Trial of the Amazons in 2022

[Koriand'r]

Alright everyone let's look at our track record for a minute.

War of the Gods - fail
Amazons Attack - fail
Wonder Woman Darkest Night - fail
Wonder Woman The Odyssey - fail
Wonder Woman the New 52 - fail
Superman/Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Woman Future's End - fail
Convergence Wonder Woman - fail
Dark Nights Death Metal - fail
Wonder Woman Dead Earth - fail
Wonder Woman Evolution - fail
Future State Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Girl - fail
Trial of the Amazons -

D.C. tries hard to do something with Wonder Woman we will like and so often it's met with a luke warm response at best and outright disdain at worst. The only recent things I can think of that the majoity of us enjoy are the Legend of Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman Black and Gold. Hell there are actually people who dislike Rebirth. How could you dislike Rebirth?

At some point after several failed relationships you have to ask yourself if it's them, or is it you.

[Avi]

I wanted to hear some opinions before looking into reading this storyline. I'm not up on current events honestly...are you guys enjoying Trial of the Amazons?

I personally don't want to see Hippolyta die again, if that plays a part in this...

Overall - is it a classic arc? A fair attempt? Meh?

A fair attempt.

It struggles quite a bit with cohesion and it's more of a prologue of what is to come than an event with a proper conclusion. If you want to see the three tribes grow together and some good scenes between the Amazons, you'll enjoy the event. But there are Amazons that die, so you might want to wait for the trade.

Alright everyone let's look at our track record for a minute.

War of the Gods - fail
Amazons Attack - fail
Wonder Woman Darkest Night - fail
Wonder Woman The Odyssey - fail
Wonder Woman the New 52 - fail
Superman/Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Woman Future's End - fail
Convergence Wonder Woman - fail
Dark Nights Death Metal - fail
Wonder Woman Dead Earth - fail
Wonder Woman Evolution - fail
Future State Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Girl - fail
Trial of the Amazons -

D.C. tries hard to do something with Wonder Woman we will like and so often it's met with a luke warm response at best and outright disdain at worst. The only recent things I can think of that the majoity of us enjoy are the Legend of Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman Black and Gold. Hell there are actually people who dislike Rebirth. How could you dislike Rebirth?

At some point after several failed relationships you have to ask yourself if it's them, or is it you.

I love Rucka's WW stories, but a writer is never going to please everyone. To boot he was the post-N52 continuity clean-up crew, obviously, not everyone would like the story coming out of that.

Even most Batman events and comics are met with a lukewarm response, the difference is that Batman gets creatives on his comics who are more experienced and more critically acclaimed. Just look at who is getting Batman and Tec. Wonder Woman doesn't have that, so yes, it is them.

[Gaius]

I wanted to hear some opinions before looking into reading this storyline. I'm not up on current events honestly...are you guys enjoying Trial of the Amazons?

I personally don't want to see Hippolyta die again, if that plays a part in this...

Overall - is it a classic arc? A fair attempt? Meh?

It's fair attempt but I ultimately feel rather "meh" about it. What Avi said about it is pretty apt. Most "family events" in comics are ultimately not much to ride home about.

I still like Cloona/Conrad so I'm not dropping the run and am looking forward to the Nubia and Artemis stuff coming up.

[Agent Z]

We're not allowed to complain about Historia, it's Phil.

1) Says who? Jiminez has been criticized even when his run came out.

2) Jiminez is drawing the book not writing it. Even if people were against criticizing him, the writing is still a factor.

This is very different. This is literally the Trial of the Amazons. There's never before been three in canon books at one time featuring Wonder Woman's world and this is D.C.'s first attempt at crossing them over and growing her brand further. With the reception it's gotten, much of it unmerrited ("the story didn't go the way I wanted it to so I don't like it") they'd be right to think "why bother?". I want them to bother. I want them to know she's worthy of a crossover because I want more, but at this rate we won't be getting it.

