Amazons Attack #1 // Review
Things are getting worse. An Amazon has been involved in the massacre of over a dozen people in a pool hall in Billings, Montana. Now, there are copycat acts of terrorism that are being made by women. They're being referred to as Amazon-inspired terrorism. Queen Nubia will have a rough time dealing with the rising tensions in Amazons Attack #1. Writer Josie Campbell and artist Vasco Georgiev open a whole new chapter for the Amazons in an intriguing new opening to a new crossover storyline. Campbell articulates the story well between the personal life of Nubia and the complex intricacies of a gradually unfolding mystery.
The U.S. President is requesting an audience with the queen of Themyscira. There is an ambassador who would willingly go in her place, but the White House wishes to speak with a queen, so they WILL talk with the queen. There's tension all over the U.S. at the thought of Amazon unrest, but there's also more than a bit of tension at home. The Amazons are placed in a tricky place with respect to their relations all over the world, and it's going to take a lot of work to sort it all out.
Campbell is delicate with the pacing. It's a challenge to deal with tensions at home and abroad with a group of characters that don't get frequent regular appearances on the comics page. The writer is doing a good job of keeping everything adequately balanced in an issue that really it's all just rising tension. Opening a crossover miniseries entirely wrapped in verbal and political drama is very tricky. When the physical action finally DOES get moving, Campbell weaves it around a dialogue that would be difficult to follow for someone not already familiar with Amazonian politics in the DC Universe over the past couple of years. For those of us who are, it's actually a lot of fun.
Georgiev is at his best when he is handling the action. The drama hits the page with a stoic kind of moodiness that actually works quite well without making much of an impression. The action shoots across the page quite effectively. There's an exhilaratingly kinetic dynamic with the action as the narrative gracefully lurches into high gear. Georgiev's architectural renderings in the background are quite effective as well. Themyscira may not look particularly impressive in this issue, but the backgrounds in the world beyond provide a beautifully vivid atmosphere for the action.
It might start a little slow, but Campbell's story draws together several elements that should be fun as the story continues. The fundamental grounding of the current "Amazons Attack" story might feel a bit silly. Still, Campbell is building something interesting in what should be a fun adventure drama that should deliver an interesting new dynamic to the world of Wonder Woman and the rest of the Amazons if all goes well.
