'Nubia & the Amazons' - an imperfect but empowering and raw, rich, and pretty much epic DC comic about the Amazons on their island of Themyscira. It is diverse as hell, embossed in worldbuilding and mythology building, and has plenty of action to offset the dialogue heavy scenes. There's a new, sympathetic twist on Medusa (even though she starts off as a villain), and oh, did I mention that Nubia, big and bold and space-taking Black Amazon extraordinaire, also an LBGTQ icon, is canonically the Queen of the Amazons now?
(Diana is dead, but then, after a lot of otherworldly journeys, she got better, and now Hippolyta, who had taken her daughter's place in Man's World in her absence, is dead, but that likely won't last long, either. You know superhero comic books.)I wanted to read more about Nubia after the fantastic 'Nubia: Real One' comic, and in 'Nubia & the Amazons', I may have found a companion piece to 'Real One'. In the recent canon, she is a hard-ass, and a badass, never giving up, never giving in, in fights or in the ways of the heart. She has compassion and understanding, too, like Diana and Hippolyta before her.
The art and writing style reminds me of the DC comics of the mid 2000s; it reminds me of 'Wonder Woman: The Circle' and 'Wonder Woman: Who is Wonder Woman?', only set almost entirely on Themyscira (flashback sequences of Nubia fighting monsters in Chicago and romancing a POC woman are in this, too). It's a worthy comic for the Amazons.
However, the volume ends on the second issue of a sequel storyline (!). There are tie-ins, crossovers, the usual comics business. It is all connected to an event, a plan for all the Amazons by DC, culminating in the series, 'Trial of the Amazons'. I have read it, and I am disappointed. It is an equal balance of good - great, even - and bad, but overall, it is a rushed, choppy mess. Maybe I should stick to some of the tie-ins and not the main even itself.
I prefer standalones, or at least comic volumes I can enjoy without having to buy and read other comics to understand what is going on. Ugh, events.
Luckily, 'Nubia & the Amazons' can be enjoyed as its own separate thing, in my opinion. A badass POC, sapphic queen protagonist, an epic, badass story, an all-female cast of characters, Medusa, and brilliant art - I am in! I will be reading another series about Nubia soon, as well as one more 'Trial of the Amazons' tie-in/prequel.
The comic loses a point, however, in that, for its accurate portrayal of Medusa as a victim in need of comfort, understanding, compassion and empathy from her fellow women, Athena gets off completely scot-free in the end for what she did to her. She even still calls her a snake! Why not call her out!? F&%*! the gods! Poseidon the rapist isn't even mentioned at that point. Bloody terrific.
Medusa is also completely forgotten about by the time 'Trial of the Amazons' progresses and wraps up. *sigh*
Well, regardless:
Long live Queen Nubia.
Final Score: 3.5/5
EDIT: I have recently read 'Wonder Girl: Homecoming' and 'Nubia: Queen of the Amazons', and I'll share my thoughts here:
I'm done.
The subtitle of 'Wonder Girl' is 'Homecoming', though it really should have been 'Abandon all common sense ye who enter here'. I hate it. Nothing makes sense, nothing flows, details, developments, and characters keep getting dropped and never mentioned again - it's a writing (and feminist) disaster. Which is a shame because before I felt I could very much like Yara Flor as a character, but in her debut, she's as much a mess as "her" stupid story, where she is used and manipulated by others constantly, and she barely possesses any agency and free will of her own. DO all the Amazons want to kill her or not, and WHY?! Why is she showcased as so astronomically and cosmically important anyway? It doesn't reflect on any future books she's in. Hack decades old clichés abound, too.
While 'Nubia: Queen of the Amazons' is better, and more entertaining, it's confusing and structurally messy, as well. Many details get forgotten about (of course). Side by side with this is the character derailment of Nubia - the flipping queen of all the Amazons - which is unforgivable; just like what happened with Yara and her squandered potential, only not as extreme.
I don't think any of the writers at DC have been keeping up with this new storyline, this new chapter, of Wonder Woman and the Amazons well. Medusa remains a tiny blip on the radar, not a character. I'm sad to say I won't read any more Wondy titles, unless I can be sure that anyone at DC knows what they're doing at this point. It is a shame, for everything to do with 'Trial of the Amazons' had huge, shining potential. Still not sure about 'Future State'. It's exhausting, keeping up with all these storylines - for the readers and the writers and artists.
I'm done.
The subtitle of 'Wonder Girl' is 'Homecoming', though it really should have been 'Abandon all common sense ye who enter here'. I hate it. Nothing makes sense, nothing flows, details, developments, and characters keep getting dropped and never mentioned again - it's a writing (and feminist) disaster. Which is a shame because before I felt I could very much like Yara Flor as a character, but in her debut, she's as much a mess as "her" stupid story, where she is used and manipulated by others constantly, and she barely possesses any agency and free will of her own. DO all the Amazons want to kill her or not, and WHY?! Why is she showcased as so astronomically and cosmically important anyway? It doesn't reflect on any future books she's in. Hack decades old clichés abound, too.
While 'Nubia: Queen of the Amazons' is better, and more entertaining, it's confusing and structurally messy, as well. Many details get forgotten about (of course). Side by side with this is the character derailment of Nubia - the flipping queen of all the Amazons - which is unforgivable; just like what happened with Yara and her squandered potential, only not as extreme.
I don't think any of the writers at DC have been keeping up with this new storyline, this new chapter, of Wonder Woman and the Amazons well. Medusa remains a tiny blip on the radar, not a character. I'm sad to say I won't read any more Wondy titles, unless I can be sure that anyone at DC knows what they're doing at this point. It is a shame, for everything to do with 'Trial of the Amazons' had huge, shining potential. Still not sure about 'Future State'. It's exhausting, keeping up with all these storylines - for the readers and the writers and artists.
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