The main title and Nubia's solo series have been well received. As have been novels like Tempest Tossed and Warbringer. This is the same argument that movie executives used against female superhero movies when they got bad reviews. Instead of looking at why they failed, they just assumed the issues was with the audience. If DC gets discouraged from doing more with Wonder Woman because one stupid event was met with backlash (which happens almost all the time these days) maybe that's evidence they don't have any faith in WW at all. In which case, maybe they shouldn't bother and sell the property to someone who gives a damn and wants to put in actual effort.

[Agent Z]

Alright everyone let's look at our track record for a minute.

War of the Gods - fail
Amazons Attack - fail
Wonder Woman Darkest Night - fail
Wonder Woman The Odyssey - fail
Wonder Woman the New 52 - fail
Superman/Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Woman Future's End - fail
Convergence Wonder Woman - fail
Dark Nights Death Metal - fail
Wonder Woman Dead Earth - fail
Wonder Woman Evolution - fail
Future State Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Girl - fail
Trial of the Amazons -

D.C. tries hard to do something with Wonder Woman we will like and so often it's met with a luke warm response at best and outright disdain at worst. The only recent things I can think of that the majoity of us enjoy are the Legend of Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman Black and Gold. Hell there are actually people who dislike Rebirth. How could you dislike Rebirth?

At some point after several failed relationships you have to ask yourself if it's them, or is it you.

War of the Gods and Amazons Attack were poorly executed events marred by terrible editorial management. Superman/Wonder Woman and the Darkest Knight tie-in were hated because they were less about Diana and more about pandering to controversial ships. Future's End was a nothing story that tied into a stupid event at a time people were getting bored of events. Dead Earth is basically the same stuff as Injustice. Rebirth was only hated by people who preferred the New 52. And the New 52 failed after the Azzarello run.

Again, maybe look at why people disliked these stories and what they liked about stuff like Historia, Black & Gold and Warbringer. Otherwise, you're basically telling WW fans not to have standards when even Batman and Superman fans are extremely picky about what they like. Just ask King and Bendis.

[Agent Z]

It's fair attempt but I ultimately feel rather "meh" about it. What Avi said about it is pretty apt. Most "family events" in comics are ultimately not much to ride home about.

I still like Cloona/Conrad so I'm not dropping the run and am looking forward to the Nubia and Artemis stuff coming up.

If there's a lesson to be learned from this, it's that fans really should be careful what they wish for when they ask for their favorite to lead an event.

[Natamaxxx]

Alright everyone let's look at our track record for a minute.

War of the Gods - fail
Amazons Attack - fail
Wonder Woman Darkest Night - fail
Wonder Woman The Odyssey - fail
Wonder Woman the New 52 - fail
Superman/Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Woman Future's End - fail
Convergence Wonder Woman - fail
Dark Nights Death Metal - fail
Wonder Woman Dead Earth - fail
Wonder Woman Evolution - fail
Future State Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Girl - fail
Trial of the Amazons -

D.C. tries hard to do something with Wonder Woman we will like and so often it's met with a luke warm response at best and outright disdain at worst. The only recent things I can think of that the majoity of us enjoy are the Legend of Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman Black and Gold. Hell there are actually people who dislike Rebirth. How could you dislike Rebirth?

At some point after several failed relationships you have to ask yourself if it's them, or is it you.

It’s them.

In the case of Trial of the Amazons, it’s very clearly them.

It’s unfair to say we all hated the the titles you listed, because that’s simply untrue. Personally, I enjoyed War of the Gods, New 52, Dead Earth, Future State, Wonder Girl (Yara) some of Black & Gold and some of Sensational WW, and I’m currently enjoying Evolution. Are they perfect? Nope, but there was enough for me to enjoy. Does everyone else like these titles? Nope, but I understand that folks have a variety of tastes and opinions that differ from mine & I see no reason to try to convince them otherwise.

