Long before Wonder Woman became the hero of today, her super-powered female progenitors, the Amazons, had their own adventures as seen in this new miniseries. DC Comics is revealing these ladies were warriors through and through, but is it good?
Odyssey of the Amazons #2 (DC Comics)
So what’s it about? The summary reads:
In the frigid lands to the north, Hessia and her Amazons find new allies: a band of Norsemen led by none other than Jon, the Viking Prince. Meanwhile, their captured Amazon sisters learn of the fate planned for them by Groa, Queen of the Storm Giants. And as Hessia and Jon prepare to launch a rescue, a new faction appears! Will these new players prove to be friend or foe?
Why does this book matter?
Besides revealing an unknown past of the Amazons, it also ties into other mythologies in an interesting way. Plus, who doesn’t want to see some badass sword swinging action!?
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
I do love these captions.
Captions written on scrolls populate the issue with a voice that’s so damn epic you best read these out loud. Writer Kevin Grevioux certainly knows how to set a scene and it certainly suits these characters. Clad in armor, wielding swords, and screaming for blood makes these almost poetic captions all the more awesome. The characters also speak in a verbose way with big words thrown in that seem fitting too.
The general pace of this issue is rather quick, with new threats to slash and issues to go over throughout. Opening with a full on fight with trolls, the Amazonians end up befriending a group of vikings. Interestingly, the lore of the vikings is used, which makes one wonder if DC Comics will have Thor pop up soon. That said, Greviuox does a good job showing the differeing ideologies of the two groups as the vikings are more male orientated and the Amazonians are…well you know.
The art by Ryan Benjamin is on point in the early scenes. The trolls and action fly fast and look great. There’s a good amount of detail throughout and while there’s a lot of talking the art is never boring.
It can’t be perfect can it?
The art does get a little looser by the end of the issue. As if Benjamin had to rush, the images get less detailed and a little sloppy. It’s not a total loss by any means, but compared to the early pages there’s an obvious decline.
Story wise, the plot moves forward quickly which is good, but it becomes a tad too repetitive. It seems there’s a new threat thrust in front of the Amazonians at every turn of the page which ends up making the book have filler like moments. There’s a nice check in with the missing Amazonians midway through the book, but aside from that the entire issue feels like it’s stalling.
The other gripe I have is a bigger issue entirely and it has to do with the language. While I love the captions and their epic nature, the dialogue needs some work. I actually read this issue out loud to get a handle on the dialogue, which has sentences that are can’t be read in one breath, or have a random big word thrown in to punch it up. Maybe this is how they speak, but there are multiple times I felt the a word choice was glaring and distracting. It’s at times laughable as well as characters say things that are downright silly. The characters also seem to say each other’s names in awkward ways. I’m all for a comic to remind me who characters are, but it’s done in a clunky way here that makes the dialogue seem even more unrealistic.
Another thing. How do the Amazons bleed like this yet they don’t get any injuries?
Is It Good?
This series may have the best captions of any comic in 2017. Hands down. It’s epic, well written, and drives the story in an awesome way. Unfortunately the plot, while paced well, feels like a repetitive amount of filler scenes more than anything. The dialogue is also clunky and difficult to get through.
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