Minerva – Thompson doesn’t disappoint there either, with a fairly terrifying reveal at the end of the issue that is certain to make Diana feel even worse than she already does.
There’s Magic in Motion
Hayden Sherman and Jordie Bellaire push out some of their best work in this issue in particular. I know I feel like I say this with every new issue the duo works on, but they honestly do manage to outdo themselves week to week. And one of the biggest points of excitement for me personally is waiting to see what kind of wild and weird paneling and art progression we’re going to get with each new episode.
Starting off with Sherman, there are some incredible full-page spreads where the action is tracked through context-sensitive panels. What do I mean by this? Well, when Diana shoots an arrow at an illusion, we see the action being mirrored within Sherman’s panels that are distinctly arrow-shaped, conveying motion and form in a truly unique visual representation. There are so many panels like this throughout this issue in particular that I can barely begin to cover all of them beyond saying that this book needs to be experienced firsthand. Then there’s the character designs as well. Diana herself is done immaculately as always, but we get a couple of new gods to check out as well. And in alignment with how the gods have been presented throughout this series, Phobos and Deimos do not disappoint in the slightest. I particularly love how they’re presented with flaming heads of a lion and a snake, respectively, almost as a representation of mankind’s primordial, natural fears. It fits so centrally with their characters and what they’re trying to achieve, while also playing into the assumptions that Diana and the readers might have about them and their powers.
Amplifying the art throughout every page are Bellaire’s color palettes, with a ton of mystically charged shades to really drive home the awe and action. Phobos and Deimos’ blue and green flames are distinctly sickly and pale, yet still deadly-looking – mirroring the idea of fear being like an infection that spreads like wildfire. Similarly, the action scenes are highlighted by bursts of color that keep every character in sharp focus throughout as well. Even the tamer sequences are vibrant yet subdued enough to balance out the nature of what’s happening on each page.
The Pantheon Expands
Absolute Wonder Woman continues to be one of the most fun books on shelves currently, and this issue drives that point home once more. With the kind of gripping story that manages to be simple yet so deeply layered at the same time, readers are certain to stay hooked as Diana rages, fumbles, and eventually triumphs against new threats that challenge her beyond the physical realm.
Thompson’s stellar writing paired with Sherman and Bellaire’s incredible eye for art keeps things so very compelling, and really does convey the divine and the despair of this version of Greek mythology. Once again, for lovers of the genre, this series is a treat, and this issue especially is a must-read.
Final Verdict: Absolute Wonder Woman #24 is another exciting chapter in this continuing godly saga, filled with genuinely mind-blowing art and some incredible action that drives the narrative forward like a sword to the gut.