Historia is a great example of a much better effort made to tell a story. I’m pretty sure there are criticisms to be made about that as well, but it stands in stark contrast to ToTA in its ability to create a compelling and cohesive narrative, whereas ToTA feels like it was hastily reverse engineered to fit an agenda & a pre-determined outcome, no matter how many plot holes they had to jump through to get there. Sure, it might have had some interesting moments and cool looking panels, but character motivations were unclear, the pacing was exceedingly uneven & lets not even speak of the some of that amateurish artwork.

Personally, I see no reason to blindly support every effort made by DC regarding WW and her world if more than half the output is mediocre at best. Spending money on half-assed work is only going to get you more half-assed work. I’ll take quality over quantity every time even it if meant only getting a limited amount of WW content that I could truly enjoy.

[Psy-lock]

Alright everyone let's look at our track record for a minute.

War of the Gods - fail
Amazons Attack - fail
Wonder Woman Darkest Night - fail
Wonder Woman The Odyssey - fail
Wonder Woman the New 52 - fail
Superman/Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Woman Future's End - fail
Convergence Wonder Woman - fail
Dark Nights Death Metal - fail
Wonder Woman Dead Earth - fail
Wonder Woman Evolution - fail
Future State Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Girl - fail
Trial of the Amazons -

D.C. tries hard to do something with Wonder Woman we will like and so often it's met with a luke warm response at best and outright disdain at worst. The only recent things I can think of that the majoity of us enjoy are the Legend of Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman Black and Gold. Hell there are actually people who dislike Rebirth. How could you dislike Rebirth?

At some point after several failed relationships you have to ask yourself if it's them, or is it you.

Amazons Attack and "trying hard" don't belong in the same sentence. The only thing that DC tried to do hard with that story is to destroy the WW mythos

[Gaius]

Alright everyone let's look at our track record for a minute.

War of the Gods - fail
Amazons Attack - fail
Wonder Woman Darkest Night - fail
Wonder Woman The Odyssey - fail
Wonder Woman the New 52 - fail
Superman/Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Woman Future's End - fail
Convergence Wonder Woman - fail
Dark Nights Death Metal - fail
Wonder Woman Dead Earth - fail
Wonder Woman Evolution - fail
Future State Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Girl - fail
Trial of the Amazons -

D.C. tries hard to do something with Wonder Woman we will like and so often it's met with a luke warm response at best and outright disdain at worst. The only recent things I can think of that the majoity of us enjoy are the Legend of Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman Black and Gold. Hell there are actually people who dislike Rebirth. How could you dislike Rebirth?

At some point after several failed relationships you have to ask yourself if it's them, or is it you.

Comparing most of these to ToA seem odd. Only War of the Gods and Amazons Attack could be considered similar as they're events/family books born out of WW book. Witching Hour would also be a better comparison and that seems liked. Death Metal also but that story was a sequel to Snyder's JL/Batman nonsense.

Blackest Night, Convergeance, Future's End, and Future State - Event tie-ins.

The Odyssey - a poorly planned relaunch not even a year before New 52.

Superman/Wonder Woman - a team-up book centered around a romance a good chunk of fans from both fandoms don't like, that was mostly a Superman book for it's run.

Dead Earth and Evolution - Out of continuity books where the authors get to what they want for the most part. Neither's a favorite of mine but I've seen fans for Dead Earth.

Wonder Girl - an ongoing that got canned into a mini because the writer/artist was someone with a history of delays on books she's worked on that DC let do both duties.

If there's a lesson to be learned from this, it's that fans really should be careful what they wish for when they ask for their favorite to lead an event.

Most definitely.

I wasn't too engaged with an event book in the first place, I'm happy at least the book's back to being it's own thing now.

[Koriand'r]

A fair attempt.

It struggles quite a bit with cohesion and it's more of a prologue of what is to come than an event with a proper conclusion. If you want to see the three tribes grow together and some good scenes between the Amazons, you'll enjoy the event. But there are Amazons that die, so you might want to wait for the trade.



I love Rucka's WW stories, but a writer is never going to please everyone. To boot he was the post-N52 continuity clean-up crew, obviously, not everyone would like the story coming out of that.

