Review: Wonder Woman Vol. 7- Amazons Attacked

Quick Summary

Pros: The opening story is emotional and interesting all on its own. The main storyline is also interesting and concludes with a neat twist.

Cons: The book’s conclusion feels very rushed and ends things on a disappointing note. Wonder Woman’s twin’s story is not that interesting.

Overall: This is an alright book that successfully continues its current storyline but fails to seriously impress. It delivers on providing an epic battle between Wonder Woman and a selection of great villains. However, a rushed conclusion and a lackluster subplot about Wonder Woman’s twin drag the volume down. This volume may appeal to readers who want to see the fallout from the previous volume but might not be a great place for new readers to jump in.

Story

Wonder Woman Vol. 7: Amazons Attacked, by James Robinson, is a decent continuation to the current Wonder Woman comic’s storyline. It starts out with a brief but interesting interlude while Darkseid’s plans continue to build in the background. Then, these plans are unveiled and a high stakes battle plays out across the rest of the book. Unfortunately, there are more flaws with the storytelling in this volume than there were in previous volumes. The story surrounding Wonder Woman’s brother ends up being generally uninteresting and the book’s conclusion feels very rushed. The overall appeal of this book is still decent as a continuation to the current storyline but is definitely not as good as I was hoping.

(spoilers start here)

Amazons Attacked starts with an origin story for the most recent iteration of Silver Swan. This is an emotionally powerful story about a girl who was driven insane by the feeling that Wonder Woman had abandoned her. While this is going on, in the background, Darkseid and Grail continue with their own plans. This allows the opening chapters of this volume to tell a story that is interesting on its own while building up Darkseid and Grail’s return.

From here, the volume refocuses on the threat posed by Darkseid and Grail. They launch a plan to attack and essentially enslave the entire Amazon population. This immediately injects high stakes into the narrative, as the success of their plan would be genocide on its own and could lead to the rest of the world falling soon after Themyscira. The fact that their plan fails is satisfying on its own but the fact that it comes from a place of love, rather than mindless fighting, makes it even better.

However, this portion of the book is a bit disappointing considering how rushed the conclusion ends up being. A lot of setup was put into Darkseid’s plan and it appeared as if he thought of everything, as he even predicted the return of Zeus in the last book. Then, when the plan is actually launched, it falls apart almost immediately. The arc, as a whole, is still alright but it feels like it could have been a lot better if it had stuck the landing.

The other disappointing factor in Amazons Attacked comes from Jason’s story. I really enjoyed the mystery introduced through his sudden transformation by unknown forces. However, this is about where the positives in his story end. His character barely has a chance to be fully introduced before this dramatic change is made. I would have appreciated a chance to get to know Jason more before this point, as I am still unsure how I feel about this character.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Amazons Attacked, like the story, mostly ends up being just alright. Emanuela Lupacchino, Carmen Carnero, Jesús Merino, and Marco Santucci produce a visual style that remains relatively consistent throughout the volume, which partially comes from the fact that Romulo Fajardo, Jr. colors every chapter. This sense of consistency helps give the book it bright, bold, and uniform style. This works in the book’s first few chapter, where the bold action adds to Wonder Woman’s fight against the book’s first villain. However, it doesn’t look as good in later chapters. Here, the bright colors and the stylized approach prevent intense characters like Darkseid, Grail, and the Parademons from looking as frightening or intimidating as they should. This results in a book that never rises above average when it comes to visuals.

Continuity

Wonder Woman Vol. 7: Amazons Attacked continues the story from Wonder Woman Vol. 6: Children of the Gods (Review).

The story here continues in Wonder Woman Vol. 8: The Dark Gods (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• The mysteries following Darkseid, Grail, and Wonder Woman’s brother were all introduced over the course of the Justice League: Darkseid War (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• Darkseid’s original invasion of Earth and his repulsion by the Justice League (Reading Order) is mentioned. This occurred across Justice League: Origin (Review).
• Steve Trevor mentions assembling a team to counter the Justice League. This team was the New 52 version of the Justice League of America (Reading Order). This team’s adventures began in Justice League of America Vol. 1: World’s Most Dangerous (Review).