Amazons Attack #1-6

Amazons Attack #1-6

Originally released in 2007

Written by Will Pfeifer

Art by Pete Woods

Amazons Attack is an event that I only knew about because of a single panel, though I heard it wasn't great, which is why I picked it to read today.  The panel in question?

I'm not sure why "bees" is such a fun word to say, but it is. The series doesn't get off to a good start - Amazons appear in Washington DC and, despite them being known for peace and understanding, immediately start slaughtering tourists (including children) for no particular reason.

It takes another issue or two for the Amazons to start questioning why they're doing this. Hippolyta has openly allied with Circe, a powerful sorceress and enemy of the Amazons, which seems like the sort of thing that should be setting off alarm bells.  Hippolyta seemingly kills Circe in between issues 1 and 2, but you would think that any of the characters would consider that maybe, just maybe, Hippolyta has been brainwashed, possessed, replaced by a shapeshifter, or any number of other ways that a person could be replaced or manipulated in the DC universe. (Especially when her daughter has a Lasso of Truth that would dispel that sort of thing)

The timing of the event is unclear - as far as I can tell, the event takes place over the course of less than a day (in Washington DC, it looks like it's perpetually twilight), or at most under a week.  In that time, the president sets up prison camps for Amazon sympathizers, which seems like the sort of thing that would guarantee that he loses any upcoming election.

The events of the series are mostly confined to Washington, with readers hearing about major events but not seeing them.  They seem to be dealt with in other books - it gives it a chaotic feeling to the events, but it also makes it seem like they're telling the reader how much of a threat the Amazons are without showing us.  Plenty of other plot points are also brought up, abruptly dropped, and promised to be resolved in other books, which seems like an unwieldy way to write a crossover. (You'd think the main book would be self-contained)

Other superheroes are present, though they aren't handled in the best light.  Batman comes across as hypocritical, saying that his teammates need to focus on other priorities that are more important, only to drop everything and leave the moment that Gotham is threatened.

Meanwhile, Superman lectures the Amazons about how they've lost their way.  I get that Superman would be frustrated - the Amazons are his allies - and if anyone's going to give a speech to get people to improve, it would be Superman or Wonder Woman. It just feels a little weird for Superman to be lecturing people about their own culture.

Of course, it turns out that Circe is alive, and she's been manipulating various factions to kill each other.  Hippolyta doesn't seem to have been brainwashed by Circe, though (at least not completely) - she believes she's on a mission from the gods.  The portrayal of Wonder Woman's supporting cast doesn't seem consistent from era to era or writer to writer, but a lot of what Hippolyta does here feels wildly out of character.

We get brief appearances from the Wonder Girls, Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark, who both try to end the war unsuccessfully. Donna goes to Hippolyta, only to be ignored, and Cassie tries to bring the US President to Hippolyta to try and end the war peacefully only to make the situation worse. Cassie's appearance is framed in a way that made me think she had been brainwashed.

The conflict comes to an end with something of a literal Deus Ex Machina (weirdly enough, Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth never comes into play - I figured that would have been the first thing that the heroes would have tried), and the reveal that the conflict had been manipulated by someone other than Circe.

Who could pose as Athena? Who could capture the entire Greek pantheon?

Why, Granny Goodness, of course! ...a character who's never been shown or even hinted at throughout this comic, who doesn't seem to have anything to do with Wonder Woman, and who (as far as I was aware) doesn't use magic.  If this entire thing turns out to be an extremely elaborate way for Granny Goodness to get new Female Furies, then that seems excessive - it would be like if Marvel's Civil War event was secretly being orchestrated by Dracula so he could turn a few people into vampires without anyone noticing.

This comic was a bit of a jumbled mess - not as bad as I was expecting, though I imagine it would be frustrating for Wonder Woman fans. She gets a big event where she's the center of it (which, from what I've seen, doesn't happen often, even after her major popularity boost from the movie), and it results in almost all of the Amazons (aside from Diana, Donna, and Cassie) feeling out of character, with Hippolyta getting the worst of it, and Wonder Woman doesn't even get much to do in her own story.