Even most Batman events and comics are met with a lukewarm response, the difference is that Batman gets creatives on his comics who are more experienced and more critically acclaimed. Just look at who is getting Batman and Tec. Wonder Woman doesn't have that, so yes, it is them.

You're going to sit there and tell me Wonder Woman fans aren't hard to please? By all means you can but I won't buy it. We have lofty ideals about how Wonder Woman should go and loath what doesn't meet those amorphous, pie in the sky, expectations.

Why should we get more experienced and critically acclaimed creatives when they won't be received well anyway? We don't even like Grant Morrison and you can't get much more experienced or critically acclaimed than that. Add Allan Heinberg, Brian Azzarello, JMS and James Robinson to the list as well.

In fact it seems D.C. does better with relative unknowns like Steve Orlando or Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad. They breathed new life into Wonder Woman's mythos and are moderately successful, but when we get an event continuing their narrative it gets pee'd on too.

I'm only playing devil's advocate. Lord knows this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, because there are many things concerning Wonder Woman I personally don't like. Around here Gail Simone is held up as a standard but I think her run stank. However I don't hate everything and give writers a fair shot when I don't think many of us do.

[Primal Slayer]

It's Classic. It's a must read if you're a Wonder Woman fan if only to criticize it like so many are doing.

tri·​al | \ ˈtrī(-ə)l \

1: the formal examination before a competent tribunal of the matter in issue in a civil or criminal cause in order to determine such issue

: a preliminary contest (as in a sport)
: a tryout or experiment to test quality, value, or usefulness


2: made or done as a test or experiment

I think people heard the title "Trial of the Amazons" and automatically expected an Amazon Contest like we've seen so often before, but this was a different kind of test. DC wanted to test the viability of Wonder Woman's corner of their universe and see fan reaction and in that sense we've failed. Apparently they're getting another rejection.

You want everyone to love Trial of the Amazons and look over the clear things that they failed to do in this event.

Donna was given next to nothing but we're expecting to be ok with it because of a comic from 20 years ago in another continuity that explains her reasoning for siding with the Bana.

Hippolyta was poisoned but we are supposed to not question it even though its not answered as to why.

We're supposed to be ok with a trial that had no trial.

Yara's tribe had no interest in the crown, immortality , being part of Themiscryia but we're supposed to be ok with Nubia being crowned Queen of all 3 tribes out of nowhere.

The Banas entire reason to go to the Island was to win the Door, gain immortality but its never brought up again by end of the event.

Faruka wanted to be Queen but they skip over that and she gladly just sees Nubia as the Queen.

We're supposed to rejoice in Yara being given the Wonder Girl mantle even though she did nothing that Donna/Cassie didnt do throughout the event that would make her standout to Diana....who she barely had any words with.

We're supposed to be happy because this is a Wonder-event where long time Wonder members finally come together, yet Diana/Donna/Cassie...even Diana/Artemis barely interact or say a word to each other.

Are there some fans around here that hard to please? Hell yes lol. But this isnt about power levels, its about clear things in that story where they dropped the ball.

In fact it seems D.C. does better with relative unknowns like Steve Orlando or Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad. They breathed new life into Wonder Woman's mythos and are moderately successful, but when we get an event continuing their narrative it gets pee'd on too.

I'm only playing devil's advocate. Lord knows this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, because there are many things concerning Wonder Woman I personally don't like. Around here Gail Simone is held up as a standard but I think her run stank. However I don't hate everything and give writers a fair shot when I don't think many of us do.

I think PLENTY around here have praised the current WW creative team. There's been constant praise of the stories since they took over. The common complaint about this even is that it had way to many hands in the pot. We had 4 different writers across 3 different titles with 5 different artists.

[Agent Z]

However I don't hate everything and give writers a fair shot when I don't think many of us do.

So do other WW fans.

[Stanlos]

Alright everyone let's look at our track record for a minute.

