Anyone interested in seeing Californian Amazons?

[MrHashasheen]

Hey guys,

I was on another website talking some alternate history, and in my reading up on stuff I found a very interesting story regarding California's origins. See, the name California was actually the name given to a mythical island of Black Amazo in an early 16th-century romance novel Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandián) by Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The novel talked about the island being located where California was, and helped contribute to the belief that Baja California was actually an island when European explorers sailed through there. The explorers named Baja California after the novel, which is where the name came from.

A quote from the book as follows:

"Know that on the right hand from the Indies exists an island called California very close to a side of the Earthly Paradise; and it was populated by black women, without any man existing there, because they lived in the way of the Amazons. They had beautiful and robust bodies, and were brave and very strong. Their island was the strongest of the World, with its steep cliffs and rocky shores. Their weapons were golden and so were the harnesses of the wild beasts that they were accustomed to taming so that they could be ridden, because there was no other metal in the island than gold."

So it got me thinking about Wonder Woman, and the likes of Nubia and also the Bana-Mighdall. This would be an interesting addition to the mythos, if there was another mysterious island on the coast of California that served as another Amazonian location. DC's had no hesitation previously in using California for superhero cities, such as Aquaman's Sub Diego. And given the obvious American-setting focus most comics have, having a West Coast location would work well in giving the Amazons more places to pop up.

Thoughts?

[Agent Z]

Hey guys,

I was on another website talking some alternate history, and in my reading up on stuff I found a very interesting story regarding California's origins. See, the name California was actually the name given to a mythical island of Black Amazo in an early 16th-century romance novel Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandián) by Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The novel talked about the island being located where California was, and helped contribute to the belief that Baja California was actually an island when European explorers sailed through there. The explorers named Baja California after the novel, which is where the name came from.

A quote from the book as follows:

"Know that on the right hand from the Indies exists an island called California very close to a side of the Earthly Paradise; and it was populated by black women, without any man existing there, because they lived in the way of the Amazons. They had beautiful and robust bodies, and were brave and very strong. Their island was the strongest of the World, with its steep cliffs and rocky shores. Their weapons were golden and so were the harnesses of the wild beasts that they were accustomed to taming so that they could be ridden, because there was no other metal in the island than gold."

So it got me thinking about Wonder Woman, and the likes of Nubia and also the Bana-Mighdall. This would be an interesting addition to the mythos, if there was another mysterious island on the coast of California that served as another Amazonian location. DC's had no hesitation previously in using California for superhero cities, such as Aquaman's Sub Diego. And given the obvious American-setting focus most comics have, having a West Coast location would work well in giving the Amazons more places to pop up.

Thoughts?

Exploring the ideas of an Amazon diaspora seems worthwhile. You could use this for Nubia's new origin.

[Agent Z]

Do you have any ideas for fleshing out this hypothetical group of Amazons?

[MrHashasheen]

Do you have any ideas for fleshing out this hypothetical group of Amazons?

Not particularly, no!

I had a previous idea I posted a while back (https://community.cbr.com/showthread...I-m-working-on) about the Amazon involvement in Man's World being noninterference and monster-hunting, so that could perhaps tie in here. North America is littered with all sorts of cool mythical beings and monsters that beguile the local populaces, and the bloodier gods of the North American pantheons and the ritual sacrifices could all make for interesting stories. And that could tie into some Hawk mythology ideas I had (basically, swapping out Egypt for Mexico as an origin story), which gives a little bit more juice to superheroics south of the border.

[MajorHoy]

I hear "Californian Amazons" and I (an East Coast/New York City-area type of guy) would think "Legally Blonde" and "Valley Girl" overly-blonde, clueless Amazons, fer sure!

[AmiMizuno]

How would the Amazons get to Californa? I get a idea. due to many amazons being soon, some ended up on a ship and overthrow the ship staff. I would love to see Amazons in different parts of the world. Gateway should have amazons maybe than again I would like it if the Holliday girls were trained to be the Amazons.