Wonder Woman #7 Preview

[HestiasHearth]

It's a totally pointless issue. I like a little slice of life from time to time but this didn’t feel natural which kinda defeats the purpose. I don’t much care for how she’s written either, I noticed she goes “keep walking” as they pass the maternity store, what do we make of that...
I’m also a bit annoyed at how much space Batman, Superman, Jon and Damien take up in this run

100 % concur.

Not only was it a pointless, inconsequential issue that had, once again, and out-of-character Diana (threatening to rip a civilian, non-super powered creature in two just because he was an *******? How is this a defensible behavior coming from Wonder Woman?), but the art was bad. Maybe I would have enjoyed the shenanigans if Amanda Conner had drawn it.
Maybe.

I definitely don't like how King writes Diana. Stiff-voiced often, and sometimes prone to violent behavior aimed at non-powered beings.
Not my Diana.
As for the story itself...who cares? This seemed like a filler issue that was mandated to include Superman and Batman because "boys don't buy Wonder Woman unless Supes and Bats are in the book" or something along those lines.
Why not have one of these cute Day In The Life issues but starring Diana and two of her supporting cast members? Etta and Ferdinand? Or Donna and Yara? Or if they had to have three superheroes, why not Diana, Dinah and Vixen? Or Diana, Kendra and Mari? Or DIana, Barda, and Kara?
Anyone but Superman and/or Batman...

Now that I think about it, Sampere's art is the # 1 reason I am still reading this run (even the much anticipated villains-vs-Diana showdown left me lukewarm-ish).
Hopefully the upcoming Cheetah issue will be awesome.

[Psy-lock]

I definitely don't like how King writes Diana. Stiff-voiced often, and sometimes prone to violent behavior aimed at non-powered beings.
Not my Diana.

Same here. It's especially glaring in this issue, where he's obviously far more comfortable writing Clark. And in almost every previous issue there's been something off with her voice. Which is why I doubt this run will ever reach the heights of Perez/Rucka/Simone, no matter how good the story or art is.

[I'm a Fish]

It's a totally pointless issue. I like a little slice of life from time to time but this didn’t feel natural which kinda defeats the purpose. I don’t much care for how she’s written either, I noticed she goes “keep walking” as they pass the maternity store, what do we make of that...
I’m also a bit annoyed at how much space Batman, Superman, Jon and Damien take up in this run

The maternity ward thing was a nod to King’s Batman/Catwoman mini when King brought back Helena Wayne as Bruce and Selena’s daughter in the future.

[Dr. Poison]

It was a lighter toned issue, for sure but it felt out of place being that we just had the story with Jack a few issues back and we're right in the middle of Sovereign's seven capturing Diana. I wanted to see what happened next, not take a detour at the expense of Superman and Batman. I understand if Sampere needed a break to get caught up but they should have done an issue updating us on some or all of Sovereign's seven with some backstory on these villains set before Sovereign acquired them.

[I'm a Fish]

I thought the joke of Diana being called a “big” didn’t hit well at all when she looks half the size of Clark.
Get Cooke to draw her next time you wanna make a joke like that.

[HsssH]

Why not have one of these cute Day In The Life issues but starring Diana and two of her supporting cast members? Etta and Ferdinand? Or Donna and Yara? Or if they had to have three superheroes, why not Diana, Dinah and Vixen? Or Diana, Kendra and Mari? Or DIana, Barda, and Kara?

Probably because King is aiming for the audience who don't know nor care about these characters.

[Gaius]

Probably because King is aiming for the audience who don't know nor care about these characters.

This issue didn't bother me but given King's run is selling well, wouldn't be a good chance to actually use the attention to promote WW specific characters? It's not like all the other League member solo books only interact with other league members.

The previous two issues spotlighted WW villains and the Wonder girls

[Primal Slayer]

This issue didn't bother me but given King's run is selling well, wouldn't be a good chance to actually use the attention to promote WW specific characters? It's not like all the other League member solo books only interact with other league members.

The previous two issues spotlighted WW villains and the Wonder girls

While I doubt it wouldn't change things...they were well into writing these before this run has been consistently selling.

[HsssH]

More to the point I think that King (and DC?) had made a conscious decision to heavily feature Batman and Superman (or Damian and Jon) in this run and that is unlikely to change regardless of the sales.

[Frontier]

More to the point I think that King (and DC?) had made a conscious decision to heavily feature Batman and Superman (or Damian and Jon) in this run and that is unlikely to change regardless of the sales.

I'm still annoyed Trinity only seems to exist in relation to hanging around Jon and Damian.

[I'm a Fish]

Trinity has been around for 9 months and the only interaction she had with Diana as-of-yet involved punching her in the face.

[SonOfBaldwin]

Trinity has been around for 9 months and the only interaction she had with Diana as-of-yet involved punching her in the face.

This says so much about the writer's imagination in regard to what is possible in relationships between women.

[Koriand'r]

I couldn't get thru it, stopped reading during Superman's mani-pedi. After laughing out loud so often at Cloonrad, King's take on comedy just doesn't move me. Even Rucka was funnier, Steve's "I don't think that's a normal tree" still makes me smile years later.

Guillem March's art was enjoyable but whiplash inducing after Sampere because if was so different.

One thing's for certain though, Diana now understands why Yara Flor flares up over being called "girl".

[thwhtGuardian]

...This was possibly one of the worst Wonder Woman issues I've ever read. The dialog was bad even by King's usually wooden standard, the characterization was off and the very stiff and lifeless art didn't help.

[bardkeep]

This didn't work for me at all. There are plenty of popular writers known for being very serious who can be really funny (Alan Moore makes me laugh harder than just about any other comics writer) but King isn't one of them. The humor gives "guy who thinks black pepper is spicy and sings Sweet Caroline at karaoke," just so obviously written by a white middle-aged dad.

Very clear that King would much rather be on a Superman book and feels a lot more comfortable writing him. He brought all of the warmth and personality this issue - Diana just got annoyed at things and alternated between rolling her eyes at Clark and gassing him up. And her getting sour about being called "big lady" and turning her nose up at mall pedicures felt very "man writes Strong Female Character" to me.

It's honestly hard for me to form an overall opinion on King's voice for Diana because the only real consistencies are the accent and catchphrase. I really didn't like how she was written in this issue, but the Diana in this issue wasn't the same as the one in issues #4/5, who wasn't the same as the one in issues #1-3. He can't even decide if he wants her to be a Rucka-esque warrior poet or a terse, Arnold-like action hero who struggles with basic English.

And boy, did this put in perspective how much Daniel Sampere is carrying this run. March isn't bad but this looked really wonky and following Sampere is a thankless endeavor for just about anyone.

More to the point I think that King (and DC?) had made a conscious decision to heavily feature Batman and Superman (or Damian and Jon) in this run and that is unlikely to change regardless of the sales.

Yep, and that approach is so self-defeating. The Trinity isn't a fleshed-out thematic concept, it's a contrivance to justify a business decision to put DC's most commercially viable IPs together. You can't build your understanding of a character around it. It's not a coincidence that all of her best stories are 100% contained within her world and her best runs all went off the rails as soon as crossover stuff started (see: War of the Gods, Rucka dealing with Infinite Crisis, Jimenez being forced to kill off Hippolyta).

King doesn't have any confidence in his ability to make her stand on her own. Unless he builds that confidence, he'll ultimately go the way of Walt Simonson and JMS - industry legends who took a crack at WW and got nothing particularly special or memorable out of her. I do think Sampere will go down as a great regardless though, much like Cliff Chiang is pretty universally praised (especially his take on the Greek gods) in spite of his run.