• • Comic Book Reviews
• October 20, 2021

Nubia and the Amazons #1 Review

Written by: Stephanie Williams & Vita Ayala

Penciling by: Alitha Martinez

Inking by: Mark Morales

Coloring by: Emilio Lopez

Lettering by: Becca Carey

For a book titled Nubia and the Amazons, I expected it to be more about Nubia. I’m not complaining, but don’t be surprised when you’ve picked this book up and it’s about the Amazons more than Nubia. That may sound misleading considering it opens with what might be a retcon of Nubia’s origins and a retcon of how Themyscira gets new Amazons.

Some might not like these changes. Nubia’s role as Diana’s sister has been made more metaphorical than literal. That can be both freeing to the character, but also takes a bit away. Nubia is not in Diana’s shadow, but she feels more alone immediately. When she calls someone her sister, they have the same meaning to her as Diana does on a family level. I wouldn’t mind if this series establishes that Queen Hippolyta adopted Nubia in some way because I like Nubia and Diana being raised as sisters, closer than most Amazons.

I do think this retcon will lead to a quality story though. New Amazons, made of the souls of women who died by acts of violence in Man’s World, is full of story potential. This issue hints that one of the new Amazons may have been a transgender woman originally, which can make for a compelling story. That’s just the tip of the iceberg for allowing more stories to come from Themyscira than just tales about warrior women from Greece. Now Amazons are definitively from around the world. No one culture can claim them.

And this issue focuses on that. It does a lot of worldbuilding for this concept while building up a new prophecy they’ll face. In fact, the way this story proceeds feels like a classic Greek myth where the characters are far more diverse. It’s well worth the read.

Really, the only thing that feels disappointing is how little focus is on Nubia. It already feels like she should have replaced Diana as Wonder Woman rather than Hippolyta. Having her own title on Themsycira feels like an added insult to injury if she’s not even going to be the star of it. At the same time, this is only the beginning.

There are several more issues coming out where we can see Nubia take center stage in beautiful art. So, suffice to say I’m excited to read more of it.

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This is a new format change for reviews, the second time in this year, barely over a month since the last time. I still hope you enjoy it, and prefer reading singular reviews than a bunch of the clamped together. Honestly, not sure why I thought that was a good format for so long. This already feels much better and will be the way I write them going forward. Thank you for reading, and check out the YouTube channel for video versions of some of these reviews!