DC is having a banner year, and Wonder Woman has been a big part of that. Tom King’s Wonder Woman run has been hitting hard, with the kind of controversy that all King comics get from certain aspects of the fandom. Wonder Woman has been dropping massive changes on the character and her world, starting with the introduction of her daughter Trinity. This heartwarming development is juxtaposed with the death of Steve Trevor in the war against the Sovereign and the reveal of Wonder Woman’s future death. Wonder Woman #22 is a flashback story, one that makes the death of Steve Trevor even more tragic as Wonder Woman has to deal with a new villain.
The story opens up with Steve in bed, looking for Wonder Woman, and goes from there. King has done a fantastic job of reminding us how much Wonder Woman and Steve loved each other, and this issue is yet another bittersweet example of what we’ve been missing since the death of Steve. King’s writing is known for being psychologically ponderous, and there are some who would think that this issue would dig more into the sadness of the whole situation (because that’s just how King rolls, honestly.) However, it goes in an entirely different direction, one that shows just how normal the world’s most perfect woman can be.
The Morning After Was Awkward for Steve and Diana for Several Reasons
The issue kicks off the morning after the first time that Steve and Diana slept together. Steve wakes up to Wonder Woman gone, his clothes neatly folded on the edge of the bed, a note on her pillow. King and artist Caitlin Yarsky do a tremendous job of capturing Steve’s fear that he just got hit with a one night stand with a woman who he already loves. The folded clothes and the note give Steve the impression that things are about to go bad, but then it gets weird. Wonder Woman left because the Capitol had a “mice problem.” Steve has a conversation with himself about the night before while getting dressed, trying to psyche himself up to ask her out for coffee and reassure himself that she actually likes him. It’s an amazing little scene that has happened to a lot of us, and it shows that King is more than just a one trick pony who only writes dark psychological stories. Steve makes his way to the Capitol, and we see why Wonder Woman got called in to deal with the mice problem — massive mice have attacked the home of the United States legislature. They are under the command of Mouse Man — a villain that was teased in Wonder Woman #19 — and Wonder Woman tells Steve not to shoot them. Then the best scene of the issue starts.
Steve and Diana discuss the night before and it’s perfect. Readers got to see Steve nervous earlier in the issue, but the rest of the book shows that Wonder Woman, a character we’ve watched fight gods, universal conquerors, and the most formidable metahumans on Earth without fear, get tongue tied and awkward around this man who she also has very strong feelings for. Steve being unable to ask her out for coffee after already sleeping with her is so real. It’s easy to buy into the myth of characters like Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. They’ve faced things unlike anything out there, but seeing them awkwardly talk about their relationship, each of them afraid that the other doesn’t love them as much as they love them, is perfect and it shows just how amazing they are for each other. They save the day from Mouse Man, and have more dates obviously. It was amazing to see them at their awkward best, hoping beyond hope that everything is going to work out.
Wonder Woman #22 Once Again Proves that Steve and Diana Were Made for Each Other
Tom King made readers care about the relationship between Steve and Wonder Woman in this latest run because of issues like this. King has found a way to capture the love they have for each other in new ways. The death of Steve Trevor was tragic for multiple reasons, but the biggest one is the fact that we aren’t going to get interactions between them like the one we got in the latest issue of Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor are both soldiers fighting for their homes. They sacrificed huge parts of their lives in order to fight evil. Neither of them expected to find love, and the fact that they found it in each other was perfect. Steve still sometimes appears in Wonder Woman comics — Wonder Woman knows the gods and Steve has appeared in the afterlife — but this issue brought back the pain of losing this amazing couple all over again.
Wonder Woman #22 is on sale now.
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