War of the Gods - fail
Amazons Attack - fail
Wonder Woman Darkest Night - fail
Wonder Woman The Odyssey - fail
Wonder Woman the New 52 - fail
Superman/Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Woman Future's End - fail
Convergence Wonder Woman - fail
Dark Nights Death Metal - fail
Wonder Woman Dead Earth - fail
Wonder Woman Evolution - fail
Future State Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Girl - fail
Trial of the Amazons -

D.C. tries hard to do something with Wonder Woman we will like and so often it's met with a luke warm response at best and outright disdain at worst. The only recent things I can think of that the majoity of us enjoy are the Legend of Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman Black and Gold. Hell there are actually people who dislike Rebirth. How could you dislike Rebirth?

At some point after several failed relationships you have to ask yourself if it's them, or is it you.

Are these fails in terms of commercial success?

War of the Gods storywise was great to me. Same for the first two entries of Darkest Night. There were some elements of Odyssey I thought were pretty strong and I really appreciated the lengths JMS went to in order to set the stage to tell the story he wanted without dissing her deal.

[SiegePerilous02]

Alright everyone let's look at our track record for a minute.

War of the Gods - fail
Amazons Attack - fail
Wonder Woman Darkest Night - fail
Wonder Woman The Odyssey - fail
Wonder Woman the New 52 - fail
Superman/Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Woman Future's End - fail
Convergence Wonder Woman - fail
Dark Nights Death Metal - fail
Wonder Woman Dead Earth - fail
Wonder Woman Evolution - fail
Future State Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Girl - fail
Trial of the Amazons -

D.C. tries hard to do something with Wonder Woman we will like and so often it's met with a luke warm response at best and outright disdain at worst. The only recent things I can think of that the majoity of us enjoy are the Legend of Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman Black and Gold. Hell there are actually people who dislike Rebirth. How could you dislike Rebirth?

At some point after several failed relationships you have to ask yourself if it's them, or is it you.

Nah, it's still them. You're losing credibility by listing Amazon Attack as somehow being the fans fault. Unless you somehow genuinely think that it's good?

Besides, most of us seem to enjoy the Cloonrad run outside of the ToTA event, the Nubia series, the backups with Artemis/the Bana that are spinning off into her own mini by the same author, Black and Gold had some highlights and almost everyone loves Historia. It's not a 24/7 misery fest for most of us just because we're "meh" on the latest event and Yara. How many comments have we gotten from fans here saying "I can't wait for ToTA to be over so the main book can go back to the other plots by the same authors"?

I think PLENTY around here have praised the current WW creative team. There's been constant praise of the stories since they took over. The common complaint about this even is that it had way to many hands in the pot. We had 4 different writers across 3 different titles with 5 different artists.

Yep, the individual pieces have all been mostly well received by those of us on here. Cloonrad, Nubia and the backups have all been enjoyed, and people still have interest in them dividing back up into their own narratives again. The lukewarm reception to ToTA hasn't seem to impacted how we feel about the individual books.

[Rac7d*]

Alright everyone let's look at our track record for a minute.

War of the Gods - fail
Amazons Attack - fail
Wonder Woman Darkest Night - fail
Wonder Woman The Odyssey - fail
Wonder Woman the New 52 - fail
Superman/Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Woman Future's End - fail
Convergence Wonder Woman - fail
Dark Nights Death Metal - fail
Wonder Woman Dead Earth - fail
Wonder Woman Evolution - fail
Future State Wonder Woman - fail
Wonder Girl - fail
Trial of the Amazons -

D.C. tries hard to do something with Wonder Woman we will like and so often it's met with a luke warm response at best and outright disdain at worst. The only recent things I can think of that the majoity of us enjoy are the Legend of Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman Black and Gold. Hell there are actually people who dislike Rebirth. How could you dislike Rebirth?

At some point after several failed relationships you have to ask yourself if it's them, or is it you.

Wondergirl didn’t fail it was beautiful and intresting. It was also posting numbers better then WW has done herself in years. It had to transition into this crossover to be ready for the upcoming summer event.