Scan barcode
A review by cleheny
Wonder Woman: Amazons Attack! by Will Pfeifer
1.0
No, just . . . no.
I don't believe I've read anything else by Will Pfeiffer, so I can't speak to who he is as a writer or a person, but, man, this reads like he hates strong women (I'm not saying that he does--just that this reads like that). Let's just start with the first four pages (which include a 2-page splash of the Amazon army): in about 13 individual panels, 2 Amazon soldiers kill a father and young (maybe 10?) boy at the Lincoln Memorial, for just being there. So, a nation of women that for dozens of years was the example of balancing the tension of being warriors who believe in peaceful coexistence become brutal killers in the first pages of story.
This cross-over butchers almost every established female character who has a line in this book. Hippolyta is a bloodthirsty and cruel leader who has no real motivation for her unprovoked aggression against everyone (burning Kansas, attacking West Coast military installations, murdering tourists). Phillipus and Artemis--who led the Amazons after Hippolyta's abdication--are reduced to "generals" whose purpose is to speak reverently of the Hippolyta they used to know, wonder about the one they're dealing with, bemoan what's happening, and do nothing. Cassie and Supergirl attempt to kidnap the president for reasons that are never explained (aside from a vague "you and Hippolyta need to talk," because Hippolyta has shown how willing she is to talk and not, say, slaughter half of the U.S.), and seem surprised when that doesn't work out so well. Fortunately, Superman is there to fix their screwup. Grace Choi, whose been fighting Amazons in order to defend ordinary citizens, is willing to join up with "the Bana," an Amazon sect who is using technology to kill tons of people, because they tell her she's family. So principles be damned!
And that's the most offensive thing about this crossover. Women screw everything up, and the men are primarily the ones to fix it: Batman, developing strategy and appearing to have a better handle on things than WW; Superman cleaning up Cassie and Kara's mess, and talking sense to the Amazons; Green Arrow making sure there isn't a nuclear disaster, etc.
As others have also noted, the editing in this is a mess. Tons of stuff happens outside of the main story arc, and then there's a couple of paragraphs of "oh, this major event happened," and we're back to our increasingly incoherent story.
I read this for the sake of completeness (as I've been reading every other published post-Crisis WW story to the end of the new 52). From everything I'd read, I knew I wouldn't like it. But, really, I had no appreciation for how much I'd hate it. This is terribly bad, and the fact that it vilifies every major supporting female in WW's cast just makes it even more horrific.
I don't believe I've read anything else by Will Pfeiffer, so I can't speak to who he is as a writer or a person, but, man, this reads like he hates strong women (I'm not saying that he does--just that this reads like that). Let's just start with the first four pages (which include a 2-page splash of the Amazon army): in about 13 individual panels, 2 Amazon soldiers kill a father and young (maybe 10?) boy at the Lincoln Memorial, for just being there. So, a nation of women that for dozens of years was the example of balancing the tension of being warriors who believe in peaceful coexistence become brutal killers in the first pages of story.
This cross-over butchers almost every established female character who has a line in this book. Hippolyta is a bloodthirsty and cruel leader who has no real motivation for her unprovoked aggression against everyone (burning Kansas, attacking West Coast military installations, murdering tourists). Phillipus and Artemis--who led the Amazons after Hippolyta's abdication--are reduced to "generals" whose purpose is to speak reverently of the Hippolyta they used to know, wonder about the one they're dealing with, bemoan what's happening, and do nothing. Cassie and Supergirl attempt to kidnap the president for reasons that are never explained (aside from a vague "you and Hippolyta need to talk," because Hippolyta has shown how willing she is to talk and not, say, slaughter half of the U.S.), and seem surprised when that doesn't work out so well. Fortunately, Superman is there to fix their screwup. Grace Choi, whose been fighting Amazons in order to defend ordinary citizens, is willing to join up with "the Bana," an Amazon sect who is using technology to kill tons of people, because they tell her she's family. So principles be damned!
And that's the most offensive thing about this crossover. Women screw everything up, and the men are primarily the ones to fix it: Batman, developing strategy and appearing to have a better handle on things than WW; Superman cleaning up Cassie and Kara's mess, and talking sense to the Amazons; Green Arrow making sure there isn't a nuclear disaster, etc.
As others have also noted, the editing in this is a mess. Tons of stuff happens outside of the main story arc, and then there's a couple of paragraphs of "oh, this major event happened," and we're back to our increasingly incoherent story.
I read this for the sake of completeness (as I've been reading every other published post-Crisis WW story to the end of the new 52). From everything I'd read, I knew I wouldn't like it. But, really, I had no appreciation for how much I'd hate it. This is terribly bad, and the fact that it vilifies every major supporting female in WW's cast just makes it even more horrific.